It’s Spoilerin’ Time 108

Cordkillers / February 17th, 2016

The Expanse authors Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham, Deadpool, 11.22.63 (101), Justified (105). With special guests Ty Franck, Daniel Abraham, and Veronica Belmont.

00:59 – Winter Movie Draft

01:42 – Interview with The Expanse authors Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham (James S. A. Corey) and Veronica Belmont

17:23 – Deadpool

25:06 – 11.22.63 (101)

33:58 – Justified (105)

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Cordkillers 108 – DVRs, Still a Thing

Cordkillers / February 16th, 2016

Is 800,000 subscribers good enough for HBO? Dish Hopper settles again. CBS All Access gets Fuller. With special guest Veronica Belmont.

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CordKillers: 108 – DVRs, Still a Thing
Recorded: February 15 2016
Guest: Veronica Belmont

Intro Video

Primary Target

  • HBO Now Is… Just OK, with 800,000 Subscribers
    – Time Warner announced it has signed up 800,000 subscribers for HBO Now.
    An analyst asked on the earnings call why it was only 800k
    – HBO head Richard Plepler said “I wouldn’t say only 800,000 subs. We’re just getting started. … I think we’re going to make a lot of progress.”
    – Total HBO added 2.7 million customers last year, so about 1.9 million without HBO Now. 

Signal Intelligence

  • Bryan Fuller to produce new Star Trek series
    – Bryan Fuller, Wrote for DS9 and VOY
    – Created Pushing Daisies, Wonderfalls and Hanibal
    – Showrunner for American Gods miniseries on Starz
    – Now named Showrunner for CBS new Star Trek coming to CBS All Access in 2017
    – Generally well-received news by Trek fans
    – Does this change the complaint about having to pay for another service?

Gear Up

Front Lines

  • Star Wars: Episode VIII Begins Filming Mark Hamill’s Face and Adds New Cast Members
    – Lucasfilm announced filming has begin for Star Wars: Episode VIII and released a short video of Mark Hamil and Daisy Ridley on set along with Director Rian Johnson. Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern and Kelly Marie Tran have also been announced as official cast members. 
  • Dr. Dre Filming Apple’s First Scripted Television Series
    – The Hollywood Reporter says it has learned that Apple’s first scripted television series will star Dr. Dre who will also executive produce. The six half-hour episode series will be called Vital Signs and likely be distributed through Apple Music. Sam Rockwell and Mo McCrae are cast and music video director Paul Hunter is running it. Empire’s Robert Munic wrote the episodes.
  • NBC is launching a streaming service for the worst TV imaginable
    – NBC Universal is launching another niche streaming service, this time for reality shows. The service is called Hayu. No launch date has been given but it will be available in the UK for £3.99, €4.99 in Ireland or in Australia for AU$5.99.
  • BitTorrent comes to Apple TV through a live news app
    – OTT News has launched on iOS, tvOS and Android as a test case for live streaming using BitTorrent. Alicé Anil, James Reinl, and Doc Stodden have been using BitTorerent Live’s first mobile app to stream coverage. This is the actual BItTorrent COMPANY’s tech for live streaming without needing a CDN.
  • Hulu’s universal Windows 10 app features live tiles and Cortana
    – And a few other things. Hulu now has an app specifically built for Windows 10, integrating with Cortana voice commands and Windows Live Tiles. Cinemax is now available on Sling TV for an extra $10 a month. And Amazon announced it is reneweing Mozart in the Jungle for a third season.

Under Surveillance

Dispatches from the Front
Oh well after subscribing to Netflix for 4 years, 3 and half before they were officially launched in Australia they have finally lost me as a subscriber after blocking the VPN and blocking my Paypal payments to the VPN provider I use to access their Library in the US, as the Australian one has very few of the shows my Teenagers like to watch. I know i am not alone in this as 8 of the 10 people i know who have Netflix have also done the same, I know this is a very small sample, but i wonder what affect this would have on Netflix”s share price if a similar number of people in Australia and especially China ,who have an estimated 30 million users using VPN’s as Netflix isnt even officially available there yet, cancelled, what are your thoughts, why are Netflix doing the right thing after years of turning a blind eye? or is it a case of the studios finally leaving them no choice.

– Alan

 

 

 

have often found that there is nothing much to watch at Netflix. So I was curious – am I just being picky? Thought you might be interested in my scribblings on a paper napkin while getting coffee this AM….

Using the data at Flixed there are currently 5658 movies/TV at Netflix – all categories in US. There are none in the max number of rating stars. There are 122 in the next category down; 836 in the next; and 1621 in nex. So there are only 2 % in the top two rating categories.And 15% in the third category. The fourth category alone is 29%. That means 45% in top 4 rating categories.

So 55% of the movies (3644) in US are below the top 4 rating categories. [some rounding effects]

The chances of finding something good to watch are pretty low especially if one has already seen most of the top rated ones or if most of top rated ones are in categories not favored like anime, children’s or comedies.
– Judy 

 

 

 

Hi Guys,

I wanted to let you know that I finally returned my Cablecard from my Tivo and cancelled my Comcast cable, upgraded my internet to 150/10 and saving $50 a month in the process.

To supplement my viewing appetite, I signed up for a trial of Xfinity Stream TV, a fairly new Internet based steaming package using their X1 software and it is available in Boston, Chicago and reportedly launching soon in Seattle. It includes live locals and HBO for $15 a month, available via web browser or their iOS and Android mobile apps, 20 hour cloud DVR, On demand access, and authentication access for the network specific apps including HBOGO. 

It requires that you have Comcast Internet, but for the same price as HBO Now, I’m pretty happy with it, especially living in a market that still doesn’t have Playstation Vue packages. Thought you guys would like to hear about another option out there. 

– Josh in NH

P.S. Finally signed up to be a patron

 

 

Links

patreon.com/cordkillers

2015 Winter Movie Draft

 

 

Cordkillers 107 – WYWWYWOADDYW

Cordkillers / February 9th, 2016

The Super Bowl breaks records online and streams for free. The best Blu-Ray player might be the best streaming device for 4K.

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CordKillers:  107 – WYWWYWOADDYW
Recorded: February 8 2016
Guest: None

Intro Video

Primary Target

Signal Intelligence

  • Super Bowl breaks streaming record
  • CBS annoucnes numbers
    – CBS says a record audience streamed the Super Bowl
    – Streamers watched 315 million minutes of game coverage.
    – An average of 1.4 million people streamed the game per minute.
    – NBC had 800K avg viewers per minute and 1.3 million current users last year
    – Some Apple TV users had problems with the stream (Tom didn’t)

Gear Up

  • First Ultra HD 4K Blu-ray player goes on sale
    – Samsung UBD-K8500 was on sale in a store in Santa Monica and will now ship Feb. 10th acc. to Best Buy
    – Ultra HD 4K
    – Was not supposed to ship until March
    – The Martian and Kingsmen still preorder only
    – Can do Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Amazon , M-Go and YuppTV

Front Lines

Under Surveillance

Dispatches from the Front

“CBS’ Super Bowl telecast averaged 111.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen’s fast nationals, and peaked at 115.5 million between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. The total is off from last year’s record 114.4 million on NBC. That featured the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks in a game that went down to the wire. CBS called the 2016 telecast, during which the Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers in a relatively humdrum game, the third-most watched program in TV history. The live stream drew 3.96 million unique viewers across a variety of screens.“

Super Bowl Averages 111.9 Million Viewers

Doing some quick math means that 3.5% of viewers watched via the internet.

– Jay

 

Hi Cord Killers

I downloaded this app from Yahoo called Yahoo Video Guide.

Is possible you guys featured it on the who already but if not here it is.

The app detects which streaming services you have installed on your device (Netflix, Amazon Video, HBO Now..etc)
Then is shows you what new movies and shows are available, also breaks down by categories and in which services are available. I’d like for this to be included within the Apple TV or other boxes.

Thanks
– Alex from NYC

 

Hi Guys,
I have a suggestion.  Since Man In The High Castle seems to have taken a bit of a backseat I would suggest this.  Just watch the last episode and you will be fine.  Much of what has happened up to where you are has been a set up for the last episode.  I don’t think you will be disappointed and will understand why I keep harping on it after you have watched it.  

– Stan

 

 

Hey guys,
 
Undateable on NBC has been live all this season and is great to see current events and the actors personal lives intrude on the show, plus the screw ups are usually really fun and the cast is great, check it out.
 
Also, Grease Live was great, the scope of the moving sets, both indoor and outdoor plus the cast was amazing to watch even in the rain.
 
– Mike from Bastrop TX

 

 

Hey guys, just to check in why I pay for cable.  I watch probably 40 shows a week more or less and only some are on Hulu timely and don’t come to Netflix or Amazon Prime until the season is over making talking with co-workers impossible on current shows.
 
Buying them individually would be way more than paying for cable at this point in time and I am too far from Austin to use an antenna without planting a pole and using a huge aerial. 
 
Thanks for your time,
– Michael

Links

patreon.com/cordkillers

2015 Winter Movie Draft