Cordkillers 188 – The First Trek is Free (w/ Mike TV)
Why everyone loves Star Trek and hates CBS, Plex gets news-y, and Amazon gets a new 4K dongle. With special guest MikeTV.
CordKillers: Ep. 188 – The First Trek is Free
Recorded: September 28 2017
Guest: MikeTV
Intro Video
Primary Target
- Star Trek: Discovery why suddenly everybody resents CBS
- Generic scenario. A lesser known streaming service that costs less than Netflix but heretofore only has one compelling original gets a HUGE brand name franchise. It will cost $6.99 a month for hulu-like plan that has some commercials or $9.999 a month for a Netflix-like plan with no commercials. The service also has other offerings like back catalog of classic shows, some movies and current shows from broadcasters, just like Hulu.
- Generic Scenario 2: A TV network that I already get on cable or through a streaming service launches a HUGE brand name franchise but only airs one episode. It then tells everyone they have to pay to get the rest of the episodes and even then will show you commercials while you watch.
How to Watch
- Amazon announced an all-new Fire TV that supports 4K and HDR up to 2160p and 60 frames per second. It also supports Dolby Atmos and sells for $70.
- Amazon also cut the prices of its 4K videos to $20.
- Plex adds personalized, streaming news to its media player software
- Plex announced the launch of a dedicated news hub within the app. Users can browse news from around the world as well as create a personalized newscast that adapts based on what programming you watch and skip. It will also include relevant news stories beyond a users preference to avoid a news bubble. The "My Newscast" feature will draw clips from multiple sources and you can choose to follow or mute topics and sources. Plex will also deliver local news through agreements with affiliate stations around the US. The service is free and ad-supported.
What to Watch
- Hulu’s new deal with NBCU brings ’30 Rock’ and other shows to its on-demand service
- Hulu struck a deal with NBC and New Media Distribution to bring on the back catalog of a number of TV shows including 30 Rock, Parenthood. Hulu also will have both the back episodes and newly airing episodes of Will & Grace. - Unlimited 'Stargate' streaming will cost you $20
- MGM launched StargateCommand.co for $20 giving you access to new show called Stargate Origins as well as back episodes of 354 Stargate TV episodes and three films. - How to watch Amazon’s first NFL livestream between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers
- The Chicago Bears will take on the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field Thursday night at 8:25 pm ET / 5:25pm PT. Only for Amazon Prime users but worldwide and translated into Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and even an English language stream that is focused on the educational aspects of the game for those who aren’t familiar with football jargon.
What We're Watching
- Brian: Firefly, Rick and Morty, The Vietnam War 1-3,
- Tom: Firefly (Ariel), Star Trek Discovery (101 & 102), Rick and Morty (309), Outlander
- Mike: Westworld
- On the Lookout: Norsemen
Front Lines
- Google Assistant comes to the Nvidia Shield TV
- Version 6 of software for the Nvidia Shield is out and includes Google Assistant. Users can control media playback, search and smart home devices with their voice. It has more capability than the previous Google Voice Search. It can do everything a Google Home would with the exception of timers, alarms and phone calls. Nvidia also announced a $40 dongle that lets the Shield talk to Zigbee and Z-Wave SmartThings devices from Samsung. - Comcast quietly introduces Xfinity Instant TV streaming beta
- Comcast has launched its Xfinity Instant TV service in beta in select markets starting at $18 a month. Customers of Comcast's broadband service can subscribe to the service which is available on the Web, Roku, iOS and Android. The cheapest package includes mostly broadcast channels with the options to add Sports and News, Entertainment, Kids and Family, Latino and Deportes packages for extra fees. - Vimeo acquires Livestream, launches its own live video product
- Vimeo announced it is acquiring Livestream and launching Vimeo Live. The new integration will let users capture, edit, stream and archive their live events in 1080p. Live streaming will be offered in several tiers with varying prices. The deal for Livestream is expected to close in early Q4. - Hulu's new design and Live TV service have arrived on Roku. Hulu Live was already available on Apple TV, Fire TV, Android, iOS, Chromecast and Xbox.
- You’ll only be able to stream — not download — 4K content for the new Apple TV
- MacRumors noted a support document on Apple’s website says that 4K TV shows and movies from the iTunes store may only be streamed not downloaded in 4K. Apple previously announced that HD versions of videos would be upgraded to 4K at no extra charge but it appears that does not apply to downloads and offline viewing. - In-flight Netflix will be available on more airlines in 2018
- Netflix announced an initiative to use mobile device encoding for passengers who want to watch Netflix on airplane wifi. Partnerships with airlines should launch in early 2018.
Dispatches from the Front
Hey Cordkillers,
I just went to subscribe to All Access in anticipation of the premiere tomorrow (it's Saturday right now). I'm throwing a premiere party, with friends and games, and we were going to watch the premiere on CBS and then roll right over into AA to watch episode 2. I'm a big Star Trek fan, and my friends just smile and nod about how enthusiastically I enjoy Star Trek.
The brakes were put on when I got to the account creation page. For the longest time all I would get was the error ""Your password is too long. It must be 6 to 30 characters"". I use lastpass to manage everything, and I have it set to use absurdly long passwords just to find sites that have dumb password policies. So I bumped lastpass down to 30. Still got the error. Bumped it to 29. Still got the error. I turned off Symbols in the password and it finally let me through. How could their error messaging be so bad?
The next page greeted me with the plans that I could get. You can get ""limited commercials"" for $6, or no commercials for $10. I clicked on 10. And then I noticed that the trial was only 2 days. 2 DAYS? Who only allows you to try the service for 2 DAYS? 2 weeks is what everyone else does. And then I noticed that the commercials level gets a full week of a trial. Wow. Such generosity.
At that point I changed my plans. We'll watch the TV premiere, and I'll get AA after the entire 15 episode run goes up and I'll just quietly binge it then and cancel. I already pay for Netflix, Prime, Anime Strike, Crunchyroll, Youtube Red, and Youtube TV. I have access to more content than there are hours in the day. I'll just live vicariously through /r/startrek (or other means).
- Zeke
Love the show. I’ve learned so much from you guys and enjoy watching each episode. Thank you.
As a life long Star Trek fan I have to pass on some comments regarding the new show Discovery. For me Star Trek is a grand experience and I thought the first episode on network TV began that way - high definition space vistas in glorious surround sound. And then CBS All Access happened. Stereo sound. Are you kidding me? And you want me to pay for that? This is a huge disappointment. I just can’t do it. You can’t even purchase episodes on iTunes. Since the first episode was in 5.1 surround, the rest must be filmed that way. Why on earth would those idiots at CBS do this. Oh, yeah money.
Keep up the good work guys. I’m doing to go sulk in the corner. By the way I canceled my All Access.
- Art
I have a new game I like to play.
I travel a lot for work to other countries, and being a fan of the show I know that different deals are done for shows in different regions of the world.
So first that that I do when I get to my hotel is log into Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to see all the shows that are not in the USA region. I also use my Android tablet (with a 64GB SD card) to download shows that I know i will not be able to see once I get back to the States.
Thank you guys for educating all of us with options to and "creative" ways to watch what we want how we want.
- Oscar
Over the past week I have been using Playstaion Vue and Hulu live tv. I have chosen to stay with Hulu live tv mainly because it offers cbs,nbc,and fox live in my area whereas Vue doesn't have Fox live and It has far less commercials on the DVR content and demand whereas Vue has lots of commercials. I do have an antenna for over the air content and get all of my local stations from New Orleans and from Biloxi area no problem. Before I had Dish satellite but canceled them 3 months early of my contract running out. I also have Netflix, Prime, Acorn Tv and have always had hulu demand also before as point of reference.
- Randy
Hi Guys,
Since you guys are in the midst of re-watching all of Firefly I thought you might be interested in a Hollywood prop auction going on today. You can download a PDF of the catalog at the link below. On Pages 236 to 240 it has costumes from Serenity for auction. Who knows with all that Patreon money you might be able to pick up some memorabilia.
propstoreauction.com/view-auctions/info/id/78/
Links