Subject: playing old DVDs

Date: Fri Dec 28 08:40:41 2018
User: Denny
Message:
Went to watch some old kids' movie yesterday with Joey and was reminded of how hard it was to start a show. Lots of previews that you can't fast forward, the terrifying copyright warning, movie studio thingy, and then finally you get a disk menu that allows you to start the show. Sheesh, Joey was sitting there impatiently while I flailed the the controls hitting the "action not permitted" stuff and he's convinced I'm trying to do some highly illicit federal criminal activity. But now with Amazon and Netflix you just watch a show. Huh. Novel idea. Who woulda thought?

Date: Fri Dec 28 10:29:52 2018
User: TNmountainman
Message:
LOL. I'm thinking it'd be nice if I could just rely on a VCR player to play my old VHS tapes. (At least I never went with Beta.)

Date: Fri Dec 28 10:47:48 2018
User: outskirts
Message:
All the old machines can be plugged into a smart tv, well except maybe betamax. Lol. I totally love my tv, which has roku and everything built right in. And if you sign into your google account on the tv, it will put all your faves up there on youtube. And miraculously, I do all this and more, by turning my phone into a hotspot. All for a fraction of what I used to pay. The tv is only hooked to an antenna, and it set itself up. The thing is so smart, it called out to me to buy it, and was very inexpensive. Oh yes, the future is here.

Date: Fri Dec 28 11:24:58 2018
User: TNmountainman
Message:
Uh...…….I don't have a google account - not yet having decided to sell what part of my soul I have left. The future may be here, but not yet "here".

Date: Fri Dec 28 11:31:54 2018
User: outskirts
Message:
You can use your youtube account. You're missing out. But if you're afraid your tv will be watching you, maybe just go off grid completely, and lose your phone and computer, cuz you are already there. Might as well go full ass. (not half-assed). Lol

Date: Fri Dec 28 12:38:49 2018
User: BuzzClik
Message:
I put disks into a "smart" Blu-ray player that forgot how to update the firmware properly, and all disks became unreadable. Meh. The commercials suck for sure. I have accounts for Netflix (for over 20 years now) and Hulu. I only watch movies, sports, and a few of the cable series (e.g., Better Call Saul). I considered buying ESPN+ for their streaming content, but Hulu plays all of it far better with less hassle than ESPN's own app. A roku can stream live tv and other content without a Google account, but you need such an account for accessing Google Play movies.

Date: Fri Dec 28 12:45:01 2018
User: TNmountainman
Message:
Hmmm. So Hulu allows you to watch ESPN+ (some of us call it "ESPN minus" because of it's notoriously poor reliability) stuff live?

Date: Fri Dec 28 14:27:22 2018
User: BuzzClik
Message:
I didn't state that very well. Hulu premium allows you to watch all the ESPN Watch content and some of the ESPN+. The truly frustrating aspect of streaming ESPN is that it demands that I log out and log in every single time I watch it, and it's a slow process.

Date: Fri Dec 28 19:47:25 2018
User: Denny
Message:
Yeah, Roku $200 TV does it all. I pay too much for Hulu for a little live NFL but I think that's the last holdout. I can't remember the last time I watched a show at a particular time because it was "on." And I certainly haven't need to set the DVR to record something when it was "on." Now with these pesky DVDs I have bought something on Amazon that I already owned on DVD because I couldn't find the freaking DVD. My library is big enough on Amazon that I wish they'd give me a way to search it.