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| This week on TechHive: Saving the free stuff with PlayOn |
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| To help people pass the time at home during the coronavirus pandemic, several TV networks have been streaming movies and shows for free. HBO, for instance, has opened up nearly 500 hours of free programming to non-subscribers, while CBS All Access has offered 60-day trials even to previous customers. Epix is also offering a 30-day trial through Amazon Prime, and several more services are providing extended trials through the Roku Channel.
These aren’t simple acts of generosity. Eventually, the free trials will run dry and the giveaways will go away, at which point you’ll be expected to pay for all those shows you’re in the middle of watching.
Fortunately, there’s a workaround: With a service called PlayOn, you can record movies and shows from online sources like Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO, and CBS All Access. The resulting video files are yours to keep, even if you’ve stopped subscribing to the services from which those files came. If we’re going to remain mostly at home for the foreseeable future, now might be the time to stock up on free movies and shows to watch later. Read the full column on TechHive. |
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| Weekly rewind |
| HBO Max date and discounts: AT&T’s WarnerMedia group has nailed down a launch date of May 27 for HBO Max. As the name suggests, the $15 per month streaming service will be like a supersized version of HBO. It’ll have all the premium channel’s programming, plus new originals, licensed shows (Big Bang Theory and South Park among them), films from the WarnerMedia catalog (The Matrix, Wonder Woman, and so on), and more from WarnerMedia-owned channels such as Adult Swim and CNN. The price and the breadth of content will probably make it the closest direct Netflix competitor we’ve seen yet.
Some AT&T customers won’t have to pay anything, though. AT&T says it will bundle the service with its priciest Unlimited Elite wireless plan ($85 per month for one line), with gigabit AT&T home internet service (where available), and with some of its TV services (including the $80 per month “Max” tier of AT&T TV Now). If you’re paying for HBO through a traditional TV provider, you might also get HBO Max at no extra charge, but so far only Spectrum has announced that it will offer this.
AT&T TV review: Speaking of AT&T-owned video services, my proper review of AT&T TV went live on TechHive this week. AT&T TV pairs a big bundle of live channels with an Android-based streaming box that tries to mimic the cable experience. It launches straight into live TV when you turn it on, has dedicated guide and channel number buttons on its remote, and comes with an easy-to-use cloud DVR. The streaming box also includes access to popular apps such as Netflix and Disney+, which you can subscribe to separately. (The service is not to be confused with AT&T TV Now, which doesn’t include hardware.)
The AT&T TV service works pretty well if you can forgive a few minor interface annoyances and the lack of Amazon Prime and Hulu app support. But as I noted in an earlier column, the price structure is just too onerous, requiring a two-year contract with a severe price hike in the middle. It’s a shame, because I really think a lot of folks could use an easy, all-in-one gateway to cord-cutting, yet once you get through AT&T’s promo rates, it’s not going to save much money.
HDHomeRun embraces ATSC 3.0: Well this is a surprise. SiliconDust has launched a Kickstarter campaign for an HDHomeRun ATSC 3.0 tuner, and it’s only $50 more than the ATSC 1.0 tuner that the company sells today. The HDHomeRun Quatro 4K costs $200 and will have four tuners, two of which will support ATSC 3.0 for channels in up to 4K resolution and 7.1.4 surround sound. As with other HDHomeRun tuners, this one connects to your router via ethernet cable, then streams video over Wi-Fi to the HDHomeRun app on various streaming devices. SiliconDust says it’s targeting July to ship the first batch of tuners.
Bear in mind that the vast majority of U.S. markets don’t have any ATSC 3.0 channels yet. The broadcast industry hopes to have 40 markets airing some amount of ATSC 3.0 content by year-end, but we’re still waiting on channel details, and it’s unclear what impact the coronavirus is having on deployment. Either way, broadcasters will have to simulcast ATSC 1.0 for their main channels until at least February 2023, so the announcement of a consumer-friendly ATSC 3.0 tuner doesn’t render your current setup obsolete. Still, I do have to admit that affordable hardware is happening a lot sooner than I expected.
Reelgood’s Roku remote: As a few of you pointed out, the iPhone version of Reelgood’s remote control feature that I covered in last week’s column hadn’t yet launched by the time I sent out the newsletter. The update is now available in the App Store, so give it a try if you haven’t already. |
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| Save more money |
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| Best Buy is currently selling the the Headphone Edition of Roku’s Streaming Stick+ for $50, which is $10 off the regular price. Unlike the regular Roku Streaming Stick+, this Best Buy-exclusive version has a headphone jack built into its remote control and includes a set of wired earbuds for watching TV in silence. It’s otherwise identical, with 4K HDR streaming support and very simple software. The standard Stick+ usually sells for $50, so this is a chance to get private listening as well for the same price.
Also worth noting: Amazon has the Fire TV Recast DVR for $145, which is $15 higher than Prime Day pricing but still a decent deal. The Recast is an over-the-air DVR that records programs from an antenna, but it doesn’t output directly to your television. Instead, it streams the video over Wi-Fi to other Fire TV devices around the house, so you get a single interface for both streaming and broadcast TV. Although it’s missing some features that other DVRs offer, such as automatic ad skipping, video quality is pretty good, and asking the Alexa voice assistant to launch over-the-air channels is really convenient. (Here’s my review.) |
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