That explains why, in recent years, most companies have raced to the bottom on streaming player prices. Streaming dongles like the Amazon Fire TV Stick and Roku Express cost $40 or less and are pretty decent for the price, and you can get 4K HDR streamers for only about $10 more.

But while the push for ever-cheaper streaming players has been a boon for cost-conscious cord-cutters, it’s left a conspicuous hole in the $80 to $120 range, which was once the streaming box business’ bread and butter. If you wanted better performance than a budget streaming stick, you had to splurge on something much more expensive like the Apple TV 4K or the Nvidia Shield TV, both of which sell for $180.

Now, the mid-range streamer seems to be making a comeback with the new Roku Ultra ($100, more details below) and Amazon Fire TV Cube ($120). Although both boxes are technically updates to older models, they also emphasize performance in ways their predecessors never did. Even if these devices don’t outsell their cheaper siblings, they’ll at least provide a step up for cord-cutters who are willing to spend a little—but not a lot—more. Read the full column on TechHive.

Roku is also refreshing its entry-level Express streaming player ($30) with a smaller design that’s more power efficient. Unfortunately, the remote still uses infrared, which requires line-of-sight to the box, and it still lacks TV volume, TV power, and voice control buttons. Walmart will sell a variant called the Roku Express+ for $40, with all of those buttons on a point-anywhere remote, and will be well-worth the extra $10. Unfortunately, the old Express+, which was the only Roku that supported composite video output for older tube TVs, is going away. Check out my rundown on TechHive for more on how the new players fit into Roku’s lineup.

TiVo intrigue intensifies: Details on TiVo’s future plans continue to trickle out ahead of an announcement next month. In addition to new DVRs (both for cable and over-the-air), the company is apparently working on a service called TiVo+. Over at Zatz Not Funny, Dave Zatz has put the pieces together and surmised that the company wants to launch a hub for ad-supported streaming services, perhaps akin to The Roku Channel or Tubi TV.

We’ve got plenty of ad-supported streaming services already (and Plex is working on another one for later this year), but what would really be interesting is if TiVo provided a way to record that content and skip the ads. Better yet, perhaps TiVo could provide its own bundle of streaming cable channels that could integrate with over-the-air broadcasts in a single menu. There’s no indication that either of those things are happening, though TiVo’s consumer business head told me earlier this year that a bundle of streaming channels is something the company would like to offer. Maybe TiVo+ will be a first step in that direction. We’ll find out soon enough.

Facebook makes a streaming player (sort of): In even more streaming device news, Facebook has announced the Portal TV, a $150 device that’s a hybrid between a streaming box and a webcam. Plug it into your TV, and you can video chat on the big screen through WhatsApp or Facebook messenger. There’s also a picture-in-picture mode for watching videos together with someone while chatting with them, though it sounds like this will only work with Facebook’s Watch video service at launch. The device will also offer some other streaming apps such as Amazon Prime Video and Showtime, but the app selection will be much smaller than what’s available Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV players. I’ve always liked the idea of big-screen video chat, and of TV viewing parties with faraway friends, but I also kind of wish anyone but Facebook was doing it.

How Roku and Amazon Fire TV track you: As I wrote earlier this year, it always strikes me as odd when people bemoan how smart TVs track your viewing habits for ad-targeting purposes, and ignore that standalone streaming players are doing pretty much the same thing. As Wired reported this week, researchers found that the vast majority of Fire TV and Roku apps use trackers that collect information about users’ viewing habits. They can identify those users through unique signals, such as Wi-Fi network names and MAC addresses. Even if you dig into Roku settings and select “Limit Ad Tracking,” or go into Fire TV settings and select “Disable Interest based ads,” lots of identifying information still gets through. Roku apps even appeared to contact more tracking domains when the ad tracking option was disabled.

I’m not of the mind that targeted ads are inherently bad, but right now the whole business is a black box for consumers. Short of scrutinizing every privacy policy for every app, there’s no way to tell what kinds of viewing data these apps are collecting, and no one’s offering any substantial controls for removing that data. This all ties into broader issues with the tech industry and data collection run amok, and I’m glad smart TV makers are no longer the only ones being singled out. I just wish someone–these companies, a competitor like Apple, or maybe the government–would start providing some meaningful solutions.

PlayStation Vue lineup changes: Earlier this week, Sony shuffled around some Discovery-owned channels on PlayStation Vue. Destination America and Science Channel have moved from the base package to the Elite tier, which costs $65 per month, while MotorTrend moved from the Elite tier down to the base Access package, which costs $50 per month. Good news if you like reality shows about cars, bad news if you like reality shows about a random assortment of other things.

For folks who still use an old CRT tube TV, last year’s Roku Express+ is also on sale for $30 at Walmart, down from the usual $40.