This week on TechHive: The unpleasant reality of PlayStation Vue price hikes

As I noted in last week’s newsletter, Sony is wiping out PlayStation Vue’s price advantage over other streaming bundles, raising the subscription cost by $10 per month in many markets.

Sony previously offered a “Slim” version of PlayStation Vue in places that didn’t get live broadcasts from ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox. Those plans started at $30 per month, versus $40 per month in markets that included a majority of live broadcast feeds. Now, Sony is charging the higher price nationwide for all new subscribers, and it will raise prices for all existing Slim subscribers after their next three billing cycles.

While the price hike might cause some PlayStation Vue subscribers to quit in a huff, the reality is that Sony’s Slim plan was an exception to how streaming bundles work now, and it was probably unsustainable in the long run. Its demise merely brings PlayStation Vue in line with the cost of its competitors, underscoring how streaming bundles today have limited ability to keep prices in check. Read the full column on TechHive.

Weekly Rewind

DirecTV Now updates: AT&T is planning to add cloud DVR service to DirecTV Now, addressing the streaming bundle’s biggest outstanding problem. An invite-only beta is coming this summer, followed by general availability this fall, though it’s unclear what the service will cost or how it’ll work.

AT&T says cloud DVR is part of a broader TV service overhaul that it’s also bringing to DirecTV satellite customers. The plan is to offer a consistent interface across all devices, along with new features like parental controls, user profiles, video downloads, and 4K HDR video. Insert your comments about the power of a competitive TV market here.

Emby DVR review: If you have an HDHomeRun networked TV tuner and a PC to spare, you may want to check out my review of Emby DVR over at TechHive. Similar to Plex, Emby is a media server program you can run on a computer or NAS box, which allows you to stream video onto Emby’s client apps on various other devices. Add Emby’s Premiere service (at $5 per month, $50 per year, or $100 per life), and the server becomes a whole-home DVR, using HDHomeRun to pick up broadcast channels.

Although I hadn’t originally considered Emby in my over-the-air DVR roundup, I was impressed with its features and device support. The main downside is that you have to supply your own guide data–a separate $25 per year SchedulesDirect subscription being the easiest way to do that–and Emby’s client apps aren’t quite as polished as rival Plex’s offerings. Still, I’m happy to see that tech-savvy users have another fine option for making the most of an antenna.

More Catch-Up

Save More Money

By combining Google’s Chromecast streaming dongle with the Google Home connected speaker, you can use voice commands to play videos from Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and other streaming sources on your television. Just say “OK Google,” followed by a command like “watch Moana on Netflix.” EBay is currently selling both devices as $100 bundle, for a discount of $64. Need extra Chromecasts? Walmart has them for $10 off, at $25 apiece.

Thanks for reading!

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Until next week,
Jared