Things Smackie Thinks You Need to Know...

HoyaSaxa03 wrote:
the best part is all the new gear and services you can justify buying in order to replace the cable service.  oh, and the meticulous tech/gadget planning, which is nearly as fun.

Yes.  Sadly, I wasn't uniform in my purchases, so I have an Xbox in one room, a Roku or two scattered about and a couple of Tivo Premiere's lingering about because of Soccer.  Since they're not all uniform in their offerings, this has a bit problematic when I'm in the wrong room to watch certain offerings.

I am also still exercising my self-imposed Netflix ban.  I have been pretty good about using those savings to rent new(ish) to market movies from Google and Amazon (of course, recognizing my self-imposed Comcast On Demand ban).  My principled stances make things very difficult on myself.   

my favorite channels on roku, i gave up cable fully eight years ago by the way, are revision three, giant bomb, ign, gay life tv, nbcnews, weather underground, pbs, smithsonian, netflix, crackle . . . and tmz.

walkonby wrote:
my favorite channels on roku, i gave up cable fully eight years ago by the way, are revision three, giant bomb, ign, gay life tv, nbcnews, weather underground, pbs, smithsonian, netflix, crackle . . . and tmz.

Interesting.  I watch PBS from your list but little else.

Mine are MLB.TV, Amazon Instant Video, Vimeo, TED, Economist Radio, Hulu+ and HBOGo. 

For local/personal playback: Plex, Picasa and Shuttefly.

Smackie: In case you didnt see it mentioned in another thread - I highly recommend checking out How to Make Money Selling Drugs playing at the Roxie. I think its only there through Thurs. Its *very* worth seeing!

vansmack wrote:

walkonby wrote:
my favorite channels on roku, i gave up cable fully eight years ago by the way, are revision three, giant bomb, ign, gay life tv, nbcnews, weather underground, pbs, smithsonian, netflix, crackle . . . and tmz.

Interesting.  I watch PBS from your list but little else.

PBS needs to get the Newshour posted a lot quicker each evening.

Chromecast.

I've been using the feature for a few weeks now and it's incredible.  Easiest way to get content from your Android/Windows/iOS/Mac/Chrome device to a TV or stereo.

And it's $35.

Smackie Approved.

https://play.google.com/store

(it will be in Best Buy this weekend as well)

If you'd like to see it in action.

vansmack wrote:
Chromecast.

I've been using the feature for a few weeks now and it's incredible.  Easiest way to get content from your Android/Windows/iOS/Mac/Chrome device to a TV or stereo.

And it's $35.

Smackie Approved.

https://play.google.com/store

(it will be in Best Buy this weekend as well)

If you'd like to see it in action.

Can it do straight screen mirroring from a mac or pc (ie apple tv), or does it just work in certain apps?

Cutting the chord is imminent.

chaz wrote:
Can it do straight screen mirroring from a mac or pc (ie apple tv), or does it just work in certain apps?

No it does not.

On mobile devices (Android/iOS) it relies on app support, though the API is being freely shared.

On PC/Mac/Chrome it relies on Chrome Browser support.  If you can watch/listen in a Chrome Browser, you can watch/listen on your TV.

vansmack wrote:

chaz wrote:
Can it do straight screen mirroring from a mac or pc (ie apple tv), or does it just work in certain apps?

No it does not.

On mobile devices (Android/iOS) it relies on app support, though the API is being freely shared.

On PC/Mac/Chrome it relies on Chrome Browser support.  If you can watch/listen in a Chrome Browser, you can watch/listen on your TV.

That sucks.  Wish it could cast mp4, mpg etc. 
there's always apple tv for that i suppose.

chaz wrote:
That sucks.  Wish it could cast mp4, mpg etc. 
there's always apple tv for that i suppose.

I suspect that apps like Plex will have Cast support very soon.

I use Google Play Music so my music will already play.  Locally stored videos, however, I have yet to find a solution (and am basically waiting on plex as its what I use on my server).

vansmack wrote:

chaz wrote:
That sucks.  Wish it could cast mp4, mpg etc. 
there's always apple tv for that i suppose.

I suspect that apps like Plex will have Cast support very soon.

I use Google Play Music so my music will already play.  Locally stored videos, however, I have yet to find a solution (and am basically waiting on plex as its what I use on my server).

have you used the plex app for roku?  how is it?

chaz wrote:
have you used the plex app for roku?  how is it?

Yes, and it's fine, though it took forever to catalog.  I'm not sure if that was my Synology NAS (213J) or if it was because I have a large collection, but it seemed like it would never completely catalog all of the songs.

For movies it's quick and easy.

go watch the ken burns doc the civil war, on netflix app.

go watch drag talk with mahogany la piranHa, on gay life television app

go watch anything, on revision three app

go watch all frontline episodes, on pbs app

go watch seinfeld, on crackle app

chaz wrote:
That sucks.  Wish it could cast mp4, mpg etc. 
there's always apple tv for that i suppose.

Apparently, if you drop the file in the Chrome Browser it works.  I didn't even know you could do that!

http://www.droid-life.com/2013/07/25/tip-you-can-play-local-video-files-through-chromecast/

I'm at works so I can't try it out, but will soon.

I cut the cord last night.  My feudal aid to Comcast is now down to $40 a month for 50 mbps (advertised).

Watched the Nats game just fine on the Roku, love the time-shifting abilities.

Any protips for a Harmony 700?  Just got mine set up, can't believe I didn't have a harmony before this.

HoyaSaxa03 wrote:
Any protips for a Harmony 700?  Just got mine set up, can't believe I didn't have a harmony before this.

Pay close attention to your use patterns over say 30 days or so, then spend some time creating custom sequences/macros.  That's the true power of the Harmony line of remotes.

HoyaSaxa03 wrote:


Watched the Nats game just fine on the Roku, love the time-shifting abilities.

How are you getting local games?  A proxy?

vansmack wrote:

chaz wrote:
That sucks.  Wish it could cast mp4, mpg etc. 
there's always apple tv for that i suppose.

Apparently, if you drop the file in the Chrome Browser it works.  I didn't even know you could do that!

http://www.droid-life.com/2013/07/25/tip-you-can-play-local-video-files-through-chromecast/

I'm at works so I can't try it out, but will soon.

report back

Best Deadline Deal Ever: Angels

So ESPN has been doing this 30 day series of talking about the best deadline deals ever for each team (they have not done the O's or Nat's yet).  While I can remember a number of bad deals for the Angels, I couldn't think of many that really ever worked out. 

ESPN chose the Teixeira trade in 2008and I was like WTF?!  Sure he had a good second half of the season but he was terrible in the playoffs and that bastard turned us down for the Yankees so he's dead to me.

I never realized the arbitration pick the Yanks forfeited to sign Teixeira in the 2009 Draft ended up being Mike Trout.  God I love him even more now….

chaz wrote:

HoyaSaxa03 wrote:


Watched the Nats game just fine on the Roku, love the time-shifting abilities.

How are you getting local games?  A proxy?

http://www.unblock-us.com/

DNS settings on my router, so it works on all my devices.