CBS All Access

[8/31/16] Discontinued my CBS All Access subscription after I finished watching Supergirl and CSI: Cyber (the available episodes anyway) and I saw that Netflix picked up all the Limitless.  One of the questions they asked when exiting was the reason for discontinuing.  Too much commercials was one of my options.

Now I see they have a commercial free plan for $10/month.  Commercial free sounds good.  But $10/month?  I guess that's not that bad, but that's the same price as Netflix.  I guess we're all spoiled by the Netflix price.

[6/9/15] Decided to try out CBS All Access a couple of weeks ago because Letterman was going off the air and I missed the last couple of weeks.  (And it wasn't On Demand on Oceanic.)  I've been using it mostly on my Roku, but sometimes on my iPad or computers.

I found out that I could use my CBS Rewards to get a free month (and that I needed to use it because CBS Rewards was going kaput).  So I redeemed it and tried to apply it.  But I don't know if it worked because the screen hung up when I put in the code.  And when I try to access my account on CBS.com, my credit card is not available (bad sign).  I get the following message: "Your Account, Billing and Payment Information is currently unavailable. Please call customer service for assistance: (888) 274-5343."  Another bad sign.  So we'll see when my card gets charged.

Hey, but I guess the free month code worked because I see a message in my CBS All-Access account area saying "Enjoy your Free Trial Through June 28, 2015".

Anyway, here's what I noticed so far.

The picture seems a little dark for some reason.

Sometimes there's buffering.  Sometimes there's a lot of buffering.  And sometimes there's a long wait as it buffers.  Sure my internet speed isn't that fast.  And sure I'm using an old, slow Roku HD.  But don't have this problem on Netflix or Hulu Plus.

And there's a lot of commercials.  A lot more than Hulu Plus.  And you get the same commercials over and over.  Currently Expedia is the one that keeps playing over and over.  It's a snappy commercial but after watching it seemingly every five minutes, it gets a bit tiresome after the fourth or fifth time.  And all this time watching it, I still can't make out all the words that the woman is singing.

And you can watch what's on CBS Live, but only in selected areas (not in Hawaii).

You get all this season's episodes for current CBS shows.  NCIS fans will be happy to know that all 24 episodes of season 12 are available.  Also all this season's episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans.  And Scorpion and Hawaii Five-O, and Elementary, etc.

But not all the shows.  For example, only 7 episodes of The Big Bang Theory, 7 episodes of CSI: Cyber, 7 episodes of 2 Broke Girls, 7 episodes of Mom.  6 episodes of The Mentalist.  And now only 2 episodes left of Late Night with David Letterman (and counting down).

They do have some "classic shows", like Everybody Hates Chris, Star Trek, MacGyver, and a bunch more.  But most of these (if not all of them) are also on Hulu.

After I finish watching the Scorpion finale (and maybe some CSI Cyber and NCIS: Los Angeles), I'm on the fence about renewing.

[4/7/15] CBS's internet TV service is arriving on Roku today. For $5.99 a month, Roku owners will be able to subscribe to CBS All Access, which gives subscribers streams of many current and past CBS TV series and allows viewers to actually watch CBS as it's live on the air, so long as they're within certain areas. It's the exact service that people who want to ditch cable are looking for, making this an important grab for Roku. Though All Access has already been available on the web and through iOS and Android apps, the addition makes Roku — which already has a huge number of online channels — an even more compelling option for those looking for a device that'll let them cancel cable.

For now, CBS All Access' killer feature — the ability to watch CBS as it's airing live — is only available in 14 markets. That includes New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, Miami, Denver, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore. CBS says that more locations are coming "soon," but it doesn't mention where or exactly when. Notably, those live streams do not include NFL games, though other sports content is available.

CBS does mention that you can expect to see All Access on more platforms very soon. "The launch of the CBS All Access channel marks the first of many connected device platforms we’ll be bringing this service to in the coming months," Marc DeBevoise, a CBS Interactive exec, says in a statement. One would expect the Apple TV to be among those, but Apple has exclusives of its own for now: for the next three months, it's the only streaming box that's going to have HBO Now. There's a good chance that'll be more of a sales hook that CBS.

[10/16/14] Netflix got even more competition this week, a day after HBO revealed that it will introduce a stand-alone streaming service in 2015: CBS released a digital subscription video-on-demand service, "CBS All Access," on Thursday.

The new product -- which costs $5.99 per month -- will be measured by Nielsen, the network said.

"All Access" offers episodes from the network's current season, previous seasons and classic shows on-demand. Viewers are also able to stream local CBS TV stations live in 14 of the biggest U.S. markets, including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, Miami, Denver, Sacramento, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.

The service is currently available at CBS.com and on mobile devices through the CBS App for iOS and Android. Non-subscribers will still be able to access to the most recent current episodes of CBS programming on CBS.com, select CBS Audience Network partner sites and through the CBS App.

Here's what is included at launch, per the press release:

- Full current seasons of 15 primetime shows with episodes available the day after they air.

- Unprecedented ability to live stream local CBS stations in 14 of the largest markets at launch, with more to be added as affiliates join the new service.

- Full past seasons of eight major current series, including THE GOOD WIFE, BLUE BLOODS and SURVIVOR.

- More than 5,000 episodes of CBS Classics, including every episode of STAR TREK, CHEERS, MACGYVER, TWIN PEAKS and CSI: MIAMI.

- Access to exclusive additional content for CBS Television's biggest special events, such as THE GRAMMY® AWARDS, THE ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS and THE VICTORIA'S SECRET FASHION SHOW.

- Ability to stream the BIG BROTHER 24/7 Live Feeds service for no additional fee when the show returns next summer.

- Advertising-free environment for all CBS Classics.

***

Don't you get a lot of this now with their app and website.  Well, I guess you get only the most recent shows and not all of their classics.

Actually most, if not all, of the CBS Classics are currently on Netflix.  So I'm wondering if they're going to pull them off.  And interestingly I don't see NCIS or the new Hawaii Five-O mentioned as a series with full past seasons.  Well, going to NCIS, it says you can "watch the full season" with All Access.  No such mention for Hawaii Five-O or The Mentalist.  Blue Bloods says "Watch Full Seasons".    Hawaii Five-O and The Mentalist just says "Watch It Live Watch It Later".

a new epoch

Humanity’s impact on the Earth is now so profound that a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene – needs to be declared, according to an official expert group who presented the recommendation to the International Geological Congress in Cape Town on Monday.

The new epoch should begin about 1950, the experts said, and is likely to be defined by the radioactive elements dispersed across the planet by nuclear bomb tests, although an array of other signals, including plastic pollution, soot from power stations, concrete, and even the bones left by the global proliferation of the domestic chicken are now under consideration.

The current epoch, the Holocene, is the 12,000 years of stable climate since the last ice age during which all human civilisation developed. But the striking acceleration since the mid-20th century of carbon dioxide emissions and sea level rise, the global mass extinction of species, and the transformation of land by deforestation and development mark the end of that slice of geological time, the experts argue. The Earth is so profoundly changed that the Holocene must give way to the Anthropocene.

Evidence of the Anthropocene

Human activity has:

Pushed extinction rates of animals and plants far above the long-term average. The Earth is now on course to see 75% of species become extinct in the next few centuries if current trends continue.

Increased levels of climate-warming CO2 in the atmosphere at the fastest rate for 66m years, with fossil-fuel burning pushing levels from 280 parts per million before the industrial revolution to 400ppm and rising today.

Put so much plastic in our waterways and oceans that microplastic particles are now virtually ubiquitous, and plastics will likely leave identifiable fossil records for future generations to discover.

Doubled the nitrogen and phosphorous in our soils in the past century with our fertiliser use. This is likely to be the largest impact on the nitrogen cycle in 2.5bn years.

Left a permanent layer of airborne particulates in sediment and glacial ice such as black carbon from fossil fuel burning.

html to pdf

Some of my old statements are in html format rather than pdf.

I recently came across this website that can convert html to pdf files.

[9/16/16 - I'm using it to convert amazon order invoices which are in html format to pdf.  Seems to work best on firefox.  Save as Web Page, HTML only.]

Let's see how well it works on my files.

The first one I tried was in mht format which is Microsoft's extension to html.  It's not compatible.

OK, I found a .htm file.  It converted it, but the graphics didn't come over.  The text came over OK.

Well, I guess I'll live with the mht files.

***

Hey, here's another site that can supposedly convert mht files to pdf.

Well, it converted without any error messages.  But the text is pretty small on the converted document.  I guess I'll stick the the mht files.

So much for that.

Goodbye free Hulu, Hello Yahoo View

The streaming service, which launched in 2007 with ad-supported content, will be transitioning to having all users pay to play, it announced Monday.

It's a move that's not entirely shocking given the company's recent investments in original content and in expanding its film and TV library.

Users seeking free Hulu content aren't being completely shown the door, however. There will still be ad supported programming available courtesy of the streaming platform's growing distribution partnerships.

On Monday Yahoo also announced the launch of Yahoo View, a new site which will offer users free access to Hulu's content.

"Yahoo View is the extension of Yahoo's long-standing distribution partnership with Hulu and will offer thousands of TV, anime, Korean drama and movies including full episodes, films, and clips for free," the announcement's press release states. "This further emphasizes Yahoo's commitment to create an experience for people to consume content they care about while being able to connect with a community of like-minded fans."

The Yahoo TV-watching site is billing itself as "the best place to watch the last five episodes of ABC, NBC, FOX (8 days after original broadcast) and other network sitcoms."

Amazon Fire TV and generic remote?

To my surprise, I just happened to be press some button on my generic universal remote (my Philips universal remote in Panasonic TV mode) and the Fire TV responded.

The left, right, up, down, select buttons worked as well as the back button.  Couldn't find out an equivalent to the home button or the menu button though, so it's not a complete replacement.

It didn't work when I had the remote pointed away from the TV, so I thought this means that the Fire TV supports IR remotes.  But reading further, maybe it's controlling it via HDMI-CEC?  Not sure.

OK, let me try test it by pointing the remote directly at the Fire TV vs. the Panasonic TV.

But now that I'm trying it, the Fire TV doesn't respond.  It's like I was dreaming the whole thing.  Beats me.  Strange..

... later that day

OK, I wasn't dreaming.  It worked again as I was watching TV and switched the input to the Fire TV.  Apparently it is HDMI-CEC or at least it's not IR.  That's because I could control the Fire TV when pointing directly at the TV.  But not when I moved the Fire TV to the floor and pointed the remote directly at the Fire TV.

Netflix getting stuck on Fire TV

In the last day or so, I've encountered an odd problem running Netflix on my Fire TV.  After I exit Netflix and try to go back in, the Netflix progress circle keeps spinning and spinning and won't go in.

I thought it might have been a problem with my Netflix account.  I tried uninstalling Netflix and reinstalling.  After reinstalling, I can get into Netflix, but I have to log in with my account data.

I tried restarting the Fire TV.  I can get into Netflix, but it locks again after I exit and re-enter.

I tried restoring the Fire TV to default.  Same thing.  I can get into Netflix initially, but after exiting and trying to go back in, it locks.

Netflix doesn't do this on any of my other devices.  I tried it on my iPad and my Fire tablet and my Roku Stick and even on my Fire Stick.

Initially I had an error on Netflix on the Roku Stick with error code ui-800-3, but I reset Netflix to its original state (it was an option on the error code window) and it worked after that.

Sometimes after Netflix locks up trying to get back in, I also get errors on Hulu, youtube, and even on Amazon video (the other three main apps that I use).  If I get the error on Amazon video, there's a message saying a restart might clear it up.

So after experimenting some more, it appears restarting the Fire TV is the simplest way to allow me to get back into Netflix.

So now my procedure for running Netflix on the Fire TV (after the first time) is to first restart the Fire TV from the system menu.  It's not that bad as it takes less than a minute for the Fire TV to restart and another 20 seconds or so to get back into Netflix.

I'm thinking that running Netflix either corrupts the Fire TV memory or leaves in an unstable state.  I suspect it could be the Fire TV hardware starting to fail.  Since the warranty has long been expired (this is the original Fire TV that I bought from Best Buy in May 2014), I guess I'll do it this way for now.

I've been switching back and forth lately from the Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV.

I like the Fire TV because it can run Netflix, Hulu, youtube, and Amazon video.  The Roku can do that too, but I like the captions on Hulu better on the Fire TV.  One drawback is that it doesn't have certain apps, like NatGeoTV for one.

Actually I like the captions the best on the Apple TV, but it doesn't play Amazon video (though I can Airplay it from the iPad).  Apple TV also doesn't have certain apps, like HGTV for example.

Roku supports the most apps, but I like its Hulu captions the least.

***

Fooling around some more...  After reading this thread, I tried clearing cache, force stop, and run application.  That worked.  And actually I'm finding that you don't even need to clear cache.  Just do a force stop and run application.  So that's even faster than the system reset.

This solution (clear data from Amazon video) from Brad Lee seems to be popular too.  (Didn't work for me though.)

***

And a few hours later...  Netflix doesn't appear to be locking up any more.  Well, wait 'til next time..

*** [8/3/16]

The next day... Stopped working again.  It even seemed to affect a youtube video that couldn't play.  Tried clearing cache and force stop on both Netflix and Youtube, but it didn't work.  However a restart of the Fire TV cleared up the problem.

*** [8/3/16 aftenoon/evening]

OK Netflix is now behaving more responsively.  Sometime when I exit Netflix and immediately try to re-enter, it immediates goes back to where I exited.  It appears it's leaving the status in memory someplace and when I go back it's able to access the status and resume what it was doing.  I think before when it hung up, it was accessing the previous status but then got stuck trying to resume the previous state.  That's because I would sometimes notice a quick flash of a previous screen and then Netflix would get stuck.

But it doesn't always immediately resume the previous state.  In this case it would take about 10 to 15 second of the circle spinning going to the Netflix profile screen (where you chose what profile you want to use).  Too early to tell whether the stuck Netflix problem has been solved, but it looks like there's progress.

I'm guessing they're tweaking the Netflix app as the problem reports come in.