Phannie

Phannie
Photo taken near Monument Valley, Utah

Monday, May 22, 2017

Update on Cloud TV: I Fire Apple TV

At Sunset Shore RV Park, Willis, Texas...

I thought it would be a good idea to let you know that I have replaced the Apple TV receiver with one from Roku. To my surprise, the Roku suits me much better than the Apple, with all its vaunted hype, cool styling and cult following. I purchased the Roku Premiere for $89.95 at Best Buy, for the following reasons:

1) The main problem was that the Apple began to freeze up when Netflix was selected. I tried a dozen things, and it just stopped working. 2) I was also annoyed that Amazon Prime is not available. How arrogant, I thought, that Apple's little hissy fit with Amazon would keep their stream off the device. 3) I found the touch-sensitive Apple remote more frustrating than useful, as my fat fingers didn't always touch the part of the remote that would cause the appropriate selection to appear on the screen. I plan to hold on to the Apple TV set, though, as it serves admirably as a means to stream wirelessly with Airplay from my iPad to a television set. 

Here's what the new Roku box looks like:



While I'm on the TV subject, I'll go ahead and tell you of an outstanding mobile TV satellite service named Sats2Go (281-564-2828), located near Conroe, Texas and which serves the Houston area.  You may recall that, in my last post on this subject, I was bragging on my Direct TV service and the Winegard Trav'ler automatic dish that feeds it. I guess I never learn, because it has been my painful experience that when I refer to something as trouble-free, it will almost certainly make me look foolish by promptly breaking down. When we were recently in Port Aransas, the Trav'ler dish searched every corner of the obstruction-free sky overhead and simply refused to lock on to a satellite. Inside the coach, I looked at the little Winegard control box where the word "Searching..." remained illuminated, mocking me for my previous braggadocio. 

Upon returning to Sunset Shores, I gave Sats2Go a call and Dave, the owner, appeared a few days later, as arranged. Although not much of a schmoozer, Dave's knowledge of my system was nothing sort of encyclopedic. In a short time, he not only fixed the searching problem (a loose wire), but he rerouted and fastened some of the cables on the roof that had been left awry during the installation years ago. Then he turned his attention to the components inside the coach. With a flurry of activity and with wires and cables flailing around, he reconfigured my system to where it had more capability than when it was new! When he was finished, he handed me a couple of pieces of leftover switches and other components that he said weren't needed any longer in my setup. Apparently, the guys who did the original installation were not on their game, he said. To say I was impressed with Dave is an understatement. If you have problems--or you would like an equipment installation, give Dave a call at (281) 564-2828. I have put him on my list of favorite maintenance providers, linked on the home page of this blog.

Today was a cooking day for us. I fixed some 15-bean soup in a small slow cooker and fried up some hot water cornbread to go with it. Sandy made one of her famous chocolate cakes with roasted walnuts in the icing. 



We sampled both dishes and took most of the rest to the kids. They were so happy to get it. 

That's about it for now; thanks for stopping by!

Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful life; please forgive me if I don't appreciate it enough each day.





13 comments:

  1. It's good to see that you "saw the light" and moved on to Roku. We did that several years ago because we wanted Amazon Prime video that Apple decided was a no go on their system. Although we watched Netflix occasionally, they have become quite radical in their programming (in my "humble" opinion of course) with productions like "Bill Nye Saves the World" and other ridiculous in house efforts. It sounds like you are getting a handle on a good number of tech issues that are all a part of travel adventures. Stay safe!!!!

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  2. Hi, Gordon! Yes, I must say, it was a bit of any eye-opener. And you're also right that a lot of programming these days is pure junk. But at least I have enough titles available to sort through and find the good ones (I hope). My best to you and the girls!

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  3. Sure is nice to find a reliable service man that get things right. You for looks yummy especially the 15 bean soup one of my favourites.

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    1. Hello, George! The soup was good, and I know you are an excellent soup maker. It's amazing what you can do with leftover chicken.

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    2. Yes it is amazing and any homemade soup is wonderful and good for you as well. Love leftover chicken too.

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  4. We have stayed away from anything streaming since we are always on 4g or park wifi and it isn't always reliable. We also worry about data usage.

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    1. I get it. I had to come to terms with just how important unlimited data is to me. Turns out with AT&T's new plan, it just wasn't that much more than I was already paying. It's one of my two vices: eating out too often and being a data hog. I suppose there are worse things.

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    2. Unlimited really isn't unlimited as you probably know. Have you run into data limits yet? With lower speeds do you get pixelation?

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  5. Yes, I'm aware of the "slowdown" that is supposed to occur after certain usage gates have been passed. I haven't noticed any deterioration after 40 or 50 gigs, which is well beyond the gate. I have friends with the plan who have not seen any slowdown either, and their data use is ten times as much. So, what I'm guessing is that if the network isn't saturated, they may just leave the throttle open. Who knows?

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    1. We've already gotten an email from Verizon when our jetpack got over 10GB and this was without streaming.

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    2. Gosh, I always thought I might have done better going with Verizon Wireless, but now I'm not so sure.

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  6. I just wish I had you around one a week to train me on this tech stuff! Then when we're about to hook ( well you know that story).... I need to go to tech school!

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    1. We will have a class next time we get together. Will teach for food! HaHa!

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