Confession
time. I’m a Videophile. An Extreme Videophile. And no, that doesn’t mean I’m on
an FBI Watch List or need to enter a 12 step program or have an intervention.
It does mean that as soon as I walk in the door at home, even before taking off
my coat, I turn on the television. And normally, except for my husband’s cocked
eyebrow and eye rolling, it’s not a problem. It wasn’t, that is, until I moved
my boat into a marina that didn’t have cable. That’s where my Search for
Video/Entertainment journey began.
I have
two residences – one is a Ta Chiao CT-56 sailboat in Fort Lauderdale, the other
is a Sea Ray Sundancer 300 motorboat just south of Boston. Fort Lauderdale’s
easy. The marina provides basic cable and, for a reasonable upcharge, you can
add High Speed Internet and the cable channels you actually want to watch. The
northern marinas, however, don’t provide this service. They do provide WiFi,
but if you’ve ever tried to stream video across a shared, public WiFi, you
understand the issue. If you haven’t, it’s really simple. There’s a limited
amount of bandwidth and video takes A LOT of bandwidth. When a group of people
try to stream all at once, services start buffering or shut down all together.
Not a good situation when you’re trying to follow who you think will have to
Pack [Their] Knives and Go on Top Chef.
Ironically, this isn’t difficult on High Speed (wired) Internet, which I have
with a full cable package. If I had one, I wouldn’t absolutely have to have the
other. Oh well… Anyway, here’s my
journey.
Satellite
TV
Years
past, I’ve subscribed to both Directv® and Dish®. Each have their pros and
cons, and I would have accepted either. However, the representatives I spoke
with resolutely refused to let me sign up without a two year contract.
Previously, Dish® allowed me to go month-to-month, I just had to pay extra
(~$20/month). And if I didn’t return the equipment when I was done, I would be
charged $300 for the dish. Fair enough. But no more. I explained that if I
found a job close to home, I wouldn’t need satellite services anymore, but it
didn’t matter. So they were out.
Terrible,
right? Three, maybe four, grainy, boring channels, possibly not in your
language. But not really. For less than $25, I obtained an HDTV antenna, which
pulls in 48 channels. This worked passably well in one marina, not so much in
another. The latter failed because it’s a bumpier ride (lots of wind and wave
action), and the antenna can’t stay on the signal. Plus, there are only so many
catheter commercials and episodes of Law
and Order and Criminal Minds that
I care to watch. As a result, it’s still in place; mostly as a backup. And I
still enjoy Night Court from time to
time. While I don’t partake myself, it’s also the way to receive local news and
programming.
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Hard to
believe, but Netflix provides the best buffering on a WiFi signal of any other
service I’ve found. If the WiFi is truly terrible, even Netflix can fail, but
overall it hangs in there. The biggest downfalls that I see in this service are
that aside from their original programming, the offerings are typically older.
This doesn’t bother me very much as it allowed me to binge watch Murder She Wrote and Columbo, but it’s frustrating when you
would like to watch Top Chef or Chopped. Although I was pleasantly
surprised to see The Angry Birds Movie. Of course, it’s not
shocking that this movie was easily acquired. And no, I do not like Stranger Things. There. I said it. And I
stand by it. Yuck.
As good
as Netflix is, I still wanted better streaming. Some of the channels provide
the ability to watch current programming IF you have an active subscription to
a video service. Remember the CT-56 in South Florida? I can utilize my XFinity
account from that. Not the online XFinity; that’s only available for an
upcharge, if it’s in my area, blah di blah di blah. Translation, not worth my
time. However, I can go directly to Lifetime or Bravo and watch Project Runway and/or Top Chef. Even VH1 for America’s Next Top Model, even though
I’m not feeling it with the loss of Tyra Banks. Still hanging in there, at
least, for now…
Enough
of the aside; back to better streaming. Did some research and found lots of
solutions for lots of money. Being cheap, I stopped by Walmart, found a WiFi
Signal Booster for $12, and plugged it in. After figuring out the horribly written
instructions that hadn’t been updated from the last model, I got it working on
the marina WiFi. And, even in the midst of the New England winter, the clouds
parted, the sun began to shine and birds sang at the top of their little voices.
I had a WiFi signal I could stream from. Hallelujah. Time for the next big
step.
As a
horror/action movie aficionado, I really enjoy Danny Trejo. When I first saw
his commercial for SlingTV (You think I’m
evil? I’ll tell you what’s evil—Cable television), I was intrigued. I’m not
thrilled with cable television, but I don’t think it’s evil, I just don’t have
access to it. So I checked out SlingTV. When I went to their website, there was
an offer of a free Roku if I signed up for a monthly subscription ($19). Being
a lover of free things, I figured Why not?
I signed up. While waiting, I tried the PC application, which consistently ran
for about 10 minutes and then froze. Not holding out much hope, I was still
excited to receive the Roku.
After
setting up the Roku, I found that some channels are better than others at
streaming off the boosted WiFi and the DVR like capabilities should be avoided
at all costs. Even pausing causes a program to permanently lock at the pause
point. So I treat it like regular cable and all is well. I also find that the
live streaming works better than the on demand options. The final result is
that I can now watch Top Chef without
resorting to nefarious means. Like sneaking into neighbors’ houses when they’re
away just to watch Bravo.
Amazon
Prime Video
The
final option is that I have an Amazon Prime subscription and can tap into
strange videos if the other sources are completely exhausted. The performance
is catch as, catch can, but after one miserable download, they contacted me
with a refund. The email began with We
noticed you had trouble viewing your recent video download… Okay, so I was
a little creeped out that Amazon was watching me that closely, but it’s a fact
of life that Big Brother is Watching and at least I received a refund.
Living the dream – one cheesy
horror movie at a time…
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