TV :: 2015 Q1 :: Double catastrophe

Double catastrophe

We turned on our TV one night, and the sound came on but the screen was black. Three days later, on the bedroom TV the same thing happened.

Coincidence? In this case: YES. I am not sure what our main TV’s problem is. The repair man will come next Monday. On the Westinghouse television, it appears that it is a very common standard problem. A bad capacitor in the power supply.

We decided to simply buy another television, so we got an LG 32 inch television, and we will sell the Westinghouse on eBay. Meanwhile, we have been using our computer to watch Netflix.

TV :: 2014 Q2 :: Consolidators

Here are some of the things that we have enjoyed watching with this alternate viewing schedule:

From Time to Time . A very well-done British film with much subtle imagery. As an unexpected surprise, two of the characters from the Harry Potter movies have major parts.

Grounded for Life: sitcom: a mildly amusing family sitcom about weak parents and a dominant daughter and unique son. Worth the watch.

Battlestar Galactica: series: starring Lorne Greene as Commander Adama, this classic follows a ragtag group of colonists on their trip through space in search for the planet earth

Sirens: sitcom: a fairly recent comedy following three EMTs (actually six EMTs) through their day today adventures. One very wannabe macho, one very gay, one probably in denial, one old guy, one borderline autistic counter, and one voodo princess. Very fun.

Saturday Night Live: I still can’t graduate from the glory days of John Belushi and Dan Ackelroid. Don’t bother.

Pocahontas: the movie: okay, so we finally watched it. Mildly entertaining. Worth a watch, but I still don’t like the ending AT ALL.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: series: I expected bad, but was mildly surprised. Worth watching just to know what they are doing.

Miss Fisher’s murder mysteries: British sitcom: still too early to tell, but seems like it might be okay.

Patton: The movie: this one is one also that I have known about for a long time, but have never watched. Patton was a son of a bitch as expected. The plot holds together pretty well, and it is well acted.

Brain Games: can’t say enough about this one. Watch it.

Psych: I knew it was stupid and very entertaining. We are watching it again. We have not been disappointed.

Derek: made for Netflix series: if you watch only one thing on this entire list, watch Derek. Ricky Gervais does a stunning job in about eight episodes.

TV :: 2014 Q4 :: COX Wins

We finally succumb to the cocks

NEW CHANNELS

The title is because when I first created this page in particular, I dictated it through Siri. Siri has a problem understanding now and then. When I dictated COX, she heard it as cocks. Anyway, we have subscribed to Cox, not cicks! LOL

Since we started this webpage we have moved. We now have COX basic for an additional seven dollars per month. Not a bad deal. Initially, they installed the DVR box. This precluded the use of our TiVo. I spoke with them and got our straight cable for the same price. The link above is for us. The rest of this webpage still applies for you. Live long and prosper!

These pages are intended to help you reduce your monthly television viewing from (probably) over $100 per month to about ten dollars per month. Seriously! I am not selling anything, nor am I asking for you to give me money. This page is mainly for use as a portal for my wife and me, but you can use it too.Send all comments and feedback to RobtAndr@gmail.com

TV :: 2014 Q3 :: What First?

What should you buy first?

We are using mostly local broadcasts run through a digital antennae into a TiVo recorder. This represents about 85% of our TV viewing. Total cost on this was under $100. To watch LIVE, there are no additional charges. To record on our TiVo, it requires a subscription to the TiVo service.

Netflix streaming makes up about 8% of our viewing. This requires an internet connection.

YouTube makes up maybe 3% of our viewing. This requires an internet connection.

And Roku only about 1% of our viewing. This requires an internet connection.

The last 3% is something new. Google ChromeCast allows us to use our iPad or computer to SET UP a video, which then broadcasts to our TV. See the separate article entitled ChromeCast for more information. This also requires an internet connection.

TV :: 2014 Q2 :: Consolidators

TV Station Consolidators

TV Stations Consolidators with Reasonably Good Performance

FanCast – Watch TV Programs
Hulu – More TV Programs

Not bad, but seem to lock up

Rabbit TV – Good, but minor cost
Cast TV – More TV Programs
TV Duck – Annoying pop-ups
TV.COM
Online TV – ALL Listings – Annoying pop-ups
Online TV – USA Listings – Annoying pop-ups

Largely Untested

TV Channels Free
Free TV Online
Live Station
wwiTV.com – Streams from around the world
Web TV Go

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TV :: 2014 Q1 :: Internet Feeds

Cable TV Internet Feeds

A lot of TV channels focus on specific interests. For example: History, Cooking, Travel, and so forth. These channels are mostly available through paid Dish or Cable TV channels; hoping that after you see their previews, you will sign up for their channel. There is quite a bit of really good programming here. This page features links to stations providing niche programming.

* Seems to be a lot of hype and advertising, but no programming.

TV :: 2013 Q4 :: Finding Content

Finding Content to Watch

As this project has been going on, we’ve found that a few channels, we watch more than the others. These channels are our Top Picks

Netflix is probably the single best thing that someone without standard Cable or Dish can subscribe to. It’s cheap, and there for you as often as you need it. As far as using your basic $9 “1 movie” subscription as a portal for watching On-Demand movies, it is indispensable. We combine it with a DVR and movies from the Public Library, in addition to the Internet channels.

These links may bring you some sit-com type entertainment, but this page is intended predominantly to bring you sites that offer full-length movie entertainment.

NetFlix LIVE	– Movies on Demand – Requires subscription
Netflix …on Demand	– Some choices of on-demand programs. Use your keyboard to search for more.
TV Guide	– Full episodes of thousands of shows, plus a really great, alphabetical index.

Face it… you could make an entire evening of watching stuff that people post to YouTube! There is much more than YouTube though. This page will bring that type of “amateur” publishing to your screen.

There are many sites that defy categorization. They are damn good sites, but not yet in a category. I present those sites here.

YouTube – Regular	– All Videos
YouTube 20+	– All videos over 20 minutes in length
	–
	–
	–

TV :: 2013 Q3 :: Recording Movies

Recording YouTube Movies

With the addition of TiVo Desktop (about $80) to our Entertainment System we can view nearly any YouTube video on our television. With the tens of thousands of movies published on the web, this gives us a lot of programming choices. Here is a small collection of YouTube Channels that have a significant number of movies on their YouTube Channel.

The process is (1) Create a directory on your computer (2) Save the YouTube video to that directory (3) Download and watch the movie from your TiVo TV.

Norden TV
Blue Crystals, Inc.
Keith Eric
Fadus Carulus
Laco Videos
Super Rod
Melody Dotma
Chich 234
Big Foot Isreal 100 (sic)

TV :: 2013 Q2 :: Phoenix Broadcast TV

… and it’s free…

Well, almost. You have to buy the antennae.

I’ve linked to web sites that you customize for use as your own TV Guide.
Rabbit Ears :: Yahoo :: Silicon Dust

With a digital antennae and this FREE reception (in Phoenix) we get 57 channels. Out of this nearly half of them are Spanish channels, but that still leaves 30 channels of local television programming for absolutely nothing per month.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

This page is specifically for the Phoenix area.

These are the channels available here, and what they broadcast.

FREQUENTLY USED

3.1 – KTVK Main IND
3.2 – THIS (KTVK)
5.1 – KPHO CBS Main
5.2 – KPHO Weather
7.1 – KAZT Main IND
7.2 – KAZT MeTV
7.3 – KAZT
8.1 – PBS Main
8.2 – PBS Create
8.3 – PBS World
8.4 – KBAQ Radio ?
10.1 – KSAZ Main City
10.2 – KSAZ
12.1 – KPNX NBC Main
12.2 – Accu Weather
15.1 – ABC 15 Main
15.2 – Go AZ
45.1 – KUTP – My45
61.1 – KASW – CW

NOT FREQUENTLY USED

21.1 – KPAZ – D1
21.2 – KPAZ – D2
21.3 – KPAZ – JCTV?
21.5 – KPAZ – D5
35.1 – KFPH – CD
38.1 – IzPelic – SPAN
38.2 – IzClass
38.3 – IzVideos ?
38.4 – Iz Hope
40.1 – KEJR – LD ?
48.1 – KPDH – LD
50.1 – KFPB – SPAN
50.2 – KFPB – LD
50.3 – KFPB – LD
50.4 – KFPB – LD
51.1 – ION Television
51.2 – qubo – Kids
51.3 – ION Life
58.1 – KDPH – LD

PROBABLY NEVER USED

21.4 – KPAZ – SPAN
22.1 – KTVP – SPAN
22.2 – KTVP – SPAN
22.3 – KTVP – TBA
22.4 – KTVP – TBA
33.1 – KTVW – SPAN
33.2 – KFPH – SPAN
39.1 – KTAX – SPAN
39.2 – INMI – SPAN
40.2 – KEJR – SPAN
41.1 – KPDF – SPAN
41.2 – KPDF – TBA
41.3 – PPDF – LATIN
41.4 – KPDF – AzTeca
42.1 – KVPA
44.1 – KPHE – SPAN
44.2 – KPHE – SPAN
44.3 – KPHE – D3
44.4 – KPHE – Salam

NOTES TO SELF: Need to delete 8.11 8.12 and 48 from the TV channel list.

TV :: 2013 Q1 :: All This and It’s Free

All this and its free

Well, almost. You have to buy the antennae.

We had a problem with the TV.
The repair guy said “Why don’t you have Cable TV?”
We said “Because we don’t watch that much TV.”
He said “Well, why don’t you have rabbit ears or an antennae?”
We said “Because when the FCC eliminated analog, that wasn’t an option.”
He said (basically) “What are you, frickin’ ignorant or something?”

… well, probably not THAT strongly, but here is the bottom line:

This antenna is pointed toward the towers on South Mountain — This antenna is pointed toward the towers located on South Mountain

Here is a link that will fully explain what DIGITAL TELEVISION really is.

The bottom line is YES, you can still use an antennae to receive FREE television IF you have a digital converter box (knew that) OR a TV that automatically converts the digital signals (didn’t know that). Almost any TV manufactured after 2005 will be capable of converting the signal without a box.

Amazon.com to the rescue! Here is the antennae we purchased: Antennas Direct DB4 Multi-Directional HDTV Antenna which was about $50.

Additionally, we bought a signal amplifier that it turns out we did not need, and a mounting kit, which also we did not need. The antenna comes with a 2.5 inch mounting clamp and will bolt around any post, pole, etc. The higher you can get it the better. With that in mind, since I had already purchased the post, I jerry-rigged an add-on mast to give me an extra 24 inches of elevation. The amplifier, you don’t need at all if you are using less than 50 foot of coax.

With this FREE reception we get 57 channels. Out of this nearly half of them are Spanish channels, but that still leaves 30 channels of local television programming for absolutely nothing per month.

I’ve linked to web sites that you customize for use as your own TV Guide.
ONE :: TWO ::THREE :: FOUR :: FIVE
– Five is actually not very helpful as far as program listings go, but does have some good info.

At this point, I am thinking about eliminating my subscriptions to NetFlix ($12 per month) and Hulu Plus ($9 per month), but I’ll probably hold off to make sure this works as well as I am hoping.

CLICK HERE for the channels we receive in Phoenix

[tv-guide]

Commands for Alexa

Things to Ask Alexa

(Note: If something doesn’t work, try Ask, Play, Open, Start or Launch)

Things worth Repeating

Alexa, ANNOUNCE [Something that she will repeat to all Dot devices]
Alexa, ask Aircraft Radar what airplane is near me (needs configuration)
Alexa, ask Brain Facts
Alexa, ask me the Question of the Day
Alexa, find my iPhone (works for one number only – must verify before use)
Alexa, flip a coin.
Alexa, give me a quote from Daily Quotes
Alexa, Good Night

Kind of Cool

Alexa, do you rap?”
Alexa, ask Silly Things to tell me to do something silly.
Alexa, can you sing in auto-tune?
Alexa, drop a beat.
Alexa, have you ever seen the rain?
Alexa, are there UFOs?
Alexa, are you blue?
Alexa, beam me up. (From Star Trek.)
Alexa, can you pass the Turing test?
Alexa, can you talk like Yoda?”
Alexa, did you fart?
Alexa, Daisy Daisy.
Alexa, do want to build a snowman?
Alexa, do you know Glados?
Alexa, do you know Hal?
Alexa, do you know the muffin man?
Alexa, do you like green eggs and ham?
Alexa, do you like pizza?
Alexa, do you love me?
Alexa, do a barrel roll.
Alexa, do you really want to hurt me?
Alexa, E.T. phone home.
Alexa, guess what!”
Alexa, are you Sky Net?

Stupid One-Liners

Alexa, hello, it’s me!
Alexa, high five.
Alexa, how are babies made?
Alexa, how big is the Earth?”
Alexa, how deep is the ocean?”
Alexa, how do I get rid of a dead body?
Alexa, how far away is the Moon?”
Alexa, how many roads must a man walk down?
Alexa, how much is that doggie in the window?
Alexa, how much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Alexa, how old was Yoda?”
Alexa, hum something.
Alexa, I am your father.
Alexa, I like big butts.
Alexa, I shot a man in Reno.
Alexa, I want the truth.
Alexa, I’m Bored
Alexa, I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.
Alexa, is the cake a lie?
Alexa, is there a Santa?
Alexa, is there life on Mars?
Alexa, is this the real life?
Alexa, it’s a bird! It’s a plane!” (From Superman.)
Alexa, knock, knock.
Alexa, launch Guess the Number. (Interactive guess the number game.)
Alexa, launch Science Studio
Alexa, launch This Day in History
Alexa, let’s brush our teeth.
Alexa, live long and prosper.
Alexa, make me a sandwich.
Alexa, Marco!
Alexa, may the force be with you.
Alexa, may the force be with you.
Alexa, may the force be with you. (From Star Wars.)
Alexa, mirror mirror on the wall. (From Snow White.)
Alexa, moo like a cow.
Alexa, more cowbell.
Alexa, my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard
Alexa, my name is Inigo Montoya.
Alexa, never gonna give you up.
Alexa, open Amazon Storytime. (Professionally-narrated stories for kids ages 5 to 12.)
Alexa, open Animal Sounds
Alexa, open Bedtime Story. (A quick story that is geared toward bedtime.)
Alexa, open Big Sky
Alexa, open Cat Facts
Alexa, open Curiosity
Alexa, open Curiosity. (A fun way to learn about various topics.)
Alexa, open Escape the Room
Alexa, open Head Space
Alexa, open I’m Driving
Alexa, open Laugh Box. (Alexa’s Laugh Box will play all sorts of giggles.)
Alexa, open Life Hacks
Alexa, open Market Insights
Alexa, open Motivational Quotes
Alexa, open NASA Mars
Alexa, open Ocean Sounds
Alexa, open Pearl of Great Price
Alexa, open Silver Linings
Alexa, open Sound Effects
Alexa, open Superman Adventure
Alexa, open the box of cats.
Alexa, open The Daily
Alexa, open The Magic Door
Alexa, open The Magic Door. (Interactive Story. This will take about 10 minutes and is one of my family’s favorites.)
Alexa, open the pod bay doors
Alexa, open the pod bay doors.
Alexa, open Translated
Alexa, open Trivial Pursuit Tap
Alexa, open Weird Facts
Alexa, open Wiki How
Alexa, party on, Wayne.
Alexa, party time!
Alexa, peek-a-boo!”
Alexa, Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Alexa, play [Radio Station Call Letters] (service of Tune In)
Alexa, play Beat the Intro
Alexa, play Bublé Daily
Alexa, play Choose your own Adventure
Alexa, play Fact or Fib
Alexa, play Guess the Celebrity
Alexa, play Jeopardy
Alexa, play Lemonade Stand
Alexa, play Loop It
Alexa, play Missing Link Adventure
Alexa, play music by [Name of a Musical Group]
Alexa, play my Flash Briefing (Configure stations using Alexa app)
Alexa, play rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock.
Alexa, play Sate Capital Game
Alexa, play Sleep Sounds
Alexa, play Smarty Pants Trivia
Alexa, play Teen Jeopardy
Alexa, play that funky music white boy.
Alexa, play The Fake News Trivia Game
Alexa, play the song [Name of the Song]
Alexa, play the Wait Wait Quiz
Alexa, play True or False
Alexa, play Twenty Questions. (A fun interactive game.)
Alexa, play Who Wants to be a Millionaire
Alexa, play Word Chain
Alexa, play Word Quiz
Alexa, play Would you Rather
Alexa, play Would You Rather. (The game of impossible choices in a family-friendly version.)
Alexa, play Yes Sire
Alexa, pretend to be a supervillain.
Alexa, random fact.
Alexa, rap for me
Alexa, RED ALERT
Alexa, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Alexa, see ya later alligator.
Alexa, see you later alligator.
Alexa, self-destruct.
Alexa, set phasers to kill.
Alexa, show me the money!
Alexa, sing Baby Shark
Alexa, start Kids Court. (Perfect for when you have a family argument, and need to settle something.)
Alexa, Start my Day
Alexa, start Song Quiz
Alexa, start the spelling game. (Kids can brush up on spelling with this fun game.)
Alexa, start Zoo Walk. (Alexa will make cool animal noises, and invite you to try and guess the animal that makes each sound.)
Alexa, sudo make me a sandwich.
Alexa, supercalifragilisticexpialodocious
Alexa, surely you can’t be serious?
Alexa, take me to your leader.
Alexa, talk to Pikachu.
Alexa, tell me a knock-knock joke.
Alexa, tell me a pirate joke. (You’ll be surprised by how many pirate jokes Alexa knows.)
Alexa, tell me a riddle.
Alexa, tell me a robot joke.
Alexa, tell me a superhero joke.
Alexa, tell me a video game joke.
Alexa, tell me a wizard joke.
Alexa, tell me about Jimmy Fallon
Alexa, tell me an animal tale.
Alexa, tell me something interesting
Alexa, tell me the weather in [City and State]
Alexa, testing 1-2-3.
Alexa, these aren’t the droids you’re looking for.
Alexa, this is ground control to Major Tom.
Alexa, to be or not to be.
Alexa, twinkle twinkle little star
Alexa, what are the laws of robotics?
Alexa, what are you thinking about?
Alexa, what did T-Rex eat?”
Alexa, what do you think about Google Now?
Alexa, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Alexa, what does the fox say?
Alexa, what does the fox say?” (From the song What Does the Fox Say.)
Alexa, what happens if you step on Lego?
Alexa, what is love?
Alexa, what is the order of the planets?”
Alexa, what is war good for?
Alexa, what is your favorite color?”
Alexa, what is your quest?
Alexa, what sound does a hamster make?
Alexa, what’s in a name?
Alexa, what’s the answer to life, the universe and everything?
Alexa, what’s the first rule of Fight Club?
Alexa, what’s the loneliest number?
Alexa, what’s the second rule of Fight Club?
Alexa, when is the end of the world?
Alexa, where is Chuck Norris?
Alexa, where’s Waldo?
Alexa, which came first: the chicken or the egg?”
Alexa, which comes first: the chicken or the egg?
Alexa, who are the members of the Avengers?”
Alexa, who is the fairest of them all?
Alexa, who is the real Slim Shady?
Alexa, who is the Walrus?
Alexa, who is the walrus?
Alexa, who let the dogs out?
Alexa, who lives in a pineapple under the sea?
Alexa, who loves ya baby?
Alexa, who shot first?
Alexa, who shot Mr. Burns?
Alexa, who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?
Alexa, who you gonna call?
Alexa, who’s your daddy?
Alexa, why did the chicken cross the road?”
Alexa, why is six afraid of seven?
Alexa, will you be my girlfriend?
Alexa, Winter is coming.
Alexa, witness me.
Alexa, you talkin’ to me?
Alexa, your mother was a hamster.
Alexa, who loves orange soda?

Double catastrophe

We finally succumb to the cocks

What should you buy first?

TV Station Consolidators

TV Stations Consolidators with Reasonably Good Performance

Not bad, but seem to lock up

Largely Untested

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Cable TV Internet Feeds

Educational

Specific Interest

Arts and Leisure

General Entertainment

News

Premium

Finding Content to Watch

Netflix …on Demand

YouTube – Regular

Recording YouTube Movies

This page is specifically for the Phoenix area.

All this and its free

CLICK HERE for the channels we receive in Phoenix

Things to Ask Alexa

Netflix
…on Demand