All things video

[badrose]

Movies, TV shows, TVs, disc players, etc.

There are some movies I can watch over and over with some time gaps. Like Lord of the Rings trilogy, some of the Bond movies, My Cousin Vinny...I could go on.

Bought a Vizeo 4K 55" a few months ago. I'd been watching the market for price and whether it was likely to be sustained or short-lived. Gotta say I love it. It upscales everything! Even the 1080i feed I get from Dish has greater clarity and depth of field. The price I paid for it then has yet to be beat though I imagine it will.

I was late to the whole Netflix party but it looks like streaming is the future. I was late to Breaking Bad party as well. Too many people telling me I HAD to watch it which made me not want to. What a piece of work THAT was!

I suppose we should decide on a policy regarding spoilers if this thread takes off...

I've been wanting to start this thread for a while so, whadya think?

I gotta go to work.

[Doc]

I'm huge on Netflix. My morning routine is watching a episode of whatever TV show I'm addicted to over a cup of coffee at Panera. I'll also watch one or two episodes at lunch and then a few at night. Currently I'm watching Grey's Anatomy. On Season 9. Started watching less than 2 weeks ago! I too was late on Breaking Bad but loved it. I'm also just finishing watching Six Feet Under but thats not available on streaming, just on disc from Netflix. I'll get the disc and watch 3 episodes in one day and send it back, get the next 3 episodes, etc....Other TV shows I streamed and really liked included "Rescue Me", "House of Cards", "That 70's Show", "Fargo" (the series and the movie), "Dexter" and "NYC22". I'd recommend any or all of them.

[KSRBEvans]

You can get 3 of the best dramas ever (IMHO) on Netflix streaming: Breaking Bad, Mad Men (all seasons except the current one) and Friday Night Lights. If you've never seen them, now's a great time to binge-watch them.

They used to have the new Battlestar Galactica but it's not on right now--hoping it comes back, I'd love to watch it again.

If you have an Amazon Prime subscription, they have a great streaming service that's free as a part of your Prime membership. They have a lot of the same stuff that Netflix has, plus a ton of the old HBO series: The Wire, The Sopranos, Band of Brothers, etc.

[Doc]

Sopranos is another, probably the first, show I watched start to finish on Netflix. I'm a binge watcher, big time. I've been known to watch 7 or 8 episodes in one sitting of a show. Its not unusual for me to watch an entire season in a span of a couple days.

[Darrell KSR]

Huge recommendation here for the android app, "DroidTV," which is fantastic.

I watched the entire series of Breaking Bad and the last season of Friday Night Lights on my phone. Like Doc, I'm a binge watcher. In fact, for current shows, I usually wait until I have a couple of shows downloaded so that I don't have to watch just one. And a two-parter from one week to another? Nope, I'll wait until the 2nd week so I can watch them back-to-back.

DroidTV, best $49 I have ever spent for a lifetime subscription. I have watched dozens and dozens of shows, old shows, current shows, even shows like True Detective, Fargo, VEEP, etc., some of which are from HBO and Showtime, which I don't get. AND best of all, there are no commercials on any of them. I watch Grey's Anatomy, Blue Blood, Criminal Minds, Elementary, SVU Law and Order, NCIS, Rookie Blue, In the Middle, The Big Bang Theory, etc. on the phone. The second beauty of the app? No buffering. It downloads the shows you choose to your phone (or to your virtual DVR, which has an unlimited capacity--I have a couple hundred shows on it right now), and so it's "local" to your phone and not streaming.

I *can* cast it to my television, but I haven't, because I watch the shows a) later than my wife goes to sleep; b) on trips where my son/daughter is asleep and I don't want to wake them with a TV on; or c) while I am waiting on somebody in my kid's taxi service. I have earphones that I use, and watch the show. Can stop it, rewind it, etc.

[Darrell KSR]

By the way, unfortunately, the lifetime membership was raised to $120.

I would buy it at that price and not think twice if you use it as much as I do, but that's more pricy, for sure. I'd recommend getting a free 14-day subscription, downloading a ton of shows during that time, putting them on your virtual DVR, and download them later at your leisure as you wish to use them (well outside the 14-day period).

They have monthly, quarterly, annual and lifetime subscriptions available.

Here are the shows currently available. It is constantly updated.

Primetime Classic

100, The ~10ThingsIHateAboutYou
12 Monkeys ~1600Penn
2 Broke Girls ~30Rock
24: Live Another Day ~3rdRockFromtheSun
A to Z ~666ParkAvenue
About a Boy ~90210
Allegiance ~AGiftedMan
Almost Human ~Alcatraz
Amazing Race, The ~Alphas
American Crime ~AmericanChopper
American Dad ~AreYouThere,Chelsea?
American Horror Story ~ArmyWives
American Idol ~Awake
American Oddysey ~BachelorPad
America's Got Talent ~BackintheGame
America's Next Top Model ~BadTeacher
Anger Management ~Band of Brothers
Archer ~Batman
Arrow ~BattlestarGalactica
Ascension ~BenandKate
Bachelor, The ~Bent
Bachelorette, The ~BestFriendsForever
Backstrom ~Betrayal
Bad Judge ~BigC,The
Bates Motel ~BodyofProof
Battle Creek ~Borgias,The
Beauty and the Beast ~BreakingBad
Being Human ~BreakingIn
Believe ~Brothers&Sisters
Benched ~BuffytheVampireSlayer
Better Call Saul ~BurnNotice
Big Bang Theory, The ~CelebrityApprentice
Big Brother ~CHAOS
Biggest Loser, The ~Charlie'sAngels
Bitten ~Charmed
Black Box ~Chase
Black Sails ~Cheers
Black-ish ~ChicagoCode,The
Blacklist, The ~Chuck
Blue Bloods ~ClientList,The
Boardwalk Empire ~Closer,The
Bob's Burgers ~CommonLaw
Bones ~Coupling
Bridge, The ~CSI:Miami
Broadchurch ~CSI:NewYork
Brooklyn Nine-Nine ~Deception
Californication ~DesperateHousewives
Carrie Diaries, The ~DestinationTruth
Castle ~Detroit1-8-7
Cedar Cove ~Dollhouse
Chicago Fire ~Don'tTrusttheB---inApt23
Chicago PD ~Entourage
Cleveland Show, The ~Eureka
Colbert Report, The ~Event,The
Community ~EverybodyLovesRaymond
Constantine ~ExtremeMakeover:HomeEdition
Continuum ~FactorFaked:ParanormalFiles
Copper ~FairlyLegal
Cops ~Finder,The
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey ~Firm,The
Cougar Town ~FlashForward
Covert Affairs ~Frasier
Cracked ~FreshPrinceofBel-Air,The
Crazy Ones, The ~FridayNightLights
Criminal Minds ~Friends
Crisis ~Fringe
Cristella ~Futurama
Crossbones ~GCB
Crossing Lines ~GhostHuntersInternational
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ~GoOn
CSI: Cyber ~GoldenBoy
Curiosity ~GossipGirl
Da Vinci's Demons ~Greek
Dads ~HappyTown
Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The ~Harry'sLaw
Dallas ~HawthoRNe
Dancing with the Stars ~House
Defiance ~HowtobeaGentleman
Devious Maids ~Huge
Dexter ~HumanTarget
Dig ~InPlainSight
Doctor Who ~Inbetweeners,The
Dominion ~Ironside
Downton Abbey ~ITCrowd,The
Dracula ~JerseyShore
Drop Dead Diva ~KillerWomen
Duck Dynasty ~King&Maxwell
Elementary ~Leverage
Empire ~LieToMe
Enlisted ~M*A*S*H
Extant ~MacGyver
Falling Skies ~MadLove
Family Guy ~MadeinJersey
Fargo ~ManUp
Fashion Star ~Married..withChildren
Flash, The ~Mercy
Following, The ~Merlin
Forever ~MindGames
The Fosters ~Missing
Franklin & Bash ~MobCity
Fresh Off the Boat ~MobDoctor,The
Friends with Better Lives ~Monk
Galavant ~MuppetShow,The
Game of Thrones ~MyGeneration
Gang Related ~NewNormal,The
Ghost Hunters ~Nikita
Girls ~NYC22
Glee ~OfftheMap
Goldbergs, The ~Office,The
Good Wife, The ~OneTreeHill
Gotham ~Outlaw
Graceland ~Outsourced
Gracepoint ~PanAm
Grey's Anatomy ~Partners
Grimm ~PoliticalAnimals
Halt and Catch Fire ~PrimeSuspect
Hannibal ~PrivatePractice
Happy Endings ~Psych
Hart of Dixie ~RedDwarf
Haven ~Ringer
Hawaii Five-0 ~River,The
Helix ~Rob!
Hell on Wheels ~RulesofEngagement
Hell's Kitchen ~RunningWilde
Hiding ~Scrubs
Homeland ~SeanSavestheWorld
Hostages ~SecretCircle,The
Hot in Cleveland ~SecretLifeoftheAmericanTeenager,The
How I Met Your Mother ~Seinfeld
How to Get Away With Murder ~Smallville
How to Live With Your Parents ~Smash
Intelligence ~Spartacus
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ~StarTrek
iZombie ~Star Trekeep Space Nine
Jane the Virgin ~StarTrek:TheNextGeneration
Justified ~StargateSG-1
Killing, The ~StargateUniverse
Kitchen Inferno ~Star Trek:Voyager
Kitchen Nightmares ~SURVIVOR:RedemptionIsland
Knick, The ~TerraNova
Last Man on Earth ~That70sShow
Last Man Standing ~TheLastResort
Last Ship, The ~Torchwood
Law & Order: SVU ~Touch
League, The ~UglyBetty
Leftovers, The ~Undercovers
Legends ~UpAllNight
Legit ~Vegas
Librarian, The ~Weeds
Longmire ~Whitney
Lost Girl ~ZeroHour
Louie
Lucky 7
Lucky Bastards
Madame Secretary
Mad Men
Major Crimes
Manhattan
Manhattan Love Story
Married
Marry Me
Marvel's Agent Carter
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
MasterChef
MasterChef Junior
Masters of Sex
The McCarthy's
Melissa & Joey
Men at Work
Mentalist, The
Messengers, The
Michael J. Fox Show, The
Middle, The
Mike & Molly
Millers, The
Mindy Project, The
Mistresses
Mixology
Modern Family
Mom
Motive
Mulaney
Murder in the First
Mysteries of Laura, The
Mystery Girls
Mythbusters
Nashville
NCIS
NCIS: Los Angeles
NCIS:New Orleans
Necessary Roughness
Neighbors, The
New Girl
Newsroom, The
Night Shift, The
Nurse Jackie
Odd Couple
Olympus
One Big Happy
Once Upon a Time
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland
Originals, The
Orphan Black
Outlander
Paranormal Witness
Parenthood
Parks and Recreation
Penny Dreadful
Perception
Person of Interest
Power
Pretty Little Liars
Raising Hope
Rake
Ravenswood
Ray Donovan
Real Housewives of New Jersey, The
Real Time with Bill Maher
Reckless
Red Band Society
Reign
Resurrecton
Returned, The
Revenge
Revolution
Rizzoli & Isles
Rookie Blue
Royal Pains
Rush
Salem
Satisfaction
Saving Hope
Scandal
Scorpion
Secrets & Lies
Selfie
Shameless
Shark Tank
Simpsons, The
Sing Your Face Off
The Slap
Sleepy Hollow
So You Think You Can Dance
Sons of Anarchy
South Park
Stalker
Star Wars: Clone Wars
State of Affairs
Storage Wars
Storage Wars: New York
Storage Wars: Texas
Strain, The
Suburgatory
Suits
Super Fun Night
Supernatural
Survivor
Survivor's Remorse
Switched at Birth
The Americans
Through the Wormhole
Tomorrow People, The
Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The
Tosh.0
Trophy Wife
True Blood
True Detective
Twisted
Two and a Half Men
Tyrant
Undateable
Under the Dome
Undercover Boss
Unforgettable
Vampire Diaries, The
Veep
Vice
Vikings
Voice, The
Walking Dead, The
Warehouse 13
Welcome to the Family
White Collar
Who Do You Think You Are?
Weird Loners
Wilfred
Wipeout
Witches of East End
X Factor, The
Young and Hungry
You're the Worst
Your Family or Mine
Z Nation

[badrose]

Roku is a great device as well. It turns any tv into a smart tv and has more apps than anyone would ever use. The TV in the family room has it.

Jerry Seinfeld has a reality show where he picks up his showbiz friends in a different classic car each time and drive to different coffee shops and just have conversations. It's called Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. It's on Crackle and in 30 min episodes. It's a nice change of pace and he's a classy guy.

[CitizenBBN]

Darrell, that's a whale of a list. No Firefly or Star Trek, but it has Warehouse 13, a huge plus mark. Think I may do that.

I was a binge watcher years before I ever first heard the term. That's most of what I do.

Further, being as messed up in the head as i am, I can repeatedly binge watch a relatively small number of shows. Current rotating list includes Star Trek Voyager, ST DS9, Big Bang Theory, Whose Line (with drew carey), Firefly, Warehouse 13, Mythbusters. There are a few others, and some movies in there, and that's about it.

Good topic. Hopefully I can pick up a few more series to watch. I need to watch breaking bad but that will probably be too focusing, need to save it for that weekend I don't want to get off the couch and can pull it off.

[Darrell KSR]

I have never seen Warehouse 13, but funny you mentioned it, as I downloaded the pilot episode and 2nd episode a couple of days ago and thought I'd watch them and see if it was a show I would enjoy. I like to give it two or three episodes to grow on me, even if it's not my favorite initially... Unless it just strikes me as stupid beyond belief. I've had a couple of those recently.

That's the list their Facebook page (a private group) provides. I'd be a tad careful. For example, the entire series of Warehouse 13 is available, but only selected seasons of Breaking Bad. I forgot that I actually binged watched it on Netflix.

Another show I am really enjoying is a British crime drama called Broadchurch. I caught up with the two seasons it had a few weeks ago. It is quite good, revolving around flawed people, detective work, and how people handle situations, as opposed to neatly tying up a whodunit in 41 minutes. I also enjoyed watching the English justice system in action, whether accurate or not, it was entertaining. The two seasons have revolved around only one crime, with a second crime as a secondary plot issue arising during the second season. It is better than I am making it sound.

Download the app... Free... Might have to get it from an apk on their Facebook page... Then sign up for the free 14 day trial. During that 14 days, download as much as you can, but periodically take them off the "Now playing" section to the "My DVR."

That's unlimited. After the free period expires, unless things have changed you can download the shows you selected from the "My dvr" section at your leisure, and without cost. I would pick out some shows I might like, and download them. Should give you a good idea whether you'd use it and enjoy it before you have to pony up any bucks for it.

Also, if you like the current shows they have like the ones I listed that I watch, you can set it to automatically download new episodes and it will do it indefinitely.

I know you have as weird hours as I do, and occasionally this could come in handy. It does often for me. Heck, I'm sitting in my den while everybody else is watching a TV show they want, and I'm watching a show I want. Except mine is 41 minutes of show, 0 commercial, while they are watching their 41 minute show in an hour. I win.

[CitizenBBN]

W13 is more of a sci-fi "dromedy", doesn't take itself too serious but has enough cool stuff and character depth to not be a sitcom level show. it's a very cool premise, definitely start at the beginning with the opener and go forward. it is a serial. Like Breaking bad you could watch one in the middle and be sorta OK, but it's better as a serial.

I have some thoughts on the show that aren't really spoilers, but I'll hold off on them till you can watch some of it. I do particularly like the characters in it, and you won't meet one of the best ones until about 4 episodes in.

I will say it was by FAR the most popular show on Syfy, and the smartest, and was thus summarily abused by the network and then cancelled. It's unreal to me they can Syfy, don't run Firefly or ST or any other of a ton of good series, and also produced a great Battlestar series and Stargate and a few others, yet seem content now to run the equivalent of Sharknado for about 20 hours a day.

So much good sci fi out there, and they are running crap. I guess the economics are such that the crap is so cheap their margins are better than making good shows like battlestar or W13 or Stargate.

I thought Stargate Universe would be good, but it got too dark way too fast IMO, and that doomed it. I'm a dark sci fi guy and I was drained watching it.

[CitizenBBN]

Re DroidTV I'm going to look into it. My hours are so messed up now it's not healthy, not sure what I'm going to do about it.

[Darrell KSR]

Watched the pilot 2-hour episode, minus the commercials. Very good show. I like that it struck a balance between reality and fantasy. I'm on the other end from many in that if it's too fantastical I'm uninterested, but this was about the characters and the story, which was good. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I may watch another episode.

[CitizenBBN]

Cool. That's how I feel about it. It's a nice balance, but like all great sci-fi never leaves the characters and their story as the core of everything. The good news is it never gets too fantasy IMO.

I love the premise, but I especially love how the show ties in to history as well. They cover a LOT of cool history and put an artifact twist on it.

You're also a few episodes from the full cast being developed, that's when it really hits a stride IMO.

BTW, have you watched Firefly? I really think you and a lot of other non-hard core sci-fi people might like it. There are only 14 episodes before it was cancelled, but IMO it's the smartest written show I've ever seen. Nathan Fillion is perfect in the role and I freely admit Captain Reynold's desires so closely parallel mine I can't help but love the show, but it's just so smart and so well done with the characters.

Side note, Ron Glass from Barney Miller is in it and is a great addition. The show just had so much depth right from the start.

But love that you enjoyed W13.

[badrose]

I've been meaning to check out W13. I remember you singing its praises and isn't that the one that has Jaime Murray in it? Bosch on Amazon is a great cop show. Just one season so far but the main character played by Titus Welliver, who was on Deadwood, does a good job of keeping it realistic, not so much as the typical hero. BTW Deadwood is one that I've a few times through. It was on HBO and 3 seasons long.

[KSRBEvans]

If you're wanting see what's on Netflix streaming, this website is a good resource. Lists the top 50 hottest adds, plus you can search by name, filter by Rotten Tomatoes rating, etc.:

http://instantwatcher.com/

[badrose]

Anyone else buy discs? For stuff that I know I'll watch multiple times I get blurays if they're cheap enough. My 4k TV up-scales so well you can't tell the difference. The colors and detail are amazing. This fall Bluray will come out with 4K players and discs.

[Darrell KSR]

Darrell, that's a whale of a list. No Firefly or Star Trek, but it has Warehouse 13, a huge plus mark. Think I may do that.

I downloaded "Band of Brothers" miniseries last night while I slept. Looking forward to watching it. The list I posted wasn't a complete list.

[badrose]

I downloaded "Band of Brothers" miniseries last night while I slept. Looking forward to watching it. The list I posted wasn't a complete list.

You'll love it, D. Very well done.

[Doc]

Just finished "Friday Night Lights" and started "Orange is the New Black". If you haven't watched "Orange is the New Black" I'd suggest you not make the same mistake as me. As stated above, my normal routine is to watch an episode in the morning at Panera over their WIFI. Not, repeat NOT, a good idea to do that with Orange is the New Black!!!!!!!

[badrose]

Well, I've just lost every game I've recorded during the Cal era. Somehow everything on my external hard drive got transferred to the DVR hard drive and it's fried. There were no warnings. I spent about 5 hours, at least 2 with Dish tech support, trying to rectify the situation last night. I'm majorly pi$$ed right now.

[Darrell KSR]

Well, I've just lost every game I've recorded during the Cal era. Somehow everything on my external hard drive got transferred to the DVR hard drive and it's fried. There were no warnings. I spent about 5 hours, at least 2 with Dish tech support, trying to rectify the situation last night. I'm majorly pi$$ed right now.

Ouch.

Question - is it hard to hook up an external drive to your DVR? And copy things in the DVR to it?

[badrose]

Ouch.

Question - is it hard to hook up an external drive to your DVR? And copy things in the DVR to it?

No, it's pretty easy. The catch is the recordings are coded by your provider (in my case, Dish) and can only be viewed through their dvr. So you become attached at the hip in that regard. I'm going to buy a new external and try transferring to it before I switch Hoppers.

[Darrell KSR]

Well, it is pretty easy unless you have backwards AT&T U-Verse.

Apparently they are the only cavemen out there that don't allow this. Their receiver has a USB outlet, but it only charges cell phones and things.

Crazy. I have no problem with it being encoded through their system, only usable through their DVR, etc. But you ought to be able to expand your capacity if you provide more storage space. In fact, it ought to engender loyalty to the provider, since it is provider-specific--i.e., if I have 80 Kentucky games recorded on my own external drives, and they can only be seen through the AT&T U-Verse system, how unlikely is it that I will switch?

Not a huge deal to me, but to others--this is huge. I read a few AT&T forums after seeing your answer (I assume you have DirecTV), and saw how bass-ackwards they were. Lot of angry U-Verse customers on that issue.

No, it's pretty easy. The catch is the recordings are coded by your provider (in my case, Dish) and can only be viewed through their dvr. So you become attached at the hip in that regard. I'm going to buy a new external and try transferring to it before I switch Hoppers.

[CitizenBBN]

Not just you Darrell, I'm pretty sure mine doesn't have that option either. Guess I should be 100% sure but I'm pretty sure I can't with mine, it's a Time warner box that was carried forward from insight. I record on the DVR then record it over to the media server but have to do it over hdmi.

[blueboss]

Anybody know how to move recordings from my provider DVR (direct Tv), I'm getting ready to upgrade to the Jeanie, they tell me I'm going to lose everything when I upgrade..

If that's the case I'm going to lose amongst other things Jodie going off on TN.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[badrose]

Well, my new external has the wrong interface. Arrrggghhh! I have a month after the new Hopper arrives to send back the current one so I have some time to fix things if that's possible.

[blueboss]

It's official, Jeanie moved in today, and Jodie putting up 54 amongst all my other prized recordings moved out


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Darrell KSR]

I think I want to buy a standalone dvd recorder. Had one for years until it petered out. Can make DVDs from its hard drive. Would provide a solution to this issue for me.

[CitizenBBN]

I had a Tivo2 that was great, had a built in dvd burner so I just burned stuff off. It died, and the media companies pressure the makers to make sure there isn't anything that convenient out there. Probably is now, wasn't at the time I lost that one and got my media server.

Which I have managed to fill WAY too fast. 2 TB drive.

[Doc]

No, it's pretty easy. The catch is the recordings are coded by your provider (in my case, Dish) and can only be viewed through their dvr. So you become attached at the hip in that regard. I'm going to buy a new external and try transferring to it before I switch Hoppers.

So if I'm reading this correctly, I'm considering upgrading my direct tv but have been hesitant because I'll lose what I've recorded. I can download what I have to an external hard drive then load it back into the new dvr by simply pluging into the usb port?