Season 2 of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

If you own a Roku or some other streaming device, you may want to add Crackle just for Jerry Seinfeld's series "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee." The second season has been decent so far, with some slightly younger faces, including Sarah Silverman, Seth Meyers and Chris Rock, in addition to the old guard guys like Don Rickles.

I did try to watch Da Vinci Code on Crackle using my old Roku 1, and either our connection was bad or there were just way too many ad breaks, but Seinfeld series gets it right, with just one ad at the beginning and then another towards the end.

I also like how the Acura sponsorship works in a way that isn't super annoying. I used to work with the AOL Autos team, and it was always a challenge to present content that encouraged new car buying in a way that wasn't too over the top. Given the high ad impression goals for the channel, this became increasingly hard to do, especially when some of the advertisers were not exactly the top tier brands.

I used to be a fan of Acura's in general, but I think they've become more of a yet another SUV dependent car market, as the MDX is really the only model I would think too seriously about. I don't think there's anything great about the TSX, TL or RL at their pricepoints, but then I'm slightly in the bag for Audi at this point.

Long Layoff From Blogging

Last October, I got a new job, then eventually moved for the first time in 10 years. Much of my energy this summer has gone into deciding whether to sell or rent my old place which I own.

So it has been a fairly busy few months for me, and thus personally blogging has suffered accordingly.

My girlfriend is currently out of town for a few months for work, so I'm hoping to do something productive with some of my increased free time.

My most popular blog post to date by far is: ESPN Films on Netflix Streaming. In some ways, this is the perfect intersection of some of my non-work interest: saving money, sports, media, and technology.

While I love ESPN Films and the 30 for 30 series, I have joined the ranks of the cord cutters, and have not had cable for almost a year now, so streaming their content is likely the only way I will access it.

ESPN Films on Netflix Streaming

Happy to see that almost all of the movies from the ESPN Films collection, including the 30 for 30 series, have been finally added to Netflix. Some of them, including The Announcement, are fairly recent, and more should be on the way.

My favorites include Unguarded, Pony Excess and Once Brothers. But even something like Into the Wind, a story I had zero familiarity with, was pretty interesting.

Most of them are less than an hour long and well worth your time.

When people say there's 'still nothing good" on Netflix's streaming library, either they aren't looking very hard or they aren't open to seeing something that wasn't a huge box office hit. Although Netflix is certainly doing better in the latter department, adding movies like Thor and Captain America in the past few months, the sweet spot is more for documentaries and indie movies you probably wouldn't go way out of your way to see in the theater.

It is also great for "binge watching," where you get into a TV show that you've never seen. Plus, there's no commercials! I doubt I would have gotten through Arrested Development or Battlestar Galactica without Netflix streaming.

If anything, I find it annoying that Netflix only has season one of shows like The Walking Dead, but Netflix and AMC don't particularly get along.

TechBargains: Cord Cutters Prefer Netflix, Youtube

HackingNetflix highlights a survey by TechBargains of what streaming services do most cord cutters use. As you can see, they must have allowed people to enter more than one service, but the clear winners are Netflix and Youtube.

I've never used VUDU or Blockbuster, but if I had to chose one streaming service, it would likely be Netflix.

Obviously YouTube has the advantage of being free, so I'm surprised that isn't closer to 100 percent, but then Netflix is built into almost every TV and DVD player sold these days.

The one thing I think is not mentioned enough in the media is the free movies and TV available to Amazon Prime members. A combination of the free Prime Video and the paid Amazon streaming could be a fairly compelling streaming solution.

I have noticed more free streaming options on iTunes, including the season premiere or pilot of a few TV shows.

Hulu Plus Offering 2-Month Free Trial

Thanks to Lifehacker, I signed up for a two-month free trial of Hulu Plus today.

I'm already not sure if this was worth it, as hardly any of the shows that I normally watch appear to be available. I'd be one thing if there were new episodes of Happy Endings etc. but I don't see Walking Dead, Louie, or any of the cable shows that I would watch.

The most popular show is E! News Now? Wow, I don't know if I will even wait two months to cancel it.

The only possibility to me is the original content, but I believe that is free without Hulu Plus. Catching up on Community or Parks and Recreation might be an option.

For $8 a month, I'd much rather look at a season pass on Amazon Video or iTunes, as it could take me a month to watch a full season of some shows.

Previously: 2M People on Hulu Plus ... But Why?

Five Reasons Why Used TV Prices Should Be Even Lower

I mentioned this blog post on used TVs by Priceonomics a few times over the weekend, so wanted to post it here.

1) An old TV is worth less than nothing. If you have tried to get rid of a television recently, you may have been unpleasantly surprised to find out that you often have to pay to get rid of it, because there are so many toxic materials inside it. Best Buy will take any TV that is less than 32 inches, otherwise you may want to consider.
2) New TV prices just keep falling. Priceonomics showed that the average discount for used TVs is merely 14%. Unless your TV was bought in the last 30 days, some one can probably go on Amazon and buy the same TV for 20% less than what you paid, so I would start your pricing at 40% below what you paid.
3) TV demand is collapsing. I've met a lot of people in the past two years are 'cord cutters' who don't have cable tv and/or watch most of their video content on a laptop or an iPad.
4) 3D and Smart TVs aren't worth it. Most of the apps that your 'smart' TV may come with (Netflix, Hulu, YouTube) are a worse experience than the same service on a computer or iPad. A Roku costs $50 and adds 70-80% of the smart TV features. And 3D is pretty lame, as you have to pay extra for the channels, the glasses, etc. So anyone who bought a TV in the past three years is more or less fine for now.
5) Waiting on Apple. If Apple rolls out a TV this year, you can imagine people just dumping their TVs en masse.

If you are looking to buy a tv, I suggest checking out The Wirecutter for simple recommendations.

Hulu Plus Hits 2 Million Users ... But Why?

I have Hulu Plus built into my TV and my Roku, and I used to watch a few shows on Hulu if I missed them on TV.

But then Fox (and FX) started delaying putting their shows on Hulu up, so that meant no Louie, Archer or The League. There aren't many shows on NBC or ABC that I am interested in.  

Some of the 'most popular shows' include Lost, Heroes and X-Files, so that seems to suggest a decent portion of the audience is watching or re-watching old shows.

I am curious about Morgan Spurlock's A Day in the Life program, but not enough to pay for it.  

Particularly if you have on demand from your cable provider, that is probably going to be a better option than Hulu for newer shows.

The one function I would say is better on Hulu is the ability to add shows to a queue and get alerted when new shows are put up, something Comcast on Demand is completely lacking. 

But I suppose it's a viable option for cord cutters, particularly those that are looking for a simple way to get network shows on to their 'smart' TVs or iPads without a lot of hassle.

HT: GigaOm