This Week’s 3 Best and Three Worst Free Streaming VOD TV Services and Why!

Best and Worst Free Streaming Services for Week 48 of 2019!

 

Best

 

1. YOUTUBE – For another Week Youtube is the number one free streaming channel. Content Provider’s such as THE JOHN CAMPEA SHOW , TOP 5 SCARY VIDEOS, WEALLJUGGLEKNIVES, NEAR MINT CONDITION, METAL COMPLEX, THE DELUXE EDITION, FILMSELECT TRAILER, RICH REBUILDS, NICK SHABAZZ, SCOTTY KILMER, CORD CUTTERS NEWS, ALTER, GQ, SILVER_AGED DAVE, SOCAL ATTRACTIONS 360, CEREAL AT MIDNIGHT, AMATEUR FILMIES, HAWAII KNIFE AND GEAR, REGIE COLLECTS, SINISTER CINEMA REVIEWS, WRANGLESTAR, THE COMIC COLLECTOR, CANADIAN PREPPER, TARAS KUL, FIRST WE FEAST, GOHAN THE HUSKY, CASI DAVIS, CEDRIC & ADA GEAR AND OUTDOORS,  SILVER HAIRED BRONZE AGE BABE COMICS, BAT IN THE SUN, BLURAY DAN, IAN CORZINE, OFF THE SHELF MOVIE NIGHT, MMA ON POINT, OMNIDOG’S VAULT, CINEMANIACSEVENTY7 and WILSONIAN MOVIE MUSEUM releasing between them just some very enjoyable and informative content in the last seven days. (p.s. It is a lot of channels and content, so look for an upcoming post that higlights the best, must see You Tube videos from each channel)
   

2. ROKU CHANNEL– Youtube was pretty enjoyable last week, so I didn’t really have the time or inclination to watch much of anything else on the free channels. Exception being the ROKU CHANNEL. It offers the first episode of some cable shows I have not yet checked out. So was able to watch the first episodes of WATCHMEN (loved it), GAME OF THRONES (yes, I have not watched a single episode of Game of Thrones, until this free episode on the Roku Channel. It was good. However, no real desire to catch up with it, but if other episodes turn up for free i’ll check them out) and the first episodes of DAVINCI’S DEMONS and AMERICAN GODS (didn’t like either one). So, for giving me the chance to check out these shows, with a minimum of commercial interruptions (CRACKLE take notes) ROKU makes it on this list. And finally…

3. TUBI TV- These guys must pay attention to my viewing preferences, because they have a huge assortment of BIG FOOT movies. I’ve seen most of them, but I appreciate these films being available, and did catch up with a couple I have not seen before; 2017’s THE HUNTING (an interesting but flawed “monster in the woods” movie with a twist) and the un-watchably annoying and badly acted BIGFOOT COUNTRY and the simply awful THE MOTH. But I liked being able to at least check these movies out. And what I love about TUBI is they do not drown you in ads, you get to watch a good chunk of the movie before they interrupt it with 2 or 3 ads (not 6 ads, every few minutes, or every-time you try to rewind or fast forward… CRACKLE looking at you!!!)

 

WORST

That brings us to our WORST free streaning channel of the 48th week of 2019. It is hands down as if you could not guess…

1. CRACKLE

2. CRACKLE

3. CRACKLE – the shame of it is… they actually have content worth watching, that is not available on other channels.  But their egregious overuse of advertising makes the channel unwatchable. I fool you not, it is like 6 ads, before they start the program, then 6 ads seemingly every 10 minutes or less. And you get ads immediately if you need to fast-forward or rewind. It adds up to more ads than actual runningtime of the movie, almost. I could not make it through 15 minutes of  being on CRACKLE. Just not worth my time… at all.  Hands down the worst streaming channel of week 48.

 

 

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Here in First Quarter 2019, FINALLY reflecting on BEST Youtube Channels 2018!

Odd the difference streaming has made to my TV watching habits.

I went YEARS without watching cable TV, or really much of broadcast TV, and not really missing it.

I did not want a cable television bill, so I did either free off the air via the digital antenna or whole seasons of DVD. And I had my unlimited clear broadband modem, so web shows were also an option.

But back in 2013 or 2014 when Roku and Netflix really began to become a thing, I jumped in to the ‘streaming revolution’ and man have I, like most of you, had a blast.

So much so, that last year, after a few years of using Roku to watch the regulars (NETFLIX, HULU, AMAZON PRIME, CRACKLE, TUBI, and SHOUT FACTORY TV to name a few) I checked out a ‘new’ Roku station… YOUTUBE.

Youtube, a thing I avoided like the plague in its web/pc version for YEARS (because of lack of moderation of the sewage like comments section), quickly in 2018 became one of my favorite channels.

I spent more time watching the Youtube Channel and assorted programs on my big screen TV (Thanks to Roku) than just about anything else, with the other two big ones being AMAZON PRIME and HULU.

I still have issues with Youtube (the organization) but the regular joes and joettes, who for the love of it… create this unique and passionate content, these unique channels, well I love it for the same reason I love podcasts.

(Quick shout out to COMIC GEEK SPEAK, EPIC MARVEL PODCAST, KNIFEPOINT HORROR, TWOMORROWS, THE DAILY RIOS PODCAST to name a few)

They exemplify the passionate amateur who shows a better grasp and coverage of the material, then the paid professional pundit. And for the hours of joy they gave me, and others, in 2018 they deserve to be applauded.

And here (in a brief paragraph) are my favorite Youtube shows for 2018:

1. AFTA COMICS
2. SILVER-AGED DAVE
3. REGIE SIMMONS IFBB PRO https://www.youtube.com/user/rsimmons1911
   
4. RANDY AND TAYLA
5. RICH REBUILDS
6. ALL THAT JAZZ
7. BRAVE WILDERNESS
8. FIRST WE FEAST
   
9. THE GO2 GEEKS
10. WALLACE RYAN
11. WORKOUT
12. HAANTI
13. EARL GREY https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1ZtauWih38Lr1aVEXuZybw
    
14. JOHN CAMPEA
15. DS COMICS
16. METAROG
17. MINDSMASH https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC87Lj67s_Ht40lvGhtF9iHA
    
18. MINORITY MINDSET
19. OMELETO
20. POP CULTURE PHILOSOPHERS
21. PROFESSOR THORGI
    
22. RAPID TRAILER
23. CEREAL AT MIDNIGHT http://www.cerealatmidnight.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsVgZNzzvedehALS-dTIFhA
24. CHYCHO
25. COMICHYJINX
26. COMICS WITH BUELLER
27. DR JOSH AXE
28. FURY ROAD
29. LEEKIRBYDITKOCOMICS
30. THE DELUXE EDITION
31. UFC AND MMA

If you are unfamiliar with any show above, do a search ( Not at google, please. Try duckduckgo or ixquick.com. Google and Disney should not own everything guys. Spread the love guys. Competition will help keep you free. 🙂 ). These channels are worth your time.

So yeah didn’t want to drag this post out but those are 31 channels that kicked butt in 2018, and I am currently still enjoying in 2019. And more than that, network and reach out to each other, and make it easy for your fellow youtubers and fans to reach you outside of Youtube. Cause you probably have a lot of fans who reach you via a streaming device. Which means they do not see your comments section, and can not post comments, etc. And I have seen a few channels go dark in the brief time I’ve been following Youtube channels, so an old fashioned email link, maybe not as outdated a concept as people say. 🙂

I would hate some of the above channels to likewise go dark, come 2020.

Thanks for looking!!!

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Be well out there!

Is the 1st Quarter of 2019 almost done???!! Quick a few last lessons and observations from 2018!!!!

Wow this year has been flying and busy…so I did not have a lot of time to reflect on 2018. So I wanted to say a few words before we get out of the 1st quarter of 2019.

 

2018.

What a year.

Politics, war, human and civil rights conflicts. Losses both subtle and staggering. And also great achievements to balance out the bloody churning of the 24 hour news cycle.

Other places have spoken on those serious points of 2018.

I wanted to speak on mostly light, trivial, personal minutiae that for what ever reason reverberated with me. And may just reverberate with those of you who visit me.

2018 was, despite the unsteady global outlook, personally for me… a good year.

Those I hold dear were well.

And that for me is the main measure of a good year.

So onto the minutiae:

Umm

• I spent time in Connecticut in 2018, and absolutely loved it. New London, Mohegan Sun, Terrificon 2018. Just a fantastic trip with my better half. So enjoyed the trip so much, that we will be doing it again in 2019. If you are into Comic Book movies, and more importantly classic comic books, from the great Silver and Bronze Age, and their creators, this is the con for you. If you are with family that has only minimal interests in Comics, this Con is definitely for you, because it is held in a stunning Casino, so it is great shopping,, with great food. And the surrounding area is filled with great things to do with your family, from great small town window shopping, to cruises, and tours, and yes… excellent food.
• 2018 saw me transition from Fire TV back to Roku Premiere+. Which served me great all year with one little caveat.

• The Roku Premiere + while it offers improved processing speed over earlier models and a handy HDMI port, it also overs a microphone in the  remote for voice control.  As someone who works in tech two of the stupidest things I think you can have in your home, is a camera you can’t turn off ( or be truly certain when it is on) and a microphone that is always recording.
• Too many people place devices in their home, that a smarter, more prudent, generation would have called illegal surveillance systems (cough – XBOX – cough), but because these systems come marketed as ‘must have entertainment devices’, or ‘AI convenience devices’, too many people are swayed by the sheen rather than the substance, and blithely allow invasive tech into their home without researching that tech, or means to limit violations of same. Just like before you use a car most people pay a reliable mechanic to check out the car, and seasonally tune it up, the same minimum steps should be in place for these smart/iot devices. Have a tech set it up and secure it for you, and ensure it is safe to use. That is just smart consumerism in this day and age of identity theft, and billion dollar companies unable to keep from losing your data.
• And these are the companies you pay to put an alexa in your home. 🙂 I am not so lazy that I need an Alexa in my house, always listening to answer an inane question, or turn on a light. Such smart technology can be of use, but not when paired with an uninformed and lazy consumer.That is a recipe for your technology owning you, rather than the other way around.
• Most notably marketing. There are billions made by game/entertainment machines that has NOTHING to do with gaming. But has everything to do with selling your data to the highest bidder. A not locked down gaming machine, is indistinguishable from a state of the art bio-metric spying machine. Indistinguishable.
• I’m not saying do not have have a video game console in your house. I am saying be informed about the equipment you are putting in your house and how to limit egress by marketers, and privacy violations.
• Such as the news item a couple years back of people who bought the smart TVs, unaware that it was recording them.:)
• Smart Devices, are for smart consumers. And most consumers are not smart. I’m not being insulting, but it is a truth the marketing relies on, that people buy off of a glitzy ad, rather than research. On emotion, rather than reason. How else to explain pharmaceutical ads that sell potentially deadly products, to address the most inane issues. They rely on consumers not being smart, and wanting what is new and hip and popular. We must look at the world, with better eyes than that. All of us. Myself included feel the pull to jump aboard the band-wagon, but those are the times we have to pause, and take a step back. And really look and see where the road of good intentions… is leading you. 🙂 . It takes putting in the effort, which is contrary to the marketed status quo of, just ask your phone, or smart device to think for you.
• For the sake of entertainment this social media generation is relinquishing rights, that took much loss of blood to get. Technology can be great, if you take the time to hold manufacturers accountable, and make the technology truly a tool that you use, rather than visa-versa.
• All this to say, I swapped out my mic enabled remote for my Roku for a model without a mic. I do not want to talk to machines. I don’t really want machines talking to me. 🙂 And no, I don’t have a smart phone. I work with smart phones, tablets, and laptops, and desktops for a living. I do not need my phone to be a computer, I just need it to make and receive calls. 🙂
• Having set those ground rules for the Roku, and some other privacy changes enacted, the Roku Premiere + has served me well for all of 2018. And continues to do so in 2019.

Most notably Youtube, a thing I avoided like the plague in its web version (because of lack of moderation of the sewage like comments section), is one thing I am enjoying on my big screen (non-smart) tv, thanks to Roku. The ‘comments free’ Youtube Channel App, on Roku, is easily one of my most watched channels of 2018. More on this in my next installment.

 

 

And we will wrap this streaming heavy look at 2018 up with my 5 favorite Streaming Channels of 2018 from most to least watched.

1. YOUTUBE

2. AMAZON PRIME

3. HULU

4. NETFLIX

5. PLUTO TV

Those five channels were pretty much all I watched in 2018.

Youtube I already mentioned what I watched.

As far as Amazon Prime, they have a huge selection of Big Foot, Werewolf, and other obscure horror films, which is my cup of tea. The slasher stuff I have no use for, but a good Big Foot movie, I’m there! So between many hours of movies and trailers, and their great classic and original programming (JACK RYAN season 1 was excellent) they were a solid contender for most popular streaming channel.

HULU allowed us to keep up with broadcast TV, (ex. AMERICAN NINJA) as well as original programing and classic series. Netflix ran a distant fourth for me, but did have some fun shows and movies as well.

Finally PLUTO TV scratched the itch for us when we wanted the Cable experience.

There you go guys, a streaming intensive look at 2018 from herE in the far future of 2019! 🙂