Your Guide to Cord Cutting
Greetings!
My name is Steve Sayer and I would like to invite you to join me in becoming a Charter Member in CordCutters.US. My approach enables a consumer with their own Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC) and an internet connection to immediately cancel cable or satellite subscriptions as well as any streaming services you hardly watch potentially saving hundreds of $$ per month. My methods include sharing media and even subscriptions that go anywhere home, car, travel etc... To most, this will be no different than what you are used to in watching TV from a cable/satellite box or your Smart TV. However, there will be some who will want to get more involved and I am eager to teach what I know part of the benefits of a Premium Membership in CordCutters.US.
To help you visualize what being a CordCutters.US member with your own custom built Media Server looks like as compared to your current cable or satellite box I have put together this short video from my Fire TV device. Note please do choose Full Screen in bottom right corner of video screen for better viewing:
I provide a custom built fully-loaded and functioning Home Theater Personal Computer Media Server (HTPC) including all recommended software and applications, instruction and support all together with a full year’s Premium Membership in CordCutters.US. Your PC can be a spare, used or new… desktop, laptop or mini that runs quietly in the background. Want to know more? Email contact us and just type “Around Woodstock” in the message box. Or, schedule your free 30-minute phone consultation for a Q&A session to help introduce you to television independence.
Below you will find reviews on Plex, Channels DVR and Streaming Devices in 2024. FYI... This Category on Streaming Devices is linked from My "Members" only section of CordCutters.US website. This will give you a peek at some of the detail I share on all CordCutter topics.
Just highlight the category and enter / select:
Things You Should Know About Plex (Free Streaming, Plex Media Server, and More!)
Plex, the multi-faceted entertainment platform that's evolved greatly over the years. Whether you just want some free streaming or you want to build and maintain your own personal media collection, Plex might be an interesting option for you. Craig from Reviews.org does a deep dive on Plex, the free streaming service that lets you not only stream live and on-demand TV shows and movies, but also let's you upload your own media so that you can watch it on the big screen. Check out his video:
What Craig says in the last minute is where CordCutters.US and I come in. Even for those who are not "technology challenged" a Plex Home Media Server is certainly a learning curve. Whether off-the-shelf or custom-build, CordCutters.US will provide our clients a fully-loaded and functioning HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer) media server all set-up including altogether with recommended software and applications, online instruction and support while utilizing and including a full year’s Premium membership in CordCutters.US. We're here to form a community, publish my subject matter, engage with my members while guiding you towards Television Independence. My way starts with your own personal media (CDs, DVDs & Digital) streaming from your own server (PC) anywhere on multiple TVs and devices using the best Media App to be found: PLEX. What does CordCutters.US provide? Besides a fully-loaded and functioning home media server but also instruction and support mostly utilizing a premium membership with CordCutters.US. And a one year membership is included with with each custom built Media Server using new, used or your spare PC.
In addition to having direct access to me for any personal tech questions that arise; I will be sharing actionable advice, new apps, neat gadgets, solutions to common tech problems and the little tricks that everyone should know about. I’ll also keep members informed on the best deals in tech, perspective on the latest news and learn about great deals as members craft their own cord cutting strategy all while members are sharing media not only with fellow members but also family and friends. Book your Free 30 minute one on one Phone Consultation to talk about your current TV and Internet subscriptions and prices. Your viewing habits, personal media collection i.e. CDs DVDs etc. Your computer equipment (if any) including your basic computer skills. And of course, we will be happy to answer any questing you may have!
Craig's Review above is about a year ago but as the streaming landscape changes, how are they trying to evolve? They recently changed their logo, but those updates run a ALOT deeper than a new font! Plex has made a major update to its apps that allow users to search for content via over 140 services through Plex and access their media servers and live TV all through the same interface. The new plex app update is a game-changer for content discovery and media integration. See our newest video to check out all the changes that have been built into Plex with the new update.
So Let's take a look at the new Plex from another Reviews.org Review:
Plex is available both as a free service and a premium tier it calls Plex Pass. While free tier doesn’t bill you monthly, there’s a $5-per-platform activation fee if you want to use the Plex Android and iOS apps. The Premium tier costs $5 per month, $40 per year or $120 for a lifetime pass. If you use Plex a lot, the lifetime pass pays for itself after two years just based on the Plex cost but for a CordCutter it pays for itself immediately; otherwise, use your best judgment or try it for a month then decide.
Recently, Plex offered 20% off of its lifetime subscription to celebrate Plex Pro Week (Sept. 19 - 23, 2022). So, if you missed that, hopefully you can get the same discount from time to time.
Lon explains more in the following video:
View channels from local live TV AND Plex Live TV in the same place. “Favorite” channels from either source for super quick access (and customize the order of those favorites). Browse your robust selection of Live TV quickly with genre filters. And local live TV also includes a DVR!
Lon reviews in this short Video:
Digital music users largely fall into two camps these days: those with their own, personal, curated music collection and others who use a music streaming service. The former group often runs into a dilemma: How do we keep discovering quality new music? How do we avoid losing ourselves, and our curated albums, in an infinite sea of (streaming) music? To help provide a bridge between those two worlds, PLEX partnered with TIDAL, who has a vast universe of music, most of it available in lossless quality FLAC. In addition, PLEX worked out some really great ways to combine it with your own library. With a TIDAL subscription (whether you already have one or want to start one through PLEX) linked to your PLEX account, you’ll be able to access TIDAL’s tens of millions of songs and videos through your Plex apps whenever you want. For those who already have a music library on their PLEX Media Server, you’ll see awesome integrations such as albums for an artist that are available on TIDAL, but missing from your library. Furthermore, you can even add content from TIDAL (artists, albums, or individual tracks) so that it appears alongside your own content in your personal library. A very cool feature I like is Tidal's integrations into the Movies on PLEX Libraries!
Here is a very short video that steps thru the process on Plex:
Lon reviews Plex and Tidal in this Video:
Fast, powerful, and useful, Plex Dash keeps an eye on your server no matter where you are. With your shiny Plex Pass, get a unified view of active playback across your servers with real-time graphs for network, memory, and processor usage, all wrapped up in a beautiful UI...
What started as a small music player for your desktop with a number of unique features, Plexamp is now a full-fledged mobile app as well. Once you have a Plex Pass, download the app, throw your best FLACs at it and experience sonic bliss! Does Plexamp work with tidal? If you already have a TIDAL account/subscription, you can link it to your Plex account (or subscribe thru Plex) , allowing you to access and play TIDAL content through Plex and Plexamp. Plex Labs just recently released version 4.5.1 and this Player gets even more amazing with every update!
Lon reviews PlexDash and PlexAmp in this video: