I think my Microsoft Sculpt keyboard is about to die and the company that took over Microsoft’s peripherals doesn’t have any ready. Not paying over $300 on Amazon for one.
shep, but online
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I’ve been rewatching 30 Rock recently. It’s such a great show. It feels like it was never really appreciated.
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Gary Gulman is on today’s Never Not Funny. I love listening to him talk comedy shop. One of the funniest in the business.
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After Midnight is good. I really did miss the format. Definitely added to my DVR.
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Conversation Hearts are wildly underappreciated.
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If the Cardinals really can get their stuff together and start a service this season, so long DirecTV.
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I watched The Holdovers and Killers of the Flower Moon this weekend. Both were great. So many great performances in both movies.
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Got some records today.
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Time to upgrade my Mintbook Pro. Linux Mint 21.3 “Virginia” has been released.
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Lofi grunge may be my new favorite thing. Currently enjoying this playlist. 🎵
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It’s Not TV, It’s Shepflix
Whenever the real world would get too overwhelming, I retreat into a hole of comfort television. When there’s so much bad going on in the world at a non-stop pace, bouncing around streaming services looking for comfort TV wasn’t doing the job anymore. So what did I do? I created my own cable network that shows all my favorite comfort programming using the excellent app Channels.
My Setup
I have the Channels server app running on a 2012 Mac Mini, but you can run Channels just about anywhere. Once you have the server installed, you can begin adding sources for the content. Channels supports local content, OTA (Over the Air) content, and services like TV Everywhere. For instance, I use DirecTV Stream for my live TV and I can add it as a source and the channels that support TV Everywhere will appear in Channels. It’s not all of them, but quite a few.
I’ve added all of my non-DRMed media (Channels cannot play content secured by DRM purchased from iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, etc) that is just stored on external hard drives as sources and began using the excellent Virtual Channels feature to begin creating my fake cable provider/streamer. This is how I use Channels the most. Sure, it’s great for DVR content and watching live TV, but where it really shines is being able to essentially create your own cable company and program the channels with the media you already own.
Virtual Channels
So far, I have created 27 Virtual Channels. Most of my virtual channels are dedicated to a single show and play the entire run from start to finish, but you can really program them to air in any order. I’ve also created some channels that bring together a whole genre. For instance, I have a Classic Comedies channel that will show blocks of episodes (3 episodes per block, in order, just like after school!) of shows like Seinfeld, Friends, Spin City, 30 Rock, Brooklyn 99, etc. I also have a Dramas channel that shows drama TV shows like ER, The West Wing, Fringe, and more. I even have dedicated comedy and drama movie channels that rotate through my movies that are tagged in those genres.
What’s really neat about the way Virtual Channels work is it will “air” your content as if it were a real channel. It’s not really playing the media until someone tunes in, but it appears like it is. So if you flip to a channel halfway through an episode, that’s where you will start (with the option to start the episode from the beginning). It brings back the old “channel flipping” nostalgia and I’m here for it.
Other Features
Channels does offer other features, like commercial skipping DVRed content that is pretty seamless. I don’t DVR a lot of content, so I haven’t used it that much, but when I have it’s worked flawlessly. Since it is a DVR server it also has the typical features you’d expect from a DVR, like scheduling Series Passes and Team Passes. If you have a TV tuner for over the air channels, you can hook it up and start recording over the air channels to your DVR. I hope to start using this in the future once I get a HDHomeRun.
Ending Thoughts
Since I’ve installed and setup Channels, I’ve noticed I’ve spent more time watching stuff than searching for stuff. I know if I want to watch one of my favorite shows, I can flip on my Apple TV or iPad and start streaming my content. If I’m bored, I don’t have to think about what I want to watch because I have 27 channels (and media not included in the virtual channels) that I can flip on at any time and I know I will always find something to watch. Also, if you’re like me and can’t stand silence, it’s perfect for a stream of background noise. Overall, my experience with Channels has been great and well worth the $80 a year subscription.
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I’m about to cancel YouTube premium because of how shitty the app is now. I can’t ever launch the app without it thinking I want to continue watching a video that I watched a week ago.
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I’ve never watched much Gordon Ramsay but his Last Meal episode was fantastic.
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The Cardinals are going to to have a really shitty season again this year. I really hope attendance is down.
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I’ve been using Apple Arcade quite a bit recently. Do you know what’s pretty awesome? Starting a game on my phone then picking up a controller and playing on an iPad or Apple TV. That makes it so much easier to find time to play.
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All four seasons of Evening Shade are on Prime if you want to binge them before the ads kick in at the end of the month.
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The Scarface Tiny Desk Concert is superb. 🎵
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All week I’ve been excited about the upcoming three-day weekend for MLK, Jr. Day. It’s not this weekend, it’s next weekend.
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I can never remember what button or gesture does what on watchOS these days. Good job, Apple.
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TIL there are multiple sequels to Starship Troopers.
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Free game idea for the Playdate: Steamboat Willie boats down a river avoiding obstacles. Use the crank to make the boat’s paddle go.
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1080 Snowboarding is now available in the N64 app on the Switch. Somehow I missed that. Happy New Year to me.
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Blast from St. Louis beer past.
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Currently reading: Why We Love Baseball by Joe Posnanski 📚
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I love this hat.
