Cord Cutting–Is YouTube TV an alternative for you?

Do you live in Chicago, San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles, New York or Philadelphia? Then you have an alternative to Cable TV. YouTube TV is now available in the areas mentioned above for just $35/month. The channel line up is okay but doesn’t have a lot of what my family watches at this time. YouTube TV is planning on adding more options as well as locations as time goes on and if you sign up and are out of the current supported areas you will be notified when the service is available in your area. The best thing is that if you don’t like the service there is no commitment.

Currently you can purchase Showtime ($11/mo) and Fox Soccer Plus ($15/mo) as add-on channels. You get 6 accounts and everyone in your household gets their own login and personal DVR library. Also, the DVR storage is unlimited so you can save to your heart’s content. There is also no limit to the number of simultaneous shows that you can capture as well.

My only issue is that some of the stations that my wife watches all of the time are not part of the selection. But in time they may show up. I was sort of surprised that HBO isn’t available as an add-on nor are Hallmark or PBS available as part of the lineup.

For more information look here.

What is Miracast ?

Intel has been promoting their Wireless Display (WiDi) technology for quite a while now and we are starting to see some traction in the industry to include it in display devices and other types of components. 

So what is Miracast? Wikipedia describes it as such:

Miracast is a certification program of the Wi-Fi Alliance based on their Wifi-Display specification. It defines a protocol to connect an external monitor or TV to a device, and therefore can roughly be described as "HDMI over Wifi", replacing the cable from the computer to the display

So what do you do if your notebook has this capability but your wall mounted TV does not? Actiontec has a product called ScreenBeam Pro that turns any HDMI connection into a WiDi receiver. Priced under $100, you can easily connect a laptop or android device to that screen or projector with an HDMI connector and wirelessly transmit your video/audio signal to that device. 

Actiontec also has kits that will provide your with a USB transmitter that will connect your laptop that doesn't have the WiDi capability built in so that it will work with the receiver. This is a great solution for providing this capability.

Actiontec Brochure