I know the title can be mouthful. So let me start by describing the problem first. There are different services available on the internet showing what streaming services in your region carry the contents you are after. The problem I had with these services were: one. it often fails to parse the localized titles used outside of North America, two. these services are not always up to date with licensing. What it means, in the real world, is you might be buying or adding a new subscription to watch a movie or a TV show that either you already own…
Tagged Streaming
App to Self-Host Media Streaming Server
I had heard about Plex before, but I had never seriously put a thought into it. That is, until I realized how vulnerable of a geolocation I was in. If you are reading this in North America or Europe, it might not affect you as much; but geoblocking, coupled with intentional licensing lapse, it becomes impossible to trust a streaming service as a subscription to a media library.
Streaming, Non-Latin Alphabets, and Subtitles
I was trying to watch Wandering Earth on Netflix the other day. I was trying to watch a sci-fi movie where majority of the dialogues are in Chinese. Which Chinese, I have no clue —and yes, your favorite martial arts film may not be in Mandarin. So the subtitles were needed. This is where it gets all hazy and confusing. Korean Subtitles on Netflix app, either on Apple TV or LG Smart TV were largely illegible.
eBook Reader App and Streaming Player App Spiel
Back in 2015 or so, I wrote a short op-ed that was ill-received, calling for better ebook management features on Kindle platform. It’s been 8 years, but I see little to no changes in the app, and frankly, with the gorgeous displays and extended battery life used in most smartphones and tablets, I see little to no appeal in buying another ebook reader. After all, Kindle and other ebook readers themselves haven’t changed much in terms of what the software provides, only some niche hardware changes.
Apple TV, VPN, and Geoblock Spiel
Anyone who is old enough to live through DVD era of human history and before that Paleolithic VHS period would recall something called region locks. It is an ancient ritualistic practice where contents holders would artificially divide the regions and lock the consumers out from playing them outside of said region. Historians believe the practice was to sell the same movie at a different price in a different market. I call it ritualistic, because with enough consumers agonizingly annoyed, most DVD players were willing to appease the buyers by dropping the region lock. Not to mention some consumers went the…