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The YouTube app on your Roku or Chromecast just got a big upgrade
The goal is to create a more immersive, distraction-free experience
While YouTube may be at the top of the food chain in terms of video streaming platforms, the Google-owned service is still facing its fair share of competition. Many video-based apps and services are finding ways to differentiate themselves through UI. Now, YouTube is shifting its focus to improving its UI, seemingly with the goal of keeping viewers glued to their big screens.
How to add and manage apps on your Samsung smart TV
Your Samsung smart TV experience is much better with third-party apps
Your Samsung smart TV is more than a platform for watching shows and movies from the best value streaming services. Installing more apps lets you play games, check social media, listen to music, read the news, and more. Installing too many can make finding the apps you need quickly challenging.
YouTube TV is adding a previous channel shortcut
Switching between two channels just got a whole lot easier
If you're still sticking with cable, chances are you've had someone pitch you the advantages of streaming services like YouTube TV. Cutting cable has given millions the option to pay for targeted content they want without contractual agreements. Despite rising subscription prices, the platform continues to grow and finds new ways to tailor content to specific users. As with most of its apps, Google keeps rolling out design enhancements, and it recently introduced 5.1 surround sound to complement YouTube TV's 4K content streaming. The streaming giant just added another feature former cable subscribers have been wanting for a long time.
Over the past decade, streaming services, both ones that offer TV-style channel guides and platforms that offer on-demand content libraries, have gained so much popularity that they've practically knocked cable TV down the drain. We’re not too upset about it, as being able to access content anywhere is great. However, with that new dependency on streaming services comes the good ol’ adage of supply and demand, even in the virtual sense. The people who run these services know that we’ll pay more for something we grow dependent on, so they’ve increased prices marginally throughout the years, leaving many to wonder what services are the best bang for your buck. Netflix is the worst when it comes to this, and the service has proven why again very recently with its second price hike in a year.
7 common Google Chromecast issues and how to fix them
Some helpful tips for when things don't always work as intended
Google Chromecast lets you stream video from Android devices and your laptop to your television. Google also makes various Chromecast dongles that are affordable and among the best streaming devices you can buy. Just tap a button and select where you want to watch your content. It doesn't get any easier than this. Still, multiple variables are at play when using a Chromecast, and not everything always works as it should. Here are the common issues you might face when using your Chromecast with your home network.
Formovie Theater Projector review: Putting the 'pro' in projector
If your wallet agrees, it's well worth a look
Even though the best projectors can be a bit on the pricier side, when you compare them to the cost of a massive high-end TV, they start looking like a steal. But for some reason, they've remained more of a tech-enthusiasts' toy than an everyday living room hero. Many folks still think that projectors can't match up to the reliable experience of TVs.
YouTube TV is finally expanding multiview beyond sports
Testing starts this summer for multiview news and weather streams
Whether it's working with multiple monitors on our PCs, or using your phone while watching a movie, paying attention to many screens at once has become second nature to many of us. That's why it was so cool when earlier this year, YouTube TV launched a multiview feature that let sports fans stream up to four channels simultaneously, with all processing done on YouTube TV's end. Expanding on this foundation, YouTube TV is starting to test five brand new multiview streams that grow beyond sports to span a diverse range of categories.
Samsung is one of the biggest TV and smartphone manufacturers in the world. It's logical for the company to bundle its streaming service with TVs, top Galaxy smartphones, and tablets. In 2015, Samsung introduced Samsung TV Plus, a free, ad-supported streaming service with live TV channels, on its televisions and later expanded it to Galaxy devices. Here's everything you need to know about Samsung TV Plus.
Peacock's bringing your local NBC station to Premium Plus subscribers
There are better ways to watch linear TV than this
Streaming didn't kill the TV and movie stars, but all those awesome and affordable services have certainly made a mess of our media diets. If you read Android Police, you're probably more of the on-demand type when it comes to watching news and entertainment, but you still spend time on live (or just linear) programming once in a while. Comcast is hoping to leverage those occasional urgings by offering a livestream of your local NBC affiliate as an additional perk for subscribing to Peacock Premium Plus.
Ads headed for Disney+ next month along with price hikes
December 8 will also see higher Hulu prices for some
Stop us if you've heard this before: your streaming subscriptions are getting more expensive. Oh, wait, we already wrote a story today about Sling TV jacking up its prices. Well, don't look now, but in another move you could call funny or depressing — maybe even a little of both — Disney-owned streaming services Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu are set to raise their tolls on your viewership, especially when it comes to bundles and how much ad time you're willing to put up with.
The US Open Tennis 2022 starts on Monday, August 29, and will wrap up on September 11. You can find qualifying match results on the US Open website to see the lineup heading into the event. If you're not lucky enough to attend the games in person, here are plenty of streaming options to keep up on the matches. Whether you're streaming just for the finals or the entire event, there's a perfect option here.
The best anime series on Amazon Prime Video this August
Avoid the heat with a few of our favorite animated series
It's summer. Time to kick back, relax, and perhaps indulge in a solid bit of escapism to get away from the tumultuous times we find ourselves in. What better way is there to get away from it all than in a good anime? After all, the animated medium allows artists to express things they would not normally be able to convey in more traditional media.
Paramount Plus: 4 new shows you won't want to miss this June
Evil, Players, Yellowjackets, and even South Park are headed to Paramount+ this June
Paramount+ is certainly one of the newer streaming services to hit the market, having just rebranded from CBS All Access less than a year ago. Since then, the budding streaming service has done pretty well for itself, amassing almost 33 million paid subscribers. This puts it well behind the likes of Netflix and Disney+, but dwarfs other newer options like Peacock. All that to say that Paramount+ is definitely worth checking out, particularly if you're a fan of shows and movies from CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, or Nickelodeon.
Plex thinks it can out-Google-TV Google TV at helping you find that next great show
Trying out universal discovery and watchlist support
You may use Plex as a way to justify owning and storing your favorite movies and TV shows in an easy-to-reach place. You may even use it to share a remote movie night with your faraway friends and family. Now, the service is taking a crack at what Google TV isn't able to do properly: sorting out all the titles you can see with the streaming subscriptions you've paid for.
YouTube is adding thousands of free ad-supported TV episodes for you to binge
That just sounds like regular TV, but okay
For many, YouTube was already the de facto destination for ad-supported free video content, and now, it's getting even more. In addition to its original, user-generated content and its selection of movies you can watch for free with ads, YouTube now has thousands of TV episodes you can watch without paying a dime.
Grab a Fire TV Stick on sale right now and get free Sling TV to last through March Madness
Most of the tournament, anyways
If you want over-the-top streaming TV, you'll know that procurement is an adventure in and of itself. There's the question of platform — Roku, Google TV, the like — and which providers you'll add on top — YouTube TV, Netflix, everything else. For those in search right now, we'll make it easy: Amazon is selling its Fire TV devices on great discount and is bundling two weeks of Sling TV for free in time for March Madness!
With the holiday season in full swing, many of us are spending a little more time at home. Gathering the family for a movie night is a tradition as old as time — well, as old as movies, anyway — and that goes double for when you have relatives over during this time of year. You probably have a pretty sweet home theater system set up in your home just for these occasions, but behind your Dolby Atmos speakers and 4K OLED display is something much simpler: a streaming device.
Nvidia's latest, greatest Shield TV Pro is $20 off right now
Not often you even see the word 'deal' next to 'Shield'
Nvidia Shield TV devices are quite precious. So much so, in fact, that you don't really see them on sale. So, if you've been pining for a Shield TV Pro for a while and have been waiting for a sale to pounce on... this is it.
Roku and Google kiss and make up, bringing YouTube TV back to smart TVs and dongles
Brinksmanship bites again
Carriage disputes from the bad old days of cable TV are still alive and well in the age of streaming, but at least the one that's been brewing between Roku and Google's YouTube TV has been quashed. The two sides have agreed on a multi-year contract.
Free streaming TV service Pluto TV now directly integrated into Google TV
One of two reasons Google hopes you'll get a new Chromecast
Ever since it made started making (and, somehow, still hasn't completed) the transition from Android TV to Google TV, Google has been looking for ways to entice viewers to buy a new Chromecast. Well, it has just come up with two of them.