App Review: Bodi

 

Team Beachbody has mostly moved away from putting their workouts out on DVD and shifted to streaming workouts through their Beachbody on Demand (BOD) app, which they now call BODi. The BODi app has the vast majority of the Beachbody workout catalog, including the programs that existed prior to P90X (such as Slim in 6, Turbo Jam, and the original Power 90, etc.) the workout program that really launched the company into the big time. It is not clear if you go on to the Team Beachbody website that the older programs are available on the BODi app, but I can confirm that they are. In fact, the only major programs that are not available on the App are the Les Mills programs (e.g., Les Mills Combat) because the licensing agreement between Beachbody and Less Mills had expired. As a result, Beachbody discontinued selling those programs and did not put them on the App. There may be a few other programs I cannot remember that are not on the App, but the vast majority are. And, some of the newer programs are only being released on the BOD App and are not being put out on DVD at all. This is very likely going to be the norm for the Beachbody programs in the very near future, so if you want any of their new programs, you will have to subscribe to the streaming service.

A couple of things to be aware of before getting this. First, even though the App is free, you need a subscription to be able to access the workouts or the workout materials. Beachbody has monthly, quarterly, or annual subscriptions available (the yearly subscription is $99). Second, Beachbody has added live classes as well, but those do not stream through the app unless you add a subscription to Bodi (which is $200 for the annual subscription), at which point you get access to the live classes as well as the two nutrition programs (Portion Fix and 2B mindset). Third, some of the workouts do have specialized equipment and, if you want those, you will have to purchase them separately. So, there are extra costs beyond the App if you want the equipment needed to do some of the workouts or get, for example, the portion fix containers.

Overall, I think the app is good, and it is nice to have all the workouts in one spot and not have to mess with DVDs. That said, you will likely need to spend additional money to do some of the workouts (such as those that require pull-up bars) and, if you want the documentation you will have to read it in PDF format or print out a hardcopy. One thing I would love is if Beachbody would convert the nutrition plans for every workout to the portion-fix container system so the people who do decide to get the containers can use them even with the older programs like P90x and Insanity that were created before Portion Fix. Thankfully, most of the newer workouts do key their nutrition portion to the containers. Also, one big drawback is that if you have the app downloaded on multiple devices, the synch is inconsistent, especially when tracking workouts. It seems to synch with their website pretty well, but not every workout I do on a fire device or on a Rouku gets synched with the BOD app on my iPhone. Which is a bit irritating. But, for the most part, I like the app and recommend it to people who have used the Beachbody workout programs.

Streaming App Review: Max

 

Max (formerly HBO GO) allows you to subscribe to HBO without subscribing through whatever cable or streaming service you use for live channels. It has most of the archived HBO shows like The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Game of Thrones, etc., as well as the vast majority of the DC Comics content (aside from, as of this writing, the CW shows that stream on Netflix and Smallville which streams on Hulu), and shows like Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon that get licensed to stream on the service. Plus, due to COVID-19's impact on people going to theaters, for a time, the newly released Warner Brother movies were available for 30 days on the day that they were released. I believe that is no longer happening, however. And, the new episodes of shows like House of the Dragon are made immediately available at the same time they would air if you were watching HBO through a cable subscription.

The interface is very good and easy to navigate. You can search or browse, and add content to a watch list. And, if you stop a movie or show before it ends, there is a continue watching section that allows you to pick up where you left off. The interface is very similar to that of Disney + and Peacock, so if you have, or have used, one of those, you can easily navigate around in this. And, I do not notice a ton of buffering issues even though my Wi-Fi connection can be spotty at times. The connection to the app seems more consistent than I get with some of my other streaming apps. The only drawback is that it does not have archived versions of all the weekly shows, like Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. It only has the shows of the most recent season, and as soon as the new season starts the prior season's shows are removed. That kind of sucks if you have not seen the early episodes and would like to go back and watch them without having to try and track them down online. Aside from that, I am definitely happy with it even though it is yet another paid streaming platform.

App Review: YouTube

 

This is a good stand-alone app that allows you to watch YouTube videos without having to use an internet browser through the TV. If you sign in with your Google credentials it will allow you access to all your saved videos, playlists, etc., and allows you to keep your phone free for other things (and watch videos on a larger screen).

App Review: Disney+

 

I have subscribed to Disney+ since its launch, mostly to watch the Star Wars and Marvel content, but I do, from time to time, watch some of the older movies that I watched as a kid. While the app is free to download, you do have to pay for a subscription, just like is the case with Netflix, Hulu, etc. It has a big chunk of the Disney catalog (with more being added pretty consistently) including many of the older movies and shows that people who are over 40 grew up with.

There are numerous ways to navigate around the content in the app, such as searching, browsing just TV shows, just movies, and by content (e.g. Star Wars, Marvel, National Geographic, etc.). You can also browse content by the decade of release. One great thing is that you do not have to pay extra for the material that is available in 4K. If you have a 4K television, you can play 4k content without having to upgrade your subscription ala Netflix. Another thing that is really nice is that you get bonus content, mostly for the newer movies, much like would be included with the physical DVD or Blu-ray discs which is sometimes missing when you opt just to stream material.

You also can set up multiple profiles so each person in the house can have their own watchlist, and get their own recommendations based on what is viewed under the profile. And, you can set any additional profiles (there is a pre-set main/default profile that cannot be altered aside from assigning it a name and icon) as a "kids" profile to limit what content can be watched under it. As I mentioned above, each profile can also be assigned an icon of pretty much any character from the shows/movies on the service.

I have not had any of the streaming issues or error messages that some are getting. I was able to download and sign in without a problem, although I did so pretty early on the morning launch day. Overall, you get a ton of content for your money, including movies that are harder to find on physical media because they have gone out of print. It is a great value, especially if you signed up for the three-year deal that was offered a few months, or if you already have Hulu (you can basically pay a dollar per month more (if you subscribe to commercial-free Hulu) to bundle Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+.

One thing to note is that after you sign in, it will require you to verify your email address, basically by emailing you a code that you then enter into the app. Although, the system does not make this very obvious because there is no box that pops up instructing you to verify your email. What happens is, on the menu (which is on a sidebar) there is a settings icon (a gear icon), that will have an exclamation point over it. When you click into the settings you will then see that you have to verify your email, then it will send the code. I am not sure what will happen if you do not verify or how much time you have to do so. Most likely it will kick you out after a while, but it is ultimately a very easy process. I definitely recommend it.

App Review: Tubi

 

Tubi is a free streaming service that is a rival to services like Netflix and Hulu. This means you will have to sit through commercials that will randomly pop up during a movie (they do seem to be keyed to natural ad breaks for most of the TV shows, however), and the content is more on the B or C list level. The good thing is that movies are not censored, so you will not have to watch the TV versions of movies. There are some older A-list movies that get sprinkled in, and there are some TV series that they have (such as the reboot of V that aired a handful of years ago now) that I have not seen on other services. 

It is easy to navigate the various categories, and the content does cycle through (there is a category for leaving soon) if you want to watch things that will not be on the service much longer. It is a good option for cord-cutters, especially if you do not want to subscribe to all the paid services out there.

App Review: CBS News

 

This app allows you to watch either archived/on-demand news clips and stories or watch a live feed of CBS News. During the times when some news program is regularly airing on CBS, such as during the evening news or Sunday morning, you can watch it live. On the off-peak times, the "live" feed are top stories that get played on a loop. So, if you just had it playing in the background, the stories are going to be recycled. It does cut in for breaking news or newsworthy press conferences though. So how much of a recycled feel you will get can vary depending on the particular day's news. As others have said, the Fire Stick version can be glitchy. Content-wise, however, it is good, and it does not require a subscription to CBS All Access (now Paramount+) to use it.

App Review: Amazon Music Unlimited

 

If you are a Prime member on Amazon you do get the basic version of Prime Music included. The basic version is good but does have songs and albums that disappear every so often and does not have licensing rights for everything that is available on the Unlimited version. This will get you the most albums from most artists who have ever been popular or at the very least had one hit song. There have been a couple songs that I have not been able to find, but I have been able to find the vast majority of the songs I have been looking for on Unlimited.

The App is fairly user-friendly and allows you to easily find music in your library which are songs you own or have added, or you can listen to stations that play songs by artist (and artists similar to them), by genre, or damn near any parameter you can think of. There are also many podcasts available through the app as well. It is a relatively inexpensive way to access almost every album that has been released.

App Review: Curiosity Stream

 

Curiosity Stream is an app that has educational documentaries. While this is a free download you do have to have a subscription to watch anything. It has hours of documentaries available (I am partial to the Astronomy/spaced-based ones) and it would be nearly impossible to get through them all. If you are generally a fan of documentaries and want more than what is available on other streaming services, this is a great addition.

App Review: HBO Go

 

This was the app that was used if you subscribed to HBO through a cable or satellite service or through DirecTV Now. The interface was okay, not great, but I could generally find what I was looking for without an issue. I have not had issues with it crashing, buffering, or freezing up as other reviewers on Amazon did (nor have I had those kinds of issues using the MAX app. 

My one complaint is that it did not hold your login credentials long enough. For many apps, and I would say most of the ones I use, once I log in with my DirecTV NOW username and password they will stick unless I uninstall and reinstall the app, or after the app is updated. This one seems to log me out on a much more consistent basis. Then I have to go through the process of entering the code into the activation site, resubmitting my DirecTV NOW credentials, etc. It does not take a ton of time to do so, just a few minutes, but pain nevertheless. Of course, this has now been replaced with the MAX app, which has a much different interface and user experience, so the functionality of this one is moot now.

App Review: HGTV GO

 

This is an App that has most of the HGTV shows on it. It is free to download, but you have to sign in with your account information for whichever TV provider you have, be it cable, DirecTV, DirecTV Now, etc. If you do not have a cable or satellite provider (unless they have altred the policy) everything will be locked if you try to watch something. Once you do, you can stream pretty much every show on the network. 

It mostly has just the most current episodes of the various shows (whatever season is currently airing, or most recently aired, and occasionally the season prior to that). It does not have every episode of every show, especially those which have been around for more than a few seasons. Some of the shows allow you to fast-forward through the commercials and others make you sit through 4-5 commercials (and sometimes the same commercial run over and over). If you are a cord-cutter and are a fan of the shows on the network, it is a great way to watch them when you want, especially if whatever streaming TV service you use does not have (or you do not want to pay for) DVR functionality.

All of the HGTV shows are now on MAX, which used to be HBO Go and then HBO Max. So if you subscribe to that you do not need to watch this, but if you do not want to pay for another streaming service and still have a cable subscription, this is a good option.

App Review: Sling TV

 

I tried Sling TV back in 2018, then switched to YouTube TV (mainly to watch Cobra Kai), and have now switched back to Sling after YouTube TV increased its prices a couple of times without adding any additional content or features. To be clear, despite Sling's claims, it is not truly a-la-carte TV. You cannot select just the channels you want. You have to choose from packages, which, depending on the one you choose will have a pre-selected set of add-ons you can choose. For example, if you want cable news channels you have to choose the mid-level blue package, then pay an extra $5 per month for the "news add-on".  They have subsequently removed the news add-on, but you still have to subscribe to the blue package. Then there are different packages to get extra sports channels and the like. You cannot just pick from a list of all the channels, select the one(s) you want, and pay a flat fee based on that. Here are the pros and cons:

Pros:

1) The app is much more stable than DirecTV NOW (which is what I initially switched from to Sling). It buffers and/or freezes far less at peak internet use time than DirecTV Now does.

2) The optional DVR functionality which allows you to record shows (up to 50 hours worth) and fast forward through them is great, and something lacking on some of the other services. But, see below.

3) Easy to navigate

Cons:

1) Live local channel availability is very limited. In my area, there is no local CBS, NBC, ABC, CW, etc. It does get the local Fox station and the local Fox Sports channel so I can watch some of the local sports teams, but DirecTV NOW has a much better selection.

2) No commercial-free upgrade option when watching on-demand shows. Granted the DVR function eliminates the need for that somewhat, but it would be a nice option to have when you are watching on-demand shows.

3) The DVR reliability is spotty. It does not record everything I have set to record every time there is a new episode. I have it set to record some of the nightly talk shows and some nights it will record fine, and others it skips them all together, even though there is plenty of space available. Also, if you have older recordings on there that you have watched already it will sometimes, depending on what device you are on, throw an error code and not play it. It has also canceled some of the recordings I have set up so I have to go back in and tell it to record the series. And, sometimes when you tell it you only want to record new episodes, it will record re-runs anyway. 

4) While you can select your favorite channels when you go into the guide you will see all the channels, and you do not have the ability to block, lock, or even just hide any channels you do not want to watch.  So, the favorite channel function is basically useless.

Overall, it is the most cost-effective live TV streaming app, but it is definitely not perfect. It has, however, gotten better over time, and will hopefully continue to do so.

App Review: DirecTV

 

I like the idea of a more a-la-carte TV package (not that this is truly a-la-carte), and on its face, DirecTV NOW was a very good deal (with the base package starting at $35). The $5 per month HBO add-on (which is the best price I have seen for it) is great. However, the app is glitchy. I have it on the fire stick and on Roku, and during peak times it buffers all the time (and I have a very high-speed internet connection). So much so that it is nearly impossible to watch a show. During off-peak TV and internet use time, like during the day or after midnight it works better, but unless you are a second-shift worker, that will not do you a lot of good. it is also prone to freezing up. I have taken to using the app as little as possible and using the network-specific apps (many of which you can use the DirecTV Now credentials to sign in with) and watching the shows I want to see through those because they tend to have far fewer problems than this app.

There is also no DVR option like there is on Sling or a commercial-free option for when you are watching on-demand shows. One positive is that it has a great selection of local channels. In my area, it has the local CBS, NBC, ABC, CW, FOX, and in the middle tier package the local FOX Sports channel, which Apps like Sling do not have.

++++Update++++

They are now adding a DVR option to the app, and have seemed to upgrade the stability of the app significantly. It still does crash and kick you out of it, but much of the buffering issues have been resolved. So it is still not perfect.

+++Update 2 +++

I finally got sick of the glitches and freezing so I canceled my subscription to the app after a price increase which was not warranted for the quality of the product. I have no idea what it is like now. Hopefully, they fixed the issues I experienced, but the version I was using back in 2018 was definitely not ready for wide customer release.

App Review: FXNOW

 

The menus in the app are very user-friendly and easy to navigate. You do have to sign in with your TV provider information otherwise you will only get about an hour's worth of time to watch something then you will be locked out. So you have to have a service with DirecTVNow or cable (when I used it you could not sign in with credentials from Sling TV) that gives you access to FX in order to watch more than one episode of something. Most of the FX content is split between Disney+ and Hulu these days, so if you subscribe to those (or the bundle), then you do not need to use this App.

App Review: Comedy Central

 

The app is mostly good and easy to use with a couple caveats which knocks it down a couple stars for me. First, they jack up the volume of the commercials, so much so that I often mute the commercials. Second, the episodes are only unlocked for the most recent shows, unless you are signed in through something like DirecTVNOW, or some other cable or satellite-type subscription. So for example, only the current week of Daily Show episodes will be unlocked. This would not be much of an issue if the app kept you signed in once you had logged in one time. It does not do so, however, and it is kind of a pain to keep signing into it if you get behind on shows and want to watch older ones.

These days, most, if not all, of the Comedy Central material is not streamed on the Paramount + App, so if you subscribe to that, there is no reason to use this one, and that gives you a better user experience anyway. But, this is available if you do not want to subscribe to another streaming service.

App Review: Disney XD

 

I used this mainly to watch Star Wars Rebels. I found it to be much smoother in terms of buffering than the DirecTVNOW app which I was subscribed to at the time I was watching Rebels. The only real irritating part is that it tended to replay the same commercials over and over (which many of the apps do), sometimes back to back. Otherwise, I think it was fine. Not great, but not bad either. Of course, this App has been replaced by Disney + (and is probably not available anymore anyway), which has a totally different (and better) user experience.

App Review: Fox Now

 

If you have a subscription to Hulu, the Fox shows are all available there, and that tends to work much better than this app. I initially downloaded it when I cut the cord from satellite TV and before I discovered the shows were on Hulu. While I did like that this allowed you to sign in and keep track of where you left off with a show, I found it to be glitchy, including freezing up and crashing quite frequently. Hopefully, subsequent updates will fix some of those issues, but since I have a commercial-free subscription to Hulu, I just watch all the shows I would normally watch through this app there.

App Review: Paramount +

 

I decided to cut the cord back in 2017 and get rid of cable/satellite TV. Because I watch many of the CBS shows I decided to shell out for a CBS All Access (now Paramount +) subscription. You would only want to download this if you actually have (or plan on buying) a subscription, otherwise, it is basically useless. Yes, it is free to download the app, as most of the TV-based apps are, but in order to watch anything on it you have to subscribe separately to Paramount+. The subscription prices vary depending on whether you want the version with commercials or whether you want to shell out a bit more for the commercial-free version and/or add on a Showtime subscription. I have the app both for the Firestick and the Roku. I would say I like the app for the latter a bit more than this one, in part because navigating the menus tends to be easier. But that is as much a function of the Firestick remote vs. the Roku remote as anything.

To be clear if you have cable or satellite and DVR, and you have no interest in watching the shows that you can only see through the app (like The Good Fight, Star Trek Discovery, and the archived shows that are no longer on the air like Limitless) then there is no reason to get this. My main issue with the app is that for some series, it will allow you to watch every episode from season 1 on, and for others it only allows you to watch the current season. And for the late-night shows (at least Colbert) you can only go back for a couple weeks worth of episodes, so if you fall too far behind you cannot watch the older episodes.

The subscription is definitely a better deal for cord-cutters than those already paying for cable. Even for those people, it does give you access to some older CBS shows that are not on the air anymore, so if you did want to watch an older series without getting it on DVD, or do not subscribe to another service where the show might be available, it will give you that option. It also allows you to watch your local CBS station live. It is certainly not perfect, but if the circumstances are right for you, worth it.

App Review: USA Network

 

I tend to watch a lot of the USA network shows, and after cutting the cord from regular DirecTV and switching to streaming I used this to watch the shows after they aired since when I was working nights when most of the shows are airing. 

I found I had fewer issues with buffering than I do when watching shows from the watchlist on DirecTV-NOW. Since switching over to Sling I have not used the app as much as I did in the past, but I do occasionally still use it.

App Review: The CW

 

This streaming app will allow cord-cutters to stream the shows currently streaming on The CW. It is great for those who want to stay current with the CW shows and who do not want to just wait for the DVDs/Blu-rays or for them to appear on Netflix.

The one big drawback is that you do have to sit through commercials. A more minor drawback is that the shows are not available on the App until the day after they air. So, if you want to watch them live you would need to use a live-streaming app that includes the CW or watch using an over-the-air antennal  This app just has the current (or recent) shows. It does not have older, archived shows that can be streamed on the CW Seed App.