Jan 8 Podcast #982: Wyze Smart Bulb and Discovery Plus is Here
On this week's show we take a look at an incredible deal on smart light bulbs from Wyze. Four Smart bulbs for less than $8 a piece. We also have a first look at Discovery Plus. What we think is a solid streaming service. And we read your emails and discuss the news of the week.
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Today's Show:
News:
- Samsung TV complements ambiance lighting
- KONKA Enters The Smart Home Market
- Amazon adds webcam support to the Fire TV Cube
- Vizio sees 20% surge in smart TV viewing during 2020
- Analysis: Roku's Quibi play might prove pricey
Other:
Wyze Bulb - LED Smart Home Light Bulb
800 Lumen Adjustable white temperature and brightness, works with Alexa and the Google Assistant, No Hub Required (~$30 for a pack of 4)
- Set any mood with Wyze Bulb’s tunable white color temperature. Use warm white (2700k) to relax in the evening and daylight (6500k) to wake up with morning coffee.
- 9. 5-watt LED bulb (60-watt equivalent) produces up to 800 lumens and can be dimmed using voice control or the Wyze App (do not use with dimmer switches)
- No Hub Required. Wyze Bulb connects directly to your 2. 4GHz WiFi network (does not support 5GHz Wi-Fi) and the free Wyze app for a quick and easy setup
- Automate your lights with Wyze Sense (sold separately): Wyze Sense’s contact and motion sensors allow you to control your lights based on motion or opening/closing of a door so they’re on when you need them and off when you don’t. You can also integrate with IFTTT to link Wyze Bulbs to the rest of your smart home devices.
- Make it look like someone’s home: Vacation mode turns lights on/off on a variable schedule while you’re away.
- Set Schedules: Set your Wyze Bulbs to turn on and off on a custom schedule so you never come home to a dark house.
- Group Control: Add multiple bulbs to a group and control them all simultaneously or use Shortcuts to control all your Wyze devices at the same time.
Discovery Plus is Here!
It seems like every network these days has a “Plus” service, There is Disney+, ESPN+, and well there are only two of them. But there are other networks putting out streaming versions, like Peacock, FoxNow, CBS All Access, and ABC All Access. This week another service joins their ranks and it's one that we are excited about, Discovery Plus!
A Discovery Plus subscription allows you to stream more than 55,000 episodes of 2,500+ current and classic shows networks including HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel and more. The service also includes discovery+ Originals - exciting, can’t-miss series and specials you won’t see anywhere else. Discovery Plus also includes exclusive streaming access to the BBC's largest natural history offering, featuring shows like Planet Earth, Blue Planet and Frozen Planet. Discovery Plus also features popular shows from A&E, History and Lifetime.
Pricing
There are two subscription tiers $4.99 a month with ads and $6.99 a month without.
Discovery Plus has partnered with Verizon to offer free access for one year to any customer with one line on Play More or Get More Unlimited service, new Fios Internet subscribers, or new 5G Home subscribers.
Device Support
Discovery Plus is available on AppleTV, iOS, AndroidTV, Android, Roku, Amazon FireTV, Samsung, XBOX, and More.
Discovery Plus Channels
Starting January 29th Discovery Plus Channels will be available in what sounds like linear streams of the actual Discovery Channels. As of this writing Discovery Plus is solely an on demand service.
Performance
While most of the library is perfectly acceptable in 1080p with a mono soundtrack, there are some shows that look amazing in 4K. Think BBCs natural history content. Out of the gate there are only two shows that we could find that were 4K but we expect more as time goes on. With that said, the video looks very good and considering the nature of these types of shows, no one will complain about the quality.
Areas for Improvement
It would be nice if in the show information they listed the date that the show first aired on the Set Top box version of the software. Likewise it would be nice if they included information on the resolution and audio channels. There is no way to download content for offline viewing. We believe that this feature will arrive later. Finally, not all episodes of all shows are included. We do expect this to change as the services matures however.
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