A few weeks ago, there was a small contest of sorts that allowed people to get a free digital version of Deadpool 1 and 2 on Vudu. I didn't have an account at that time, but managed to get one of the codes. So, I just had to wait until it was available, and then my wife and I could watch it. Simple, right?
Of course not. Story time!
Before it was available to stream, I looked at the listing in my Vudu movies. It's in a format called HDX, which I had never heard of before. According to the site, it's a very high quality, and not really meant for streaming. That meant it was unlikely to work on my downstairs TV. The most logical course was to download it when available, use the Chromecast I received with my phone purchase, and watch it on the upstairs TV.
Just for kicks, I tried streaming it on the smart TV. It would play about 1/2 a second of the 20th Century Fox logo, cut to a black screen, and repeat. After a few rounds, it politely informed me that my connection wasn't good enough. Not quite how I thought it would play out, but somewhat entertaining.
So, on to the main event!
Early Saturday morning, I started to set everything up. Step 1 was download the movie. Well, first I started to stream it on my computer, to see if it was actual possible, and if the HDX description lied to me. It ran for about 30 seconds just fine. Even so, I didn't think it would be a good idea to stream it from the internet while streaming that to my TV, so I figured I would just download it. I knew it wouldn't just let me download it, I also had to download the Vudu app on the computer to do so. Fine, let's just get it over with. I downloaded what it wanted, signed in, and hit the download button.
An error message. "Download is incompatible with Adobe Air 30, you need Adobe Air 29 to download in the app."
The hell? Then why not just put version 29 with the download instead of 30? I sighed, dug through the programs to find it and uninstall it. Then I followed the link to get version 29. Well, eventually. There were 3 different options, and I didn't know which to get at first.
Anyway, back to the program, which of course wanted to update to version 30...to which I said hell no. Program up, Deadpool 2 downloading.
While that was finishing up, I hooked up the Chromecast to stream to the TV. Plugged it into the HDMI, and...nothing. Oh, it needs a power cord of course. I don't remember seeing one in the box, so I check again. Nope, not there. I had opened it previously, but it hasn't been used. Was the power cord ever there? I couldn't remember.
I looked for the power cord and plug for a solid 30 minutes, and came up with nothing. My wife was content to sit on the couch and read her phone. Don't worry, she helped by showing me what the cord looks like. Thanks, honey.
No cord. It might never have been in the box. I don't know, and it's too late to do anything about that now. I found a similar one to try. It powered on. Success! Well, for the moment.
I have to set the dang thing up now. Go to the site it gives me and...the site tells me I need an app. Why? Let me just set the stupid thing up. I search to see if I need the app, as I don't want or need more apps on my phone, and I don't want to use the phone just to set it up, which I know I don't need to. There's supposedly a link to do in on the PC, but it doesn't show up on the site.
Guess why? Because that link only shows up if you view it in Chrome! F#($#ing stupid. So, I go to the link in Chrome to finally set up this monstrosity.
Well, until it tries to connect to it. I don't know what went wrong at that point, as it just didn't connect. Then, it couldn't try to reconnect, even though the setup could find the Chromecast on the network. I could have spent more time on that problem, but during this whole debacle, my TV display was showing lines. It just started when I tried to connect the WiFi to the Chromecast the first time, and didn't want to stop.
Power cycling didn't work. Unplugging it for a few minutes didn't work. Slapping it a bit didn't work. Hey, don't laugh at that, I've known several TVs that don't work right until you teach 'em who's boss. Point is, the TV seems to finally be giving out. Either I pay $300 to get the board repaired, or pay a similar amount and get a new TV. Pretty easy option, but not a happy situation. It does make sense, since the TV is over 10 years old, and had a few brief issues in the past. Not bad for a display model!
In an effort to salvage the day, my wife drove us to Best Buy to price out some new TVs. We started to look online, but for some reason trying to connect to the Chromecast set our region as Canada. All sites kept sending us to the Canadian version until the PC was rebooted. How does that even happen? After a drive to check out the TVs, we found a pretty good contender for $500. That's less than the previous one cost me, hopefully it lasts near as long.
Let's recap. My free digital copy of Deadpool 2 cost me a day, a Chromecast power supply, some of my sanity, my old TV, and (probably) a few hundred dollars for a new one.
All of that, and I still don't know if the movie is any good.
[UPDATE 8/20/18]
We ended up buying a new TV, and even had an adventure getting it in the car.
But.
But!
We finally saw the movie, and it was really good.
[Spoilers]
Damn, I was excited to see one of my favorites, Juggernaut, made to look badass. While I don't like the look of the character, but it made sense, they did the rest of him so well. I'm amazed I was able to not see spoilers for the movie before I got to see it.
There were a lot of good lines and parts. "Cleaning up the timelines" probably made me laugh the loudest. It was so appropriate and so cathartic. Definitely worth seeing. I don't know if it was worth the cost of a new TV, though.
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