Net Neutrality, Bandwidth Caps, and The Flash

Hello and welcome to Altered Geek Unlimited episode

81 I'm your host Steve Megatron Phillips and

joining me this week is Michael Powers, but wait

was it Wasn't last week episode 81. Are we sure

this is 81? Yeah, this is 81. Last week was 80.

Okay. I feel like I'm looking at the episode

post so I can check the file name Okay Was just

trying to make sure cuz I for some reason I feel

like it's a small case of case small case of

deja vu It's been a long day I've been up since

530 Yeah, me too, so So yeah What's been new

in the last week? Not a whole lot Got one step

closer towards Moving into our new home. We had

the we had the appraisal for our current home

on Wednesday, so if all goes right with that

then everything heads to underwriting and As

as you know Steve that's when they ask you for

a bunch more paperwork But it's like yeah the

annoying part. Yeah, it's like the last step

before you get you know the keys to your new

castle But yeah, I'm my house is like full of

boxes right now The wife is all ready to move

out like at a moment's notice So that's been

fun I did dive into I recently picked up the

devil may cry definitive edition on the ps4 which

is like a an HD year Remake of a game that came

out two years ago on the ps3 The the ps3 version

was like, you know 720p 30 frames a second and

the ps4 version and By extension the Xbox one

version. So no one calls me a fanboy Runs at

1080p 60 frames a second. Okay Now I did I did

play it when it was on the ps3 I enjoyed it a

lot which is one of the reasons why I was like

hey I'll I'll play that again and also because

there isn't a whole lot to play right now So

I was like, you know, I'll play that because

it was fun It is I'm having I'm enjoying it Also

spent some time playing a couple of other games

counter spy which is like a It's a 2D side -scrolling,

or 2 .5D side -scrolling. The art style is kind

of incredible -esque. And you're a spy who, well,

the agency you work for is called Counter, and

it's set during the Cold War, except instead

of trying to blow each other up, the US and Russia

trying to blow up each other, they're trying

to blow up the moon. So you Basically, what you

do is you can take missions against the US or

you can take missions against Russia and You're

trying to keep the DEFCON from reaching DEFCON

1 Now what's interesting is it's not it's not

one DEFCON for both sides each side has their

own DEFCON level so Each time you die in a level

that the DEFCON goes up by one The only way to

lower your DEFCON is to have a special formula

or perk that at the beginning of each mission

automatically lowers the DEFCON by one. Or there

are officers in each level that instead of shooting

and killing, you can force them to surrender

and they'll lower the DEFCON level. Otherwise,

the DEFCON level is static. It will really only

go up if you fail. Okay, so like let's say you

you take all your missions on like the American

side And you reach DEFCON level one well if you

if you're on DEFCON level one Your and you fail

that it's like game over. You don't get to go

over and just start the Russian missions It's

just it's game over. You have to start all the

way over all the way at the beginning So what

you can do is you can jump over to the Russian

side and basically kind of start over. So you

get like, you can mess around over there, but

obviously if that one goes to DEF CON level one,

then you're SOL. Like you have to choose one

side or the other and stuff like that. Now what's

really neat is when you're collecting a set of

mission secret documents, each mission has a

certain number of secret documents ranging from

like one to four. And their documents pertaining

to the various stages of planning in this attack

on the moon And there so there's one progress

bar for the entire game Because each side has

the exact same files So, you know you get you

know one side that mission might have three files,

but the American side might have like four so

You know, do I want to risk it and get the one

that's got the four the one that's got three

and not get through it as fast but what happens

is once you get all the documents then it puts

you in this kind of dilemma because there's a

final mission and it chooses whichever side has

the higher DEF CON level that's like automatically

that's the side that you have to perform the

final mission on but before you do the final

mission you can Can't keep replaying the levels

to to lower the DEFCON level But at any time

if you fail like if you hit DEFCON 1 and you

fail then it's like game over you have to start

all over again So it's like do I risk just doing

the last level on DEFCON 1 or do I? Keep playing

and lower the DEFCON level to 5 for you know

the US and Russia and then do the final mission

so it It's been a lot of fun. I played it both

on the on the Vita and my ps4. It was like a

free game with playstation plus so Doesn't sound

like a bad game for free though. No, I mean Normally

free games aren't all that intriguing. Well,

I mean like I said, it was free with playstation

plus I think by itself. It was like 15 bucks

Okay, that's not bad. No, and it's it's uh I

i've really enjoyed and the levels are randomly

generated. So like when you get a game over and

you start again it won't be the same playthrough.

That said, if you get to the end, like I was

talking, and you just keep replaying the levels

to lower your DEF CON level, you'll start to

realize that the sections in the levels are what's

randomly generated, not the entire level. So

you'll walk into a room, and you'll be like,

oh, I've been in this room before. But it was

like, you know. Flip flopped around like no well

like three sections earlier because it's like

a it gives you like a metroidvania style map

To show you how far you are through the level

Or through a mission so like you know this particular

room might have been the first room in another

mission But it's now like the fourth room in

this mission So but I I've had a lot of fun with

it Other than that, my wife and I have been continuing

our rewatch of the Marvel movies in the lead

-up to Age of Ultron How's that been going? Um

Pretty good. I don't have Incredible Hulk so

we won't be able to watch that We've made it

through Iron Man 2 so far which we started with

Captain America then we did Iron Man and Iron

Man 2 Next up is Thor and then Avengers at the

Wade through two movies that I Are kind of ho

hum to me But I've talked about the I've talked

about my whole my opinion all the Marvel stuff

ad nauseam before Both here. I believe a little

bit on off the cuff as well. So that's kind of

pointless to talk about now Yeah That said I

am looking forward to age of Ultron, but I've

only seen the one trailer So I Have seen the

latest one it does show quite a bit more But

I mean I and I only watched it once and it was

impressive. I can't remember exactly all the

stuff that happens but Some of it was rehashed

from the previous one and then some of it was

a little bit new what what turned me off from

Besides the fact that I made the conscious decision

to go on a media blackout after the first trailer

and I have seen the extended version of the first

trailer too, so I went on a media blackout after

that, but the one thing that really turned me

off from You know checking it out was the image

that everybody was putting in there web articles

to say, like, here's the new trailer for Age

of Ultron, which was that side shot of all the

Avengers jumping through the trees. And that

shot just is nails on a chalkboard to me. It

looks so bad. Like that kind of thing works in

a comic book. But I was just like, oh, wow. It

looked too matrix -y to me. I mean, obviously

it's a shot out of context, so we'll have to

see how it plays out in the actual movie, but

I was just kind of like, oh, that's... Okay,

that's... Whatever. So, we'll see. I'm excited

for it. I'm excited to catch the movie, too.

I can honestly say I enjoy the Marvel movies

a lot more than... DC although that may change

when Batman v Superman comes out is there a differentiation

between enjoy and Just being a better movie like

I enjoy the Marvel movies, but I I Think DC makes

I think the DC ones are Better Films I Feel like

this is a can of worms just waiting to be opened

up. Yeah, it's I mean, it's kind of one of those

things I I don't really know. I mean, I enjoyed

both sets. It's just I find that Like the Nolan

films the Dark Knight Itself the Dark Knight.

I can watch that one more than I can watch the

other two However, I didn't much care for a man

of steel and it had nothing to do with the fact

that Superman cracked the guy's neck or cracked

Zod's neck I didn't really care either way on

that Because again it was kind of an introduction

for him for once But uh It's it's more so I just

I just didn't care for the story It wasn't necessarily

that it was a bad film because I think they were

really well done and kind of gritty I think what

Marvel brings though is they bring a lot more

light into their films, which I think makes it

I guess kind of in a sense more aesthetically

pleasing to the eye, which is probably why it's

enjoyed more or viewed as a better film for the

most part from a lot of people. I can get behind

that. Whereas DC, it's all dark, gritty and then

a lot of the details are hidden in the in the

gray in the background. So it's kind of like,

you really have to be kind of searching for it.

And you kind of have to look beyond that to see

what the film actually is. So I mean, there's

some aspects of either side that I really think

are better films, but I'm not saying that either

one's perfect, but I think that Marvel just kind

of has more of a... record in that department

except for the fact that Just like DC they keep

rebooting some of them see I I like the I Talked

about this a little bit on Twitter a while like

a week or so ago, maybe two weeks now or something

like that I Because everyone's making a big deal

out of all these um Or everyone has made a big

deal about all these casting rumors that DC is

done like the latest one is the Green Lantern

one with Chris Pine being up for Green Lantern

which no Yeah, I'm kind of an agreement um But

I feel like Well, let me back this up here real

quick. I recently watched the latest Justice

League animated movies was it Throne of Atlantis

yep, and the one but right before that which

was Where a cyborg was created yeah, they're

fighting apocalypse, but what's the name of that

one is that? Anyways, I it's it's I don't know

what it's called, but it's Justice League something

I got it right here Justice League war Okay,

if and then there's flashpoint paradox too. Yeah,

but well paradox like led up to these two movies

I feel like if this is these two movies throne

of atlantis and war if that's where dc is planning

to go with their live -action movies like for

their justice league movies and even even if

batman versus superman let's just say because

batman versus superman is has you know it's got

wonder woman in it it has um it has the actor

for cyborg at the very least um if If it goes

for that. That Justice League war in Batman versus

Superman and then throne of Atlantis ends up

being, you know, Justice League part one or part

two. You know, if that's that's the stories that

they're aiming to tell or they think they can

do in live action, then I'm all for it. That

said, the whole casting thing, everyone's make

everyone made a big deal about all these characters

showing up in. Batman versus Superman and you

know, they've got Aquaman cast and they showed

off what he looks like and he's not going to

have his own movie for like another two years.

Same with like Wonder Woman and Cyborg and now

Green Lantern is going to have his own movie

again, blah, blah, blah. I feel like. Where?

I feel like DC. Signing all these actors to play

these roles. is a good idea on their part because

I feel like it's a lot easier to sign an actor

to a contract and then let's say a movie flops

and just like cancel the contract versus having

to renegotiate a successful contract. Like take

for example the what Marvel is running into with

like Robert Downey Jr. The amount of money that

he gets for being in any one movie is more than

Any of the other cast put together? Yeah, exactly

And that's expensive not that those movies don't

make money or he doesn't deserve that stuff But

that's that's an expensive guy and he he basically

gets to renegotiate his contract Every single

time he shows up in a movie now And Then you

and then you have the issue where James Rhodes

who was played by Terrence Howard in Iron Man

and then replaced by Don Cheadle in Iron Man

2 And 3 like you run into that situation By not,

you know locking that actor into you know a multiple

-picture deal Now granted I didn't like Terrence

Howard I like Don Cheadle more so yeah I agree

I like the acting a lot better too so that that

worked out in their favor but another big one

is like Howard Stark like Howard Stark that's

in Iron Man and Iron Man 2 is like three feet

taller than Dominic Cooper wasn't he the one

that was in Captain America yeah Dominic Cooper

Dominic Cooper has been Howard Stark since since

Captain America. But. The guy that they got to

play him in, I believe he showed up in Iron Man,

but the guy that they got to play him in Iron

Man 2 is like. And this is an exaggeration is

like two or three feet taller than Dominic Cooper

is. So it's like, you know, they didn't get the

same guy and I get that he was supposed to be

younger because he was in Captain America, but.

I. you run into that kind of situation. I don't

see how Dominic Cooper becomes the guy that we

saw in Iron Man 2, you know what I'm saying?

You run into those kind of issues if you're not

casting, if you're not taking the big picture.

I think what DC did is they've learned lessons

that Marvel, they've learned the lessons, they

saw what Marvel had to go through and they're

trying to make sure that they don't have to go

through that same stuff. I think it just works

out in their favor for them to go like, okay,

this guy is going to be this person and this

one's going to be that and that and that and

that. And they have all these guys like pre -signed

to multi -picture deals versus, you know, having

to negotiate someone's contract after one movie

and getting all these roles filled, these crucial

roles filled. Well, it means that they get to

universe build and write all these films. Back

to back but not have to film them all back to

back and worry about casting everybody. Yep So

whereas Marvel's having to do that and then you

know, especially with the addition of like spider

-man again in there now and Certain aspects of

that because now they're having to play with

how that dynamic works in there, right? But I

mean Marvel is fine. I mean Marvel's like Marvel

hasn't suffered from any of this in any way.

I'm just saying I think that they they learned

from they saw what Marvel had to go through and

they're just taking steps to not have to go through

those same growing pains. Of course the the line

from a movie that jumps into my head is the line

from Jurassic Park from Ian Malcolm where it's

like he says you stood on the shoulders of geniuses

and you didn't think about I'm butchering this

line. That's like you didn't think about whether

or not you should you just went ahead and did

it So it's kind of that that whole thing, but

I know I applaud them for you know Yeah, it seems

like a lot of overexposure and stuff that we're

not used to seeing Like this far out, but I think

they're taking the right approach. I think I

think we're gonna get something something special,

and if Marvel has the light -hearted, full -color

spectrum comic book thing, you know, locked down,

then Marvel going for the gritty, you know, or

DC going for the gritty, that's fine with me,

you know. I would rather have two different versions

of comic book movies than one. Yeah Anyways,

what have you been up to Steve? I've been playing

Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi On the 360 Which

I Enjoy it and I enjoyed like the hero mode and

some of the other elements of the game just Some

of the stuff that kind of bothers me with it

is the one I can't use a Super Saiyan 4 character

of Goku or Vegeta Other than their fused form.

I did figure out the other day by plugging in

my second controller because I was trying to

do training mode, but they don't let you do more

than one character in the lineup like if you

do battle mode You can do either one -on -one

or you can do five on five with a tag team element.

So you get like a fraction of the health of each

character if you do the tag team thing. And so

what I was doing is instead of choosing, because

normally what I do is I choose like their fused

forms because you can play as those or you can

choose to actually fuse into them. I would choose

all of the characters that could fuse together

and they're The same way you can go from their

lowest power level to their highest power level

you can Do the fuse and I was doing it to try

and see if I could in the game When You know

to see how quick it would take me to do it more

or less. Mm -hmm I just I couldn't actually get

it down while somebody's attacking me So I was

trying to figure it out with my other controller

plugged in and characters punched in so figured

out I could do it and then I played the the round

again with the actual computer and If you do

the fusion it actually doubles your health Because

it take it combines the two characters into one

character So it makes you last longer with the

one character. So I actually blew through the

entire enemy Tagged five group. Yeah, but just

the one fused character So it was kind of nice

I enjoy the game overall. I think that I enjoy

the older ones that were out on the PS2 better.

Because that was the last time I played a Dragon

Ball Z game was when I had a PlayStation 2. I

think that was the last time I've seen a Dragon

Ball Z game. I mean, they've continuously come

out. This is just the first one I've actually

splurged on in ages because I bought it for like

30 bucks. And I think I had Ultimate Tenkaichi

2. or not, Ultimate Tenkaichi 2. What? I forget

what the hell these games are called. They all

start to run together after a while because they're

all the same names. I had... Wow, it's been a

while. I had Budokai Tenkaichi 3, which came

out in 2007. That was the last time I played

a Dragon Ball Z game. All the ones since then

I didn't care for when I played demos of them,

and then this one's actually from 2011. Which

is actually surprising because it's older than

the Kinect one which I had wanted no part of

And then they have the Budokai HD collection,

which is just Budokai one and three and They're

not they're they're upgraded graphics slightly,

but it's still I've already played the game.

So I had no intention of playing it again Because

I didn't like the the mechanisms of the game

So, you know versus like the newest one that

just came out for just about every system I just

haven't picked it up yet Do you plan on picking

it up? Okay, I'm thinking so I'm just waiting

a little bit But I do have interest in getting

it If anyone's hearing weird noises, that's my

dog sitting next to me making weird noises I

apologize if the microphones picking any of that

up. I don't think so but But yeah, I'm thinking

about picking up Xenoverse. I'm just reading

a little bit about it first. I know it's on the

PS3, 4, and 360, and Xbox One, and PC. I don't

know if they even do demos anymore, but I was

going to say if they do, I was going to try it

on Windows. Or I might run it. I haven't seen

a demo in a long time. I kind of wish that they

still did that. Only just to kind of get the

taste of the game. Mm -hmm because like I don't

I mean like I made pirate my TV shows and Back

in the day I did pirate games, but then it kind

of got to the point I was like fighting with

a game to get it to play all the time and I just

kind of Resulted in my own mind that it was easier

just to buy the damn game But I kind of don't

really want to spend the money if I'm not sure

if I'm gonna enjoy it So I kind of missed the

the days of the demos, right? Because then at

least I could get a feel for what the game is

gonna be and tell if I'm actually going to waste

my money or not I Mean don't get me wrong. I'd

still play it because I spent the money on it

But I'd rather not have to be forced to play

a game because I've spent money on it. Oh Man

sorry But yeah, I mean and and I may actually

because 3ds games are cheaper. I may try some

3ds games of Dragon Ball because they have Dragon

Ball heroes For that okay, so I might try that

out, but I'm not sure yet I Enjoy the the fighting

games of Dragon Ball Z. I just I don't pick them

up very often I Will have mass effect sometime

by the end of the month or early next month.

I have that Because Michael Dodd is sending it

to me. This is I must experience Commander Shepard.

So that is a game that I bought Because I was

I bought it before Mass Effect 2 was coming out

cuz I was like, you know I'm gonna try to play

in this game and just like fallout and fallout

New Vegas and all those other giant RPGs I Could

not play it. I I found myself overwhelmed really

fast so I I was like, nope, I took all the time

to create my character and everything and I played

it for like an hour and I was like, nope, can't

do it. I hope that I can figure it out, like

all these games, because I'm not sure what else

he's sending me, but I know that he's sending

me a couple of games. Being that my limited experience

of gaming in the next gen console area, I've

pretty much played Dragon Ball Z, Unreal Tournament

3, which is the last shooter that I actually

paid for, which that's 2007, and then the Arkham

games. I really don't get that many games, and

I've gotten a couple of the newer Transformer

games, like War for Cybertron, Fall of Cybertron,

stuff like that. I buy games knowing that I'm

going to play the crap out of them over and over,

whereas if it's one I'm not quite sure if I'm

going to enjoy it or not, I don't really tend

to splurge all that much. I totally get that.

And being that I'm just now figuring out what

I may want to play, it's getting a little easier

to kind of figure out what kind of games I may

like. Right. I have a ton of games you could

borrow. So you're more than welcome to them Sounds

good Yep, and then we're we're of course on the

site working on the top 100 Favorite video game

list Which I will Send your guys's way if you

guys care to partake I've sorry, I've mentioned

it repeatedly to My guys I think everyone on

this side is just too busy So I which I get so

I I am Yeah, that's basically that's what happened

with off the cuff it just my the guys that record

with it just got It got too hectic and really

what happened was I was I was kind of bums me

out because I was hoping that I keep that same

We used to record every Wednesday from 8 to 10,

a little two -hour window there. I was hoping

that we'd be able to keep that for, that we'd

all maybe sign on and play some video games together

and stream it to Twitch and people could interact

with us that way. Now, we don't even get together

on Wednesdays at all. That just kind of sucks.

I just fell apart and then I The recording software

that I used to capture Skype conversations and

stuff like that. Just the latest release of OS

10, you know cry follow it's a Macintosh the

latest release of OS 10 broke the software that

I used for recording and I I didn't feel like

I was gonna be able to produce a quality show

So I was like, you know what? I'm I'm not even

going to try. And there was a point at the beginning

of the year where I we have a Facebook chat,

like a group Facebook chat with me and my co

-hosts. And I said, is, you know, anyone interested

in and putting together, putting together a show?

And no one answered me. So I was like, you know

what? I think I think that's it. I mean, you

never know with us. We could be back in like

next week or you know six months from now or

something but That's basically the behind the

scenes of what happened with off the cuff it

just died But luckily it doesn't look like anyone

misses us too much so Yeah, I I I kind of miss

it but that's because I enjoyed the the banter

and the the video game conversation, but But

now I can bring that to Altered Geek. I know.

It's great. And you can help me do something

I've been wanting to do for years. Yes. But yeah,

if we can talk about that at a later date. Yes.

Yes, we can. So yeah, what kind of Stuff do you

want to talk about with the? Interwebs, you know,

I know you'd kind of brought up the net neutrality.

Yeah Well, I just wanted to get that way. I just

want to throw I like making I like making predictions

Seeing into the future if you will we're good

at that in the show As some of you may or may

not know, the whole net neutrality thing went

down and basically the internet won as a whole.

Comcast can't, your ISP can't decide what you

can and cannot stream or what gets priority on

their network. And everyone's happy and it's

supposed to bolster speeds. Broadband speeds

supposed to go up prices are supposed to go down.

It's gonna be magic fairy dust for everybody

and See and that's great and that's fine. I I

do think that you know, I Believe the internet

progress will still you know, keep going progress

will be made going forward I do believe prices

will come down because what they've done is they've

made There are certain provisions in there that

allow municipalities to create their own Internet

providers now. So. For instance, here in Genesee

County, let's say that we can even make it more

local, like let's say Grand Blank, for example,

wants to, you know, they they want to come up

with their own fiber Internet and compete with.

Comcast and AT &T, U -verse, and whoever else

is in grand blank, they can do that now. They

can create their own fiber network and sell that

to their citizens, and you don't have to have

Comcast anymore. So stuff like that will make,

you know, speeds will increase, prices should

go down, or at least maybe for the price that

you're paying, your speed will increase. Same

idea, right? The only downside to this that I

see is, and I haven't read through all the rules

and everything like this, I did scam and tried

to find something with a quick Google search

and there's a provision to protect against this,

but bandwidth caps. That's what I see coming.

Because Comcast right now, I know AT &T on their

DSL service has a 250 gigabyte data cap. U -verse

does not have a cap on it. Well, it has a cap,

but it's not enforced. Comcast slash Xfinity

has a cap, but it's not enforced. If you want

to see what your usage is, you can go to your

Xfinity account and check it. They'll show you

your last three months. worth of usage and it'll

say like you've got 250 you know 250 gigabytes

but you know blah blah blah blah blah not enforced

and i'm currently trying to click to my account

so i can tell you guys how much data i've used

anyways the um i see them enforcing those they'll

start you'll pay for a certain speed and they'll

tell you you you've only got 250 gigabytes so

stream all you want get your Netflix, get your

HBO Go, your HBO Now, and they'll do what your

cell phone company does where you'll be limited

to this much data and then when you hit that,

you'll be charged another 10 bucks for 50 more

gigabytes or something like that. The other thing

that they could do is Like what T -Mobile does

with streaming music like streaming music doesn't

count against your T -Mobile data usage on T

-Mobile So they could do stuff like that we're

like streaming video from like Netflix Like if

you're a Comcast if you have Comcast internet

Netflix doesn't count against your bandwidth

which is something that they could do. I believe

one of the things I think you'll see is if you

pay like I do, I pay for Comcast's fastest internet.

I think the faster speed that you pay for, which

means the more money you pay, you're going to

end up with either a higher bandwidth cap or

unlimited data. Let's say they come out with

a gigabit plan. That gigabit plan, it's going

to be like, $100 a month, but I'll be unlimited

data Or you could do like 100 megabytes for $75

and get 500 gigabytes, you know That that's what

I see coming but like I said There's provisions

that the FCC just said that if they start doing

that then they can make it so that they can't

do that I Think I think they're gonna wait and

just see what you know Comcast and AT &T are

gonna do About this But I think I I think that

neutrality is great. I don't like being told

what I can and can't get over my internet I live

off the internet at my house. We do not have

cable television here same here. I've got a digital

antenna hooked up to my TV so I get Fox ABC NBC

CW and CBS Which are the only channels I watch

that's I Now, at my place, I have an antenna,

but I could get every channel but ABC. So I decided

without ABC, it wasn't even worth having it hooked

up. I'm gonna try again when we move into our

new house. But I'm also really interested in

these like Sling TV. Have you heard of this?

Sling TV? That sounds familiar. It's from Dish

Network. but it's a cord cutter's pack. 20 bucks

a month gets you access to live television from

various networks like AMC. Okay, I think I saw

this. Yeah, it's been making the rounds lately.

It's kind of like invite only right now. I have

an invite, but my wife won't let me sign up for

it. She doesn't see the point in it. That's out

there. Apple's supposed to have their streaming

television service by the end of the month. Sony

just launched the PlayStation Vue service, which

is the most expensive of all of them. I think

it was either $40 or $50. But what they do is

they offer you unlimited cloud storage DVR. So

because it's all internet -based you just tell

them that you want to save this TV show and they

save that show in the cloud and you can stream

it to your tablet or back to your you know your

your PlayStation Which is cool. I think Apple

will have something similar It would only make

sense for Apple to have something similar because

then I can watch live TV on my iPad or my iPhone

when I'm not at home And stuff like that that

that that also kind of goes along with the whole

net neutrality thing because Under the the way

things were going Comcast could say We won't

let you stream the Apple stuff like apples like

sling TV won't work on Comcast because that competes

directly with our product But net neutrality

makes it so that I can have Comcast internet,

but I can pay 20 bucks for TV From a different

provider and use Comcast network to get my TV

and they can't do anything about it So I think

it's neat the other thing I've kind of decided

to do was After I move and things have died down

probably at the end of this current television

season I'm gonna take a look at all the shows

that I torrent and See what's available on Hulu?

Like compare the two See what you don't have

to do all the work for yeah, I think I think

anything that I can get readily on Hulu I'm going

to I Will stop torrenting But Because I don't

know I don't have a problem paying for stuff

it's it's the convenience of it all and I started

watching like a couple of shows like like Backstrom

and Last Man on Earth on Hulu while I was working

at another theater the last two weekends. So

I kind of got into the whole like, yeah, this

is kind of nice. I get to watch these shows and

I don't have to go hunt them down or set it up

for my RSS feed or anything like that. So plus

it's not, you know, illegal. So I don't worry

about getting those emails. I don't get emails

for the TV shows. It's when I try doing other

things with it that I got flagged. So I quit

doing those. I would get them. I got them for

some HBO stuff that. Yeah, I can see that. But

I stopped getting it once I. I stopped seeding.

So it would Then I stopped getting those emails

so Okay, so I'm just I we can end the net neutrality

talk here unless you have anything you want to

add but I just went to my account So far as of

March 19th, I Don't know when my bills started.

I can't pride the first right I'm at 243 gigabytes

of data Good thing the bandwidth cap isn't there.

Yeah right below it says note enforcement of

the 250 gigabyte data consumption threshold is

currently suspended Which means that anytime

they could uh Say happy birthday you're paying

the full bill. Yeah pretty much um Now if I look

at my last three months Um, I don't know why

this one is so high But let's see December was

317 January was 285 February was 292 So yeah

I'm quite a bit lower than you and I'm not quite

sure why mine's so high It's kind of mind -boggling

to me, I mean the I download all my TV shows

but it's it's It's Netflix. Really? Well, do

you watch a lot of Netflix? Yeah. Well, that

actually kind of makes sense because when we

didn't have Netflix, it was about a fraction

of this. Now, there are just so we can educate

some people here real quick. In Netflix, there

are bandwidth settings on your primary Netflix

account. If you are under a bandwidth cap or

you find out that they do have bandwidth caps

Netflix already took this into account with their

service You can go on their site. Oh Where is

this at it is logged in? My my comcast for December

is 172 My January was 197 My February was 219

or 214 this month is 206 Very nice. Yes. I'm

still under but still it's Where is the bandwidth

thing Is it under our playback settings, baby?

Yes under playback settings on Netflix. So you

mine is set to auto Yeah, I have mine set to

high, so I'll automatically get the best quality

available, which as you can see is three gigabytes

per hour of HD. And I also have because I have

a 4K TV, I also have access to Netflix's 4K content,

which is seven gigabytes per hour. So I watched

all of House of Cards in HD, which was 13 times

seven. I'm really bad at math here people so

bear with me one second It's funny So you have

the option for high on your data usage. Yes.

All right mines great out Hmm, but I'm not sure

if it's what what package are you paying for?

Just the one screen or you know, I have I have

the four because the The 4K content's not available

without the 4 package. Okay, that's why I have

the one screen, so it only lets me go up to medium

is highest. Okay, so in February when House of

Cards debuted and I said that my bandwidth was

like 300 gigabytes, a hundred of that was me

watching House of Cards. Wow. So yeah, so basically

when if you have Netflix and you find out that

your provider is putting a bandwidth cap on you

might want to go check your playback settings

because they can help you still enjoy your content

while not going over your bandwidth you might

have to put up with slightly fuzzier looking

videos, but It may help if you have issues where

it says buffering constantly I don't have that

issue Yeah, since I bought my own modem. Yeah,

actually this would help with that because you

wouldn't be Yeah, this would definitely help

with that, but that's all I really want to say

about net neutrality is just watch out It's great

that it's happening. But just watch out for them

to start enforcing their bandwidth caps so So

yeah What do you got Steve? Um, well I because

I've been kind of bouncing around I had this

this isn't even news related This is just because

we're talking all of our geeky cool stuff. Um,

I Have this Idea, I don't know if you've seen

the the the Nintendo that's been floating around

With the Ninja Turtles no look on it anyways

everybody and their cousins been posting this.

I don't know if it was a real classic Nintendo

or not. It's all red and the black strip on the

Nintendo is green and there's a Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles logo sticker on the top and the

controllers are also red with green and the dips

in it and then it's got like a picture of the

level kind of thing for the backdrop of it. It

looks really cool and it looks like a custom

job. I had this weird idea that I was... I don't

even know why I do this but I go through these

phases where I see something cool and then I

want to duplicate it but do it differently like

I did with my Batman Beyond Return of the Joker

custom figure I made. I want to buy a classic

Nintendo Does not have to work just so that I

can Gut it out. I can custom the case and then

eventually build it into an emulator machine

Because I've seen tutorials where people have

turned them into like either using the Raspberry

Pi architecture for the inside or getting a Micro

ATX motherboard and hooking it up that way Having

the the plug with the power supply built onto

that and then having like a laptop CD drive So

that that part that would flip up where you put

the cartridge that would be where the CD drive

would be Okay, and then they turn the front ports

into USB like each spot is two USB ports so you

can make it essentially four USB ports and They

would wire the power Power or the motherboard

to the the buttons for the the reset and the

power and then in the back they have the Ethernet

and HDMI hookup In the back so it was it was

really neat what I what I've seen for the tutorial

I and I eventually want to do that but it would

be something I'd have to like gradually do so

I would kind of I'm trying to find as cheap as

I can get one a classic Nintendo So that I can

more or less gut it Sounds kind of dumb, but

no no, I'm just trying to I think you might be

able to I know Joe is Trimming down his Video

game collection he might I'm just trying to find

one that doesn't work because I feel bad ripping

apart one that actually does He might have one

that doesn't work. I don't know It's always worth

a shot, but that's that's the idea I have at

this point Mean, I know I can get him for like

20 bucks on eBay I was just hoping maybe I can

find one of the garage sale or something or a

flea market for like 10 12 bucks, right? Because

I mean I'm it's mostly just a side project. I'm

gonna be doing I'm gonna basically get like a

Like maybe make an altered geek sticker or something

and put it on top and custom the case But Yeah,

that's that's also the other thing I've been

running around trying to find over the past week

just kind of searching to kind of get pricing

ideas I Came to the conclusion the Raspberry

Pi would be too complicated for my thought process

on Programming it so I figured building a custom

mini PC into it. I Wish I could build PCs. I

mean I can but whenever I go to try and price

one out I always price myself out of building

one. But like 80 % of the time, I don't even

get past picking out a case because I get stuck.

Yeah, that's part of the problem. I get stuck

right there because I'm like, I want to find

something that looks nice because I'm like, I'm

borderline form over function to the most part.

I mean, I like my stuff to work, but I will try

and find a thing that works the way I want it

to. But also looks the way that I want it to

like I will find that perfect mix of format form

and function not form over function and I'm also

willing to pay a little more for form and function

And so whenever i'm thinking about I will build

my own, you know gaming pc And then i'll go okay,

but this is what I wanted to do I wanted to sit

under me I want it to get to my tv and I want

it to sit in my entertainment center with everything

else And that's where I get stuck because I'm

like looking for a case I can fit like, you know

a graphics card and a decent CPU and all this

stuff and then I'm like This all this stuff looks

like ass Yeah, I I Used to have cases where you

could actually see with like a window into them

and add the neon lighting and all that kind of

stuff I eventually moved to just having a straight

black case with silver highlights on it, which

is what I have now. I think the case only cost

me maybe 30 bucks, which is surprising because

the one thing I had to have was USB in the front.

Micro, maybe it is a micro ATX. I don't know

or I'm not exactly sure anymore It's It's it's

got about four it well three full -size drive

bays in it with The spot that would normally

fit a floppy or a SD slot For stuff I just I

was trying to find something that I can build

my PC in and not have it Tower over everything

more or less, right? But it also gives me room

to grow if I need to but I've also come to the

conclusion certain Video cards don't fit in in

the case because it's small. Yeah because my

brother gave me an upgrade for the one that I

have and Couldn't fit it in the case because

it was bumping into the drive bays. I mean I

could trim the drive bays Like the the one of

the extra ones that is below my burner. Mm -hmm,

but then I'd be cutting my Interior of my case

should I decide to add another hard drive or

something to it later? Yeah, I wouldn't have

the brackets for it And so I figure I can always

if I want to upgrade the video card like because

I mean the one I have is Probably six years old,

but it still works. So I didn't figure why I

Can still play all my games with it. So it doesn't

really matter. So I'll eventually get a new one

It's just and I can buy one for like 40 bucks.

That's probably three times better than what

I have I mean, that's why I totally get where

you're coming from with that like I Don't know

whenever I just sit down, but I guess like I

got hung up that's one of the reasons why I do

the whole console gaming thing is because They

make really cool looking they fit a lot of hardware

a lot of awesome stuff in a nice -looking package

yeah, and That's kind of like when I'm when I'm

looking to build a computer I want to I want

to build something that's like comparable that

but I also want the benefits of making a PC Which

is you can upgrade it? Will and you know, that's

I'm not gonna get that, you know, like that does

not that does not exist. That is that is form

Over function or function over form. There is

no boat. There is no mixture of both See, and

I think that's kind of I mean that's kind of

the idea I was thinking of with because I saw

that Ninja Turtle Nintendo and I was thinking

You know, that would be really cool to make Like

a little mini PC gaming console for that would

fit in my entertainment center Mm -hmm, and I

could hook up my Xbox 360 USB controllers to

yep and play whether it's emulated games or I

could play because I would want to build it so

that I could I could hook it up to my TV with

HDMI and Could either do Netflix through it or

I could do, you know surf the internet have a

you know, like a wireless Keyboard or mouse hooked

up to it or have controllers hooked up to it

Basically like a you know what the current gen

consoles would do except it would actually be

a PC So that's one of the things I'm keeping

my eye on and yeah, I get even think about it

myself I kind of laugh a little bit about it,

but I am gonna keep my eye on the steam machines

that are coming this fall. Because Alienware

is getting in the mix and some other people and

they're supposed to be comparable to, like the

casing is, casing and pricing is supposed to

start out comparable to the existing, the current

console generation. But they'll basically run

the Steam OS. and you'll have access to all the

steam content which let's face it if you're a

pc gamer you're getting stuff from steam anyways

right for the most part um so like i i'm kind

of like on the i'm gonna look for the one that

i think will meet my needs like i but at the

end of the day i just that's the other thing

about pc gaming is just me like i know i'm gonna

tinker and Futs with settings and drivers like

it'll almost be like I'll never be playing a

game because I'll always be fussing around with

Like the the graphical settings in said game

to make it run Like perfectly I then that is

another reason why I like the consoles because

I can't do any of that stuff like That you know

how it's gonna play is how it's gonna play and

I have no control over that stuff But that allows

me to just jump in and start enjoying it. Yeah,

I like to jump in and enjoy them by just a lot

of time. I mean, I like to tinker a little bit,

but as long as it's doing what I need it to do,

I don't really deviate from my set form of settings.

I feel like if I was playing a PC game, and there

is no doubt in my mind that if I was playing

a PC game... and I saw the frame rate drop, because

I'd rather have slightly less graphical prowess,

like maybe my textures are a little muddier or

whatever, but I'd rather have a solid frame rate,

whether it's 30 frames or 60 frames. But I have

a feeling once I saw the frame rate drop in a

game, that would be it. I would be tinkering,

adjusting graphical sliders, trying to get it

to run. at a stable 60 frames a second and that

is just a rabbit hole that I do not want to chase

because I know that because that's what I do

with anything like we were talking last week

about how I'm more aware of what I'm watching

movies and tv shows on than I am Watching said

TV show like I'm I'm watching the local dimming

on my TV go in and out during dark scenes and

light scenes and when I'm at the movie theater,

I'm Looking for like yes, sometimes I do get

lost but like when the movies like first starting

up I can see I see all the pixels on the screen

and I'm like office looks horrible And I just

I feel like that I totally forgot where I was

going Crap Anyways, yeah, it's it's that it's

that thing. I feel like the minute I saw that

yeah, it's like when I'm watching a movie and

I see Something that looks off to me I will stop

the movie and I will start tinkering with the

settings on my TV to try and fix it and I know

that exact same thing would happen if I had you

know a game The computer and it didn't do what

I wanted I would try to I would immediately stop

and try and make it do what I wanted And I can't

do that on a console We could bring up flash

briefly sure and then and then call it good.

Sure. Let's talk. Let's talk flash Okay. Oh So

this week they spoilers Yes, we must say spoilers

They revealed who actually is the reverse flash

which you know They kind of hinted at before

and then I mean it was kind of almost to the

point of obvious at points before they even showed

that so I Was disappointed Kinda like I I wanted

him to be the flash from the future Like I wanted

I wanted the whole thing to be he's future flash

and he's trying to save Like something happened

to him that he's trying to make sure it doesn't

happen By helping his younger self if you will

mm -hmm That's what I was Hoping was going to

happen it slowly became more and more not gonna

be that like even after they showed off like

that he that wells has the yellow suit i still

was like who says the flash doesn't have a yellow

suit in the future you know like who like you

know and uh but that that did not prove to be

the case um yeah and they revealed it to be you

know obviously harrison wells but that's just

like the um john harrison name and into darkness.

It's a fake name. Eobard Thon, which is like

what, the 25th century flash or a reverse flash.

Yes. And I love how Cisco is the only one that

figures this out. Yeah. Well, OK, we were trying

to I was trying to talk about this before the

show, before we started recording. But. Now I

can go into it a little bit more like the I if

I had if I had known what this episode was, I

would have waited to watch this until after next

week's episode came out. Because what they're

what they did is they're taking they took the

long game that a lot of shows that have done

the exact same thing they will do in like 45

minutes. But they've taken the long game to it

which should make the next episode a lot more

fun It's the same They did the same thing where

where a lot of shows that deal with time travel

they'll set up a number of things that happen

in like the first like in the cold open of a

TV show and like the first 10 15 minutes and

then the next 30 minutes will be like rehashing

those moments but like slightly different so

they can show you that the characters making

different decisions and how that impacts the

rest of the show. What they did here is it was

one one long 45 minute episode of Decisions that

Barry is now going to get to make all the quote

-unquote right decisions in the next episode.

which essentially undoes everything that we saw

in this episode. Which is going to be kind of

weird, right? Because everyone will have, there

will be a point where everyone will have known

what was going on. And now Barry is the only

one that knows. Well, but he doesn't know about

Thawne and... It'll be interesting to see the

way things play out. He doesn't know about thon

or Cisco dying. No, nope So it'll be interesting

to see how how the his decisions now are Changed

and what what you know what he does differently

going in the next episode So well, I mean one

of the major changes is the fact that Eddie gets

pissed sooner at him and slugs him in the face

in the preview. Two, Barry will be able to stop

the weather wizard a lot sooner, knowing what's

going to happen later. With Cisco being alive

now, that means that the rogues can beat the

crap out of them until they get the information

they want. Which is his name So, you know So

I'm trying to think now I have been rocky by

brain this entire time I Just watched a show

that did the exact same thing with time and I

cannot remember what it was But maybe the if

there are listeners, maybe they can help You

know drum up other shows that have done the same

thing where they set up a series of events in

the first 10 minutes 10 15 minutes and then they

spend the rest of the show like Undoing that

and and navigate kind of like um This what this

is not it, but this is a perfect example edge

of tomorrow with Tom Cruise Okay, they they set

up a timeline and then that timeline resets and

you get to see all the different decisions and

how he learns from doing that. A lot of TV shows

that deal with time travel have taken that exact

same premise because it makes it really easy

and really fun for the viewer to follow along

and see all the different changes that occur.

I just cannot remember what this was, but whatever.

It was a fun episode. I kind of got... Like I

don't want to say overhyped. I remember like

some people were talking about on Twitter how

like awesome it was and and Usually when that

happens I tend to when I when something gets

hyped to me I tend to watch it with a more critical

eye then If I just sat down to watch it myself

Yeah, because it's like it's like okay, what

you sit down go, okay, what about this possibly

makes it You know awesome instead of just you

know another good flash episode That said there

were things about this episode that I didn't

really care for like like Gotham level stuff

Yeah, the whole scene in the police department

When what when the weather wizard comes in and

confronts detective West Like and then just electrocutes

his boss, but nobody bothers to like shoot him

shoot him or confront him Before not to mention

that they leave the stupid wand out on like a

table in the lobby That's what I'm talking about.

If this show hadn't been, quote unquote, hyped

up to me by various friends, and keep in mind,

this is just people saying, nothing was spoiled

for me. People are just saying, another awesome

episode of Flash. If that hadn't happened, I

probably wouldn't have been watching with such

a critical eye. The scene in the police station

just stuck out for me because it's kind of a

similar scene that happened in Gotham which Completely

blew my mind Where you know what I'm talking

about where's as Comes into the police precinct

to get Gordon. Yeah, and everybody just disappears

Yeah, right. So I was it was kind of that same

thing all over again. I was like, oh good lord

so But I had fun. I thought it was good, but

I think Flash is good in general. I don't think

this is like better or worse. We knew a time

travel episode was coming. I'm glad they didn't

try to cram it all into 45 minutes like most

shows would. But yeah, it was good. I'm not trying

to like blast or anything. It was good. I just

don't. I think people just get really excited

when they see a solid take on a superhero thing,

I guess. Yeah, I mean, I'm kind of looking forward

to seeing what they do from here on out, but...

I still think the show rests solely on how well

they pull off Grodd. From the looks of it, Grodd...

coming soon and trickster that's fine I mean

I'm excited to see trickster Mark Hamill's and

the other one yep yep yep yep and I love how

they use for the newspaper and footage they use

the 90s show in the teaser see it's got Hamill

and in the leotards and See, I don't... When

I watch the shows, I never watch the next time

on. Like, I never see any of that stuff. I always

stop it, like, right before they do that. Well,

if I catch it live, I watch it. But if it's torrented,

obviously, I never see it. I just can't. I don't

want... I want it to always be a surprise because,

first of all, I know that it's like they're going

to do the next time on this and then... Excuse

me when you go to watch the next episode is gonna

be last time on and it's gonna go gosh Just get

on with it. I don't want to I just want one.

I just need the last time on I don't need the

next time on part Because I like it to be a little

bit of a surprise Because sometimes they can

spoil like the best parts True yeah, they do

give away quite a bit like I kind of felt bad

that I watched the next time on Which showed

Cisco Being interrogated by Captain cold now

see I think I yeah I was um that threw me for

a loop one of the Twitter guys that I one of

the guys I follow on Twitter He watched the episode

and he said all I all he tweeted was Cisco no

And I'm pretty sure that was in reference to

either the end of this recent episode or the

next time on part, so Yeah, we'll see I I'm I'm

enjoying the show way more than like Man, I'm

tired more than like shield or anything like

that. So yeah, I am enjoying that this is one

of my favorite ones right now, but That said

Before I forget I want to give a little shout

out. I'm pretty sure some of our followers Maybe

have seen people gush about this TV show on Twitter

If if you haven't and you enjoy Comedies I highly

recommend Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix

It is a fantastic sitcom Actually, can you are

those called sitcoms like stuff like Modern Family

and stuff are they just kind of I guess I Don't

know. I mean I see like, you know last man standing

as a sitcom. Yeah, that's definitely sitcom But

I don't know what those are because they don't

have the laugh track. Yeah Or did or are they

just all the same thing and we're just overthinking

this anyways, it's a comedy Excuse me. It's a

30 minute comedy. It's from Tina Fey It was originally

supposed to be on NBC But they passed on it and

Netflix gave it a two episode or two season order

And the first episodes are up on Netflix. It's

it's it's pretty funny. The premise is kind of

dark But the show is a cut but the show is funnier

for it Without spoiling anything. That's all

I can really say about it. So okay. I highly

recommend that Sounds good, so with that I think

We can end the show this week on that note Try

to be more coherent next week. Yeah, we'll we'll

try that. Yeah Yeah, it was just kind of one

of those trying to go back to basics more or

less, which I think kind of succeeded. We'll

see. We'll see. Maybe this week I'll take it

personally. Yeah. That means you write comments.

So yeah. So if you have any thoughts on the net

neutrality thing or on some video games that

you plan or the custom box, whether it be PC

or the Nintendo case or just Anything in general

of that that you may have thought of doing or

have done, post it in the comments. Give us something

to talk about. Then next week we'll actually

cover part of this week's comments and include

them together. Have you guys asked just random

questions? I know we asked all the time I know

we asked this all the time just throw in some

random questions And we'll save them all up for

a rainy day question and answer show That'll

be fun We'll see how many we can get so fire

away. It doesn't matter what it is If you want

our opinion on something ask it Yes So, with

that, you can get ahold of us in the following

ways. You can call the voicemail line, 502 -526

-5821. You can get ahold of us on the website,

GeekCastRadio .com, and reply on the episode

post. You can get ahold of us on Twitter, at

GeekCastRadio, hashtag AlteredGeek. My Twitter

handle is at scp21, and yours is sir. At boothninja81.

So, as always, get altered, get geeky with the

Altered Geeks. Bye.