17
votes
US users: how are you watching Olympics coverage?
Aside from live TV and streaming on Peacock, are there any other ways to watch Olympics coverage?
Aside from live TV and streaming on Peacock, are there any other ways to watch Olympics coverage?
Living in the USA but coming from Canada, I bought a month of NordVPN (and plan to use the 30 day money back guarantee) so I can watch the Canadian coverage free on CBC Gem. Seemed to work well for the opening ceremony.
From what I'm hearing, the NBC broadcast cut out JD Vance getting booed, but the CBC broadcast didn't, so I'd say you got the better version.
This is one of the many perks I love about having moved north of the border. I have 100% free coverage of Olympic events. All events, replays last for months afterwards. I rarely watched in the states because it was paywalled behind NBC.
This is the way. Enjoy it while we still can!
Since I wanted to watch the opening ceremony (tape-delayed since I was at work when it was happening live), I ended up just paying for a month of Peacock. Annoying though that I got the top tier "ad-free" subscription, yet there are still ads. Boooo. First time using Peacock.
That said, there are places on the high seas to watch most of the events. That's how I did it for the Paris Olympics. I don't think I can openly say where to look, but it wouldn't be that hard to find it.
If you're going legit, but want to skip the commercials, I believe this still works for web browsers with uBlock Origin (and maybe other ad blockers):
After that, it's up to you how you get your web browser's screen cast to your "TV" display. Either way, life is better without the commercials (even dead air is better during live events). I haven't run it too much this way, but after the commercials are cut out, the stream resumes like it's supposed to. No refreshing required.
^[1] If you haven't watched curling, let me suggest that you give this hot, mixed doubles round-robin curling a try because it will have you hammering that button from the first end to the last end for two hours of non-stop action.
This is why I was hesitant to shell out the dough for a subscription but it is probably among the easiest ways to go.
You said "aside from live TV", but I'll go ahead and answer since I think mine is a little different from "conventional" live TV. I have my own Plex server that's connected to a Leaf TV antenna (https://www.amazon.com/Mohu-Antenna-Amplified-Range-MH-110584/dp/B00APPDX86). I basically just record all of the coverage OTA and watch it at my leisure. Of course, your mileage may vary based on geography, but I've been pretty happy with the setup. You can even set it to "mark the commercials for skip" or delete the commercials altogether (though I'd personally recommend skipping since the detection isn't perfect).
Overall, I'm happy with the setup and it's relatively cheap to put together, especially if you already have a halfway decent computer/laptop laying around.
This is cool, I have access to a plex server from a friend. Maybe I can set something similar up. But this means you only get the NBC coverage and not all the random curling games or whatever on the other channels, correct?
I do, yeah, that's the biggest downside. If you just want to be able to follow general Olympics coverage, I think it works well enough, but it's definitely not comprehensive.
Looking at what I've recorded so far, it's been about 27 hours of coverage, give or take, some of which is overlap between the daytime broadcast and the prime time broadcast. Edit: Realized after I posted this that that includes commercials, so maybe reduce that 27 hours by half or a third or however much depending on how optimistic you're feeling.
There's a restriction that Plex server owners can't share OTA broadcasts with Plex friends, only libraries (So recorded content, yes, but not live feeds). The only way to "share a live feed" is to use the server owner's login.
You can set up a "Plex Home" which allows you to give users access to live OTA broadcasts on their own accounts.
That said, without getting into all the weeds with Plex Home, unless you set up a PIN, Plex Home users can basically access each other's accounts, so not ideal unless you know the person and are comfortable with that access.
Yes, but the "Plex Home" all exists under the login of the server owner, you still have to share login credentials. As you say, not ideal, unless you trust that person with your login credentials. The "Plex Home" concept is essentially a solution to "We have multiple people in the home who don't want other people's 'On Deck' showing up".
No, you can invite other accounts, each with their own set of credentials, into your Plex Home, but they still can access each other's accounts as if they were profiles under the same account. It's a confusing setup which is why I didn't want to get into the weeds.
But you don't have to share your credentials with others if you want to add them to your Plex Home and you can secure each account in your home with a PIN.
Edit: It's only just occurred to me that the ability to invite other Plex users to your Plex Home is locked behind their subscription: https://support.plex.tv/articles/204234323-creating-a-plex-home/