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Bryan

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#21

Post by Bryan » Thu Apr 09, 2015 1:56 am

Those are both streaming services, there's no recording them. Typically Hulu has stuff a day to a week later; Netflix is usually more like "season 2 is about to start on tv so we'll get season 1". You would watch both of those in their own Xbox app, not within Media Center. MC does have a Netflix app, but personally I wouldn't use it.

Sharks

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#22

Post by Sharks » Thu Apr 09, 2015 4:12 am

See links below:
http://www.playon.tv/playon
http://www.playon.tv/playlater

This program allows you to watch and record (or DVR if you prefer) Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, among others and it is compatible with Windows Media Center.

JepTV

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#23

Post by JepTV » Thu Apr 09, 2015 10:40 am

I'm still not sure what the purpose of recording anything from Hulu or Netflix is. As I've mentioned before, when I used both... You searched for a show... you selected it.. and watched it. We don't have a bandwidth cap or anything. There seems to be absolutely no reason to record anything on Netflix or Hulu to my knowledge, so I'm extremely curious as to why there is a service to record them. There is one TV and if you want to watch a show a second time, you simply re-stream it. Every time I used Netflix or Hulu before... they would watch a show, then if they needed to go to the bathroom.. they paused and went to the bathroom... came back and resumed. Sorry for being so troublesome, but I absolutely can not see any reason to record Hulu/Netflix unless you somehow had a bandwidth cap. Simply stream the show again unless you wanted to watch a 10 year old show or something and Hulu was about to delete it.

Is there a limit to how much you can stream from Netflix/Hulu now?
Are shows deleted from Hulu?netflix at a faster pace now that you need to record things before they are gone for good?
Why can't you just simply re-stream a show instead of needing to record it from these streaming services?

Bryan

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#24

Post by Bryan » Thu Apr 09, 2015 1:23 pm

Things come and go from all the services, it's all up to when their licenses expire. I don't know how long Hulu keeps things.

I'm a bit amazed PlayOn can do that and hasn't been sued out of existence. I know their site says it's legal, but that doesn't mean Netflix likes it. Personally, if there's something I want to watch over and over (only happens with the kids), we just re-watch on Netflix, and buy the blu-ray if it disappears.

mdavej

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#25

Post by mdavej » Thu Apr 09, 2015 2:23 pm

Practically nobody ever does this. It only came up because you mentioned it.

Sharks

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#26

Post by Sharks » Thu Apr 09, 2015 4:27 pm

I'll make this my last post on these services not to drag this off topic any more than it already has been:
@JepTV
"My parents love DVR and I doubt they would be able to go back to watching live TV at this stage without the ability to pause. I have looked at Tivo, ChannelMaster, and a few others, however I think a PC will be the ultimate solution if I can configure it properly." and "They typically record USA, TNT, FX, CNBC, A&E, HIstory, Discovery, CMT, TLC, FOOD, along with local channels, according to their timers."

PlayOn and PlayLater gives you the option to record from many streaming services not just Netflix/Hulu/Amazon, you were looking for options to get most of the shows your parents watch, these programs can possibly do this. Depending on how long they wait hulu loses these and/or requires hulu+ these programs can negate that affect.

@ mdavej
lol, could I see your peer-reviewed research on "Practically nobody ever does this. It only came up because you mentioned it." I mentioned it because I thought it would be helpful to the author to know he had the option to record streaming media if needed. I can't say if lots of people do or do not use these services but they seem like a great option for people who: archive shows in their personal libraries, have limited time and want to record shows for later viewing, don't have great OTA reception, or watch TV shows on the go and don’t have a 3g or 4g connection.

@Byran
I'm amazed myself that this service hasn't been sued out of existence either, and that it works as advertised.

---------------
I'm not pushing this option just letting the author of the thread know they do "exists" and they do work, I made 2 posts because I didn't link them in the first post and I did a poor job relating that they will do more than just hulu/netflix, hence the links in the second post.

JepTV

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#27

Post by JepTV » Thu Apr 09, 2015 10:14 pm

My apologies if I offended anyone, it wasn't my intention. The part of DVR they love is pause/FF/REW, they don't really record things to keep them for very long. It's mostly that they can get up and go to the bathroom or pop popcorn and not miss something. The other part is being able to record something at 11pm, and watch it at 10am the next day when they aren't tired.

If my post seemed argumentative or rude, I do apologize. I was just literally awestruck as to coming up with a reason to record shows off streaming services, as they are basically already recorded for you... and the only reason I could come up with is if they would be deleted periodically. I thank you all for the advice and options and hope I didn't offend too deeply as it seems I did. It's been a rough week and maybe some of that spilled over into my posts and I didn't realize it.

That was my fault for dismissing playon before looking into it more. That actually looks like the perfect option for any web content, and now I need to take some egg off my face.
My apologies and thank you Sharks

Sharks

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#28

Post by Sharks » Fri Apr 10, 2015 12:45 pm

JepTV wrote:My apologies if I offended anyone, it wasn't my intention. The part of DVR they love is pause/FF/REW, they don't really record things to keep them for very long. It's mostly that they can get up and go to the bathroom or pop popcorn and not miss something. The other part is being able to record something at 11pm, and watch it at 10am the next day when they aren't tired.

If my post seemed argumentative or rude, I do apologize. I was just literally awestruck as to coming up with a reason to record shows off streaming services, as they are basically already recorded for you... and the only reason I could come up with is if they would be deleted periodically. I thank you all for the advice and options and hope I didn't offend too deeply as it seems I did. It's been a rough week and maybe some of that spilled over into my posts and I didn't realize it.

That was my fault for dismissing playon before looking into it more. That actually looks like the perfect option for any web content, and now I need to take some egg off my face.
My apologies and thank you Sharks

Thanks, and no offense was taken from what you said I was just trying to give you the most options possible so you can get what you need for your parents. I'm in the middle of that debate myself. : )
Other people seemed a bit more combative about the services you just saw no point in it for them because it isn't what your parents want/need. Which is totally valid and hey now you have more information on the options.

I'm also sorry if I cam off as rude or augmentative, I was just trying to express these services work as claimed and could be a possible option. (Well, atleast towards you anyway. lol)

mdavej

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#29

Post by mdavej » Fri Apr 10, 2015 2:34 pm

Sharks wrote:@ mdavej
lol, could I see your peer-reviewed research on "Practically nobody ever does this. It only came up because you mentioned it." I mentioned it because I thought it would be helpful to the author to know he had the option to record streaming media if needed. I can't say if lots of people do or do not use these services but they seem like a great option for people who: archive shows in their personal libraries, have limited time and want to record shows for later viewing, don't have great OTA reception, or watch TV shows on the go and don’t have a 3g or 4g connection.
I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to Jep. I'm glad you posted the Playon link because I had no idea anybody still used those screen capture programs and services. I see the benefits, but I still doubt very many people bother doing it these days when data plans are so ubiquitous.

JepTV

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#30

Post by JepTV » Sat Apr 11, 2015 2:41 am

Think this is coming together very well. Thank you everyone so far for the help.

My 30 mile Mohu Leaf isn't going to cut it to get NBC though, which is 54 miles from their house. However it looks like all of the channels are clustered to the Northwest in a 30 degree arc, with most of them in a 10 degree arc. Not sure if a directional antenna would be better than a Leaf or other omnidirectional.

Also have to find a remote for the Xbox/WMC unless the XBox remote works well enough.

HDHomeRun Connect
Antenna
PlayON installed on the his computer
XBox 360 with Hulu/Netflix subscription
ethernet cables for the HDHomerun and xbox

Set up the HDHomerun to the antenna and setup his PC to record from that. Set up the PC for PlayON as well and extend using the XBox 360, then connect that to the TV. I think I'm just about set if I figure out the remote and how to get NBC and if an outdoor antenna is legally allowed in the outer city.

Have went way past the original scope of the topic I think, but thank you everyone that has helped.

Bryan

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#31

Post by Bryan » Sat Apr 11, 2015 2:05 pm

Regarding the antenna, I may have missed it earlier in the thread, but look at TVFool. A directional is probably best, but you also have to consider the terrain. I'm 30 miles from a station I would have liked to pick up, but it's 2Edge, and I didn't have any luck.

As for an outdoor antenna, my understanding is you cannot be prevented from installing an outdoor antenna. Outdoor antennas need to be properly grounded, but it's not something an HOA can complain about.

JepTV

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#32

Post by JepTV » Mon Apr 27, 2015 1:41 am

NBC is 54 miles away and is 2Edge. It requires a 115foot mount to be LOS. I think it may be cheaper just to pay for their cable bill myself rather than hospital bills of trying to get all this done.
"No problem, you can go to nbc.com and watch anything on there, all ya gotta do is beam it to the TV". Apparently I have magical powers now.
"Oh, also I want this SlingTV thing from DISH for $20/month, we can beam that to the TV too right?"

Yes, sure.. I can combine multiple inputs, somehow DVR everything, and make it all use a single remote... I'll cure cancer next week. Pardon to any cancer patients or relatives of cancer patients.

XBox360 doesn't support sling and XBoxOne doesn't support WMC. We have the weakest roku player, and it's possible since the TV has a coax and a composite input to hook those up one to each. Every option for cloing the PC screen to the TV requires HDMI or some kind of USB dongle that plugs into the TV.. which is too old to have HDMI or USB. He cringes when I say it will cost a few hundred dollars, however keeps asking if we need to spend more on a TV that will just do all of this automatically. I'm not sure that TV exists.

SlingTV, OTA recording(working at the moment with HDHomeRun and Mohu Leaf 30mile(50mile was a bust and was returned for refund)), Cloning of PC to facilitate any show on PC being "beamed" to the TV, Netflix/Hulu, Playon possibly.

So that adds a 50 foot hdmi cable and a hdmi to composite converter to the mix if I want to "beam everything to the TV", however the Playon server may work to feed the XBox anything from the PC. I will have to get that setup and try.

Rainey

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#33

Post by Rainey » Tue Apr 28, 2015 6:01 am

I still have Cable gold package with SD HDHR Prime tuners, but have been setting up my WMC and i found a new TV app that looks good and can launch from WMC, You can get some good playlists from the internet and play local content also. Remote friendly and feature rich. Time shifts and records.

http://plstonline.org/

JepTV

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#34

Post by JepTV » Sun Jun 14, 2015 10:28 pm

Thank you again to everyone who helped with making decisions. It's installed and working so far. I haven't figured out how to streamline the XBox interface to get rid of everything except TV/Video and Settings yet, or how to kill rip the annoying avatar out of the console, but I will find a way yet.

Oddly enough my father said he got a message or friend request or something when he turned it on today, and was worried it might be a hacking attempt. He also said he left his internet browser open all night on the computer and was worried that someone might have hacked in because it was left open, which is not really a threat. Will have to see if there is a way to cut the XBox off from XBox live or at least limit it since they don't want any xbox360 friends and it's a completely unneeded feature.

It'll be a continuous battle to assure him.

cwinfield

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#35

Post by cwinfield » Mon Jun 15, 2015 3:17 pm

JepTV wrote:Thank you again to everyone who helped with making decisions. It's installed and working so far. I haven't figured out how to streamline the XBox interface to get rid of everything except TV/Video and Settings yet, or how to kill rip the annoying avatar out of the console, but I will find a way yet.

Oddly enough my father said he got a message or friend request or something when he turned it on today, and was worried it might be a hacking attempt. He also said he left his internet browser open all night on the computer and was worried that someone might have hacked in because it was left open, which is not really a threat. Will have to see if there is a way to cut the XBox off from XBox live or at least limit it since they don't want any xbox360 friends and it's a completely unneeded feature.

It'll be a continuous battle to assure him.
I have heard if you use the green button on a 360 remote it will boot straight to WMC, I no longer have a 360 so I can't verify this for you. To remove everything but tv video and settings you need hide media strips found here http://mikinho.com/wmc/start-menu-plus/

Ed 

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#36

Post by Ed  » Mon Jun 15, 2015 4:08 pm

cwinfield wrote:I have heard if you use the green button on a 360 remote it will boot straight to WMC, I no longer have a 360 so I can't verify this for you.
It does.

LuckyDay

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#37

Post by LuckyDay » Mon Jun 15, 2015 4:45 pm

Don't have to use the green button at all, there is an option in the settings menu of the 360 that lets you tell the system to boot straight into WMC on start-up.

Ed 

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#38

Post by Ed  » Mon Jun 15, 2015 4:53 pm

LuckyDay wrote:Don't have to use the green button at all, there is an option in the settings menu of the 360 that lets you tell the system to boot straight into WMC on start-up.
Also correct, but just 2 ways of doing the same thing. The green button way is useful for when you have your XBOX startup to the dashboard/not into WMC, but you know you want to turn on the Xbox 'this time' specifically just to watch/use WMC.

LuckyDay

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#39

Post by LuckyDay » Mon Jun 15, 2015 6:31 pm

Yeah it's nice to get straight to WMC from Netflix with the green button.

JepTV

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#40

Post by JepTV » Mon Jun 15, 2015 10:30 pm

Once we get the xbox into windows media Center/Netflix/Hulu, we're fine. It's mostly the XBox live login, the avatar, and the prompts on the xbox console, not the windows media center app. Games, Social, etc... I'll try the green button and see how that goes. Might have to go over to an xbox forum and pester them for some information on tuning the xbox.

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