Time to move on

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Indymil

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Time to move on

#1

Post by Indymil » Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:53 pm

I was a faithful user of Windows Media Center for 10 + years. That being said, it is time to move on. For the past 6+ months I have been using Channels DVR and HD Homerun DVR. I prefer the Channels DVR ... guide/recording is much better. I have multiple Apple TV devices which I use. It is very easy/compatible ... I definitely recommend moving on. The Apple TV devices make it very easy to use it on all TV's in your home.

Kenneth Burns

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#2

Post by Kenneth Burns » Wed Apr 06, 2022 8:27 pm

Happy trails! I suspect the day is not too far off when the content providers essentially give up on cable, and then there won't be much point in maintaining a WMC system. It's already clear that for the Disneys of the world the priority is streaming.

EZEd

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#3

Post by EZEd » Thu Apr 07, 2022 8:21 pm

Indymil wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:53 pm I was a faithful user of Windows Media Center for 10 + years. That being said, it is time to move on. For the past 6+ months I have been using Channels DVR and HD Homerun DVR. I prefer the Channels DVR ... guide/recording is much better. I have multiple Apple TV devices which I use. It is very easy/compatible ... I definitely recommend moving on. The Apple TV devices make it very easy to use it on all TV's in your home.
Channels DVR isn't just for Apple TV devices. It also runs on Android devices as well. You can also port the guide content from Channels to an M3U list that can be loaded to either Emby or Plex and used as the guide input for tuning devices in those client applications as well. The beauty of that is that I have all of my streaming channels from my Directv Stream subscription, my free Pluto streaming channels and my local antenna HDHomerun channels all listed on one m3u file that is fed to Emby so now I have all of those channels available for recording in one place inside of Emby. You can do the same native to Channels or inside of Plex. With either Emby or Plex you now expand your list of usable devices to Roku and most of the native Smart TVs too, since most of those also have Emby and Plex apps.

Lot's of info on how to set it up on both Channels and Emby user forums.

Good luck and welcome to the WMC abandoned group.

prsa01

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#4

Post by prsa01 » Wed Apr 13, 2022 12:32 pm

EZEd wrote: Thu Apr 07, 2022 8:21 pm
Indymil wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:53 pm I was a faithful user of Windows Media Center for 10 + years. That being said, it is time to move on. For the past 6+ months I have been using Channels DVR and HD Homerun DVR. I prefer the Channels DVR ... guide/recording is much better. I have multiple Apple TV devices which I use. It is very easy/compatible ... I definitely recommend moving on. The Apple TV devices make it very easy to use it on all TV's in your home.
Channels DVR isn't just for Apple TV devices. It also runs on Android devices as well. You can also port the guide content from Channels to an M3U list that can be loaded to either Emby or Plex and used as the guide input for tuning devices in those client applications as well. The beauty of that is that I have all of my streaming channels from my Directv Stream subscription, my free Pluto streaming channels and my local antenna HDHomerun channels all listed on one m3u file that is fed to Emby so now I have all of those channels available for recording in one place inside of Emby. You can do the same native to Channels or inside of Plex. With either Emby or Plex you now expand your list of usable devices to Roku and most of the native Smart TVs too, since most of those also have Emby and Plex apps.

Lot's of info on how to set it up on both Channels and Emby user forums.

Good luck and welcome to the WMC abandoned group.
Can you expand on this a little more? So, with your setup you can record from streaming services if you consolidate them into your guide (at least Pluto). I'm assuming you can then skip thru the pluto commercials once recorded. Been awhile since I did anything with pluto but on mlb.tv, as an example, when watching a stream the navigation options are disabled during commercials when watching delayed/archived content. It seems like they change streams temporarily while in commercial.

Anyway, sounds very interesting. I will need to do some research.

Thanks

EZEd

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#5

Post by EZEd » Wed Apr 13, 2022 6:01 pm

Yes you can record any channel that is in Channel's guide once that source is attached to the service as a provider. The key is starting with Channels DVR and getting the sources loaded there (streaming and OTA). Once you're satisfied with your sources and they behave to your liking inside of Channels then you can spit the Channels guide out as an m3u playlist file where it can be sucked in to either Emby or Plex. This second step isn't necessary if you're just going to use Channels as your DVR and viewing source. But as mentioned earlier, Channels is only compatible with Apple and Android devices (they only make client apps for those two). You can run the server on Windows and view the content through a web browser in Windows but again they do not make a client app for Windows. Where porting the m3u file out to Emby and Plex comes in handy is when you want to expand your viewing and DVR capability to other clients like Roku, Fire and SmartTVs (Samsung & LG). Those devices will likely have an Emby or Plex client but not a Channels client so setting up a streaming tuner based on the Channels m3u list and XMLTV guide file is useful and and expands the possibilities. Of course the issue is that now you have to pay a subscription for Channels as well as either Emby or Plex to get the Live TV and DVR functionality. If you already subscribe to Channels DVR then you know that what you get is the content that you get from your service provider that is regulated under TVE (TV Everywhere) rules. So effectively you're only getting the live stream content from any of those providers. So that also means (especially in the case of national cable feeds) you're having to pay for that subscription as well (i.e. YouTubeTV, Directv Stream, Hulu, etc...). Channels DVR accepts most of those as source inputs. I have Directv Stream. I also have an HDHomeRun for my local channels and everyone gets Pluto for free. So I add all three of those as sources into Channels DVR. They are all visible and watchable (except for HBO of course and any other DRM protected content from Directv's Stream). Once that is all setup and running inside of Channels then there is an m3u and xmltv extraction process that you have to go through to get your list of channels (both url stream address and corresponding guide data) out of channels. That is saved off as two different files. Then inside of Emby or Plex you set up a virtual tuner based off of the m3u file and also point to the xmltv guide.

You'll need to check on the Channels site to get the full details because there are a few edits you have to make to the m3u file or other settings to make sure things like Pluto play nicely but otherwise is pretty straight forward. It's pretty neat. I like it. Even though I'm not likely saving any money it makes me feel better that I'm not beholden to the "evil cable company" - in this case it is only transferred to the "evil telephone company" but it still feels like you have a choice about the matter. Either could be easily solved by just not subscribing to pay TV (cable or streaming) but you'd still be left with subscriptions to Channels and to either Plex or Emby depending on whether you went with their services.

As I've commented previously here at TGB on other threads the only reason I left WMC was because we no longer live in a true cable TV subscriber area. We had Comcast turned TWC turned Spectrum for years but we moved and our current area isn't served by either the cable company or the Frontier FIOS folks. So streaming and satellite are the only things that are available in addition to OTA. I had satellite back when it first came out in the mid to late 90s. It too became a bore and a chore. Said I'd not go back to it either. Was actually kind of glad that I couldn't get cable or fios here as it forced me to investigate and change my content capture model.

At this point, I'm pretty much all in on streaming because I can convert everything to a web stream (local and national feeds) and then serve to myself anywhere outside the home I happen to be; provided of course there is a wide enough bandwidth internet feed. I doubt seriously I would have ever gotten to that if I were still tied to WMC. I loved (still do) the WMC interface and the reliability of the system but without Microsoft putting some more serious coin into it, it was never gonna become this what I have now. And as we know, instead of them making it better for the times, they decided to abandon it (such a shame). Neither Emby or Plex are as nickel slick smooth as WMC was from an interface standpoint but they both are worlds better with integration and what else can be done with them besides hooking up an Xbox360. Those days were good but no where near as good as being able to connect up any streaming box or smart tv you want and take that content with you anywhere outside your house with a true client server architecture. Microsoft was not going to touch that with a 39 and half foot pole.

I suspect we all need to just view WMC for what it really is... good times of the past and abandon ware of today and move on.

I hate to be so cynical but to me that's just facing the facts and the truth. It is not my intention to burst anybody else's bubble...just the way I see it.

Anyway, good luck in what ever you decide to do.

Start with Channels DVR forum and look for keywords like TVE (TV Everywhere) and m3u playlist xmltv files output

prsa01

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#6

Post by prsa01 » Wed Apr 13, 2022 8:01 pm

VERY much appreciate the in-depth answer!

I have some reading to do ;-)

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