Diary Of My Switch To Internet TV

[Unregistered]

sony google tv

the blueray player is ok better ones are 100 bucks less. Googlle TV playes NOTHING and SUCKS! Returning it until google buys content cause nobody lets google tv play content.

 

[vnangia]

Have you tried SecondRun.tv? http://secondrun.tv/

I just came across it, and the price seemed okay, and it fits really well in my WMC setup.

 

[Osamede]

I'm amazed that the Google box was allowed to come out so half baked. I seem to think that none of this is a problem with hardware or software but is instead strictly a problem with contract negotiations. Awful..

Its a bit more than that. Basically for this sector to progress you need to have the content unbundled so that consumers can buy the content they want and access it when and where they like. No DRM bs and no shafty pricing.

Plus you need a platform where the big company content competes side by side with anyman's content. That's using the power of the web.

This of course would mean that Hollywood execs and stars would no longer cream off sums of money that make their grandkids rich before they are born. Google understands this and is looking to create a setup where you arent shafted or corralled into anything. Which is why they are getting stonewalled.

Apple on the other hand is willing to play ball, because they work with a captive audience which is willing to exchange the master controlling their cable box for another new master - and to even pay more. So for apple subscriptions with garbage shoveled in or the worst exesses of DRM is great. But that's a different model and customer than what google is aiming for.

So you can see how that is playing out. People in Hollywood are more interesting in you funding their grandkids' trust fund than facing the reality of the internet. But I would not confuse this with Google having made anything half-baked. Its up to the people making the content to cut the cord on stone age distribution channels and the bundlign rip off. They must face up to the reality that they will now have to earn money customer by customer, episode by episode - and at fair prices.

That's gonna take a while to hit home for them, but fact is that practically every other industry has been at this crossroads and initially refused to face the reality. They will eventually - they all do.

 

[thiggins]

Have you tried SecondRun.tv? http://secondrun.tv/

I just came across it, and the price seemed okay, and it fits really well in my WMC setup.

Havne't tried it, no. I'm not seriously considering WMC at this point.

 

[davemex]

Sorry if you've already been through this (it's been a while since I read the other chapters in this series) but have you tried XBMC yet? I set it up on a test machine and the interface definitely passed the WAF and I believe there are lots of other sites it can pull media from too. I know you've mentioned Boxee which is based on XBMC but didn't know if you'd actually considered XBMC by itself.

After playing around with it I was so impressed by it's functionality that I'm going to be putting together a dedicated nettop to run it this winter. From what I've seen it's a lot more powerful than WMC in the way that it automatically links movie posters/fan art to the locally stored contents (along with movie info), can be controlled by an Android/Palm/iPhone smartphone, and doesn't really complain about media sources.

 

[thiggins]

Sorry if you've already been through this (it's been a while since I read the other chapters in this series) but have you tried XBMC yet?

I've played with it on and off. I initially was impressed by it. But it seemed to require more futzing with it than Boxee. It is quite popular, though.

 

[alexmust]

Try it!!!

Did you try this website? http://liveintv.com
There are many TV channels and streams! Some may not working, but most of these are still working! Good luck..

 

[jms703]

Better idea

Count how many hours you watch TV and advertisements. Count the dollars you spend to watch TV and advertisements.

Then realize that TV demands so much of your time and money, but gives you next to nothing in return.

My advice: Stop watching trying to get the networks to work with you and stop watching TV. Climb a mountain/hill. Ride a bike. Read a book. Take a hike. Pursue a hobby.

I've been doing it for 3 weeks and I've gotten so much done.

 

[Unregistered]

Sagetv

Have you tried SageTV - they have nice plugin's and there HD300 extender is really nice.

They also have a placeshifter app that allows you to watch your recorded programs off of internet compadible devices.

check them out at WWW.Sagetv.com

 

[Unregistered]

I agree, buy a PC

I couldn't agree with the author of this article more.

I have a analog Tivo, a VuNow with PlayOn, and 2 laptop computers dedicated to providing content to 2 TVs. I also have 2 HD Home Run boxes pulling content from 4 OTA Antennas.

One laptop is an AMD Turion TL60 running Ubuntu Linux & Myth TV. I consider this underpowered. I'd love to replace it with an I3 or AMD equivalent. I've speced out several builds but I keep busting the budget. My eyes exceed my wallet.

The other laptop is an I3. It runs TIVO Plus for all those old recordings I saved from the days when I had cable. It runs PlayOn for the VuNow.

I watch NBC Football Night in America over the Internet on TV. I watch Thursday night football at NFL.com/live on TV. Boxee picks out new TV episodes and tracks new RSS video posts from FLD, CNet, Revision 3, etc. Hulu picks out new TV episodes and they await my visit. I also go to Websites and view content there at History.com, A&E.com, PBS.com, PowerblockTV.com, etc.

None of this is as elegant as digital cable to a TV, but if you plow the price of cable into hardware and software the ROI to break even for me was 9 to 18 months, after that it's extra money.

The VuNow is an acquired taste. I wouldn't recommend it. PlayOn definitely makes it more palatable. if I could return both of these I would. The PC's blow this combination away.

I do pay $10 a month for Netflix. Charter actually provides a library of mostly bad movies for free at my Internet level 16MBPS/$40 a month. I have a DOCSIS 3 cable modem so I get speed boosts - how and where that works I don't know.

Drop cable, buy a PC, help accelerate the future of TV.

 

[DaveMcLain]

I've also experimented with Play On and the Roku box with very similar results. When I got it to work the picture looked pretty good when streaming Hulu content but I had the same problems with the player wanting to rebuffer and or restart the program or repeat one section over and over.

I think that most of these problems come from the fact that right now the Roku is not DLNA compliant.

I've heard that Play On's system does work rather well with other boxes. Hopefully they will get it working better in the future.

I'm using a computer with an Athlon X4 processor and 2GB memory running Windows XP as the Play On server.

Also, I've heard that the unofficial Play On app for the Roku was superior to the official Play On version that's nearly but NOT identical. I had that one on my Roku when it first came out and it did work fine without any rebuffering or other issues. Of course like a dummy I switched to the "real" app and the unofficial version is no longer available!

 

[thiggins]

Thanks, Dave. Check the article again. I received info about the Roku app from PlayOn just after I posted.

 

[rucknrun]

PlayOn

I was a very early adopter of PlayOn. I was pissed when they went "Premium" and sent me a bunch of emails to pony up more money.

I still use it once in a while to access Hulu (not Plus) on my tv. It is nice being able to sort the video by date though.

 

[flamaest]

Done and done folks..

let the games begin on the WAF factor:

We have liftoff on the cable cutting...

XBMC, netflix, and HULU on the ATV2 !!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfU5e57HhZU&feature=related

 

[thiggins]

Buying a Roku is a lot simpler and cheaper!

 

[pwherman]

WDTV Live Plus with homebrew firmware

This firmware is awesome. I'm getting HULU, Netflix and Mediafly so far. These guys are awesome.

http://b-rad.cc/1295/wdlxtv-plus-for-wdtv-live-plus/#more-1295
http://b-rad.geg0r.de/index.php?dir=
http://wiki.wdlxtv.com/Main_Page

WDLXTV-Live is an unofficial homebrew firmware for the Western Digital WD TV Live. It enables a wide range of extra functionality which is missing from the official firmware, such as bittorrent, webserver, NZB, SSH, FTP, etc. I’ve done my best to make everything as easily configurable as possible, but it does require a little bit of work on your own. All of the settings are located in S00custom-options, which is included in the zipfile of every release. Open it in a text editor and peruse your options. If you need help there is a forum link at the bottom of the page. If you are a power user then you’ll be able to harness your Linux skills and fly off into the world of homebrew, wondering why you delayed any longer than you did.

This version has about as many changes as you can possibly make in one firmware. Things might have been a bit silent for the last few months, but in reality this firmware has been under constant development changing everything under the hood. Big thanks to recliq, who has stepped up to help with programming & maintenance.

0.4.2.1
* pibos WDTVExt dynamic extension software integrated
* thespecialist's WMAPro audio support
* psychodad's autoframerate/resolution patch
* recliq's moviesheet plugin
* recliq's WDTVExt plugin manager
* AutoZoom overscan fix during video playback
* forcehdmi option for resolutions not contained in EDID
* Samba/smb.conf fixes for missing/nonworking network shares
* Zosters's UMSP-0.14 with searching capability
* OK button comes before cancel in network share login & resume message boxes
* UMSP plugins are pulled from svn on boot, enable them individually through webend
* multi-file custom UMSP plugins enabled (/conf/umsp.php + /conf/umsp-plugins.tgz)
* fixed peristent video resume points file on local device; video_resume_point_table
* Setting for password protected Samba shares with guest read only access
* Samba debug level can be set
* fixed /boot with .rootFS
* webend symlink permission fixes
* youtubeHD fix
* rtorrent-0.8.6-1 included
* rutorrent-3.0 included
* ffmpeg-SVN-r22988 included
* curl_7.20.0-3 included
* new user supplied init.d script now avaiable: /conf/S99user-script
* sorted path/plugin errors (mostly) in rutorrent
* linksheets disabled, recliq's WDTVExt movisheet plugin enabled
* Python removed
* Deluge removed
* fixed load.webplugin bug causing rogue setup links in webend
* included mediainfo-0.7.25
* included apache2
* ability to set custom telnet/ssh ports
* /dev/sda1 is now fsck'd if root.bin/.rootFS exists at boot
* included tcpdump-3.9.8
* fixed domain wide auth
* updated osd pages to wdlxtv.com
* jamiroo's corrected spanish localization
* Techflaws.org's corrected german localization
* avkiev's corrected russian localization
* jamiroo's catalan localization
* Staduk's Greek localization
* bagira's Hungarian localization
* ReMARKable's dutch localization
* moved deluge/nzbget/umsp/webend web dirs to /usr/share
* lots of extra logging in scripts for bug report in webend
* mount.watch rewritten - usb hubbed devices now mounted under the slot they're plugged into (media library = off)
* tons & tons of bug patches & minor enhancements/tweaks

Is that enough for one update?

 

[Anthony Thomas]

The HTPC and Me

I've been watching TV via Windows Media Center since 2006. It started on a Dell 4550. But actually I started watching TV on my PC back in 1998 when ATI released its 2nd generation Rage 128 All in Wonder video card. When I broke up with my ex in late 1999 however, the card went with her.

I bought another one in 2001 based on ATI's 9600XT GPU. I used the ATI software PVR for awhile and then started looking for a better solution. That's when I found out I could get MCE 2005 without buying an entire system. I used that system until I couldn't get my new Cat's Eye 150 HD card to play HD stutter-free. So after a series of hardware changes to my Dell, I decided to retire the P4 powered Dell and build a Dual Core AMD powered box.

That is still in use built in the middle of 2007 for about $350. However not all was rosy, I couldn't get the Rollup 2 disc to install after installing XP Pro and MCE 2005. The Rollup 2 disc added HD support to MCE. I had previous ordered (for free with shipping) Windows Vista. So instead of continuing to miss my TV programs, I decided to install Vista. HD content played just fine from that point on, plus I liked the updated look over Media Center anyway.

I've since upgraded to Windows 7 and added a few hard-drives to the mix.

Overall I am happy with my setup and have what I term Media Overload.

I think what's on Network TV is mostly trash; cloned crime dramas and reality shows are not things I look forward too. The only serialized show I watch is Mad Men. So I end up downloading quite a bit and watching streamed content.

Here's what I have on HTPC -

DirecTV (started back in 1995) in Standard Def (every channel)
Hulu Launcher Plug-In (works great and works with Plus, requires Hulu Desktop, keeps all my account info, etc)
Macro Tube (search and play Daily Motion, You Tube HD and other content)
SecondRunTV 2.0 (RSS feeds for Crackle, Food Network, DIY Network, HGTV and access to ESPN3 though not perfect)
Local HD channels (about 20-25 as my antenna doesn't pull in VHF channels)
uTorrent

I try to watch everything through the Media Center interface and keep keyboard use to a minimum. With some more tweaking, I think I can only use a small Bluetooth keyboard (replacing my wireless desktop). I hope to add WHS to the mix near the end of the month, but because of my G network, data transfer might be sort of slow until I can upgrade it (the reason why I'm here). WHS can handle torrents, meta data from Media Center Master and sorting the torrent and later Usenet.

With a bit more tweaking using Kylo Browser or vmcPlayit (Play On) for ESPN3 and some other content. I don't think Hulu Plus is worth it, I rather pay for Netflix but I don't watch movies often enough right now to justify the cost.

I am a big collector of Japanese Anime and 80's animation based usually on Korean or Japanese animators (M.A.S.K, G.I Joe, Transformers, Robotech, etc). I'm also a huge auto racing fan, I watched the entire 24hrs of Le Mans via both Speed TV, Speedtv.com and stream provided by somebody of the Eurosport broadcast. I download everything from Top Gear UK to FIA World Touring Cars and occasionally MotoGP.

If you have any questions let me know.

 

[Anthony Thomas]

Have you tried SecondRun.tv? http://secondrun.tv/

I just came across it, and the price seemed okay, and it fits really well in my WMC setup.

Sorry to bump this old post, but I've been using SecondRun for awhile now. I need to work on it a bit more to make it look the way I want and it sort of loads slowly from the TV Guide interface.

But I have Crackle feeds that I use and that has worked well.

 

[vnangia]

Hi Tim,

Welcome back to paying for TV! I went through much of the same thinking in the wake of my issues with Cox, which led to this monstrosity - http://tinyurl.com/VRNNewDVR ... yeah, yeah, but it WORKS, despite Cox's best efforts.

Verizon has started deploying FiOS in my neighborhood, and that should help tremendously in simplifying the setup and reducing the price dramatically. Since we won't have to deal with SDV (hooray FiOS capacity!), truck rolls for a Cablecard install and Cox's total disregard for the FCC's regulations regarding encryption, we'll be able to remove all of that and replace it with a single UHF antenna connected to a HDHR and a single HDHR Prime connected to the FiOS. It's going to raise its own set of networking issues, but I'm hopeful that even this can be worked out with FiOS. And if it's anything like NYC pricing, we'll be halving the cost of doing business with Cox.

Long-term, I'm still hopeful someone will come up with a viable way of doing what Apple, Hulu and Netflix are doing all in a single box, but until then, I guess I'm gonna have to wait.

 

[Anthony Thomas]

Hi Tim,

Welcome back to paying for TV! I went through much of the same thinking in the wake of my issues with Cox, which led to this monstrosity - http://tinyurl.com/VRNNewDVR ... yeah, yeah, but it WORKS, despite Cox's best efforts.

Verizon has started deploying FiOS in my neighborhood, and that should help tremendously in simplifying the setup and reducing the price dramatically. Since we won't have to deal with SDV (hooray FiOS capacity!), truck rolls for a Cablecard install and Cox's total disregard for the FCC's regulations regarding encryption, we'll be able to remove all of that and replace it with a single UHF antenna connected to a HDHR and a single HDHR Prime connected to the FiOS. It's going to raise its own set of networking issues, but I'm hopeful that even this can be worked out with FiOS. And if it's anything like NYC pricing, we'll be halving the cost of doing business with Cox.

Long-term, I'm still hopeful someone will come up with a viable way of doing what Apple, Hulu and Netflix are doing all in a single box, but until then, I guess I'm gonna have to wait.

More complicated than it needs to be.

Replace your HomeRun with a HomeRun Prime (pre-orders open) which is a Cable Card Tuner and should work with FiOS, I know the Ceton cable card tuner does. Do you really watch that much PPV? That's the only thing you loose with a Cable Card tuner.

All provider DVR's SUCK period.

Sell both HVR 1212's and give Cox back their crappy DVR's and the investment in the Prime almost pays for itself.

Otherwise it looks good.