HDMI for Channels

[Fofer]

@cyoungers

I'm running YTTV with a Chromecast dongle (not the 4K version) and it has been working pretty well. However, now I'm seeing more and more cases where the video freezes and I get the spinning circle icon. Most times it recovers but it seems to be getting worse. I'm trying to figure out what is causing this. Is it a bottleneck at YTTV, the internet connection or the WiFi connection to the CC dongle or something else. Anybody else see this?

The 1st of my pair is the same model and I am not experiencing that issue. I am using it with YTTV as well, and have it streaming for many hours on end. Hmm, not sure what to suggest but just wanted to offer up my experience for comparison.

I was thinking of replacing it with the 4K version if only for, I dunno, speed (?) but this one is performing admirably without any hiccups so I don’t really see the point. I’ll keep an eye on it though. My other device is the Onn box and it seems to me that its performing identically. At least I can’t tell the difference between them.

[turtletank]

Yeah, this is why we use Apple TV's as our primary playback devices. All of the "stick" type devices (and most smart TVs) are massively underpowered when it comes to rendering user interfaces and such.

I'm going to keep an eye on that Fire Cube. Last year it dropped to $60 on "Prime Day." If that happens again then I'm in.

[Channels2021]

@turtletank

Fire Cube. Last year it dropped to $60 on "Prime Day."

The most recent one (3rd gen)?

[turtletank]

Nah. The current model wasn't available last July, but it was the current model at the time that was on sale.

[cyberskier]

Aside from changing the IP address, did everything work the same with the Cube? I was trying to get things going with my Fire Stick yesterday to compare speeds, and was having trouble with an error message (I didn’t wrote it down, unfortunately).

[babsonnexus]

Do you love this idea, but don't want to invest in new hardware, have concerns about reliability, or do not like Android apps? Well...

BETA: PC Stream for Channels (DRM Workaround) | No new hardware required!

Inspired by the HDMI for Channels project, this solution attempts to do the same thing. Namely, this project allows the user to stream any station, including ones protected by DRM, in Channels--so long as there is a web source to get the content from that the user has legal access to. However, this solution focuses on doing so without using a separate (expensive) HDMI capture device and setup, eliminating multiple potential physical hardware fail points, and using an existing always-on Channels …

[KompilerDJ]

I haven't quite gotten that far. Hopefully later this evening. I can say that the code I use to verify the stream is actually playing has been different on pretty much every device but its minor changes that are required to the grep statement.

[JT-DFW]

Some further testing has revealed that recordings made by this system often indicate a run length shorter than they should be - running Fix Video Timestamps and/or Regenerate Video Index seems to fix the videos to the proper length and then they play back nicely - is it possible to automatically run the fix/regen to cleanup HDMI recordings when completed? Anyone else noticing this?

[GTFan]

@JT-DFW

• now, DRM is getting turned on for TVE, so I feel like things are going backwards...

Yeah I agree, this is a big hack to go back to the bad old days of bypassing DRM crap with AV capture and remote control. It's sad that we're having to revert back to this.

At least we don't have to rent STBs now but you're looking at $75-$100 minimum for each tuner.

And of course you're going to have to play whack a mole if apps or web links change and break playback...

[Fofer]

@GTFan

At least we don't have to rent STBs now but you're looking at $75-$100 minimum for each tuner.

FWIW I got my tuner pair on eBay for $50 each. Such sales seem pretty frequent too.

[GTFan]

+20 for onn box... It's going to be 75 easy unless you get some kind of killer deal.

[KompilerDJ]

Up and running on Fire Cube. Just needed to update the IP address in all the scripts. The last code I used to detect disconnect worked as the previous device so it seems Android 9+ is the same.

I can also verify that checking the playing state via a keep alive script will save you on popups, etc.

adb shell dumpsys media_session | grep  "state=PlaybackState {state=3"

State 3 is playing. Anything else time to bounce it. And one other thing dont bounce more than once every 15-30 seconds or you can end up in a loop.

[Kryptonyte]

@JT-DFW

now, DRM is getting turned on for TVE, so I feel like things are going backwards...

It certainly seems to be going backwards from our perspective. I few months ago I flipped on my old Win 7 64 bit machine with WMC and a Ceton 6 pcie/cablecard. There are (4) Xbox360's hooked up to the network and the 4-tuner HDMI encoder, and the other (2) tuners provide copy-freely TV for the locals without the BS. Unfortunately, that is dependent on a cablecard, which I'm sure will probably be going down anytime - and then we're back to this thread.

[KompilerDJ]

It’s absolutely backwards but we are loosing as consumers of our fair use rights. What else can we do?

[Kryptonyte]

Stop watching television and go outside? Read a book?

[KompilerDJ]

Would rather try to help this community regain our fair use rights through knowledge sharing.

[Kryptonyte]

@KompilerDJ

regain our fair use rights

What exactly is that? Some kind of statute (law)?

[KompilerDJ]

Over the air broadcasts is the legal part (ATSC 3). They are slowly gaining DRM so we are forced to fight back in other means.

[Kryptonyte]

I'm not trying to pick on you, sullrich, I just don't see a way. There aren't enough of us around anymore that could make a difference.

[KompilerDJ]

Its kind of sad to realize we are at the end of an era of owning or consuming content. It's forever rented from here on out for the most part!