HDMI for Channels

Playground Hardware
#836

Think that’s a little harsh mate.

They provide a lot more support than any of their competitors from my experience and are genuinely willing to take on community ideas.

DRM is not being even thought about in any other community - but channels has Streamlinks, HDMI for channels and Chrome Capture for channels.

These are all not plug and play integrations, they really shouldn’t be expected to walk everyone through their setups - especially since there is such variation for each person

Edit: also would much rather have the option to trial these experimental/beta projects now than wait until they’re foolproof

1 Like
#837

Sorry to hear that even though I never delved into this and never used HDMI to Channels or chrome capture ... I did learn a lot from your posts. It appears they just threw this stuff together to appease those that lost TVE Channels but no real guidance.

1 Like
#840

You've done a tremendous amount for the community here, your efforts are appreciated, and I can fully understand your frustrations. Even as the writer of lowly, "non-async Python contender." lol

At the end of the day, we are using non-supported tools to automate applications that aren't specifically meant to be automated and doing so for a platform that doesn't really support what we are trying to accomplish. It's hacks on top of hacks on top of hacks and an audience that expects it to always work as well as a cable box. But being honest, it's never going to work that well, it's just not and that's ok.

You've built something here that solves a real problem, and unlike the app that I built, provides a platform that can support advanced hardware and can be used to by the hackers and the tinkerers to do things we haven't even thought of yet via custom scripts.

I hope you will reconsider and continue working on this at your own pace.

6 Likes
#841

I’m sorry to hear this. Your repo helped people, including those who didn’t use it directly. It is projects like this one that make this community stand out. I had so much trouble getting my setup working using the original method that I was afraid to try again using your repo, but I did keep an eye on it for a setup that matched mine (Fire Stick - YouTube TV). Whether you reconsider or not, thank you for your work on it.

Regarding the level of support, I can’t comment on Discord, which I always found to be. a very inefficient platform, but as a relative newbie to Channels, I’ve been pretty impressed to see the developers on these forums regularly.

3 Likes
#842

A little harsh, may I offer a suggestion?

  1. take a breath. You’ve pushed the envelope for a while on this. Breaks help.

2). Summers are usually slower for release cadence and fixes, but loooong gaps between major betas and whatnot usually spell something big coming. Wait it out.

2 Likes
#843

I know from experience that writing software is a creative process, it is not like turning out machine tools. If the process is making you happy, you can turn out twice as much as you can when you feel that it is just a job you have to do to earn a living.

In order to be happy writing software, you have to work on the things that interest you most, occasionally balanced by the demands of your job. Telling a developer that they need to spend their time on something that makes you happy is absurd unless you are the one who is responsible for putting food on their table.

I am not always happy with the priorities chosen by the developers (Download to Android), but I know that these guys are doing more for their customers than any other commercial product I have ever seen.

It sounds like you should have done what I'm doing. Sit on the sidelines, follow the discussion and wait however many months it takes for the best solution to emerge.

4 Likes
#844

As others said, a little R&R pays off. Take a break. Don't throw in the towel yet. You've done so well so early @turtletank . Don't unnecessarily overwhelm yourself. You're only one man...

#845

Sorry folks. I appreciate the encouragement and decided to step off the ledge. The repo is back and I'll be taking a brief break but going to stick with it. Hopefully we can get a bit more support from channels core going forward - I am pretty sure we found a bug recently with stopping.

9 Likes
#846

Exactly.

#847

a tip for Windows users ... make sure to start the adb server at logon after a reboot by adding a task-to-task scheduler. This insures that the first task launches right away instead of waiting for the adb-server to start up.

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1 Like
#848

Hopefully you saw the docker-compose over in the ADBTuner thread. Once you get ah4channels spun-up, let's continue the discussion here.

#849

Fair points about Netflix passwords and Disney+ quality. What would you think about tuning to a special "Amazon Prime" channel, then queuing up the movie you want to record and then selecting record, followed by adding padding to cover the length of the movie? Would that streamline things?

1 Like
#850

It probably would. Although right now, I just spent a lot of time getting my system set up with ADBTuner, but I could see myself getting a tuner dedicated just for this if it streamlined things.

1 Like
#851

I did, thanks so much. I'll get to work on that when I'm back home a little later.

At the rate this is evolving I could see myself getting a 4-tuner encoder in the near future...!

1 Like
#852

Another option would be to use just one port on a four port tuner dedicated to ah4channels and recording of static content?

And... I was just thinking, what about using VLC to do the recording -- taking the stream right from the encoder? Name it with the movie title and year, and it'd be picked up by Channels if it's in the correct folder when completed.

EDIT:

So re-reading your post with the ffmpeg command, I see you're not using ADBTuner for this at all. Rather, just using VLC to get to the movie you want and ffmpeg to record it. That's not actually too bad of an approach -- I assumed ADBTuner was involved somehow. You could probably do the whole thing with just VLC, although having the recording stop automatically is a command line thing in VLC too I believe.

#853

If you want to record/download Prime on demand it is Cheaper to Invest in Anystream.... better Quality and Sound. You get the shows and selectable subtitles..

1 Like
#854

Those guys! I used their AnyDVD stuff for years when I was digitizing my DVD collection on the original version of Windows Home Server with Media Center and MyMovies -- very cool at the time. Pop in a DVD, it would auto rip, and show up automagically in Media Center shortly after. Glad to hear they're still around -- with some new solutions.

#855

Correct, although I’m using ADBTuner, I’m not using it for recording from streaming services like Prime, Netflix, etc. I initially used VLC for not just the “tv screen” for the encoder/streaming stick, but to record, too. But I had to keep the window open to use VLC (I think?), and FFMpeg allows me to just fire the command in Terminal and it records with no visible video playing.

#856

Cool, thanks, I didn't realize there was a Mac version... I was confusing AnyStream with AnyDVD...

#857

I’m curious as to if y’all have an audio delay setup on your encoders? Mine is currently set to -5 but still haven’t found a sweet spot as of yet. I have the Iseevy encoder.