Weatherscan: Custom Local Weather Channel

[JMcGuire]

Some of you may remember the local Weatherscan channels (or may still have access to one of the rare servers still operating). I recently came across a project that has recreated the feed as an html webpage, customizable for your location.

My goal is to run a local instance of the Weatherscan Simulator and capture the page so that it can be added to Channels as a custom stream. Does anyone know how to go about this in a simple/elegant way? (OBS should work but I was hoping there would be a lightweight way of achieving webpage>m3u.)

For anyone interested there is a demo of the Simulator here... https://weatherscan.tk/
(Click ESCAPE to change the location setting)

And here is a quick video of it in action... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49IwNbRabwk

[Absenm]

Can't help you with the project, but I definitely support your efforts and hope you will keep us informed on your progress. Looks like it has a bunch of protential.

[khaosnmt]

I think VLC can do this. Not sure about how lightweight that would be, though.

[Absenm]

@JMcGuire

My goal is to run a local instance of the Weatherscan Simulator and capture the page so that it can be added to Channels as a custom stream.

It looks like we may have hit on a solution (or a good start at least) you may find interesting in a different thread. It looks promising.

Sports Live Stream Screen Capture Record Import to Channels

Happy to see some interest, since I am still finding little nagging bugs to work out (like getting the correct aspect ration on the channels dvr player. I use VLC. I too played with OBS (and I love the program), but I find VLC to be simpler and easier to manipulate from the Windows command line. I use two DirectShow drivers to capture: screen-capture-recorder and virtual-audio-capturer. Both are available at: https://github.com/rdp/screen-capture-recorder-to-video-windows-free. I'll note th…

[tmm1]

@JMcGuire

My goal is to run a local instance of the Weatherscan Simulator and capture the page so that it can be added to Channels as a custom stream. Does anyone know how to go about this in a simple/elegant way?

You can do this now with Chrome Capture:

BETA: Chrome Capture for Channels

It captures the entire visible contents of the tab. Currently the code will look for a playing video on the page, size it to fit the screen, resize the Chrome window to fit the video so there's no black borders, then minimize the chrome window while it's recording. But it could easily be adapted to record a dynamic webpage instead.

@tmm1

[Absenm]

BTW: In case anyone is wondering, it looks like the link in the OP is no longer working. The project has a new home apparently at:

GitHub - buffbears/Weatherscan: Weatherscan Simulator orginally made by...

Example at

https://weatherscan.net/

[maddox]

Can you make this render in 16:9? Seems silly they're rendering it square, heh.

[JMcGuire]

I don't believe so since the goal seems to be recreating the original, which was never broadcast in 16:9.

[Absenm]

@JMcGuire Did you ever get very far into the local running version of this project? I know that the weather.com api thing is a sticking point and the project as a whole hasn’t got much love over the last couple of years. Would have loved it if the source weather.com data had been phased over to openweathermaps which probably would have kept my interest going as a hobby project. Thanks to the BETA: Chrome Capture for Channels project I think there may be some new interest in it here.

[Absenm]

BTW: I am sure most people figured this out. But you never know. So if you are using weatherscan in your Chrome Capture or even HDMI encode you do not have to rely on geolocation.

If you are having problems getting proper localization with the weatherscan.net link, just add a ?zipcode or ?city_name to choose your location…

Like Green Bay: www.weatherscan.net/?green_bay
Or
Like Chicago: www.weatherscan.net/?60610
Or Internationally
Like London: www.weatherscan.net/?london

[Jim_FL]

Weatherscan web server reported a bad gateway error. This has been happening for almost 24 hours. Anyone else seeing it?

[cyberskier]

I tested the links in the post above yours and yes, I'm seeing it, too.

[Fofer]

Now the server is back up, but the dashboard isn't displaying any data, it's all blank and just says "undefined." WeatherScan's IT team might be working overtime...

[chDVRuser]

From the scrolling ticker at the bottom
This Weatherscan Emulation is brought to you by the 5D crew. Help from Mapguy11, Goldblazez, and TWCJon! Please note this emulator is still in beta. If you encounter a bug, report it at

GitHub - buffbears/Weatherscan: Weatherscan Simulator orginally made by...

To stay up to date with the latest on the emulator, join our Discord Server, The Weather Ranch, at

Join the Weather Ranch Discord Server!

[dschaper]

On the Discord channel there's chatter about a software upgrade that went tits up and a rebuild needing to happen.

[TexasYeti]

if anyone here is thinking of taking inspiration from this and building their own, there is a weather app on Roku that looks nice called Dashcoop.

Roku

[dschaper]

It's just a node application, if there isn't already a docker image of it then it shouldn't be much work at all to create one.

[Fofer]

@TexasYeti

if anyone here is thinking of taking inspiration from this and building their own, there is a weather app on Roku that looks nice called Dashcoop.

nice, I can also see that being of interest to folks tinkering with android-hdmi-for-channels and ADBTuner, and who are connecting Roku devices to their HDMI encoders…

[Fofer]

Weatherscan is back up and working fine now.