I’m new to Plex and I think it is important to identify that I feel I have had a large learning curve so far with regards to local media management and how it works with Plex. I have purchased and non-purchased content on itunes, local folders and I have an Eyetv coming on Monday (I hopefully intend to record live TV and watch it using plex using whatever necessary format). Frankly I’m a little frustrated on how difficult it is for me to learn how to manage all this content in an efficient way. In understanding the need for instant gratification, I think there would be real VALUE in Plex if there was more indirect support through the download and set-up process/tutorials particularly with regards to content stored/purchased from Itunes and/or pushed out from Eyetv.
I think it’s also important to note that because I didn’t feel I had all the information I needed about the software from the read-me and tutorials, I came here to the forums. And during my time in the forums I got more information than I needed to know and therefore was left with more questions. I was also left with an overwhelming feeling that the task of maintaining a positive multimedia experience with OS X would require much more jury-rigging in order to get the right effect - not something I’m looking forward to.
Would anyone else out there be kind enough to direct me to the best format/method for recording content on Eyetv so that it is automatically pushed into a Plex accessible format/folder.
Thank you,
I’m new to Plex and the forums here myself but I have used EyeTV with FrontRow. Before I found the plugin in Frontrow for EyeTV, I would simply have Eyetv export recorded shows to iTunes. Since Plex can access your iTunes content, you should have access to any recorded shows this way. Eyetv can do this automatically, however, it does take time to export. On my older mac mini without the Elgato Turbo accelerator, it takes about an hour to export an hour show.
Hope this helps.
oops. doesn't exactly work that way. Normal itunes integration would not work because it only works for music. However, if he adds a video source under "Videos", points that new source to his itunes movies folder, sets the content as movies, then he should have his movies show up under the "Movies" section once he updates the library. Maybe 9 will work more easily. Anyone heard any new rumblings on when that one might happen? I'd be happy to to setup a true videocast tutorial similar to the previous Alexandria video.
I spent some time rigging up a Mac OS X media center via all the traditional options (Front Row w/ plugins, Eye TV, Apple TV and Plex). In the end I came to the conclusion that while you can hack together something workable, it's not very elegant and certainly not very remote friendly. Don't get me wrong, Plex itself is great for watching online content, I was just frustrated more with the overall OS X Media Center Experience.
I've since switched to Windows Media Center and, sad to say, the grass is greener on the other side. My MCE 7 box is essentially fully manageable via remote. I can even reboot the system and perform routine maintenance without a keyboard. The setup I put together is fairly beefy but it was actually comparable to a new Mac Mini in terms of price. I've got a Core 2 Quad system, 6gb of Ram, 2TB hard drive, 512MB video and 3 TV tuners. Setup was surprisingly simple, the interface is attractive and not only does it do DVR, but Media Center itself also has native access to Netflix and "Internet TV" (Hulu is available via a plugin). As an added bonus, I've also got a nice gaming system in my living room. It's pretty slick.
What I don't like is that recorded TV isn't usable on my Mac. I can automate the process of transcoding the video, but this puts a lot of strain on the system and duplicates the content. I also miss the iTunes store, though Amazon works with Media Center so at least there's a comparable solution. And lastly, and most significantly, none of this works very well with my Apple TVs. So it's essentially a one room solution. :-/
Thanks for the support. I’m gonna stick around and try things out for a while. I’ll also keep an eye out for the signs of “Xyus89” syndrome before its too late.
checkout this script for eyetv
http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php?/topic/15100-eyetv-export-with-season-and-episode-applescript/
Great script, but this is the problem… we need a solution that doesn’t require all these scripts just to be able to watch TV.
I understand the frustration. Believe me. But, until that day never happens, here's a solution. I do agree with the argument that the request for epg filled guide built into a non pay project with no real plan to monetize evident, and do it just as well as a full time decently sized company is probabl too much, especially given the backlash from the dev-team. But, if you do need that live tv integration then try the new version of xbmc with sage or beyond. I hear xbmc has a version of hulu working again. Although, and I could be mistaken, its not platform agnostic. I think it only works in some linux distros and maybe windows. But they do have a new pvr front end and tv server backend don't they? Or there's always Windows 7. I hear good things about that. Smooth tv, drm laden video recordings. Oh, and it looks like butt. And yes, you can stream butt to your xbox360, and use the butt interface instead of the much nicer built in interface. That means that even MS saw that there was no point in building another UI when one already existed on their flagship OS, which means they liked it a lot.
These guys do what they do because it helps them out. Lets be real. All the plugins I have coded are so my wife and I can watch those shows. I like that other people can use it, but if they don't, meh. These guys want a killer db management, and drop dead sexy interface. That's what you're gonna get. Hell, I was using xbmc when all it did was local videos, and I still dropped $70 at gamestop to get a used xbox and splinter cell game.
But back to my script. I did this so that I don't have to manually do this for all the damn shows we record. I hope that people use it and like it, but meh if you don't. A meh on all your houses!
Oh yeah, I also forget that you probably don’t have an hdhomerun. Because with that nice little piece of dual tuner network hardware, I go to my Live Tv main menu button I put into xTV skin, and then I choose which channel to watch, based on channel name e.g Watch NBC. Then the local network feed directly to my tv. I don’t need an interactive guide because I’m a fanboy and use my iPhone. So I watch live tv inside of plex. With my script, I watch Eyetv recordings integrated into my library. And I use a TVGuide EPG. Sounds like I got the hookup, holla if ya hear me.
Thanks, i just bought the eyeTV netstream duel network tuner.
With the russians’s plugin for XBMC that runs EyeTV in XBMC, I believe it is possible now (in 0.8.5) to mirror a single instance of EyeTV from one computer, onto plex on any computer on that network. However, since 0.9 won’t support scripts, which is what this russian’s stuff is, then it will be broken. Therefore I have no desire to update the code for what I envision it to be. Once 0.9 comes out though, I bet I can get a plugin that supports plex Framework to use this. Maybe even a simple EPG also. I think that if the EPG were seen as just another view type (one that displays information from an array instead of a list) then we could pull down from some free epg place, and possibly pay services if we figure out logins and whatnot, and then we could actually get eyetv integration into plex in such a way that everyone is asking for.
the roadblock to a plex eyetv plugin is still that our current version of ffmpeg does not like the TS containers that eyetv produces, that wont change with the release of .9, or in the immediate future, so a plugin probably wont be doable until plex upgrades its ffmpeg, which is not on the immediate roadmap (or until Ryan’s new video player is finished).
I beg to differ. I am watching live tv right now in plex with the hdhomerun. It's a ts. It's the same input that eyetv receives. Unless I am misunderstanding anything.
a way to similarly stream your eyetv channels from one comp to another is vlc. VLC can open http://192.168.1.101:8001/stream/live?number=20-1, one of my local channels. When I try to open this in Plex I get that plex doesn’t know how to open this type of movie.
I noticed that there was a poll at Elgatos (makers of EyeTV) asking for which features that was most needed. Integration with Plex, xbmc and boxee came in as a no contest winner (http://forums.elgato.com/viewtopic.php?f=104&t=8668&p=40127). So perhaps Elgato will solve the problem for us…? But dont hold your breath as they also stated that the features will be evaluated (probably from a commercial perspective) på Elgato.
i noticed the same. it was a while back. im dissapointed nothing has happened.
Yeah, but then again it does take sometime to: decide to implement the feature, analyse, design, code AND test it. And then fit it into a release.
I’m still positive about it B) without being to blond 
Cheers,
delley
I would think that it’d be easier to develop a plugin for now that they have the web interface.
The video quality they give is very bad for a full tv screen size. All they would have to do is up the quality, and a plugin could easily be made.
when you bump the quality up to 2000 kbs the quality isn't that bad actually. very watchable, especially if in HD.
