We have good cable, all of the movie channels, Gigabyte internet and a ton of streaming channels that I've subscribed to.
I also have a lifetime license for Plex (a couple of times a year they have a pretty decent discount for a lifetime license) and a mini PC to run the Plex server (eBay has great deals on these mini PCs). On this little PC, I also have a NAS setup.
I have software to download programs from the Internet. One is Playon.tv, the other is StreamFab. Both are so that you can be logged in to one of the pay services and download them to a hard drive. Not all streaming services are available. Some services will let you save in HD, others will not. I have some software that will "upgrade" the lesser-quality videos to a better version with AI. These saved movies are accessible on all televisions here via the Plex app. We have two Roku televisions and Roku devices for televisions that aren't Roku TVs. I also have one Amazon television (with an additional Roku device). And an Amazon FireCube for the main TV, a Chromecast device, and an Amazon stick for the TV that hangs on the fireplace. So I can cast the screen of an Android tablet to that TV (I did this to watch the security cameras.) That TV was originally to run a slideshow, using the Plex app and have music in the background (it's a sweet setup).
The problem has been that there are some television shows and movie channels that are not available to be downloaded (MGM+ is one). Our cable company now charges for recording programs. Five dollars a month for the capability of recording one show at a time. Since there aren't that many shows that we watch that we don't have access to on streaming (Fox shows run again on Hulu, MAX, and Peacock have the same relationship with some network shows), I saw no reason to pay an additional amount of money. The two shows that come to mind that I would record are Skinwalker Ranch (alien stuff) and Yellowstone. Skinwalker is available the next day on the streaming History Channel (comes with our cable service), but it has commercials. As far as I can tell, Yellowstone won't be available on streaming until the season is done.
Four years ago, I bought a universal remote thingy from Amazon. I was trying to get one device that would replace all of my remotes. It turned out to be a little more complicated than I thought and there was no way Brian would be able to remember what needed to be done. This stuff is MY deal and I try to make it as easy for both of us as possible. And I never really did much with it.
Researching the internet and forums for a device to record shows from the cable box took a lot of patience. I finally found one that had great reviews, would do what I wanted to do and, even though it was pricey, we'd be using it for years to come. So, I got it.
Of course, this is where I have my most fun - it can be frustrating at times, but what a sense of accomplishment when I'm finished. I'm 71 years old and I can get lost in equipment setup. So many rabbit holes to go down, so many "okay, how can I get it to do this?" We'll be watching something and my mind will be spinning, looking for the most obvious way to implement my idea. Will it work? Will it be a waste of time? Will I learn from my mistakes? Let's find out!
The device worked! Getting used to the setup isn't really intuitive and it seems I have to reset the time more than I should, but that's probably because I don't use it enough. Now, how to set it up to record from the television. I didn't like the idea of leaving it on all the time, but if it was off, the Contour signal didn't get through to the television. An HDMI splitter took care of this. It sounds a little complicated, but it really wasn't. And it recorded nicely to a little external hard drive, so it's all cool.
Now, how do I get the Contour box channel to change on a schedule? See, that's another thing that ended when the latest cable boxes came out. Used to be you could set the channel to change at a set time. No more. Yes, there's a reminder, but you have to be watching when that comes up, it won't just change the channel.
There has to be a way to do this. And guess what? That little universal remote I got four years ago? The one I didn't play around with? Yep, that guy will change the channel at a scheduled time! You program it using a smartphone or tablet. All I had at the time was a smartphone and I absolutely loathe having to do anything on the phone. I have sausage fingers and the screen isn't the most responsive thing I've ever worked with and the frustration can be overwhelming. But wait! I wonder if the Android tablet I got this past summer, the tablet that I use to cast the security cameras to that television...I wonder if I could run the remote software on that.
Yesterday, I installed the remote software and oh. my. gosh! Programming the remote is so much easier now!
I set the Cloner to record at 3:00 pm and stop at 5:00 pm. I set the remote to change the channel to 2-5-0 at 2:57 pm, about a half hour from the current time.
And it worked!
I've provided links to what I used in case anyone is interested in how they could do the same thing.
My first attempt at doing this without babysitting it will be on Sunday when the newest episode of Yellowstone drops. Yes, it will have commercials, but when I transfer it to Plex, then watch it, there's an option to skip opening and closing credits and skip commercials as well. That will be a new thing for me, I'm not sure how it will work.
But I'll find out. (All this to save five bucks a month...am I nuts?)
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