Capture/record web streaming?

[socalredneck 11]

Hey,

 

Sorry but I'm a neebie to WMC & Media Browser, and I may be posting this in the wrong section.  I have WMC & MBS up and running for playing my stored media & live local tv (via antenna) to my Roku and other devices.  But is it possible to capture/record video that is played over the internet and save it for later playback?

 

For example, the TNT network (tntdrama.com) allows for "live tv" viewing.  I'm a redneck and like my NASCAR races, but I don't get to spend all day sitting and watching the races.  Can I get WMC to record the live tv streamed from TNT, and use Media Browser to play it back on my Roku?  If so, how?

 

Thanks!

[bloodtaker 71]

It is possible but it is illegal. And no you have to actually have a tv tuner in you computer to get wmc to record it. To capture the video from the internet like TNT's  you are going to need some type of screen cap software, be watching the stream and capturing at the same time to a file format of your choice. But again this is illegal. I do not condone this course of action which is why I am so vague with my answer. There are also other illegal ways to get the files as well that are already capped for you.

[socalredneck 11]

I've seen software called PlayOn/PlayLater, how do they get around the legal part, or are they some of the illegal software that you're talking about?  I didn't want to add more complexity and more software to my setup, I was just hoping there was a plugin to WMC or MBS to do that.

 

Thank you for replying so quickly.

[bloodtaker 71]

Yes they are classified as illegal unless you get permission from the company that you are downloading from. Like Netflix its 100% illegal as they will not allow you to download their files even though the PlayOn/PlayLater allows it. In general the software is not illegal but downloading or copying a video file without permission is illegal. Now the PlayOn part where it just allows you to watch it that part would be legal but the downloading for later watching off their site would not be. No matter what if you do not have the permission or buy the said show you are taking a chance with something illegal when downloading.

[speechles 1920]

The problem isn't that simple. It goes beyond copyright. It is about distribution management rights. You do not have the right to stream to TV usually, unless that distribution point has also made agreements with the contents copyright holder whoever it may be. Fox may own broadcast rights to future shows. You made a deal with TNT to view on your computer older episodes on DVD/bluray. A roku app would require rights from TNT for older episodes, and fox for the season currently in production and beyond. Assuming fox and TNT both co-own distribution rights in this case.

 

There are two methods to distribute rights to TV: broadcast and DVD/bluray. Netflix sometimes lacks the last seasons of currently broadcast shows. They cant fork over huge amounts of money and rake it back with commercial tie-in like normal tv channels can. So they only have rights to distribute dvd/bluray streams for these. The real problem to streaming is in music royalties. These can be tracked when pressing DVD/bluray and during streaming. Royalties for music are the most expensive part of broadcasting streams. DVD/bluray versions of these streams will at times alter music to keep costs within budgets.

 

So the short answer is, no you will never be able to do this. The longer answer says yes you can and mumbles something about flash/rtmp stream capture ( http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rtmpdump ) and how simple it is. The long answer is like fight club. Now that I've mentioned it people may target me for death.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Edited June 11, 2014 by speechles

[ebr 14939]

Unfortunately, the common perception is that everything on the internet is free.  Actually, it's worse than that - the perception is that everything on the internet should be free.  I'm not sure where that sense of entitlement comes from but it is definitely there in the internet culture.

 

The reality is that nothing is free.  Someone, somewhere is paying in either real money or sweat and time and that needs to be accounted for somehow.

 

Grabbing stuff like this in this manner is really exactly the same as you tapping into your neighbors cable and now you have "free" cable at your house.  Well, no you don't but you are stealing the cable that your neighbor is paying for.

 

(I know you guys in this conversation fully realize all this but, for some reason, the general public doesn't)