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Author Topic: Buzzr Streaming Question  (Read 27460 times)

tvmitch

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Buzzr Streaming Question
« on: April 10, 2019, 10:46:04 PM »
Sorry if this belongs in another location and please feel free to move the thread if so.

For those of you who use Buzzr’s online stream on their site or on Pluto: do you have a method of recording video from the stream at set times, sort of like a crude DVR? Is there software available to do that?
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chrisholland03

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Re: Buzzr Streaming Question
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2019, 04:47:47 AM »
I'm interested in this as well.  Doing screen capture from their website isn't cutting it.


clemon79

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Re: Buzzr Streaming Question
« Reply #2 on: April 11, 2019, 10:58:47 AM »
I have seen software that allows you to capture streams directly, and you could potentially set that up to run as a scheduled task, but there are a whole lot of "if"s in there, up to and including "do they even work with Buzzr."

I remember at one time we were able to extract the standalone Buzzr stream (though I think it's since changed from the information I have) so that would be a big step forward if that is still doable.
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snowpeck

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Re: Buzzr Streaming Question
« Reply #3 on: April 11, 2019, 11:22:29 AM »
I was doing it that way before I had access to an OTA affiliate.

Assuming you're on Windows, all you really need is the ffmpeg command line program which works great for this.

Install that, and then place this .bat file in the folder where it installed: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BhhX4xRZNpMsfjrVeReGnCe2MRK3Ju8t/view?usp=sharing

Feel free to edit the file to change the filename and length of the recorded file. I have it set at an hour right now (plus some padding), but it can be set for any length.

Then use either the Windows task scheduler or a 3rd party scheduling program to run the .bat file at whatever time you choose, and voila, you have an excellent quality recording of Buzzr's stream.
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chrisholland03

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Re: Buzzr Streaming Question
« Reply #4 on: April 11, 2019, 11:30:06 AM »
Thanks Greg!

I'll take a look at the software you were using - I was trying something similar with a couple of other tools and wasn't happy with the results.  I set up a virtual machine to run the capture software, but I had to keep the stream up in the VM at all times.


snowpeck

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Re: Buzzr Streaming Question
« Reply #5 on: April 11, 2019, 11:31:00 AM »
Thanks Greg!

I'll take a look at the software you were using - I was trying something similar with a couple of other tools and wasn't happy with the results.  I set up a virtual machine to run the capture software, but I had to keep the stream up in the VM at all times.

Cool. I updated my original post because I realized I had the wrong program listed, so make sure you refresh.
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clemon79

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Re: Buzzr Streaming Question
« Reply #6 on: April 11, 2019, 01:28:48 PM »
That was the sort of solution I was thinking of; well played! Is that the current Buzzr stream URL or is that a redirect of some kind? My Plex channels stopped working at some point (not that it matters so much now that Pluto carries it, but yanno) and I think I need to update the URL.
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parliboy

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Re: Buzzr Streaming Question
« Reply #7 on: April 11, 2019, 01:39:18 PM »
Assuming you're on Windows, all you really need is the ffmpeg command line program which works great for this.

Off-topic departure:

I need to record some 4k material from one of my screens, but ffmpeg won't give me more than 10FPS, even if I use a version compiled with nvidia flags.  And OBS has been a giant pain for my use case.  What might you suggest as a dedicated box for encoding?
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snowpeck

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Re: Buzzr Streaming Question
« Reply #8 on: April 11, 2019, 01:57:45 PM »
That was the sort of solution I was thinking of; well played! Is that the current Buzzr stream URL or is that a redirect of some kind? My Plex channels stopped working at some point (not that it matters so much now that Pluto carries it, but yanno) and I think I need to update the URL.

The current streaming URL is in the .bat file I shared.
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clemon79

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Re: Buzzr Streaming Question
« Reply #9 on: April 11, 2019, 02:17:16 PM »
The current streaming URL is in the .bat file I shared.

Right, but that is the direct one straight to Buzzr and not a redirect or anything that you might have set up, yes?
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snowpeck

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Re: Buzzr Streaming Question
« Reply #10 on: April 11, 2019, 02:40:45 PM »
The current streaming URL is in the .bat file I shared.

Right, but that is the direct one straight to Buzzr and not a redirect or anything that you might have set up, yes?

Right, yes. That's straight from Buzzr.
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clemon79

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Re: Buzzr Streaming Question
« Reply #11 on: April 11, 2019, 02:45:46 PM »
Right, yes. That's straight from Buzzr.

Awesome, thank you sir!
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chrisholland03

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Re: Buzzr Streaming Question
« Reply #12 on: April 11, 2019, 06:57:24 PM »
Very cool - it works like a charm!


jalman

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Re: Buzzr Streaming Question
« Reply #13 on: April 11, 2019, 07:17:45 PM »
Oh, I made a batch file that can Buzzr with a timestamp added so I don't worry about overwriting. While my file uses Streamlink, ffmpeg is incredibly versatile.

Timestamp for Windows batch. Add %dtStamp% to the filename somewhere to get the timestamp.

Quote
SET HOUR=%time:~0,2%
SET dtStamp9=%date:~-4%%date:~4,2%%date:~7,2%_0%time:~1,1%%time:~3,2%%time:~6,2%
SET dtStamp24=%date:~-4%%date:~4,2%%date:~7,2%_%time:~0,2%%time:~3,2%%time:~6,2%

if "%HOUR:~0,1%" == " " (SET dtStamp=%dtStamp9%) else (SET dtStamp=%dtStamp24%)

chrisholland03

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Re: Buzzr Streaming Question
« Reply #14 on: April 12, 2019, 09:54:01 AM »
Oh, I made a batch file that can Buzzr with a timestamp added so I don't worry about overwriting. While my file uses Streamlink, ffmpeg is incredibly versatile.

Timestamp for Windows batch. Add %dtStamp% to the filename somewhere to get the timestamp.

Quote
SET HOUR=%time:~0,2%
SET dtStamp9=%date:~-4%%date:~4,2%%date:~7,2%_0%time:~1,1%%time:~3,2%%time:~6,2%
SET dtStamp24=%date:~-4%%date:~4,2%%date:~7,2%_%time:~0,2%%time:~3,2%%time:~6,2%

if "%HOUR:~0,1%" == " " (SET dtStamp=%dtStamp9%) else (SET dtStamp=%dtStamp24%)

Awesome -- this was also super helpful.  I stuck this ahead of the ffmpeg line in the batch file, and then changed the file name to Buzzr_%dtStamp%.mp4, works like a charm.

I am having a weird issue with the batch file and Task Scheduler.  No issues setting up the task, no issues when I manually kick off the task in Scheduler.  When Scheduler kicks it off , I see the window open and start but within 3-5 seconds it shuts down, no file generated.

My first instinct was that it's a write permission issue, but I've given full access to all users to the folder at every level up to root, and the batch file.  I also tried toggling between 'Run When User is Logged in' and 'Run when User is or is not Logged in', selected 'Run with highest priviledges', tried different configuration profiles. 

Same result - when kicked off manually, or immediately in Task Scheduler, it works perfectly, when scheduled it kicks off but stops after 2 seconds.