Stream It. Record It. Keep It.
It’s been a trying year so far for our favorite in-house doctor – Dr. Jeff Wilson, PhD, of course. Besides his UX work for the team here at Applian, and the thousands upon thousands of videos and web clips he’s been through, Dr. Jeff has also been spending more time at home with his parents. Not really, but here, in preparation for some 4th of July family time, are a few things he’s learned about surviving a move back in with the parental units. Have some more salad.
Can’t decide what to watch and record? We’re here to the rescue! Since it is the “most wonderful time of the year”, there’s no better time than now to get into the holiday spirit. On this edition of “Netflix Conflix” we’ve rounded up some of the merrier picks that Netflix is currently offering through streaming that you should record with Replay Video Capture before they disappear online – plus, you can keep them in your arsenal for next season! Need help recording from Netflix? Just watch this helpful tutorial:
Scrooged: If you’re like us, then anything with Bill Murray is a winner. This 80s classic is the reinterpretation of “A Christmas Carol”, but with more snark and less Victorian London scenery. Not only is it a touching feel-good holiday film, but it is downright funny, thanks to Mr. Murray and his signature brand of effervescent charm.
White Christmas: Looking for a fluffy holiday musical that even grandma can love (or loves to re-watch)? Search no further. The insanely likable Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye duo give this classic Christmas tale a fun feel. You’ll be singing and dancing all evening, just hoping for more snow.
Nightmare Before Christmas: This Tim Burton family film is gorgeously unique and definitely has it’s place in the Holiday-Film-Hall-of-Fame (if there were one). Additionally filled with catchy tunes about the dreaded Christmas time and the revered Halloween, it’s the perfect transition from the scary to the sweet with emo-perfect execution.
The Fitzgerald Family Christmas: Written and directed by Ed Burns, this is a recent (2012) holiday drama that profiles a broken family trying to find that Christmas spirit. A fantastic ensemble cast and authentic feel make this film about family dynamics and drama one to distract you from your own sibling chaos this year.
A Saturday Night Live Christmas: Okay, so this one is technically not a Netflix streaming option, but thankfully you have Replay Video Catcher and can also get in on all of the Hulu action too! The 40-year-old TV institution compiled it’s best holiday-related sketches into one hilarious giant “show”. Relive all the funny and relish in performances from cast members past.
Technology often moves faster than the news! Here’s an example:
We were featured in an article done by Reuters on September 26, mentioning how Replay Media Catcher was able to download movies from Amazon’s new VOD (Video on Demand) service.
Apparently, Amazon was asked for comment, and shortly before the article hit the wires, they had updated their system, making Replay Media Catcher (for now anyway) unable to record. Other aspects in the article are still valid though, but Amazon was a particularly big part of the story.
Nevertheless, there are other ways to record from Amazon — we recommend WM Capture. As this is a real-time high-quality recorder that works by capturing videos directly off of your PC’s screen, there’s no way it can be blocked.
The other interesting thing is how the story got going in the first place, which we’re still trying to figure out. Stay tuned!
Alex has looked into more of the technical details behind how NBC is streaming the Olympics, and has made an interesting discovery. Apparently the stream formats are different for live streams vs. pre-recorded streams. This means that you can make digital recordings of live events, and record from the screen for “rewind” or cached events. Below is his technical summary.
The Silverlight NBC Olympics server uses Windows Media Player for live streams and VP7 for prerecorded videos. VP7 is the format used by web sites like abc.com or fox.com and can provide very high quality (lossless) video compression including HD. The problem with this format is that it cannot be reliably streamed for longer periods of time like the live broadcasts. The math used to compress the video and the audio does not allow recovery when packets are lost which results in out of sync audio. Currently Windows Media Player is the only format that can do this. The live stream Olympics can be recorded with WM Recorder or Replay Media Catcher but the prerecorded clips can only be recorded with WM Capture.
Today we have just released a cool gadget – the Free Applian Media Browser Toolbar. From within Internet Explorer or Firefox, you can stay notified when Applian product news and updates occur, quickly get access to tutorials and help with streaming media recording problems, as well as some handy gadgets including a search box, radio player, weather bug, email notifier and more.
The Applian Media Toolbar is free. Check it out here: http://applian.com/toolbar/
The long awaited update to Replay A/V is here! Version 8 offers several usability enhancements, and offers unparalleled support for Flash (FLV) Videos from sites like YouTube, MySpace, Gogle Video and more. And it’s still the best way to record all your favorite radio shows.
– Resizeable window
– Fully integrated with Replay Converter
– Improved URL finder: more supported network cards and also finds downloaded videos from the browser cache
– YouTube, Google Video and customizations for other video download sites
– TV Tuner card and Webcam support
– New MediaPaks let you record all the popular shows in interest categories like Politics, Business or Technology with a single click.
– Custom MP3 tags
– new simplified interface
– Over 60 enhancements!
If you already own Replay A/V, you can learn more and upgrade for just $9.95 from here:
http://www.applian.com/replay-av/upgrade8.php