PlayOn

Steaming service recorder.

Tip

Port 57331 is only used if you use PlayOn to stream recordings / provide a media library; by default this can be safely disabled.

Setup

Minimum requirements.

Note

Any option not listed is left on default setting.

Install PlayOn Desktop but do not launch immediately.
Launch and skip through helper setup screens.

PlayOn ➔ ⚙

Video Performance"
- Quality: HD
- Allow resumable playback: ✔
- Advanced options:
  - H.264 Recording Profile: High
System Check:
- Notify Automatically: ✔
Channels:
- Disable all channels not used.
- Login to used channels.

Convert PlayOn Recording to MKV Containers

#!/bin/bash
#
# Converts playon videos to mkv format, preserving encoding and stripping metadata.
# For multiple: find -type f -exec ~/bin/playon-to-mkv netflix|amazon|playon|custom {}
#

# playon-to-mkv [netflix|amazon|playon] file
# playon-to-mkv custom pre-trim post-trim file

# Playon adds a 4 second pre-roll video with account/IP address, strip this.
# Playon adds a 5 second post-roll video with account/IP address, strip this.
# Playon adds metadata pertaining to account for video, strip this.
PLAYON_PRE=4
PLAYON_POST=5

# Netflix adds a 6.5 second netflix video, strip this.
# Netflix can inject a blank screen at the end, but it is not consistent.
NETFLIX_PRE=6
NETFLIX_POST=0

# Amazon adds a 1.5 second post-roll video for series, strip this.
AMAZON_PRE=0
AMAZON_POST=1.5

echo 'Calculating distances ...'
FILE="$2"
case "$1" in
  "netflix")
    echo 'Processing NETFLIX'
    PRE=$(awk '{print $1+$2}' <<< "${PLAYON_PRE} ${NETFLIX_PRE}")
    POST=$(awk '{print $1+$2}' <<< "${PLAYON_POST} ${NETFLIX_POST}")
    ;;
  "amazon")
    echo 'Processing AMAZON'
    PRE=$(awk '{print $1+$2}' <<< "${PLAYON_PRE} ${AMAZON_PRE}")
    POST=$(awk '{print $1+$2}' <<< "${PLAYON_POST} ${AMAZON_POST}")
    ;;
  "custom")
    echo 'Processing CUSTOM'
    PRE=$2
    POST=$3
    FILE="$4"
    ;;
  *)
    echo 'Prcessing PLAYON'
    PRE=${PLAYON_PRE}
    POST=${PLAYON_POST}
    ;;
esac
filename=$(basename "${FILE}")
dir=$(dirname "${FILE}")
extension="${filename##*.}"
basename="${filename%.*}"

ORIGINAL_LENGTH=$(ffprobe -v error -show_entries format=duration -of default=noprint_wrappers=1:nokey=1 "${FILE}" | cut -d\. -f1)
TRIM_LENGTH=$(awk '{print $1-$2-$3}' <<< "${ORIGINAL_LENGTH} ${PRE} ${POST}")
echo -e "Distances: \nLength: ${ORIGINAL_LENGTH}\nPre Offset: ${PRE}\nPost Offset: ${POST}\nTrim: ${TRIM_LENGTH}"

echo 'Stripping metadata and trimming ...'
ffmpeg -i "${FILE}" -ss ${PRE} -acodec copy -vcodec copy -map_metadata -1 -t ${TRIM_LENGTH} "${dir}/${basename}.stripped.${extension}"
echo 'Packing into mkv ...'
mkvmerge -o "$-{basename}.mkv" "${basename}.stripped.${extension}"
echo 'Setting media permssions ...'
chown ${USER}:${USER} "${basename}.mkv"
chmod 0640 "${basename}.mkv"

PlayOn

Setup

Convert PlayOn Recording to MKV Containers

References123

References¹²³