Stranger Things?

[GabeU]

Does anyone watch this?  Do you like it?  

After seeing the reviews, and the fact that over 40 million people watched the premier, and that's 40 million people on a streaming service, I decided to go ahead and get it via PlayOn Cloud.  

To be honest, I'm hoping I do like it, because other than a series that I downloaded over a month ago, I haven't found Netflix to be all that worth it.  

[maratsade]

I recorded all 3 series (seasons) via PlayOn. I liked the 1st series very much. The second series wasn't as good, imo, and the 3rd series was very good. I like all the 80s references, and the storyline isn't too bad.  It's very much like watching a Steven Spielberg/Stephen King hybrid from the 80s.  I'm looking forward to series 4.  YMMV, though. Not everyone likes this show.  

[GabeU]

I tend to like horror/sci fi type shows/movies, and the more eerie, the better.  I have nearly 200 credits, so I figured, why not?  Plus, I needed to do at least something with Netflix.  Otherwise, it's $12.99 per month for nothing.  

[maratsade]

What about Dark?  That's also on Netflix, and it's very good. So far, there have been 2 seasons, both pretty brilliant. I recorded those too. 

[GabeU]

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@maratsade wrote:

What about Dark?  That's also on Netflix, and it's very good. So far, there have been 2 seasons, both pretty brilliant. I recorded those too. 

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With it being a German show, is it in Enlish?  Captioned in English?  

[maratsade]

You can watch it in German with English captions (that's what I do), or you can watch it dubbed into English. 

[GabeU]

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@maratsade wrote:

You can watch it in German with English captions (that's what I do), or you can watch it dubbed into English. 

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Well, I don't mind English captions with German being spoken, but how do I get captions to work with PlayOn?  Is there a Netflix setting to turn English captions on so that they will be recorded by PlayOn?  I'm not really a fan of dubbing, and would much rather watch it with the English CC translation.  

[maratsade]

You need to watch a minimum of 6 minutes on the device where you record the show with PlayOn.  Watch the show the way you want it (captions, etc.), and PlayOn will remember your preference. Then tape the show as usual -- I'd start with just one episode to make sure it's working. 

The trick is supposed to work for Hulu as well, but it doesn't -- I reported this months ago and they told me they were able to duplicate the error and would try to fix it. Yeah, they haven't.  But it works just fine with Netflix. 

[GabeU]

Well, I used my cell phone to set up the recordings, but I download using my computer. I watch them on my TV.  

I guess I would use my computer to watch the first six minutes of the first episode directly from the Netflix website, and Netflix would remember that I want captions, and it would then stream the show with them for PlayOn to record?  

[maratsade]

Can you watch a show on your phone? Get the Netflix app and watch a show for 10 minutes. Then set up the recording using PlayOn on your phone.  That's how it works (this is what their tech support told me); you have to watch on the device you use to record.

[GabeU]

I can do that, but it's of note that the phone isn't actually doing the recording, PlayOn Cloud is.  The phone just sets it up.  The streamed content never touches the phone, or at least not the way I do it (downloading to my computer, and not automatically to my phone).    

I did just find this, though, so I think I'm going to try it with my computer, first.  

https://support.playon.tv/hc/en-us/articles/217131197-Enabling-Closed-Captions-for-Hulu-Netflix-and-...

If this doesn't work, I'll try it with the Netflix app on my phone, though I'm not really sure why it would matter, with the recordings actually being done by the cloud DVR and not the phone.  

[maratsade]

When I was having issues, I followed the info on that site and it didn’t work for me, so I contacted PlayOn tech support and they told me to watch the show for at least 6 minutes on the same device where I had the PlayOn Cloud app installed.

You may have better luck than me, though.  

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@GabeU wrote:

I can do that, but it's of note that the phone isn't actually doing the recording, PlayOn Cloud is.  The phone just sets it up.  The streamed content never touches the phone, or at least not the way I do it (downloading to my computer, and not automatically to my phone).    

I did just find this, though, so I think I'm going to try it with my computer, first.  

https://support.playon.tv/hc/en-us/articles/217131197-Enabling-Closed-Captions-for-Hulu-Netflix-and-...

If this doesn't work, I'll try it with the Netflix app on my phone, though I'm not really sure why it would matter, with the recordings actually being done by the cloud DVR and not the phone.  

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[GabeU]

Well, like I said, it probably won't be until at least next month before I do it.  I'll make sure to let you know how it worked, or if it did, I should say.  

I just recorded the first season of Stranger Things, and have the first five episodes downloaded so far.  Had I known they were going to download this fast I would have started recording the seconds season tonight, too.  I'll do it tomorrow (Thursday), and I'll probably do the third season tomorrow, as well, and hope that the downloading goes as well as tonight.    

[GabeU]

I should add that it probably won't be until next month before I try this, as Stranger Things is going to use up the majority of my Bonus Zone data, or at least 25GB - 30GB of it.