What Can One Watch with a Zune?

Television, Movies Games and Books Games & Toys
#1

Hi, all – I thought that I would start with you trusted friends at GWC before wandering off into the wilds of tech blogs and forums. :slight_smile:

I was given a Zune (8 gigabyte) for Christmas. What I really want to know is, can I watch BSG (and other TV) on it? (Legal downloads we’re talking!) For example, can I get it from Amazon Unbox and watch it? Does video from the iTunes store download successfully to a Zune? So far, all I see on the aforementioned tech blogs are articles about converting DVDs one already owns into Zune files – but what if I want to download stuff without buying DVDs?

Any help you can give this beginner would be most appreciated. Thanks!

#2

What I’ve been doing to watch TV on my iPod & PSP(god bless sony) is downloading TV shows off of Mininova (a bittorrent) and using software to convert it over to play on the PSP or iPod. I’m not sure if iTunes stuff will work on Zunes, I wouldn’t try it. The shows are $2 a piece and you can always get it for free off the internet the day after the show airs on Mininova or Pirate Bay.

#3

iTunes videos only work in iTunes and on Apple products such as the iPod.

#4

  1. What format are iTunes files in? Because they could be converted to a Zune-friendly format, yes?

  2. Would such conversions be legal?

  3. Are there any Zune download sites out there that are legal?

#5

I’m fairly certain that iTunes formatted videos are DRM’ed which would make conversion cumbersome and illegal.

#6

iTunes vids are locked down a lot harder than iTunes songs. It’s essentially H264 with an additional DRM component. There isn’t a reliable hack to remove the DRM.

Frankly, torrents are easier to deal with.

#7

Frak. But torrents aren’t, ahem, kosher?

What Microsoft really needs to do is get Amazon Unbox to work with the Zune, since the only shows I am really interested in watching on the go – Heroes and BSG – are only found there.

It’s too late to return the thing for an Unbox compatible reader.

I think I am pretty much frakked all around!

#8

Yes, I hear you there! My truck stereo plays Mp3 but I discovered I couldn’t burn the songs I purchased off itunes. The only solution I found was to burn the protected ACC formatted songs onto an audio cd, then import back as Mp3s. what a fracking headache!

#9

Actually, for a major commercial download that’s as good as it gets, or was until we started to get the DRM-free tracks that the labels started releasing when they realized this setup was just tying them to iTunes.

It’s pretty sad that the studios seem to be going through the whole process that the the labels went through.

#10

I bought my husband a Zune a while back and it grabbed all of our iTunes songs but not the videos. I also thought I could sync it with my Windows Media Center where I DVR a bunch of TV shows but I couldn’t get it to do that either. There probably is a way, especially since they are both Microsoft product, but I didn’t have a lot of time to mess with it because I had to send it off to him in Iraq. But I plan on playing with it a bit more when he comes back to see if I can get the stuff on the DVR.

#11

Hey Melissa. From my browsings on line, it seems like everyone’s beef is that there is precisely not a way, especially given that both are Microsoft products.

I am assuming I would have to have TiVo or some equivalent to get TV onto Media Player? Is your PC hooked up to your television? How does that all work?

Sigh… I feel old.

#12

Frankly, I hate Microsoft, except of course the Xbox. I am a cazy Mac geek. Maybe sell the Zune and get an iPod classic, or touch. Or by a PSP. You can sync all your TiVo crap, like Battlestar Galactica, and watch it on a huge screen. Also the PSP is a Mp3 player, so the Zune gets put out of the picture. Speaking of pictures, you guessed it, you can all your favorite photos onto your PSP, You can then; View the as a slideshow, or make it as your wallpaper. You can also download free walpapers off of the playstation store. And you can play games that have Ps2 graphics. It also has a real webbrowser like Internet explorer, or Safari, not like on cell phones. The PSP uses about 64 RAM which is very good for a portable device. So hey! Buy a $200.00 PSP Star Wars Battlefront Renegade squadren (Because we are all geeks here) bundle that comes with that game, Family Guy UMD (Umd is the disk that goes in your PSP) movie and a memory stick.

#13

We have a TV tuner built into our PC so we can record TV just like a TiVo into Windows Media Center, then burn DVD’s of the shows. I was mostly just trying to save a bit on the cost of DVDs and sync the shows I already had recorded on to my husbands Zune but I couldn’t get it to sync. I didn’t mess with it for that long though and now Justin has it over there. But when he gets back I’m going to mess with it because surely there is a way. I just may have to go in and find where the actual shows are saved and do it that way.
But, I’m not too happy with the Zune. I found it’s software a bit annoying. It seemed like they tried to pile too much crap in there. Definitely not as easy to use as iTunes. But all of Justin’s guys over there had Zunes so it worked for us to just buy it (off Woot for only $99) so he could just sync it with their computers and take their music, etc.

#14

Either of these may work for you:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815144011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815144002

I am waiting until Macworld to see if an AppleTV revision is going to come out bearing a PVR. At that point, as long as the communications were two way, I would have the integrated media center I am looking for. If I can come up with a spare Mac I may be able to put the elgato tuner I have into better use with automated recording, too.

As to the Pinnacle products linked above, I have not tried them. For where I am I use a Mac while everybody else is using PCs. As I am the only one doing anything with video we have not had a need to buy a tuner yet for any of the PCs.

#15

Thanks for the suggestions.

#16

I agree with getting a PSP. I bought the new silver one and I can watch TV shows that I’ve downloaded from Mininova or from the DVR. Plus, I also got the software for free at Gamestop.

#17

Well, Mininova shows should work anywhere.

The PSP is getting VOIP, which is a very interesting development. I’m curious to see how that plays out. It could end up being the poor man’s iPhone.