

Show HN: Followshows – Never miss an episode again - DanBlake
http://followshows.com/?hn

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plasma
Hey.

1\. The name doesn't suggest I can watch shows (rather, just a reminder
service)

2\. Asked to login/register without being able to try/see the experience makes
me close the tab - I haven't found out yet whether I like the service, why
would I sign up?

~~~
DanBlake
We try to do that with screenshots, but you can imagine the process of
tracking/watching shows without a account might be frisky since we could only
base it on a cookie. I might try that though and let them convert afterwards

~~~
jschuur
<http://railscasts.com/episodes/393-guest-user-record>?

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racbart
It looks nice but I still prefer <http://www.pogdesign.co.uk/cat/> for two
reasons:

They have more upcoming shows, so I can follow some promising shows when I
hear about them and they'll show in my calendar half year later when they
start running. I have four upcoming shows on pogdesign that weren't found
here.

I selected my time zone when signing up, only to be disappointed that all
dates and times in the calendar are still in the US time. I live in Europe so
the difference usually means it's already next day here when the shows are
aired. pogdesign can handle that.

Other than that, this looks pretty neat. Recommended shows seems well-chosen
but I'd like to have “not interested” button so that the show would be hidden
and another one would jump in.

Keep up the good work and fix the problems mentioned above and I'll switch!

~~~
DanBlake
Thanks- The time zone thing is a tricky one, since obviously the shows air on
US time but I know what you mean and I will look into it.

Will work on the other suggestions as well- Thanks!

~~~
geoffw8
FYI I prefer your design to theirs. Theirs is teeny on my Air

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Shank
I tried to login with Facebook, and was prompted to make a password anyway.
Doesn't this seem to defeat the point of having OAuth sign-in in the first
place? I don't want to remember your password, and you've already got my login
tokens, so I shouldn't need to.

~~~
codecool
Agreed. It defeats the purpose of Facebook login.

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SchizoDuckie
Looks nice graphically, but it still doesn't solve my problem of automatically
finding a torrent and downloading. Also, I don't want to register for _yet
another_ site that keeps track of some stuff for me, and I'd like to watch my
shows on the TV instead of on a computer.

I've submitted my own solution for this a to HN a couple months ago:
<http://schizoduckie.github.com/seriesguide-chrome/>

It's a chrome plugin, that automatically shows you the magnet link with he
most result from a TPB mirror whenever an episode of your favorite tv shows
came out. Click that magnet link and it' ll be picked up by your favorite
torrent client. This takes the hassle out of the wole process for me: \- Get
notified \- Track what you have already downloaded \- Find a TPB mirror that
works, execute search, sort by most seeds

I've also included a general TPB search to just find the most-seeding torrent
for any search term.

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stcredzero
I don't miss episodes. I'm also relatively unconcerned about MPAA stuff.

I bought Automatic after a 2 week trial. I have it downloading on 15 minute
intervals from tvtorrents.com (from the UK, while I'm US), based on my "New
Favorites" custom account RSS feed. I specify some words to match a show's
title, get the format I want (match ".mp4") and exclude ones I don't. (Don't
match "720p", don't match "mkv".) The torrents get downloaded to a directory,
where Transmission automatically detects and starts downloading them.

The result: Shows appear in Air Video on my iPad, and I only press an entry in
a list (Table View) to watch them. My "karma" (called gigacredits) on
tvtorrents.com basically takes care of itself because I start downloading when
a bunch of other people are also doing so.

That said, TVTorrents.com is a bit clunky. (Along the lines of "2003 called.
Wants its Java app server and web design back.")

~~~
jschuur
That isn't what followshows is about though.

~~~
stcredzero
Really? This is a bit suspicious that I was downvoted, then.

The front page says, "Watch TV Shows in your Browser," and "Easily know when
your shows are on next." Other headline-sized text on the front page basically
reiterates those two points. That functionality is basically already served by
the setup I describe. (TVTorrents + Automatic + Transmission + AirVideo.) I
would rather watch TV on my iPad on the couch or on my bed than in front of
the PC. I also get the "Know when the next show is" in just a few clicks.

If anything, my story points out a packaging issue, which may well be an
opportunity. Only a programmer like me is going to stitch together the
functionality of four apps to get the same effect. Let someone download a
single tablet app, maybe download a "server" on their PC, and it all just
works. There's issues doing this on the iPad, because of what Apple might or
might not allow, especially with regards to torrents.

As it is, it looks like someone wanting to promote the site downvoted me to
suppress competition. Not very cool, if that's the case.

~~~
DanBlake
Just FYI, I am not down voting you- Your comment was constructive to us and I
never turn down free advice

~~~
stcredzero
You are a developer? Is jschuur another developer working with you?

~~~
jschuur
I just found out about the site today. I thought about a site like this a
while back, but wasn't able to build it myself, so I'm happy to see someone
implement it in such an elegant interface.

Enough about me though. This thread is an opportunity for Dan and his co-
creators to get feedback on what they've built.

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missenlinx
I receive errors when trying to login with facebook. I want to be able to test
this service without being a member like <http://www.pogdesign.co.uk/cat/>

I have closed the tab sadly though i'd love to use it if given the chance.

~~~
gcarre
hum, might be because of this? <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5185440>
(#1 on HN right now)

~~~
missenlinx
Simply letting the author know.

~~~
DanBlake
Thanks, was actually a bug on our end

------
DanBlake
Any comments/suggestions let me know

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jonathanberger
What's the "unlock code"? I search for home help text or some explanation for
about 30 seconds but have been left puzzled.

~~~
DanBlake
Its for a promo contest- Sorry. Just ignore it.

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imtyler
I use <http://mytvrss.com> (no affiliation). You check off the shows you watch
and it creates a customized RSS feed for you. Combined with Google Reader I
never miss a show.

~~~
DanBlake
Thats our site too! We are merging it into this one shortly though, so you
will be a member shortly either way :)

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codecool
Just signed up. The main reason of signing up is to check your recommendation
quality. Will check when have more time. A calendar showing episodes airing
date is a good feature.

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yeonhoyoon
I'd like to find more about how the site works without signing up

~~~
DanBlake
Hmm, I try to get that across on the homepage. Heres a screenshot of my
logged-in homepage. Its basically a TV guide for stuff you watch.

<http://i.imgur.com/rwapTVk.jpg>

~~~
jacalata
but when it says 'watch online' - does that mean it's only going to help me
track shows that are freely pirated online? I just want to get an email when
Game of Thrones starts again for instance, or Dr Who: how will that work? I
don't want to watch them on the web even.

~~~
stcredzero
With the setup I have, Game of Thrones will just appear in a list in one of my
iPad apps.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5185974>

As it is, Colbert Report and Daily Show just appear for me.

~~~
jacalata
I don't have cable, so I will be watching it at a friends house. I just need
an email telling me it will be on soon so I can invite myself over ahead of
time ;)

~~~
stcredzero
I was thinking of writing an iPad app that does a "synced" viewing of a video
for two geographically separated people. The movies would play at very close
to the same time, and pausing one app would pause the other. It would be for
people in long distance relationships.

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vadvi
I just registered, selected some shows then on the home page all 6 episodes of
futurama are marked as "watched". why?

also: is it possible to delete my account?

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meaty
I'd rather like to see a version of this that lets me know which ones I've
already seen so I don't have to waste my life watching them again.

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hayksaakian
How is this any better than say, Sidereel.com ?

~~~
DanBlake
Well, I am biased but I think the interface is years ahead. I feel like I am
on geocities/myspace on sidereel. We also have many unique features not
present on there.

~~~
hayksaakian
Maybe you could list them :)

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barumrho
So, how does watching shows work? Is it legal?

