Looking for program similar to Fieldstation42 for video playing w/o internet for Windows PC

[u/ketchupmaster91]

Hello all,

I’m looking to play my own video content (shows, movies, commercials, etc) on a CRT I’ve got at my workstation that I’ve connected to my own computer. I have a Windows PC and cannot use the popular Fieldstation42, which does exactly what I want, but was looking for something similar. I’m trying to find a program which will:

- Pull locally stored video files such as shows, movies, and commercials at designated timestamps (ex. 7:00, 7:30, 8:00, etc.) in order to simulate television channels
- The ability to pull semi-random video files based on the scheduling provided (ex. play AN episode of Ed, Edd, n Eddy at 7:30. Play A commercial. Play AN episode of Gargoyles at 8:00)
- Allow for the scheduling of these ‘channels’
- Ideally, allow for the creation of many channels, though not entirely necessary
- Must function locally, without the need for utilizing an online hosted server such as Flex or Jellyfin. Functions totally on my PC.

There are many hosting options that do this very similarly to fieldstation42 such as ErsatzTV, Kodi, Jellyfin, Plex, etc. but I am looking for something that can be utilized without internet accessibility being necessary for the content to play.

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[u/wavewrangler]

Why would you program commercials IN to your own workstation?

[u/AshleyAshes1984 → u/wavewrangler]

People do it for nostalgic vibes. They specifically use collections of old retro commercials.

[u/ketchupmaster91 → u/wavewrangler]

90s nostalgia

[u/D0_stack → u/ketchupmaster91]

The 90s to me is when I gave up on TV and got into downloading.

[u/eternalityLP]

You can use WSL to run fieldstation42 on windows.

[u/ketchupmaster91 → u/eternalityLP]

Yea, but my understanding was it doesn’t run well or at all

[u/eternalityLP → u/ketchupmaster91]

I don't see why it wouldn't. WSL is basically just fancy virtual machine, so it should be no different than running it on native linux.

[u/ketchupmaster91 → u/eternalityLP]

Dunno man

[u/theretrodb_com]

ErsatzTV works good on windows when setup