can the server sync multiple clients?

[agayton]

I am new to MP. I had tried for several months to get a Myth box working..... don't know enough LINUX I guess. I then tried GB-PVR. It works but I was not impressed with the default skin, the client/server keeps crashing, and it was slow to change channels. I also had concerns about GB being closed. I then found out about MP. I am using the regular MP but will want to move to the TV-server system fairly soon. I have looked, but have not found out if it can sync multiple clients.

I have a number of purposes for this:
at home I would love to be able to get more than one client playing the same show (I have one tuner but several pcs) so that as I walk around the house I can see the same show

it would be great to set it up to stream my music to all the clients and have them synced together so that the whole house is full of music (I have done this with softsqueeze but would rather do it with MP)

On the profesional side, I am an Instructional Tech for the State of Georgia and work with school systems. Many schools are purchasing Media Distributions Systems that do what MP does but they are paying much more for them. I would think that things like morning news shows could be pushed out to the clients via MP and would eliminate the need for some TVs (many schools have projectors and networked pcs). Also teachers could request shows be recorded from a client for later playback. The servers could also be used to store other videos for teacher retrieval.

Thanks for a great program!

ag

[charli181]

From the TV side, YES MP can stream the same channel to multiple clients at the same time (there may be a slight difference between each client (1 second or so). Note that each client must select this channel and only one TV card will be used. The server as far as I am aware, can not force the clients to switch the that channel.

As for music, I have read elsewhere in the forums, that music cannot be streamed to all clients based on one clients selection. Each client has control over what is listened to. To do this, I would maybe setup a playlist and load it into VLC (free on internet) and have it stream across the network (same as an internet radio station), and then have MP clients connect to that stream. A bit messy, but will do the job required. Again there may be some lag between clients though.