A question regarding Slingbox-like capability online (1 Viewer)

jeff777

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May 17, 2018
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Hello,

I'm using MediaPortal 2, and I was curious as to whether it could be configured for streaming local cable online much like a Slingbox. Here is some background on my setup and why I'm inquiring about this.

In the apartment complex where I live, they provide cable channels to each of the apartments without requiring the use of a cable tuner inside the apartment. The channels are sent to the apartment via Clear QAM. I'm using a Hauppauge WinTV USB device that supports Clear QAM. It's connected to my computer that I use as a HTPC. MediaPortal 2 is installed on it, and it picks up all of the Clear QAM channels. i also have Kodi installed on the computer, configured with the MediaPortal front end, and I use this for PVR capabilities.

Regarding the desire to want to use this setup for streaming the cable channels online so that I can watch them remotely, because I don't have a direct subscription to a cable service due to the cable channels being sent to each apartment in the apartment complex, I can't log into each channel's web site to watch their online feeds. I would also prefer to not pay for an online service such as Sling to watch the channels via that method. I do have an older Slingbox that I used years ago at a prior apartment to watch the cable channels online when I had a cable subscription and cable tuner at that time (with the Slingbox connected to the cable tuner). But because the Slingbox that I have doesn't support Clear QAM, this solution won't work at the apartment complex I'm currently in. I'm aware that there is another older Slingbox that supports Clear QAM, but I've read of issues from others regarding not being able to pick up all of their Clear QAM channels on it. I'm also aware of how the Media Portal front end in Kodi can be configured to connect to a Media Portal back end for streaming the channels locally, but this solution wouldn't work for me online over the internet because of the required bandwidth of the HD streams and because of my internet connection not supporting such a high upload bandwidth.

With all of this in mind, is there any way that Media Portal can be configured for streaming channels online at smaller bandwidths? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.
 

spachti

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July 27, 2005
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Well, I can't tell how it works with MP2, but it does with MP1. That's what is running here.
MP1> MP extended>Web MP. EPG via Schedules Direct.
Works also with Android devices via MPTvScheduler.
 

Lehmden

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  • December 17, 2010
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    Hi.
    Real Time transcoding needs lots and lots of CPU power so you better use very powerful MP2 Server Hardware (I would expect a mid- range Core i5 or Ryzen at least)

    MPExtended and MPTVScheduler are working with MP2 too. The MPExtended version is different to the MP1 version but it's available for MP2 too. The rest is identical...

    For EPG you also can use TVGuide.com for free, especially in combination with EPG-Buddy (also for free)...
     

    jeff777

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    Thank you for the feedback. It was a hands-on education getting everything setup via trial and error with Mediaportal 2, but it's all set.

    To obtain the program guide, I'm using Zap2XML. I created a batch file with one command to use Zap2XML to download the program data from tvguide.com (which then updates the XML file) and then one command to delete the downloaded cache files. This batch file runs daily in the Task Scheduler of my Windows installation.

    To provide remote live TV viewing and recorded TV viewing, I ended up using Emby Server in conjunction with Mediaportal 2. And on my Android phone, I'm using the Emby app. I did try using MPTvScheduler on my Android phone, and I did get it to work for watching live and recorded TV if I select an HTTP Live Streaming profile in the setup of the app. However, I noticed that if I go with this setup, the CPU usage to transcode video on my computer is very, very high (as high as 60-90% during transcoding of the video). In comparison, when I use Emby Server for remote live and recorded TV viewing, I noticed that the CPU usage maxed out much, much lower at around 15%, and video quality wasn't compromised. I also noticed that Emby used FFMPEG for transcoding. I did try using an HTTP Live Streaming profile in MPTvScheduler that includes FFMPEG, but then the stream wouldn't work. So I'm using Emby instead.

    Thanks again for the feedback.
     

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