network broadcasting (1 Viewer)

[BabyG]

Hey

I was wanting a plugin/application that would broadcast my current tv. I want watever channel MP is on to be broadcast (or just accessable) over my network (gigabit) and therefore viewable via any computer in the house. I first thought of just recording tv to a file and viewing that file via the other computers on the network. This might work in some cases but because the file is constantly being written to problems might occur. Are there any video formats that might be friendly to this kinda thing? That way if MP was made to continuously record then any computer playing that file would have access to whatever is playing on MP.

I would be willing to look into designing a plugin for this if i had to as I have a little (self tought) C++ knowledge (enough to use a TCP connection, although UDP might be better in this situation i guess ). Is there somthing to do this for me already? Or is there some file format that would be friendly for this? What do you surgest I do?

Matt

 

[patrick]

Hi BabyG,

AFAIK there is nothing in MP to currently do what you are asking.

I sure many people would be happy if you developed a solution though,
as it has been requested a lot.

Just fyi, I think some people have use VLC for streaming but not
sure about live TV. (Maybe search the forum for VLC or VideoLan)
(http://www.videolan.org/)

As for some basics you may want to look at if you are going to
develop something for MP:

For the streaming part you will want to look at Multicasting
so all the clients can subscribe to a single stream.
Meaning basically the server sends out the data one time and
all the clients get it vs sending the same data to each client
individually. (also multicasting is supported by many routers
so you could multicast over the internet)
http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/multicast.asp

For the multicast server you would want a MP process plugin to make the
stream available to clients as well as information about what is
playing so the client can decide if they want to watch.

For the client end (assuming you are using another MP computer as
the client) you could setup a new window plugin that will look to
the server(s) for available streams, subscribe and play the content.


As far as reading the live tv file see how MP does it internally
while timeshifting.


HTH,
patrick

 

[BabyG]

Thanx

As far as reading the live tv file see how MP does it internally while timeshifting.

Yea, I was thinking of using a similar concept to timeshifting . If I was to make the clients work using MP then I could control how that file is used. Probably just a matter of working out how MP reads a timeshifting file and replicate that. In thery it sounds pritty simple.

As to multicasting, I would apsalutly love to do it that way, if only i had more free time to learn it all .

I'll create a new post if I start somthing, depends how much free time i have over the next couple of weeks .

 

[bear]

FYI, there are a few DS filters about that can multicast or unicast over a network, Elecard & the MS DSNetwork filter sample are some.

I guess a few questions would need to be answered before one embarks on something like this.

Q1. What do you want to multicast? eg. ES streams, Partial TS or Full TS.
Q2. Although 1G Lan is now common, should you allow for lower data rates? e.g wireless connections.
Q3. Since you want to multicast to a number of network clients, is there a need for the network client to be able to change channel? and if so how would this be done.

As far as using a timeshifting file, this maybe a much better solution than unicasting but it does increase the wear on the HDD and will also increase the network data rate as more clients try to access the same file over the same Lan.

Just some thoughts.

 

[BabyG]

Awsome...

looked at the MS DSNetwork filter sample... looks good. Hopfully I'll have some free time at work 2moro and i'll do some more research on things, consider my options and work out wether my current knowledge/free time will allow me to implement somthing like this. If you interested in this feature let me know , the support might motivate me to get started by the end of this week .

 

[cheezey]

Having watched these forums for the last 18months I know how often the streaming TV question is asked :!: :!: :!:

:lol: So go for it BabyG :lol:

I would certainly use it.

 

[moltas]

As already have been said, this is a feature that almost everyone has been asking for so go ahead! You will have many gratful users if you do it.

/Moltas

 

[thechad]

Hi,

I have already written an interface to mediaportal for Xbox Media Center and network live tv would be the icying on the cake for my implementation. My C# skills are limited but I would like to help if you take the lead.

Chad

 

[BabyG]

Kewl

To tell you the truth this will be my first c# program . But I am pritty good with VB and Java and know a little c++, so I'm pritty much set. You'll all be glad to know I'm working on a "working" concept. Once finished I should have an idea as to how I will go about programing the real deal. At the moment I'm just going to use an edited My TV to view the SharedTV and windows file sharing to share the video (that may not be the way i do the final release, this is just to give myself/users an idea of how the program will work ). Once finished I'll let you guys have a look and you can tell me what you think .

Hey chad, help would be great, once I have finished the concept or have a firm idea of how I want to implement the program I will contact you about the project (I'm an aussi too so that should help ).

Expected release for the concept is Mid next week, I may be releasing a beta before then , keep an eye on the post for updates .

 

[overture]

This is great news. This will enable me to centralize all my media files on my server and stream them to client machines throughout the house.

It would also be nice if the clients can record to the server to ensure that everything is held on the server.

Also, how will things work in regards to multiple tuners and watching different channels simultaneously on different clients?

Many Thanks!!