Streaming media from your PC

Interesting article in Technology-at-Home about streaming media. Seems
that the idea is that if you've got a wifi-router, then you connect a
"streaming media device" to your telly, and it can play video files
from your PC or laptop via the wifi. Sounds like a good idea.

But... somewhat misleadingly, the article says that the media devices
(it mentions the D-Link DSM-320) support "all of the commonly used
formats such as AVI and MPEG-4". Trouble with that is that AVI and
MPEG-4 are just a packaging format and that a whole bunch of
compression formats can be used within them. I'd guess that they could
actually handle most of the following, but not much else: MPEG1/2,
DIVX, XVID, MV9 and AVC. I'd also guess that their compatibility with
video files available on the Internet is little better than DIVX
DVD-players, which means 50%-75% success rate.

Anybody actually tried one of these things?

--
Dave Farrance

"Dave Farrance" wrote in message
...
Interesting article in Technology-at-Home about streaming media. Seems
that the idea is that if you've got a wifi-router, then you connect a
"streaming media device" to your telly, and it can play video files
from your PC or laptop via the wifi. Sounds like a good idea.

But... somewhat misleadingly, the article says that the media devices
(it mentions the D-Link DSM-320) support "all of the commonly used
formats such as AVI and MPEG-4". Trouble with that is that AVI and
MPEG-4 are just a packaging format and that a whole bunch of
compression formats can be used within them. I'd guess that they could
actually handle most of the following, but not much else: MPEG1/2,
DIVX, XVID, MV9 and AVC. I'd also guess that their compatibility with
video files available on the Internet is little better than DIVX
DVD-players, which means 50%-75% success rate.

Anybody actually tried one of these things?

Windows Media Encoder does a good job of sending TV channels over the
internet provided your processor and upstream broadband speeds are fast
enough, and it's a free download from Microsoft. The format is Windows Media
7, 8 or 9 which are I assume some version of mpeg4 (or the later versions at
least). However, the Hauppauge WinTV card, which seems to be the most easily
available video input device, is not comptaible with the latest version of
Windows Media Encoder so you have to downgrade to the previous version 7.

On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 15:41:43 GMT, Dave Farrance wrote:

Interesting article in Technology-at-Home about streaming media. Seems
that the idea is that if you've got a wifi-router, then you connect a
"streaming media device" to your telly, and it can play video files
from your PC or laptop via the wifi. Sounds like a good idea.

But... somewhat misleadingly, the article says that the media devices
(it mentions the D-Link DSM-320) support "all of the commonly used
formats such as AVI and MPEG-4". Trouble with that is that AVI and
MPEG-4 are just a packaging format and that a whole bunch of
compression formats can be used within them. I'd guess that they could
actually handle most of the following, but not much else: MPEG1/2,
DIVX, XVID, MV9 and AVC. I'd also guess that their compatibility with
video files available on the Internet is little better than DIVX
DVD-players, which means 50%-75% success rate.

Anybody actually tried one of these things?

Using the Linux OSS package VDR and a couple of plugins I can view, record
and stream live tv from a computer in the living room to any other
compatible device in the house (currently a Hauppauge MediaMVP running a
custom dongle for VDR and whatever PC I happen to be close to, running
Linux or Windows).

The living room PC has two DVB-S cards (one for 28E and one for 13E and
19E) as well as a DVB-T card, the idea being that most of what I and the
other family members want to watch is available around the house, either
via an RF feed from the back of a Sky digibox and freeview set-top box, or
in raw MPEG2 from the living room PC. Recordings can also be streamed to
the MediaMVP and are accessible to the rest of the PCs in the house via
Samba shares.

If I want to convert downloaded video to watch through the VDR system, I
can run it through ProjectX on my main Windows workstation first to produce
a compatible MPEG2 file.

Streaming of live TV and radio, plus recorded TV and MP3s can be delivered
wirelessly on a 54Mbps network with negligeable blocking. I've tried
streaming via the web, but haven't yet found an acceptable level of quality
due to the restricted upload on my DSL connection.

The major limitation of this system in the next couple of years will be
lack of HD-compatibility, but that will probably have to be resolved via
yet another STB, rather than through a VDR-like system.

Iwan

"Dave Farrance" wrote in message
...
Interesting article in Technology-at-Home about streaming media. Seems
that the idea is that if you've got a wifi-router, then you connect a
"streaming media device" to your telly, and it can play video files
from your PC or laptop via the wifi. Sounds like a good idea.

But... somewhat misleadingly, the article says that the media devices
(it mentions the D-Link DSM-320) support "all of the commonly used
formats such as AVI and MPEG-4". Trouble with that is that AVI and
MPEG-4 are just a packaging format and that a whole bunch of
compression formats can be used within them. I'd guess that they could
actually handle most of the following, but not much else: MPEG1/2,
DIVX, XVID, MV9 and AVC. I'd also guess that their compatibility with
video files available on the Internet is little better than DIVX
DVD-players, which means 50%-75% success rate.

Anybody actually tried one of these things?

--

You seem to be talking about the new SlingBox which can stream media via
your broadband connection from your PVR / Digibox.

I much prefer the free www.orb.com . As well as being free it runs on your
PC. You can access still pictures, audio and video streams - as well as your
TV card. Install the orb software on your PC, create an account, logon to
my.orb.com and you are connected to your home PC and all the media you have
shared! Great!

Iwan Davies wrote:

Using the Linux OSS package VDR and a couple of plugins I can view, record
and stream live tv from a computer in the living room to any other
compatible device in the house (currently a Hauppauge MediaMVP running a
custom dongle for VDR and whatever PC I happen to be close to, running
Linux or Windows).

The living room PC has two DVB-S cards (one for 28E and one for 13E and
19E) as well as a DVB-T card, the idea being that most of what I and the
other family members want to watch is available around the house, either
via an RF feed from the back of a Sky digibox and freeview set-top box, or
in raw MPEG2 from the living room PC. Recordings can also be streamed to
the MediaMVP and are accessible to the rest of the PCs in the house via
Samba shares.

If I want to convert downloaded video to watch through the VDR system, I
can run it through ProjectX on my main Windows workstation first to produce
a compatible MPEG2 file.

That's a neat setup. The main handicap to my mind would be having to
convert the files to MPEG2 first before you can send them to the TV.

The ultimate solution would be a media PC under the TV, but that's very
expensive compared to one of these streaming media devices. I've looked
up the spec of the MediaMVP, and I see that although it runs Linux, it
has a hardware MPEG2 decoder, so I presume that the main processor
doesn't have enough power to run decompression in software.

Since most recent laptops and PCs have enough power to decompress and
display full-screen media streams, it should be possible to have the PC
decompress the media stream on-the-fly and send it to the media-device
under the TV as an uncompressed media stream. I don't know if that's
already possible with consumer equipment?

--
Dave Farrance

"James" wrote:

You seem to be talking about the new SlingBox which can stream media via
your broadband connection from your PVR / Digibox.

Actually, I was talking about sending the media stream in the other
direction - from your PC to the TV. :-)

--
Dave Farrance

"Dave Farrance" wrote in message
...
But... somewhat misleadingly, the article says that the media devices
(it mentions the D-Link DSM-320) support "all of the commonly used
formats such as AVI and MPEG-4". Trouble with that is that AVI and
MPEG-4 are just a packaging format and that a whole bunch of
compression formats can be used within them. I'd guess that they could
actually handle most of the following, but not much else: MPEG1/2,
DIVX, XVID, MV9 and AVC. I'd also guess that their compatibility with
video files available on the Internet is little better than DIVX
DVD-players, which means 50%-75% success rate.

Anybody actually tried one of these things?

I use a Kiss-500 networked DVD player, which plays most stuff out of the box
(DivX included).

For file types not supported, you can use the 3rd party software EzLinkNG
(http://www.ezlinkng.com/), which will (in theory) convert the file to a
type supported by the Kiss on the fly. I say "in theory" because it's not
something I've tried - I use EzLinkNG to catalogue my video files, but have
never had the need to convert them on the fly (also, my video server is an
old PIII, so I doubt it could handle it).

FWIW, I've been using the Kiss for several years, and have been very pleased
with it. In fact, I hardly ever use it as a DVD player these days, normally
simply to play streams.

A.

"Adds" wrote:

I use a Kiss-500 networked DVD player, which plays most stuff out of the box
(DivX included).

For file types not supported, you can use the 3rd party software EzLinkNG
(http://www.ezlinkng.com/), which will (in theory) convert the file to a
type supported by the Kiss on the fly. I say "in theory" because it's not
something I've tried - I use EzLinkNG to catalogue my video files, but have
never had the need to convert them on the fly (also, my video server is an
old PIII, so I doubt it could handle it).

FWIW, I've been using the Kiss for several years, and have been very pleased
with it. In fact, I hardly ever use it as a DVD player these days, normally
simply to play streams.

I see that the Kiss DP-1500 can be bought for £90. I'm tempted by that.

--
Dave Farrance

"Dave Farrance" wrote in message
...
"Adds" wrote:

I use a Kiss-500 networked DVD player, which plays most stuff out of the
box
(DivX included).

For file types not supported, you can use the 3rd party software EzLinkNG
(http://www.ezlinkng.com/), which will (in theory) convert the file to a
type supported by the Kiss on the fly. I say "in theory" because it's not
something I've tried - I use EzLinkNG to catalogue my video files, but
have
never had the need to convert them on the fly (also, my video server is an
old PIII, so I doubt it could handle it).

FWIW, I've been using the Kiss for several years, and have been very
pleased
with it. In fact, I hardly ever use it as a DVD player these days,
normally
simply to play streams.

I see that the Kiss DP-1500 can be bought for £90. I'm tempted by that.

--
Dave Farrance

Soft mod (about 10 mins) a bog standard Xbox (about £40 on eBay). Plug it
into your router. It will play virtually any format video file stored on
your PC hard drive via XBMC.

Use a £5 XBox DVD remote to control things

Works flawlessly - the way things should .

When you put a Divx/Xvid into a Kiss DVD player and press the 'play' button,
you always wonder ' will this play'. Usually it does, sometimes it doesn't.

"mikes" wrote:

Soft mod (about 10 mins) a bog standard Xbox (about £40 on eBay). Plug it
into your router. It will play virtually any format video file stored on
your PC hard drive via XBMC.

Use a £5 XBox DVD remote to control things

Works flawlessly - the way things should .

OK. I'm not familiar with the Xbox, not being into gaming. Aren't there
several models? I presume that £40 would get you one of the earlier
ones. Can they all play downloaded media after the mod?

--
Dave Farrance