Place shifting client

[rp1790]

Ok, I had a look at the video interview from CES and the Playshift thing looks really good. MUch along the lines of Slingshot. When are we going to see a beta of it to play with??

[Opus4]

The generic answer to that in the past has always been: The place shifting client will be available shortly after SageTV is ready to release it for public testing/use.

i.e.: there is no announced definite time right now.

- Andy

[Naylia]

You can placeshift with an Ipod video

[Humanzee]

"Place shifting" if that is what it is to be called, looks pretty darn good using orb. From the video it didn't look like the place shifting video quality was as clear as it would be with orb at the referenced 128k transmission rate.

Hopefully the encoding mentioned will be at least as good as ORB is when we finally get to play with it. I like that the interface we are used to is right there.

I'm excited.

[blade]

How can you tell anything about the quality from the video?

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by Humanzee

"Place shifting" if that is what it is to be called, looks pretty darn good using orb. From the video it didn't look like the place shifting video quality was as clear as it would be with orb at the referenced 128k transmission rate.

Hopefully the encoding mentioned will be at least as good as ORB is when we finally get to play with it. I like that the interface we are used to is right there.

I'm excited.

I think the quality is totally dependent on the codec used. SageTV's Place Shifting is using Mpeg4 as Jeff said in that interview at CES. I don't know what Orb uses, but I know BTV uses WMV codec to stream, and in my experience, WMV is superior to anything else, including H.264. I hope SageTV will opt to use WMV instead of Mpeg4, or at least have WMV streaming as an option.

I'm looking foward to Place Shifting, if it works well, I can finally dump BTV for good. I tried Orb once, and it loaded like 10 processes, I uninstalled it immediately. I think Place Shifting won't be as bad or hoping it is not.

[GbrNole]

i assume you mean that nothing compare to wmv for streaming (which it is fantastic for) because wmv aint that great as a backup compression codec.

[Humanzee]

Originally Posted by blade

How can you tell anything about the quality from the video?

Now this is from memory but it appeared as if there was some stuttering in the video and some pixalation. Also, if you listen close Jeff himself says "this is a 128k upstream so there is a lot of artifacting and everything". Orb at 128k looks great, heck Orb at 40k looks pretty good on my phone, but thats a smaller resolution.

Jeff also says that "there are still a lot of codec improvements that we can do" So I am keeping the faith. Maybe we will even be able to select a prefered encoding method for streaming the content.

I have been waiting for a PPC client version of Sage, mabye we are getting close. It looks like Sage's place shifting may be available as an app or a web utility. FWIW, I'd rather not have to rely on a web interface for the PPC.

It would also be nice for such an application to serve as both a client and/or a networked remote control for any particual server or client installation. That way I could browse recordings / create play lists / update favorites on the PPC or Laptop while watching the big screen with out the OSD being in the way. Then when I hit "watch now" the placeshifting client would send a message to the sage box running the big screen and tell it to start playing the file/dvd/music/what ever. That would be pretty sweet.

[Humanzee]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

I tried Orb once, and it loaded like 10 processes, I uninstalled it immediately. I think Place Shifting won't be as bad or hoping it is not.

It goes crazy with process for about an hour, then it calms down, I think it actually scans all of your media files so that it can create an index and knows best how to get at them for streaming. It took a while on my machine with some 400 gigs worth of recordings.

I don't actually use it much though. But it is neat.

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by GbrNole

i assume you mean that nothing compare to wmv for streaming (which it is fantastic for) because wmv aint that great as a backup compression codec.

In my tests, Windows Media Video 9 always yield the best quality while keeping the file size smallest. Anything from web, DVD, to HD resolution. Its an outstanding codec. And I've tested it versus Sorenson3, H.264, Mpeg4, and the other Mpeg4 variants, Divx and Xvid. Overall, WMV always produce better quality at the same or smaller filesize compare to the others. Just take a look at the samples: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...tShowcase.aspx

Originally Posted by Humanzee

It goes crazy with process for about an hour, then it calms down, I think it actually scans all of your media files so that it can create an index and knows best how to get at them for streaming. It took a while on my machine with some 400 gigs worth of recordings.

I don't actually use it much though. But it is neat.

The same goes for BTV, it loads a bunch of processes, but not as much as Orb though. Since I own BTV, thats what I'm using until Place Shift debuts. Plus with BTV, I don't have to go through the Orb servers to get to my content.

[Wheemer]

If you have all the ports opened for the Orb software then it streams directly to you from your server. But the fact that I have to go through the login at orb's website is a negative for sure.

I'd also like an easy way to setup permissions for others to view my content.

[badbob001]

I wonder if place-shifting works with their Media Extender device, which supports divx.

[gplasky]

What do you mean? Place shifting would probably work with the server, not a client.

Gerry