Third Party Media Adapters

[fyodor]

Hi,

I am contemplating buying one of the third party media adapters, like the TVIX or Linkplayer and I had a few questions.

1. Can you use one of these adapters to stream TV shows that are currently being recorded, or does Sage lock the file?

2. I understand that the sage webserver allows the streaming of video over a LAN. Can this be made to work with one of the third party media adpaters?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

[fyodor]

Hi

I understand that some of the third-party media extenders, like the linkplayer have some limited web functionality. Has anyone successfully used one of these with the SageTV web interface to stream video? Is this something that is theoretically possible?

Thanks

[Thomas Wischgol]

There is a big discussion going on about finding an HD media extender for Sage in this forum. If you want the Sage UI on the extender, then there is currently only the MediaMVP that does this, or you use an additional computer as a client.

If you want to use the media adapter's software then it should work. Sage does not lock the files. I am not sure how smart these third party software packages are, meaning if they are capable of recognizing that the file that you are still recording to is going to increase in size or if it just will only be able to play back what was available when the service of this third party software was started.

The web interface for Sage (Nielm's webserver) does not stream video itself. You would need to setup placeshifter (and need a separate license for that). The placeshifter software then can play your videos from any computer and you even get the same Sage UI.

Thomas

[ybrew]

There's a link in the webserver (version 2.8) to watch (stream).

I haven't had much success with it, but the link exists.

[ybrew]

Playing a streamed file now ('til death from last night)

For me on my current connection - unwatchable.

But this is the first time I got the file to completely load and was able to see video. (previously I tried to stream in firefox. didn't work. It is working (unwatchable) in ie.

[ybrew]

Ok, it's *working* in Firefox as well, but again too freakin' slow. Placeshifter does work OK for me though.

[jbarr]

Don't forget that streaming through the Web interface streams the file at its original recorded quality--a file size that most home connections can't stream effectively due to limited upstream bandwidth. That's why the Placeshifter concept is so cool, because it transcodes down to a managable bandwidth size on the server side.

[ybrew]

Yeah, I noticed that and looked for a way to adjust the quality, but couldn't find it. The picture was perfect, when it came through, but it really never came through.

cool concept though.

[FidgetyRat]

personally I highly doubt it. Are we talking about converting one of these streamers into a sage extender? or having them grab sage files?

I mean sage just writes standard mpeg files, so you could have somthing like a swingbox work on that directory.

But as far as installing sage inside one, i doubt it.

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by FidgetyRat

personally I highly doubt it. Are we talking about converting one of these streamers into a sage extender? or having them grab sage files?

I mean sage just writes standard mpeg files, so you could have somthing like a swingbox work on that directory.

But as far as installing sage inside one, i doubt it.

It may be possible for Sage to turn one of these into an actual Sage Extender, just like they did with the MVP. It requires getting the source code for the unit so they can rewrite the code for their usage.

There is a thread, Porting SageTV to run on D-Link DSM-520 right now where a Sage user is trying to get D-Link to release the source code for the DSM-520. The code should be available due to GPL licensing. If Sage can get the code, then they may be able to release an extender that will run on the DSM-520.

So, if you find a unit that you like, see if you can find the source code for it. IF so, then post the info here on the forum, and also send in the info to Sage directly. Sage can then look at the code and see if they can use it to port Sage to the unit. HD extender units have been desired and requested for some time, so any HD unit that could be found with available source code so that it could be ported would be very much appreciated.

[oddjob]

http://www.tvix.co.kr/Eng/Products/HDM5000U.aspx

Tvix offer's a small enclosure for HD streaming.