Should multiple connections from 1 computer work?

[carlgar]

Last night I was using placeshifter to view a show using my LAN. I tried to bring up a second connection but was not able to. I could bring up the Placeshifter Servers Manager just fine, there seems to be no limit on how many times you can bring this up. However, when I would attempt to connect to the server, the original placeshifter window would disappear, a few seconds latter the new placeshifter would appear. This appears to be a bug to me, but I am not sure if there is some limitation that I am not aware of. I do have 2 licenses and I checked to see what happens when all licenses are in use. This is not a license issue. Has anyone made multiple connections from the same computer to the same server using placeshifter? Does anyone know why this would not work?

[gplasky]

It sounds like you're trying to bring up 2 Placeshifters on the same machine. I don't think you can do that. You could go run Placeshifter on another machine.

Gerry

[carlgar]

That is exactly what I want to do. Why shouldn't I be able to do it? I can run the client and the placeshifter on the same machine. I can even run the server, client and placeshifter all on the same computer. I fail to see any reason at this time why I cannot use all the licenses on one computer if I want to. I do not expect to be able to view on all them, I know there are decoder issues with that. But I should be able to use 1 for viewing and bring up another to view the EPG which is what I was trying to do. The client is my preferred software for viewing but I did not have a client software license for the system and thats why I was using placeshifter to view and encountered this problem.

[gplasky]

Well I'm guessing anyway. It won't have anything to do licensing. It may be a video issue because maybe Placeshifter is using overlay by default.

Gerry

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by gplasky

It sounds like you're trying to bring up 2 Placeshifters on the same machine. I don't think you can do that. You could go run Placeshifter on another machine.

Gerry

You mean like this graphic. This was two placeshifter instances connected to a V5 server and one to a V6 server if that makes a difference. And just tried and yes if you use different servers it is possible but not two to the same server on the same PC.

[carlgar]

Yes, that is what I think I should be able to do. However, i do not understand why you would need 2 different servers to do that. Unless someone gives me a good reason for that requirement I think I will submit it as a bug. Even if only 1 connection is allowed it should be documented and my original connection should not have been killed.
Thanks to you and Gerry for your comments, I did wonder if version 6 would allow it. I can work around the problem by using the webserver as my second connection. The webserver does allow me to have the multiple connections I expect from the placeshifter.

I assume that that you were running the V5 and V6 servers on 2 different computers. How were you able to have both V5 and V6 placeshifter software on the same system? In the past I have seen the newer software overwrite the older software that I did not like.

[gplasky]

And if you think that it should be able to do it open up a ticket with support or file it as a bug.

As far as 2 different versions of the client on the same PC you can always modify the path of where you want the software installed when you install it. If you don't, by default it goes where the old version is.

Gerry

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by carlgar

I assume that that you were running the V5 and V6 servers on 2 different computers. How were you able to have both V5 and V6 placeshifter software on the same system? In the past I have seen the newer software overwrite the older software that I did not like.

Yes I have two servers one is still at V5. My Placeshifter version was V5. I haven't installed V6 yet. The reason I didn't upgrade my placeshifter was because I wanted a way on this pc to connect to my V5 Server since a V6 SageTV client will not connect (at least for me) to a V5 Server. It appears that for Placeshifter (unlike SageTV client) any version will connect to a V6 server. I suspect the version of the server wasn't important but will test when I get the V5 server upgraded - maybe next week. It appears that for the PC client we are back to the days of having the same version. Which may have been necessary because of the number of new features.

BobP.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by gplasky

As far as 2 different versions of the client on the same PC you can always modify the path of where you want the software installed when you install it. If you don't, by default it goes where the old version is.

Gerry

I tried that myself but the installer uninstalls from the existing location then installs to the new one. The only way I found that works was to rename the directory after the first install so that the installer can't find the previous version. Then it works.

BobP.

[gplasky]

Wow. Sorry for the misinformation. I thought it use to before. So maybe that's changed. Like you said renaming works.

Gerry

[jbarr]

Try creating "portable" versions of Placeshifter: Install normally, then copy the files in the PlaceShifter folder to another folder. Uninstall PlaceShifter, and run from the new folder. I don't know if there is registry stuff that gets created, but you could conceivably have multiple folders possibly capable of running multiple instances...

As mentioned in other threads, this is an excellent way to keep PlaceShifter with you on a USB thumbdrive. It's fully transportable, and doesn't require further installation, and licensing is handled on the server side.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Wow. Sorry for the misinformation. I thought it use to before. So maybe that's changed. Like you said renaming works.

Gerry

Originally Posted by jbarr

Try creating "portable" versions of Placeshifter: Install normally, then copy the files in the PlaceShifter folder to another folder. Uninstall PlaceShifter, and run from the new folder. I don't know if there is registry stuff that gets created, but you could conceivably have multiple folders possibly capable of running multiple instances...

As mentioned in other threads, this is an excellent way to keep PlaceShifter with you on a USB thumbdrive. It's fully transportable, and doesn't require further installation, and licensing is handled on the server side.

Just to clear up something I may have implied that may not be true. The problems I was having were with SageTV server and SageTV client installed on the same machine and upgrading at the same time. I have not actually tried to install two instances of Placeshifter. So that may/may not be a problem. Sorry if my previous post mislead anyone.

BobP.

Edit: I have actually tried to install 2 copies of Placeshifter now and just like SageTV Client and Server the install of the new version will uninstall the previous version.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by carlgar

However, i do not understand why you would need 2 different servers to do that.

Probably because they'd try to be using the same IP and port, and would thus walk all over each other.

[MrApollinax]

^^^^ Is correct.

Unless the Placeshifter client is smart enough to use different ports to contact the server it will attempt to use the same ports as the previous placeshifter instance. My guess, and we'd have to get confirmation from Sage on this, is that the Placeshitfer client by it's very nature wasn't designed to have multiple instances running on the same box.

[bcjenkins]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Probably because they'd try to be using the same IP and port, and would thus walk all over each other.

Exactly. You would essentially need to run placeshifting server on multiple ports (can you do this?) and then configure the clients appropriately. 192.168.1.server:port for example.

B

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Probably because they'd try to be using the same IP and port, and would thus walk all over each other.

If this is true, then it should apply to the regular PC client also since it also use a specific port (42024) to connect to the server.

[carlgar]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

If this is true, then it should apply to the regular PC client also since it also use a specific port (42024) to connect to the server.

I agree with this statement and that is one of the reasons I decided not to file a bug report. Were you just making a statement or do you know if multiple clients on same machine work or do not work? I was going to try that but felt it was too much trouble since the client licenses are fixed and would require reboots of the server to move them.

At this point there appears to be valid reasons why only one connection would be allowed and I seem to be the only person who expects multiple connections, I am going to drop the issue. I now will only use placeshifter to play a video if a client is not available. The Web Server will be my primary method to connect to the server for information.

[mayamaniac]

I remember reading something about the new API which allows you to launch a menu item to a separate window. If this is possible, then you can have one window with the video and a separate window for the everything else. Of course, someone with knowledge of studio will have to make a custom STV to allow that, if its possible at all, meaning I could be imagining the whole thing..

[Narflex]

You CAN run multiple instances of the Placeshifter client from one machine. This is not a violation of the license agreement since the licensing is server-side. Here's how you do it.

First, launch the first Placeshifter client as you normally would,

Then for all successive Placeshifter clients, you can launch them this way:
1) Go to Start->Run and type in: cmd
2) cd into your Program Files\SageTV\Placeshifter folder
3) type in a command like this:

java -cp MiniClient.jar sage.miniclient.MiniClient -mac 00:01:23:45:67:89 myserver

For #3, use a different parameter for 'mac' for each additional client. If the MAC matches a prior client, then that client will get killed when the new one connects...that's why you can't connect multiple clients by just running the SageTVPlaceshifter.exe program, because each will use the MAC of the machine its running on.

Also, for 'myserver' use the hostname/IP address of the server to connect to. You can also use a LocatorID instead. You CANNOT get the Placeshifter server manager dialog to come up on more than one Placeshifter client. This is just a limitation of the way the command line is parsed.

Enjoy!