HTPC Networking

C

Chimowowo

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 3, 2005
Messages
103
I'm trying to find out what options there are for network distribution of the HTPC.

If it comes down to it, I can just share the folder and let people access it like that, but I want to know if there is anything that allows realtime watching of the HTPC over a network, and/or being able to queue shows to record over the network. (to be able to choose which shows to record from another PC on the network)

I haven't found much info on this subject so was hoping you guys might know a good option for this.
 
A few products offer this capability.

I have 5 machines in the house that store all of my content, 2 of which are dedicated HTPC boxen (1 is a server, 2 are for normalish use).

I personally use Snapstream's Beyond TV on the main HTPC box, which has 3 tuners, etc etc, and the second HTPC box uses Snapstream's Beyond TV Link product, which connects over the network to the main HTPC box while looking and behaving as if you're in front of the main box. This allows you to schedule shows to record on the main box, watch recorded shows and watch live TV.

M$'s MCE has this capability as well- the MCE box will support up to 5 "MCE Extenders" which are stand alone devices that you can buy or you can buy a kit for your XBox to become an Extender.

I would imagine that Sage has this capability too, but I haven't played with that quite yet.

As far as shared content goes, I have a few different ways that I organize my media.

1. Stuff kept in BTV: most of this is on the recording box, but there is also a network drive that I dump spillover onto on a different machine. All of these shows appear in the BTV as if they were on that box itself

2. Stuff out of BTV: Shows that I archive, I scatter these about the network as space is available, and have an instance of Meedio running on each of the HTPC boxen that seeks out each of these directories (which is getting rather numerous.. i need to lookinto active directory for making this easier...) and listing the content within Meedio. You coudl say meedio is my front end and BTV is my back end. I also use Meedio to display archived movies and music

Hopefully this helps....
 
sagetv does also have this feature but i think in order to do it you have to get 2 different sage products.
 
CEREAL_KILLER said:
sagetv does also have this feature but i think in order to do it you have to get 2 different sage products.
Click to expand...


You need one regular SageTV license. Then Client licenses for $19.95 a piece.

It's what use. I've got 5 clients hooke dup to a central SageTV server. Works quite well.
 
sage 3.0 will support "devices" like the hauppauge MediaMVP. they have plans to support more in hte future. Hopefully one of the plug in for the xbox.
 
I'm not too sure on which format Sage records in (MPEG2 ?) but if it is a somewhat standard format you would be able to at least play them through a modded xbox using SMB shares through X-Box Media Center. Google it for more info. X-Boxen are going to be getting pretty cheap here in the next few months too.
 
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