PVR-250 and Streaming

[lambda379]

I have a 3.5.1 installed with a PVR-250 and fully understanding I can't stream live TV.

My question is: Can I stream .wmv files with this configuration?

I've Show Squeezed mpeg2 files to .wmv files, opened port 1755 on my router and still I am unable to stream these files. I've tried both on my home network and over the internet.

I am able to access the SnapStream admin page through port 8129, but when I try to stream the .wmv files, I get an error "unable to find file".

[Edgarmoon]

Make sure you have streaming enabled under webadmin, settings, that's the only other thing I can think of, unless your firewall or another program is blocking that port.

[apcmiami]

I am having the exact same problem. I can not stream locally nor outside my network. Ports config: 1755 UDP/TCP, 8129 UDP/TCP, 8135 UDP/TCP are set in the router to foward to the BTV PC, however this doesn't explain why I can not stream on the LAN. I ShowSqueezed the file and verified it is on the HD. It plays fine on the actual SS PC.


I'm almost there - This last thing will do it. I travel alot so it would be great to catch my recorded shows remotely! I am not trying to stream LIVE. From what I understand, it is not possible with the PVR 250 since it encodes to MPEG2.

[apcmiami]

Don't know what I did but: Deleted the video directories setup in the web admin, recreated them and BAM it now streams. Go figure.

[gsteph]

If you purchase Beyond TV Link you can stream without issue using a PVR250. I stream live tv to my laptop of HDTV without a problem.

[Telemole]

Originally Posted by apcmiami

Don't know what I did but: Deleted the video directories setup in the web admin, recreated them and BAM it now streams. Go figure.

I am having the EXACT same trouble - can you explain with more detail what you mean by your fix above?

[DrCool]

you can only stream livetv via webadmin if you have a software capture card (ie nVidia Personal Cinema, WinTV standard, etc.)

the only way to stream LiveTV with a Hardware capture card like the 150/250/500MCE is to use BTV Link. The program is awesome and well worth the $39 investment if you use it frequently. They offer a 21-day trial as long as you own BTV already.

be warned though, you'll need a wired 100mbps connection for it to work optimally

[Edgarmoon]

Why doesn't it work on wireless?

[hengy]

Originally Posted by DrCool

you can only stream livetv via webadmin if you have a software capture card (ie nVidia Personal Cinema, WinTV standard, etc.)

the only way to stream LiveTV with a Hardware capture card like the 150/250/500MCE is to use BTV Link. The program is awesome and well worth the $39 investment if you use it frequently. They offer a 21-day trial as long as you own BTV already.

be warned though, you'll need a wired 100mbps connection for it to work optimally

I've got a wireless g connection and it works pretty well. not too much stuttering. playing back thru wmp. i recently downloaded btv link and am having a hell of a time getting it going. my btv versionm is 3.5.1 and link is 3.5.2, could this be a problem. not sure if i want to go with 3.5.2 yet until more of the bugs are worked out.

[DrCool]

if you've downloaded and tested out the trial version of link (yes BTV Link and BTV must be the SAME version for it to work), you'd understand why it requires so much bandwidth. It's essentially giving you a remote BTV.. you get 90% of the options you get with BTV on the remote system.

[TinMan!]

Originally Posted by DrCool

if you've downloaded and tested out the trial version of link (yes BTV Link and BTV must be the SAME version for it to work), you'd understand why it requires so much bandwidth. It's essentially giving you a remote BTV.. you get 90% of the options you get with BTV on the remote system.

I think BTV Link is horrible when it comes to bandwidth. I can "stream" just as easily by opening one of BTV's MPEG files over a network share. Unless I'm mistaken, BTV Link doesn't even buffer the incoming data, making marginal (e.g., wireless) connections unusable (to me). I realize that a buffer interferes with PVR features (RW, FF, etc.), but if the video is otherwise unwatchable those features are meaningless.

I am currently evaluating BTV Link and about the only thing it gives me, that the Web Admin and WMP do not, is (sub-par) live TV. I can make Link work somewhat satisfactorily if I set BTV's recording bitrate very low. The problem with this is that I'm then stuck with that setting for everything.

I'd be much more likely to purchase BTV Link if it actually did something extra on the BTV server end (e.g., transcode to lower bitrates as needed, or even just plain old buffering). For $100 I can buy Hauppauge's Media MVP. Granted most of that money is for the hardware, but it does include software that does on-the-fly transcoding. BTV Link would have more value to me if could do likewise (I realize there'd be a CPU-load increase, but I can spare that). At present, I see very little value for the money in BTV Link. IMHO, YMMV, etc., etc.


-Mike

[Edgarmoon]

I have played mpeg files off remote computers (streaming) but did not try it with wifi, just wired, I need to try that tonight. I beleive the wifi runs at 11 mbps and LAN is 100 (I forget the actual numbers), but I see no reason why you should have trouble streaming a 4-6 mbps mpeg file over Wifi.

Livetv is a different issue, you need a program that reads DAT files remotely as mpg, I've found players that will do this but they can't change channels and navigation (ff and rew) suck. They also do not stream livetv over wifi, so it's not isolated to btv link. Again, I haven't tried streaming recorded shows over wifi with Zoom or WMP, got to see how that works. You'd think recorded shows should not be an issue, as long as you have decent hardware.

[TinMan!]

Originally Posted by Edgarmoon

I have played mpeg files off remote computers (streaming) but did not try it with wifi, just wired, I need to try that tonight. I beleive the wifi runs at 11 mbps and LAN is 100 (I forget the actual numbers), but I see no reason why you should have trouble streaming a 4-6 mbps mpeg file over Wifi.

Regular WiFi (802.11b) is, technically, 11 mbps. However, the real world speed is more like 4.5 mbps, on a good day. There is also overhead needed to keep things running smoothly, so all of that bandwidth is not usable by BTV. In other words, I seriously doubt you'll be able to stream 4-6 mbps over it--not without heavy buffering (which Link does not appear to do).

But in my case, I don't use 802.11b; I instead use 802.11g (which runs at 54 mbps, with a real world speed of 18 mbps). Even at this speed I can't stream 6 Mbps using BTV Link--without stuttering. Perhaps others tolerate a certain amount of stuttering, but for me it's extremely annoying and I don't think I can tolerate any of it (I can handle a few glitches, but not stuttering every few minutes or so).

I think the problem is that MPEG2 is not that efficient by today's standards, and a decent quality bitrate is just too high to stream properly wirelessly (especially without buffering). I guess I was hoping Link had some kind of transcoding functionality (like on-the-fly WMV conversion), but it appears to just play, unmodified, what BTV records.

I wonder if I can access Media MVP's "server" (in this case, it would be my BTV PC) without going through the hardware device? Or for that matter, does anyone know an app that does transcoding on-the-fly?

If Link had buffering capability I don't believe I would have a problem at all. YMMV.


Regards,
Mike