LiveTV copied to client

[NumberFive]

Aye, but it's not the same functionality I'm talking about. If I change the channel on the master TV, the channel doesn't change on the slaves. You need to change them over manually too. Also features like pausing, rewinding etc wouldn't be mirrored.

[NumberFive]

Just been playing with the NEWA streaming function, and it occured that this "Copy Live TV from Server to Client" system could be accomplished with a VLC stream such as:

http://<server>:8866/live?channel=server

If nothing is currently on, it could just error out, or go to the last channel that was watched on the server.

I admit, this wouldn't work if your main household TV wasn't on the server PC. But it's an idea!

[whurlston]

You don't want a client machine. What you want is a video distribution system. You can buy 1x8 HDMI splitters for under $100 USD. That will distribute it to 8 different displays. You can use an IR repeater if you want to control it from all 8 locations.

Honestly, this functionality is the absolute last thing I would like to see added to software.

[NumberFive]

Hi whurlston,

No I don't particularly want what you suggest because it would require me to rewire my house. I'd much rather do it with the client systems I already have in place.

You can basically already achieve what I want if you play the LiveTV buffer file from the server over the network, it works rather well (demonstrating that it is feasible).

I just thought it would be neat to have a plugin that allowed you to do this via the NPVR interface.

[Sykor]

Although feasible, the structure you're aiming would probably prove extremely taxing on the server itself (controlling multiples feeds of the same broadcast to the various peers, and keeping them in sync).

A few years ago I saw a (mouth-watering) video demonstration of a "smart home" case study (I believe that's the correct wording), around LinuxMCE and it's home automation features, including the "Follow Me" feature. IIRC correctly each remote control is uniquely identified, and has a "Follow Me" command, when moving from one room to another with a LinuxMCE client pressing that button would transfer that user's media playing operation (music, video, whatever) from the previous room's client, to the one in the current room.

Mouth-watering as it was, and again IIRC, most features only worked with very specific hardware (ie, specific remotes).

Edit: a quick glance through their site, and it seems they've expanded the "follow me" detection options.

[NumberFive]

Surely it couldn't be as taxing as streaming 4x 1080i channels and 10x SD channels simultaneously.

I did this once just as an experiment to see could it be done. It could!