Streaming question (LAN or no LAN??)

[Gemini1706]

I am using WinXP Pro SP2.

I will give it a try tonight. Hope it works.

otherwise, VLC should be ok for now.

[K.S.]

as long as you don't know how they have locked it, your chances are pretty small. do you have something like checkpoint secure client installed? if that's the case, they could enforce any network policy (i.e. only connect to company vpn gateway, all traffic goes through our company network, no other connects allowed) & you have allmost no chance to connect to your gbpvr server.
simple test: your laptop gets a IP assigned from your router, if it's within the same subnet as your gbpvr box, you should be able to ping your box (given that you don't have any desktop firewalls blocking that), if that's possible, you could get gbpvr running, it's only a matter of configuring access (i.e. local user/pwd must match or save credentials etc...)

[|)uffman]

I am under the impression that I need to have a local-area-network setup to be able to stream using gbpvr client-server setup.

Are you set on this option, or would you be happy streaming through a website? The webadmin works great and allows a lot of functionality that is dumbed down in PVR mode.

I cannot create a LAN setup at home because the other computer is my work laptop which they do not allow (I do not know how they disbaled it) it to network in a home-style-network.

You already have a LAN setup at home if you can connect to your router. I'm assuming you can plug into it and surf the internet?

Depending on the complexity of your security setup, you are probably restricted via a firewall to only accessing certain ports at certain ip addresses. Go "Start" "Run" "cmd" "ipconfig" and figure out what your "local" ip addres is. Do this at work too. They are probably totally different. Try to find out the ip address of a file or intranet server at work.

Expect I cannot create a LAN.

Again, you already have a LAN you just need to work within the firewall constraints on your laptop. The Windows Network Places and Workgroups are a waste of time. Just figure out the ip addresses.

I would recommend using the web streaming, but another way to get around your work firewall is to set your home IP addresses and user names to match your work. If they don't use fancy access control you can probably spoof your laptop into thinking it is connecting to a server at work when it is in fact connecting to your PVR's network drive. I don't know what ports the client/server config uses though so this method may not be possible.

However, I can't see why the web streaming wouldn't work (assuming you have internet access):

GBPVR Computer Config

You do need VLC to enable web streaming. Install it with defaults and uncheck "filetypes" if you don't want to use it as a player (Media Player Classic is better imho).

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Enable the GBPVR webadmin on port 12345 in config.exe

Check that it works by going to this url:

http://localhost:12345

You should see "Stream" as an option in manage videos. Test this out. I stream using Windows Media Player as an "external player" (ASF, WMV-1, MP3). I found this works on the widest range of computers.

Open port 12345 on the server (or disable firewall) and on your router. If your work has a tricky firewall, try using port 80 as the GBPVR port. This won't be not blocked if you can use the internet on the laptop at home.

Laptop Config

Find out your home's public IP address:

http://www.myipaddress.com

Say it is 43.156.33.55

Put this URL in your laptop browser:

http://43.156.33.55:12345

(OR if you used port 80 you don't need the :12345 so the url would be http://43.156.33.55)

no-ip.com has a free service & client so you can use DDNS (see your router settings) and register an internet name to use instead of the IP number. Your home IP may change often depending on your ISP.

I use this method to stream at work and home and they both work fine. Home is a lot faster being on the same router as the server. I can't really notice a difference if I use local ip addresses vs. public, but I stream at a fairly low quality (bad upload rates here).

[|)uffman]

Can you install software on your LT? I'm assuming you can because you've installed GBPVR.

Check out VMware. It will allow you to have your own install of windows running within you Laptop's OS. It will have its own IP address and no firewall.

I will use one of these when I'm connected to a VPN so I don't get locked out of my LAN.

[Gemini1706]

Thanks a lot l)uffman. Lots of good tips.

I installed VLC and it works perfect

Thanks everyone for help.