Help me understand client/server setup

[sun4384]

I searched and read almost all support forum articles about client/server setup, and now I know how to set that up, but still a few things are not clear to me. Help me understand the followings: (BTW, I'm using HVR-1600 to tune QAM signals. The following questions assume Live TV Preview Mode.)

1. On the server side, what's happening? Does the server perform any extra work for the client/server mode, like writing video data to files?

2. What's the difference between streaming and file sharing mode? Which one is better for what kind of situation?

3. How long is the extra delay for watching Live TV, assuming the network connection is very fast and reliable like gigabit ethernet? What about the channel change delay?

4. Is it possible to use multiple clients with one server? Can they connect to the server simultaneously?

5. Is it possible to use other media player applications as clients? If so, how do the channel change and TV Guide work?

6. With 1.1.5 version, is watching Live HD channels (or SD channels) on the client side possible?

7. What's the hardware requirement for a client and a server? As long as I understand, the client side should have enough video rendering capability (not much of CPU power, but reasonably powerful video card), whereas the server should have enough video encoding capability (CPU dependent - but not seriously high, and any video chipset is ok). Is this correct?

8. Is the timeshift mode work with client/server setup? If so, will this improve the usability of clients over wireless network?

[sub]

1. On the server side, what's happening? Does the server perform any extra work for the client/server mode, like writing video data to files?

I assume you're referring to live tv. Its the same as running timeshift mode locally on the server. ie, the recording service records tv to disk and the client plays that recording.

2. What's the difference between streaming and file sharing mode? Which one is better for what kind of situation?

File sharing mode acts the same way as timeshift on a single machine setup, playing back the live tv files as they record, but does it from a share on the server rather than local disk. Streaming mode passes that same data via TCP/IP rather than requiring a share to be present.

File sharing mode is required if you're using non-".mpg" files. (.dvr-ms, .avi etc)

I find streaming mode smoother, but it is slower to skip to other parts of the file. File Sharing mode is not possible for live tv if you use a dvr-ms mux.

3. How long is the extra delay for watching Live TV, assuming the network connection is very fast and reliable like gigabit ethernet? What about the channel change delay?

To be honest, its pretty slow to change channels. It'd be pretty normal to take 5-10 seconds to change channels.

LiveTV wasnt really a main focus for me for this client/server feature. It was implemented to make it possible for me to watch recordings from other TVs in the house.

4. Is it possible to use multiple clients with one server? Can they connect to the server simultaneously?

Yes.

5. Is it possible to use other media player applications as clients?

No.

6. With 1.1.5 version, is watching Live HD channels (or SD channels) on the client side possible?

I think most people have problems trying to do HD ATSC live tv, but SD and playback of existing HD recordings should be fine.

7. What's the hardware requirement for a client and a server? As long as I understand, the client side should have enough video rendering capability (not much of CPU power, but reasonably powerful video card), whereas the server should have enough video encoding capability (CPU dependent - but not seriously high, and any video chipset is ok). Is this correct?

The hardware requirements of client is about the same as a regular GB-PVR install. Maybe a 1.2GHz PIII or higher CPU, 512MB RAM, reasonaly powerful video card.

8. Is the timeshift mode work with client/server setup? If so, will this improve the usability of clients over wireless network?

Timeshift mode is always used when you try to watch live tv on a client PC.

[stefan]

File sharing mode is required if you're using non-".mpg" files. (.dvr-ms, .avi etc)

File Sharing mode is not possible for live tv if you use a dvr-ms mux.

To me, this sounds like a contradiction. Did you really mean what you wrote here?

[sub]

Yes, I didnt mean what I wrote. Both of those statements are correct. Effectively if you're using the the dvr-ms mux, then you playback .dvr-ms recordings, but you cant watch live tv.

Its not possible to play dvr-ms files from another machine while they're still recording because Microsoft uses some shared memory to let the playing process know the length of the file. Shared memory is only accessible by other processes running on the same machine.

[stefan]

Effectively if you're using the the dvr-ms mux, then you playback .dvr-ms recordings, but you cant watch live tv.

Its not possible to play dvr-ms files from another machine while they're still recording because Microsoft uses some shared memory to let the playing process know the length of the file. Shared memory is only accessible by other processes running on the same machine.

Ok... got it.

[sun4384]

Actually I don't get the dvr-ms part :confused:...
So, if I'm using dvr-ms mux for Live TV client/server setup, should I choose streaming mode?

For the HD channels, why do people experience problems? Any known solutions (more powerful CPU/VIDEO, higher bandwidth, faster disk, or anything)?

For the channel change, any known ways to reduce the delay?

[sub]

Actually I don't get the dvr-ms part ...
So, if I'm using dvr-ms mux for Live TV client/server setup, should I choose streaming mode?

No. The streaming mode only works with .mpg files.

Basically you cant use the dvr-ms mux if you need to do live tv.

For the HD channels, why do people experience problems? Any known solutions (more powerful CPU/VIDEO, higher bandwidth, faster disk, or anything)?

The most common problem relates to the DVR-MS mux. Most north american HD users use the DVR-MS mux. Unfortunately microsoft uses shared memory for communicating between DVR-MS components while the file is still recording. This shared memory is obviously not accessable from another machine, effectively meaning you cant play one of these .dvr-ms files while it is still recording (which is required for live tv).

Unfortunately the other muxes dont cope as well as the DVR-MS mux for high def content.

For the channel change, any known ways to reduce the delay?

No, not that I know of.

[observer_11]

I don't want to hijack this thread but I also have a question related to 'understanding how client/server setup works':

When we use a client to schedule a recording, is it possible to have the client turned off when the recording event occurs? In other words, after I have used the client to setup/schedule a recording event, can the server then do EVERYTHING else related to the upcoming recording? (I hope this question makes sense )

[martint123]

When we use a client to schedule a recording, is it possible to have the client turned off when the recording event occurs?

Yup, it just (just!) tells the server to schedule that show and then it's just down to the recording service on the server to do everything else.

[observer_11]

Yup, it just (just!) tells the server to schedule that show and then it's just down to the recording service on the server to do everything else.

Excellent - that makes sense. Come to think of it, I wonder why we need a recording service running at all on clients?