The Ultimate Plugin?

[Coffeebean]

i have just found this program and have not had a chance to try it yet but it looks wicked! i have a suggestion for a plugin which i read about on the MythTV forum and think is a fantastic idea.

This plugin uses bit torrent protocols to contact other gbPVR users machines to see if they are going to record or have recorded a certian show. This would therefore allow for the resolution of recording conflicts for those with not enough capture cards.

For example i wanted to record the simpsons and CSI, which are both on at the same time but only have one capture card. Normally you would have to decide, however with this plugin my PVR rig could contact my mate "Bobs" PVR over the net and find out that he too is recording CSI. My PVR would then record the Simpsons and at the end of CSI download this recording from Bobs PVR.

I think that this would be one of the finest plugins available and would make GBPVR the most desrable windows based PVR around.

Thanks and keep up the good work

[jorm]

I was thinking about doing something similar to that. I haven't yet looked at the bit torrent protocol.

You would also need a list of friends machines ip addresses, since most people have only dynamic addressed I thought about writing a server app that a single friend with a static ip can run that would allow you to search your friends machines or if permissions allow set a recording on their machine if they have no conflict. It would act as a bridge.

It would then stream the movie over at some prescheduled time.

We might have an external app that is listening on the bit torent port for a request. This would faciliate testing since I can do everything locally.

I have been meaning to start a thread for this to get requirements for this functionality. If anyone has any ideas, suggestions or requirements please post.


Jared

[CodeMonkey]

Wow what a great idea for a plugin.  I could see a even better scenerio than the one given.  Instead of your mates box getting checked for the show, how about users who have multiple GBPVR boxes in their house!  

I doubt bit torrent is the way to go protocol wise.  That works well when you have large numbers of computers sharing the same file.  But for downloading point to point it wouldn't be of much value.  I would think the good old FTP protocol would work just fine.

You could have the configuration dialog hold the list of IPs that would get searched.  

This could even be extended to show a list of recordings on the other machines and allow downloads. So I could watch some New Zealand Cricket and sub could watch some American Football!

Sweet!  This sounds like a fun one!

Oh, and there are redirector web sites (some free too I believe) for people with dynamic IPs where they can get a name assigned.  When the plugin starts it would just get its current IP, and if it changed update the redirector.  The friends would just store this assigned name, and the redirector would send them to the right place.

[sub]

I'm happy to act as a central "naming" host (via some simple roll-your-own protocol) so people can find each others machines, even if they have dynamic IP address.

Would all your video be shared, or just a certain folder on your hard disc, or some other mechanism?

Considering most content is large MPEG2 video, I suspect I'd blow my 5GB monthly broadband limit after about 2hrs of video

[CodeMonkey]

Quote[/b] (sub @ Aug. 27 2004,08:55)]Considering most content is large MPEG2 video, I suspect I'd blow my 5GB monthly broadband limit after about 2hrs of video

Gotta get a unlimited account like cable modem here. Might be able to finally use all that lovely bandwidth I have access too

[sub]

I'm on 2mbps cable, so its nice and fast to burn through my 5GB limit. They also offer 10GB plans, but at half the speed.

[jorm]

I know that my cable internet provider does have a maximum limit. They claim it is unlimited, but I have read articles from people whom receive a notice that the account is cancelled.

This functionality would be great if you wanted to share movies at in a network like work, school or to your neighbors.

[colin]

This does sound like a fascinating plugin. Essentially if you defined a protocol then it could be used not only between GBPVR machines but any computer based PVR machines.

What I do wonder is the legality of this?

That aside, I think this would be a cool project.

Colin.

[jorm]

Probably illegal. Imagine if someone taped HBO and made it available. That is why if we do develop this application we should probably design it to work with a private network maybe just your friends rather than create the movie version of original napster.

I am very familiar with Java so I am tempted to develop it in there and probably could through together a basic application to do a basic protocal and some basic file transfer with retry in a few days (once I start it).

I wonder if we should setup a Web CVS and see if anyone else wants to contribute. We can divide the tasks if anyone else is interested.

I am trying to determine how people would use it so I can build my requirements from it.

I would think you would want to password a machine so you need the password to access it.

Automatic mode (you pick the show you like and it will download the show from your network every night (If it changed ) ).

[CodeMonkey]

It's peer to peer so, at least as of today, the app is legal to exist (even in the US with GWB as president ). It would, I imagine, be illegal to get/send shows that aren't free over the air (like HBO). But that's a user issue, not a app issue.

Why develop a protocol? Just use FTP. WinInet already has the client side implemented. Plus with FTP you get nice things like resume. Also, the login/password would be handled by the ftp server. There is free FTP server code out there in C++. Some might exist in C# as well.

Also no point for java (IMHO), just use C# or C++. C# is basically java anyway