[mythtv-users] mythtv and slingbox streaming from a colo.

[Brian Wood]

On Jun 29, 2006, at 9:37 PM, Say It wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I have a slingbox at a colocation center connected to
> a cable TV source.  I then use the slingbox client
> software to view TV from home (ie., no cable TV
> available at home).
>
> I want to put in a myth tv box at home so that I can
> record TV shows (hopefully off-hours when there is
> spare bandwidth), skip commericals, etc.
>
> What is the best way to do this?
>
> cable TV source: colo/slingbox --> Internet -->
> Slingbox Client (MS Windows) --> MythTV -->
> Television.
>
> Is the above possible?  I'm not sure how I can connect
> the slingbox output into a MythTV box, control channel
> changes, etc.  I guess the video out of the MS Windows
> machine will plug into the video in of the MythTV box
> (linux)?   Any thoughts?
>
> I guess I could get rid of the slingbox and put in a
> mythtv box at the colo and then stream the mythtv back
> to home to another mythtv box? is that right?  How
> well does MythTV stream?  On the slingbox, I seem to
> get decent image quality at about 600kbps.  The
> slingbox footprint is very small, so I'd prefer to
> keep it in the colo.
>
> Any thoughts appreciated.


I suppose if you could get a TV output of your Windows Sling client  
you could feed that into a capture card of a Myth system, might be a  
bit of trouble to hack something up so Myth could change channels etc.

But the Sling output that I've seen, while barely passable for  
watching, is not something I'd want to record and/or archive, and  
getting true RS-170a video standards out of a PC is problematic.

Obviously the better the signal you can feed into the Myth machine  
the happier everything will be.

So the best technical answer would be to put the Myth box at the colo  
site, you could control it through the telnet interface and save a  
lot of custom work trying to get Myth to control a Sling system.

I wonder if you would run afoul of standard residential cable service  
agreements though, since the service is not being delivered to a  
"residence" I can see several possible problems.

Interesting idea for a business enterprise though, to sell service to  
folks unable to get a cable connection, but they would probably be  
better off just going with satellite or one of the internet-delivered  
services.

You might also want to look into Akimbo, about 1/3 the cost of cable,  
a lot of cable's functionality and no equipment required at a colo or  
elsewhere, just your home. No commercial skip capability but OTOH  
there are no commercials to skip :-)