[mythtv-users] Way out idea on watching same thing in multiple rooms

tortise at paradise.net.nz tortise at paradise.net.nz
Mon Jan 4 03:43:02 UTC 2010


Kind regards
David Hingston

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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Christopher X. Candreva" <chris at westnet.com>
To: "Discussion about mythtv" <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 2:58 PM
Subject: [mythtv-users] Way out idea on watching same thing in multiple rooms



I've seen it asked a few times how to 'stream' content from one room to
another, and the answer is always "You can't". And rightly so I would think,
trying to synchronize two streams is usually very difficult.
.....
Conceptually then: A frontend decides to play something back (Video, TV,
music playlist) and make "Syncable". The frontend would have to send it's
position updates to the backend: Maybe it's frame number, time code, that I
don't know.

Other frontends would then have the option of browsing what was currently
being watched elsewhere, and joining them. That frontend would read the
media however it normally does (NFS, SMB, etc), but also receive the
position updates from the backend, so it can stay in sync. If the 'master'
frontend for that content pauses, so does every other frontend.

So what can you do with this ?  How about a co-ordinated whole-house
jukebox  system. Everyone wants to listen to the same think and have the
same music playing as you walk from room to room, and also be able to add
songs to the playlist from any room.

Or in my case, have a movie playing in both the living room and the
basement gameroom.



==========================================================
Chris Candreva  -- chris at westnet.com -- (914) 948-3162
WestNet Internet Services of Westchester
http://www.westnet.com/
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Hi Chris
Great to see others interested in this too.  See my recent posts about how this might work.  I think the elegant and proper answer 
lies in multicast streams, either from the FE or perhaps preferably the BE.  Using multicast quite simply avoids any sync issues. 
Nick Rout made a suggestion that might work, using VLC multicast streaming from a FE, when content's been saved in some suitable 
form somewhere...  (I've been away and unable to test...yet)  This might work as an interim answer however it would be better 
integrated within the myth code.  How multicast streams might work from a user perspective requires some consideration - as you 
allude to.  Should all streams simply be multicast?  Some LAN's would probably fall over, esp. with wireless routers connected.... 
VLAN's might be one answer however that's getting pretty smart for a home environ.  Seems flexibility would be essential.  VLC 
generated multicast itself seems to work well, at least on the content I tested. 



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