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

Chris Pinkham cpinkham at bc2va.org
Mon Jan 4 03:59:39 UTC 2010


* On Sun Jan 03, 2010 at 08:58:02PM -0500, Christopher X. Candreva wrote:
> 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.
> 
> But, it can't be impossible. It hit me today: Internet game servers manage 
> to synchronize multiple players in real-time games. The lowly Wii can have 

This idea is something I worked on about 3 years ago.  I even had a proof of
concept patch, but am not sure if I still have it around.  The concept was
that from one frontend, you could 'follow' another frontend.  The primary
frontend would send out broadcast messages saying what program it was
playing along with the current playback position and speed.  The follower
frontend would play the same recording and adjust it's playback speed
automatically so that it kept in sync with the primary frontend.  My initial
thought as to a use for this was SuperBowl parties, but it has a lot more
uses.  Theoretically, you could also have a switch command that would switch
to making a new frontend the primary.  Since the follower(s) sync with the
master, you could fast-forward, rewind, pause, skip commercials, etc. from
the master and the same action would be taken on the follower(s).  I still
have this on my TODO list, but it's way way down the list.  If someone
wants to implement such an idea, I'm willing to discuss and patches are
welcome.

--
Chris Pinkham


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