help me develop this idea plz

[archaeic_bloke]

hey guys, in my never ending quest to find a device or way that i can me PC as a server for movies and songs and such..(IE ive got 600 gigs of media i wanna be able to access over the internet...have it stream to my laptop where ever i am in the world)... ive come across this thing called a "slingbox" (http://www.slingmedia.com/) it seemed at first to be the key.. HOWEVER..no mention of it streamin PC material..wondering if anyones tried this.. or has a solution? from what i understand from reviews and they`re site is that it accepts S-video and RCA etc and audio in.. and jsut streams it out to the net where u can access it.. but ... if its hooked up to a PC..could it some how possibly control the PC and tell the PC to put on certain movies etc?

this is the only way i could see it working.. lemme know what u think of this IDEA..
1)a PC with massive HDD (on all the time) filled with tons of video and music and pics...
2)PC is running Windows media center
3)the PC has an infared port and a remote control which can be used to select different viewing options in media center (is this posisble?)
4)the sling box is scanning the Pc's infred port and then communicating with it... then through sling medias software (which has a "virtual remote" (pic of remote on ur laptop screen) u can click a button on ur laptop remote screen thing.. sling box will tell the media center PC to turn on a video...
5)the video will be sent from the PC via S-video to the sling box and then to ur laptop somewhere else in the world...


WOULD THIS SETUP WORK? i guess my question is... does windows media support remote controls first of all, and second.. would slingbox know how to communicate with media centers remote?

thanks guys..i know this is an inspiring topic so feel free to add on eh..this is my first attempt at reconciling this situation with sling..

[Omega]

If you want to view your stuff from anywhere, the solution is simple and free.


VNC.

VNC lets you remotely connect to your computer, as long as your PC runs the server, and you have the client.


google for RealVNC, that's what i use.



Keep in mind, you will have to set up ports/passwords in the server program, plus you will have to open the ports up on your firewall (all of them, if you have more than one, but mostly do a port redirect on your router), And if you want, get a no-ip.org domain so there's no ip address showing.



I often access my PC from school via VNC, but i turn off the server when i get home. =]






Enjoy.

[opengswede]

you could use mythtv, it uses a backend and a frontend, the backend handles the media and the frontend the GUI and output. these two do not necessarily need to be on the same machine.

But this would mean you need Linux.

ssh tunneling could work too, i'm not sure about sending remote information and such (i'm sure it can be done, but finding the libraries programmed for it might be the difficult part).

my $.02
-.erik

[Rankenphile]

Hamachi (http://www.hamachi.cc/) is a great free VPN program that allows you to basically network any computers you want over any broadband connection. I use it all the time with some friends of mine to create virtual lans for games and such. Works absolutely fantastic, is totally secure and is very cool in that it doesn't split your data across multiple packets the way that many VPNs do, but encrypts it and bundles your packets as it would across a normal LAN.

[onelegout]

FTP server?

[archaeic_bloke]

wow guys, im really impressed, i come from another forum and this same post was up there 3 days...70 somthiung ppl read it and no one even replied.. BS, thanks alot guys,
anyways, bottom line.. i thought of an FTP server.. its more trouble then its worth.. as for the linux.. im a bobo when it comes to code of anything other than html... ill hafta pass on that tunneling buisness.. how ever... the hamachi and the VNC sound like they might be good, ill give both a try and get back to u guys very shortly.. just so u know.. im an overclocker, mainly a hardware guy so i can help u out with that... im also in the process of building a PC into a mini fridge..:D beer and games.. aw yea.. just gotta work out condensation issues... trhanks again.. be back soon

[archaeic_bloke]

ok i tried hamachi, seems like a very good program, and i can use my PC to get to other pc's and use their stuff, how ever... no one elses can get into mine.. i went into the HDD properties and allowed sharing over network etc... anyone know what to do form here on? thanks. it says "xx.xx.xx.xxx" (the adddress) the path is not found" etc.. thanks..

[Rankenphile]

Hmmm... I'll have to look around at my settings when I got home.

Glad we could help you out. I'll see what I can do to get you up and runnig the rest of the way.

[Cannibal23]

for media streaming do a google search for for the following

"windows media"+"mms"

there is a microsloth product to do this i think its called windows media services. that should point you in the right direction.

[OvRiDe]

Another solution to for streaming is VLC. It runs in both linux and windows. I have been messing with it so that I can stream videos to my pda, unfortunately the ppc version isnt very robust, but it works great on my laptop. The only other issue is automating the process of using VOD (video on demand) with it.

Good luck, looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

One other note.. I think one of the guys at work is doing something similar with a Snapstream product. Unfortunately yesterday was his last day so I dunno if I can get a hold of him. I bet if you google it, you could probably come up with the proper information.

[archaeic_bloke]

ok so i think ive got it all figured out, hamachi is an awesome program, the way it works, u have to set folder permissions on the host computer and share anything u want ppl to have access too, easy enuff, and im pretty sure that i need to re-install windows cause i messed with the registry a while back to enable advanced file sharing options.. like specific permissions and such to block out unfreindlies.. and it seems ive blocked out everyone on my netowrk..lol, anyway i tried it with my 2 other machine seperatley and it works well, thanks so much,,

[nil8]

As long as you have local administrative access to the files in question, you don't have to reinstall windows. Just right click on the file, go to sharing & security under properties, then click the permissions tab. Setup who you want to access the file/folder on your network. If it is a local account the user on the network must login under that account.

If you need this clarified, pm me.

[Rankenphile]

Glad it worked out for you. Hamachi is great, I first heard about it on Security Now!, a great podcast by Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte. Steve is a hard-core security and encryption guy and has personally verified that this program is secure, and if there is anyone I trust when it comes to computer security it is him.

[opengswede]

... if there is anyone I trust when it comes to computer security it is him.

no offence to Steve Gibson, but that got to be in the class of famous last words.:D

-.erik

[Rankenphile]

And that, my friend, is what I call, "Tempting Fate."

[archaeic_bloke]

ok so after mesing with hamachi for a bit, i find that it really cant go very fast, it only transfers at about 4k/s which is kind useless when im trying to get videos to play, anyone else seen it go faster? i have broadband DSL.. seen it go 2000k/s before.. no probelsm.. thanks