2013-07-02, 18:40
Ok, after I purchased my tuner one of the first things I wanted to be able to was to give myself remote access to the tuners from ANYWHERE... I've seen countless threads regarding this.. any option I've seen, not too user friendly to really use.. I came up with a solution that is pretty user friendly...
I did this using old PC parts I had kicking around and a extra raspberry pi.. Nothing with any real hardware capabilities behind it and still runs beautifully, (no HD though due to hardware)..
Now to start, I'm not going to explain every little detail, like port forwarding, steaming with vlc, using whatever OS you decide to use, making strm and nfo files.. etc... there are plenty of resources available for this... I'm just sharing the concept for those interested in a different option.
Hardware used:
Raspberry Pi
Old P4 PC (think used a 2.0 Ghz with 512Mb Ram) (running on Ubuntu streams fine)
Old BS PCI tuner card
What I did:
setup openelec and HD HomeRun Prime on the RasPi, using the a/v outputs to go to the tuner card on the extra pc.. use vlc to stream the PCI card (not the HomeRun) from the PC and additionally transcode (this splitting up of the transcoding of the tv stream and the remote stream allows for less powerful hardware to be used). Created a strm file to access my vlc stream from the remote device (I use my FTP server as a media source on my remote devices and just added the strm file into the tv directory on the server with a nfo file so it shows up under the TV shows menu as "My Home TV").. That's the gist of the actual stream..
Controlling it:
After getting the steam to function, I had a issue with changing channels and controlling the setup remotely.. there is a lag that made navigating the menus with the arrows a pain in the a@@.. Setup the raspi's xbmc web controls.. forward the ports on router to allow you to control the raspberry with your phone with any xbmc remote apps on the market. This now lets you control the RasPi, but like I said the lag will get under your skin when trying to navigate..
My solution (on the RasPi side of things!!).. Created strm files to each channel on the HD HomeRun Prime, along with nfo for each file, so now each channel appears in the TV Shows menu (I named the show "Live TV" each season number represents the tuner number, and the episode number corresponds to the actual channel number with the episode name being the channel name (example Live TV > Season 1> episode 70 "ESPN" means Tuner 1, Channel 70 which is ESPN) By doing this, each channel will be listed in the web interface on the XBMC remote app, and makes it as easy as just selecting the channel on your phone under the TV shows listing rather than navigating the menus on the actual pi..
Now I leave the setup running 24/7 to have access when ever, as I have Fios new Quantum speed so I have plenty of upload speed available..
I did this using old PC parts I had kicking around and a extra raspberry pi.. Nothing with any real hardware capabilities behind it and still runs beautifully, (no HD though due to hardware)..
Now to start, I'm not going to explain every little detail, like port forwarding, steaming with vlc, using whatever OS you decide to use, making strm and nfo files.. etc... there are plenty of resources available for this... I'm just sharing the concept for those interested in a different option.
Hardware used:
Raspberry Pi
Old P4 PC (think used a 2.0 Ghz with 512Mb Ram) (running on Ubuntu streams fine)
Old BS PCI tuner card
What I did:
setup openelec and HD HomeRun Prime on the RasPi, using the a/v outputs to go to the tuner card on the extra pc.. use vlc to stream the PCI card (not the HomeRun) from the PC and additionally transcode (this splitting up of the transcoding of the tv stream and the remote stream allows for less powerful hardware to be used). Created a strm file to access my vlc stream from the remote device (I use my FTP server as a media source on my remote devices and just added the strm file into the tv directory on the server with a nfo file so it shows up under the TV shows menu as "My Home TV").. That's the gist of the actual stream..
Controlling it:
After getting the steam to function, I had a issue with changing channels and controlling the setup remotely.. there is a lag that made navigating the menus with the arrows a pain in the a@@.. Setup the raspi's xbmc web controls.. forward the ports on router to allow you to control the raspberry with your phone with any xbmc remote apps on the market. This now lets you control the RasPi, but like I said the lag will get under your skin when trying to navigate..
My solution (on the RasPi side of things!!).. Created strm files to each channel on the HD HomeRun Prime, along with nfo for each file, so now each channel appears in the TV Shows menu (I named the show "Live TV" each season number represents the tuner number, and the episode number corresponds to the actual channel number with the episode name being the channel name (example Live TV > Season 1> episode 70 "ESPN" means Tuner 1, Channel 70 which is ESPN) By doing this, each channel will be listed in the web interface on the XBMC remote app, and makes it as easy as just selecting the channel on your phone under the TV shows listing rather than navigating the menus on the actual pi..
Now I leave the setup running 24/7 to have access when ever, as I have Fios new Quantum speed so I have plenty of upload speed available..