kubi789 Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Looking for suggestions - So I live in 1 house and my parents live in another. I would like to share videos with my parents in the easiest way possible. I was thinking perhaps a media server on my end, however, I am unsure how to hook them up on their end (Remember- I want this to be easy for them to access. I know they don't know how to SSH or VPN). I want to provide the content to their television as opposed to them huddled around a small laptop screen. I've been looking into the possibility of a pogoplug or even a Roku to provide them such content. Has anyone had any success with such a model? And what type of network would best be used to set this up? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispinto Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 You could still use a VPN. Just set it up for them and get it to start at boot. Then just map them a drive to it. Seamless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kubi789 Posted March 10, 2012 Author Share Posted March 10, 2012 Then what would I used to play the videos? Or pictures? I would prefer not to set up a HTPC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakem1 Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 How fast are the internet connections at both houses because unless they're very fast I can't really see this working very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Rose Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Look into Orb. I have it setup on my DVR computer and I can stream music and videos anywhere. It's easy to setup and free http://www.orb.com/ https://winamp.orb.com/orb/html/login.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PNWDweller Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 I have a Blu-Ray Player which is internet aware. I can use that to connect to any server I set up at home for media. So for example, it will acquire pictures, music and even videos from my computer if I choose to set up a server. For music, I ran across a server called Vortex Media Server which has some experimental support for movies, but basically, you take a spare PC (I set one up on an old 1.5ghz P4 with 1GB of Ram), and install it on there. Set up the data partitions, and then when ready, insert your CD, it will auto-rip it and store it to your server. Since the server is not streaming, rather serving the video/audio file, the connection speed isn't as important. More info here: VORTEX Not saying this is the bets solution, but IMHO, it is a good place to start. Also, my blu-ray player (Samsung), has a media portal you can download to share everything to the player with. SO, if their TV has a similar capability, you can use the software they supply on their web site. Otherwise, I would think Roku would have a nice server type of set up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kubi789 Posted March 10, 2012 Author Share Posted March 10, 2012 How fast are the internet connections at both houses because unless they're very fast I can't really see this working very well. I have Verizon FIOS, so I know my internet upload speed is better than most.Orb looks interesting. I will have to read more about that. Does pogoplug allow a user to upload files from a remote location? Or is pogoplug only intended to be used locally and serve the files remotely? Vortex also looks interesting. I have a Sheevaplug that I might be able to couple with Vortex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted March 10, 2012 MVC Share Posted March 10, 2012 "upload speed is better than most." Which means what? I show they have a 15/5 plan -- 5mbps not really fast enough to stream video to their tv over your connection in real time. Now if your on say the 35Mbps plan your looking a bit better than wireless G. /8 your talking using YOUR WHOLE PIPE mind you 4.375MBps -- that would not really stream HD very will. Now if you want to copy your library over to their house then sure even 5Mbps would work -- but sorry here in the US the upload side of the bandwidth does not play will with what your wanting to do. What is their download speed btw?? Does not matter if you had 100Mbps up if they are on AOL dial for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xoligy Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Your upload speed is better than most? If you say so.... upload speed is not everything when it comes to streaming, i highly recommend that you 1. listen to others and 2. do more research into this yourself Just because you have 5mb upload does NOT mean it will stream to your parents without ANY issues! Your forgetting about data bouncing from server to server, ping, you using the computer to download, upload, stream your own programs gaming! everything! If it was as simple as A shares with B then A would share to B to Z and vice versa! My advice listen to budman he knows what he's talking about most the time and im too drunk to research something you should already be doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soniqstylz Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 there's gotta be a poop porn joke here somewhere. PmRd 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Observer Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Wouldnt it be better to have 2 servers (one in each house) and rsync the content between both of them. Both Servers dont need to be massive, a simple p4 machine with unRaid would do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted March 11, 2012 MVC Share Posted March 11, 2012 ^ a simple media player would work. Something like a popcorn hour with a hdd in it or a wdc tv, etc. But I would not try and sync to be honest, what I would do is just get them a media player, or shoot most tv's now a days will play media. You just plug in a usb disk and away they go. But sure that atleast would be something you could limit in bandwidth and schedule for off hours so sure it could be done with limited bandwidth. Just easier to copy your library to a usb disk, or media player and there you go. As you add stuff bring it over and copy it onto their player. Now if you had 100Mbit up and down between your houses you might think about what your doing.. But even if you had 35Mbps up, I wouldn't suggest real time streaming to them. What if your in the middle of grabbing another torrent, or playing an online game and they start sucking up your pipe to watch star wars iv or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kubi789 Posted March 11, 2012 Author Share Posted March 11, 2012 Wouldnt it be better to have 2 servers (one in each house) and rsync the content between both of them. Both Servers dont need to be massive, a simple p4 machine with unRaid would do. This might be more of what I was thinking about.Streaming is just an idea that I had. And according to this website my upload speed is better than most - http://www.netindex.com/upload/2,1/United-States/ - that's all I meant by that statement. I am not trying to upload/stream stuff with 56k. My parent's live a distance from me, and seeing them and dropping off a usb flash drive isn't a great option. Perhaps a better direction for me is to VPN into an always on hard drive that they can hook up to a media player. I think this route would work better considering they also have verizon FIOS. Thanks for the input everyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
primexx Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Just came here to say that the title is "2 x 1 y" /ontheinternettoomuch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blade1269 Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Hey , What about windows home server ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Observer Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Hey , What about windows home server ? over kill, i think unRaid installed on USB drive running on a P4. DONE. Setup RSYNC between the two computers and away you go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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