Suggestions please...

[RandyJohnson]

Which is the best way to access Sage content across a WAN Internet connection between two physical locations?

What would be the minimum required Internet/network upload speed from the server's location and download speed to the client's location?

Does the HD extender work across a WAN connection?

Thanks in advance.

Any suggestions and/or thoughts are appreciated.

Randy

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by RandyJohnson

Which is the best way to access Sage content across a WAN Internet connection between two physical locations?

What would be the minimum required Internet/network upload speed from the server's location and download speed to the client's location?

Does the HD extender work across a WAN connection?

Thanks in advance.

Any suggestions and/or thoughts are appreciated.

Randy

The Placeshifter app was created for this very purpose. Your Sage server sits at your house and you load up the Placeshifter client app on your laptop at a hotel somewhere and waaalllaaaa...you have instant access to your files.

FYI: Most High speed access (cable broadband especially) limits your upload speed. I know my access regularly tests downloads at over 4mb/s, but my upload is about a quarter of that speed. The video then has to be transcoded to a lower bit rate by your sage server in order to meet the confines of your internet connection.

The HD Extender would not work for this. Even if it could, it couldn't display a true high def image due to the downconverting of the video.

[RandyJohnson]

I have played with the Placeshifter as I have travelled.

I was able to get recorded TV show to playback.

I was not able to get any ripped DVDs to playback. Anything that I need to do to make this work?

Does anybody have any idea what the minimum upload speed needs to be from the server for good quality playback?

Thanks again...

Randy

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by RandyJohnson

I was not able to get any ripped DVDs to playback. Anything that I need to do to make this work?

Placeshifter does not support DVD playback. You could try importing the VOB files separately (outside a DVD folder structure), then play them via a playlist.

- Andy

[RandyJohnson]

Thanks...

Then are there any solutions that would give me complete access to the existing Sage infrastructure?

How much bandwidth is required to use an HD extender across a WAN interface?

How much bandwidth is required to use a SageClient across a WAN interface?

Is it even possible?

Randy

[GKusnick]

No transcoding happens with SageTVClient, so to use that over a WAN you'd need bandwidth comfortably larger than the bitrate of the media you're trying to play. SD media run about 3-5 Mbps or more, HD about three times that. Then double those numbers (at least) to get an idea of the WAN bandwidth required for acceptable playback.

I don't own an HD extender but I assume similar considerations apply, i.e. for the formats it can decode directly, the server is going to stream the raw data at its native bitrate without transcoding.

[mayamaniac]

The SageTV Client and HD Extender is not meant to work over WAN. Heck, they don't work that well over wireless LAN, nevermind the limited bandwidth of most WAN services. They won't even connect to the server over WAN unless you use some sort of VPN solution. Do what Opus4 said, extract the vob to a folder and make a playlist to play DVDs over WAN with the Placeshifter.