Communications Protocol

[biooya]

Can someone explain to me how the HD-100 Extender and the MVP communicate with the Sage Server? For example, is the extender a client-server set-up or is the extender a thin client like the windows media center extenders?

[PGPfan]

Sage for the most part is exclusively client/server. Both the MVP and (if my understanding is correct) the HD-100 are Linux based devices so Sage essentially provides a custom OS for them to run from.

You will find that Sage TV surpasses Windows Media Center extenders in pretty much every way possible - all without resorting to "hacks" for enhancing functionality.

HTH,

-PGPfan

[GKusnick]

I don't know the technical details of the protocol (if that's what you're asking). But like Placeshifter, both extenders are thin clients in the sense that the UI executes on the server, using the server's CPU and file system, and only the screen updates are sent to the client. Streamed media are decoded on the client side, but other than that, it's just a remote window on the server like RDP or VNC.

SageTVClient is a different case. There the UI executes on the client using the client's CPU and file system.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

I don't know the technical details of the protocol (if that's what you're asking). But like Placeshifter, both extenders are thin clients in the sense that the UI executes on the server, using the server's CPU and file system, and only the screen updates are sent to the client. Streamed media are decoded on the client side, but other than that, it's just a remote window on the server like RDP or VNC.

Actually, from what Jeff has posted, that's not exactly correct. The GUI is rendered by the extender (or placeshifter), while the logic behind that GUI executes on the server.

It's more like the way X Windows works vs RDP/VNC.

[GKusnick]

Fair enough. I grant that it's not sending compressed screenshots, but rather (I'm guessing) lists of pre-evaluated widgets to be drawn on the client screen. But as you say, the widget logic runs on the server, so the client box has no knowledge of what the UI is actually doing; it knows only how to render it on screen. Hence, thin client.