Yet Another Placeshifter vs Client...

[PeteCress]

I've done a few searches... but am still not 100% sure whether I should get PlaceShifter or Client.

I have no intentions of going outside of my home LAN.

The immediate application is use on a minimalist laptop (Asus eeePC 901) over WiFi.

This little laptop renders ripped DVD movie .ISOs over WiFi seamlessly - no hitches, glitches, or pauses.

But it does not seem up to rendering what I'd call "a native-rez HD TV" stream i.e. the kind that comes right off of the OTA antenna wire. When I try watching live TV via either PlaceShifter or Client, it's hopeless.

From experience dem-ing both it feels like PlaceShifter takes more of the PC's resources than Client does - at least it takes longer to load....

OTOH, from reading other threads, it sounds like with PlaceShifter I could tell my server to transcode recordings on-the-fly to make them less of a load on this thing's itty-bitty processor.

Would I be correct in thinking that makes PlaceShifter my logical choice?

Finally, just for general edification, can somebody present a dumbed-down version of the intended functionality diffs between PlaceShifter and Client?

[tchapin]

I'll give it a try!

I have SageTV installed on my headless server. The only ways that I access Sage on a regular basis is through extenders and placeshifter.

Think of Placeshifter is a software version of a MVP. It's a simplified media viewer window. The server does all the hard work, and I think that all video is transcoded to Placeshifter. I recall that when using Placeshifter, there are some setup options that you won't be able to access. I can't recall what they are right now though. Placeshifter allows you to access your Sage installation across the internet, although my experience has been that the interface is really really slow and the video quality is not as good as Orb. Like a MVP, the plugins that you will be able to use are limited.

Client is just like the SageTV interface on your main SageTV installation. Because of this, the media is transferred from the server to in it's native format and transcoded (if needed) by the Client. It should (will?) require more horsepower on your computer to use. You can also use various cool plugins like the Netflix or internet radio, etc that you can't get with Placeshifter.

Todd

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by PeteCress

Finally, just for general edification, can somebody present a dumbed-down version of the intended functionality diffs between PlaceShifter and Client?

Do you mean dumber than what's already in the FAQ?

[PeteCress]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

Do you mean dumber than what's already in the FAQ?

Yes.

The FAQ is all good technical information, but I was thinking more in terms of intended use - expressed at a less technical level.

tchapin's spiel came pretty close.

Thanks tchapin.

I went for PlaceShifter.

But now a problem.

After pasting the license key into Start | Programs | SageTV | Register SageTV Media Extender or Placeshifter License, it acknowledged receipt of the license key and that option no longer shows up on the start menu.

But when I start PlaceShifter on my other PC it doesn't seem to know it's registered now.

Tried repairing the install, then I uninstalled and re-installed... but no change.

FWIW, in SageTV, I stumbled on to Setup | Detailed Setup | Server | Placeshifter Locator ID | View | Copy ID to the system clipboard and then pasted the locator ID shown there into Sage TV Placeshifter Servers Manager | Add | Add Sage TV Server Info | Locator ID, but it didn't help.

OOPS!..... I believe the acronym is RTFM.... -)

Stopped the server service, re-started it, and all was copascetic.


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