Definition of Placeshifter vs. Client

[transco]

For clarification, if I want to have 3 Mac's running SageTV software, I'd need to purchase the Placeshifter bundle ($99.95) + 1 Client ($29.95), correct?

[SWKerr]

Placeshifter and the Client are two different products. If you are on a wired network on a machine with a decent video subsystem you probably want the client. The client essentially plays back all you recorded content using the resources of the local machine to render the video. (Like playing a video file over the network.) Placeshifter is more of a streaming product where the server machine trans codes the video on the fly and sends it to a remote machine. The heavy lifting is done on the server and there will be some loss of quality.

[stanger89]

(This is going to come from the Windows perspective as that's what I use)

Placeshifter is intended, or "designed" for use over a WAN, it has transcoding capabilities, so the server can compress the recordings live so you can stream them over your internet connection.

Client is designed for use on a LAN, it doesn't support transcoding, but has additional capabilities like playing DVD rips, allowing configuration of decoders, renderers.

So with that in mind, you need one SageTV Media Center for Mac license to cover the first PC, and then you'll need either two Client for Mac or Placeshifter licenses, depending on what capabilities you want.

That's where I can't really help you, on Windows I'd recommend Client so you've got more options in getting the most out of it, but I think Mac is more limited, so I'm not sure if Client buys you much. I think you'll have to do some reasearch on the Mac forums here to see if there's a benefit to Client on the Mac.

Oh, and Placeshifter licenses are floating, so if you want it on 2 Macs, but only will be using one at a time, you only need one license.

[transco]

Thanks for the explanation. For what I want to do the 'Client' would be a better match. I've downloaded the Media Center and Client demo's and will give that a try.

[stanger89]

Grab a copy of Placeshifter while you're at it, you should be able to trial that and compare to Client.

[Mary H]

Where is Client discussed on this forum?

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by Mary H

Where is Client discussed on this forum?

There is no separate forum area for SageTV Client. Just use the main SageTV Software forum.

[Mary H]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

There is no separate forum area for SageTV Client. Just use the main SageTV Software forum.

Thanks for the quick response!

[HDKen]

Sorry to potentially hijack the thread, but if I have an HD Homerun with two tuners and I want to watch both at the same time (in separate windows) I need the Sage software (obviously) and a client license for the other tuner?

I know placeshifter will look at the other tuner, but would "the client" give me the same functionality on the same machine?

Thanks.

[GKusnick]

Ken --

You don't license tuners, you license clients. There is no one-to-one relation between clients and tuners. If you have two clients watching the same channel, that takes only one tuner.

If your question is how to watch two programs at once on one computer, that would require two clients running on that machine. As far as I know, you can't do this with SageTV Client, but there is a way to run more than one instance of Placeshifter on a given machine by spoofing the MAC address:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...566#post181566

Of course you would need at least two Placeshifter licenses for this to work. And if you want two different channels of live TV on those clients, then you'd need at least two tuners as well (but the tuner part is not a licensing issue).

You can also run SageTV Client and Placeshifter on the same machine at the same time, without any spoofing. In that case you'd need a Client license on the client machine and a Placeshifter license on the server.

[tchapin]

I think that a simple way of looking at it is this:

Placeshifter is a software version of an extender (more specifically the older MVP product). It's simpler and there are fewer configuration options.

Client is more akin to a full SageTV Media Center install, just without the ability to act as a DVR on the machine it's installed on. It's more complicated and has more features (play DVDs from a DVD drive over the network).

It appears they are both the same price now, $30?

Well, that wasn't as simple as I thought...

[HDKen]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

Ken --

You don't license tuners, you license clients. There is no one-to-one relation between clients and tuners. If you have two clients watching the same channel, that takes only one tuner.

If your question is how to watch two programs at once on one computer, that would require two clients running on that machine. As far as I know, you can't do this with SageTV Client, but there is a way to run more than one instance of Placeshifter on a given machine by spoofing the MAC address:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...566#post181566

Of course you would need at least two Placeshifter licenses for this to work. And if you want two different channels of live TV on those clients, then you'd need at least two tuners as well (but the tuner part is not a licensing issue).

You can also run SageTV Client and Placeshifter on the same machine at the same time, without any spoofing. In that case you'd need a Client license on the client machine and a Placeshifter license on the server.

Thanks for the info. Any idea how much CPU power each additional placeshifter consumes?

I think I now understand how the licensing works. I assume worst case that every user is on a different channel, so in my mind users=tuners. Either way, it looks like if I want to allow for all users simultaneously, I need as many placeshifter licenses as users/tuners (minus 1, as the server should be able to watch, too, right?)

My requirements are a little unique, as I am doing some channel logging and not real placeshifting. The placeshifters will probably be all in one "place." Maybe even on the same machine as the server. It may make sense to have the placeshifters on a separate machine.

My system will probably be a Mac mini. Any special considerations about server and placeshifter(s) on that platform? I'll cross post, if necessary.

Thanks!

[sdsean]

So the placeshifter can't play DVD rips over the network but the client can? Is that right?
Can't the HD200 extender do both?

[gplasky]

Placeshifter can't play DVDs period. Ripped or otherwise. Client can with the correct decoder that supports playing commercial DVDs. The HD200 does do both.

Gerry

[stanger89]

I thought the HD200 couldn't do it in Placeshifter mode.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by stanger89

I thought the HD200 couldn't do it in Placeshifter mode.

You may be right. I've only used the HD200 standalone with a USB drive for rips or at home as an extender. I forgot about the Placeshifter mode for the HD20and haven't tried connecting back home with it in Placeshifter mode.

Gerry