Placeshifter won't do this, will it?

[troycheek]

I think I've got a pretty good idea about what Placeshifter is designed to do (stream SageTV content over the internet), but I wonder if it can be used at all to "serve" content where there is no net connection. If not, is there another SageTV product that can?

Family computer setup: main SageTV server/client PC, HD200, another desktop PC, and two wireless notebook computers. The family mostly watches/manages recorded shows on the main PC or the HD200. For the other three computers, when connected to the LAN we just navigate over to the server's shared drive and play the raw MPG files using Windows Media Player or VLC. Of course, sometimes it's hard to find exactly which file to play (stupid remakes/sequels/shows with no episode ID). Also, when watched this way, shows aren't marked as watched. I think Placeshifter or even a Client could be used in this situation.

However, there are also times when the notebooks might be taken to places where there is no/iffy network access, and of course the other desktop PC can't access the shared drive when the server is turned off for maintenance or fiddling (I do a lot of fiddling). When we know in advance that these situations are going to come up, we copy the MPG files from the server to the computers in question so we can again watch them with VLC or whatever. Again, sometimes it's hard to find exactly which file to copy, the shows aren't marked as watched, etc.

The question is Does Placeshifter have any capability to select and copy shows from the server to another computer so those shows can later be watched offline? If not, does SageTV offer another product which can? If not, does any other product do that? If not, does anybody know of an easier way to do it than what we're already doing?

[Fuzzy]

Not really. You could set up a conversion job with the remote computer as the destination. But Placeshifter and/or client will not be able to play them back by themselves. Would still have to use another piece of software for playback.