Google Fiber+TV

[888jay]

Hello,

Google Fiber came to our neighborhood last week so I'm investigating my options.

Right now I have an HDHomeRun Prime + CableCard + TWC and stream to all of our pc's via Windows Media Center and to our living room TV via an Xbox extender. Given that WMC is a dead end product I'd love to switch over to Google Fiber Gigabit+TV.

However, I've come to find out that there's no app to stream Fiber TV to the desktop over the LAN. Someone suggested I use Slingbox but that seems kind of silly when there's a far superior product already built into the network box.

Are there any plans for a Windows app that can access Fiber TV over the LAN?

Thanks,
Jay

[wayner]

You should probably contact Brent (aka Geektonic) as he has had GF for a couple of years now.

And maybe GF will play nicely with SageTV Open Source as GF's DVR is SageTV 8.0.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by 888jay

Hello,

Google Fiber came to our neighborhood last week so I'm investigating my options.

Right now I have an HDHomeRun Prime + CableCard + TWC and stream to all of our pc's via Windows Media Center and to our living room TV via an Xbox extender. Given that WMC is a dead end product I'd love to switch over to Google Fiber Gigabit+TV.

However, I've come to find out that there's no app to stream Fiber TV to the desktop over the LAN. Someone suggested I use Slingbox but that seems kind of silly when there's a far superior product already built into the network box.

Are there any plans for a Windows app that can access Fiber TV over the LAN?

Thanks,
Jay

I don't know of any plans per se, but I can tell you what I believe will and won't happen with Google Fiber TV. Just know these are my educated thoughts, not official word.

There is currently no way to stream Google Fiber TV to the desktop or even to a mobile device outside your home network. You can today stream to your iOS or Android mobile device inside your home, GF network. I think we will eventually be able to stream to those mobile devices outside the home network (over the internet), but I suspect they are working out the agreements with the networks on that. Same thing happens with all the cableco's - this isn't HTPC as we knew it with SageTV.

As to the stream to desktop, I have no idea really, but I'll be surprised (pleasantly I guess) if they ever do that. That's just my guess though. Think of Google Fiber TV this way:
Your Network/Storage box is your SageTV server - albeit strictly locked down server.
Each TV will need an extender like we used with SageTV. In the Google Fiber world they call this the "TV Box". There is no exception to this rule at least so far. You want to display TV to a TV, you'll need a TV Box.

[888jay]

Originally Posted by Brent

Think of Google Fiber TV this way:
Your Network/Storage box is your SageTV server - albeit strictly locked down server.

Hi Brent,
Thanks very much for your input. My wife and I both work from home and we each already have four screens on our desks. There's just no room for more. That's what we love about accessing TV through a client app (in our case, WMC) because it can be positioned on whatever monitor has open real estate at the time. On top of that, right now I pay $2/mo for a single CableCard that streams to five locations in the house vs. $5/mo that Google wants for each TV box ($25/mo total).

I guess the issue here is the "strictly locked down" part; or perhaps I have misconceptions of how the software works. But it seems like it would be a pretty simple task to have a SageTV client for access over a private home network.

[reggie14]

Is the Google Fiber TV app willing to run in a Chrome window using ARC?

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by 888jay

But it seems like it would be a pretty simple task to have a SageTV client for access over a private home network.

I'm sure there's no technical barrier to using SageTV client, and it would be simple, but it's also pretty clear that Google does not want, maybe is not allowed (content owners may require secure playback devices), to have their system allow that.

[Fuzzy]

I've no doubt Google Fiber uses the standard SageTV network interface between its 'server' and its 'clients' as traditional SageTV does, it's just likely the video files themselves are protected, so the standard SageTV client wouldn't be able to play them.

[Brent]

I believe all above are correct - it's due to the content protection and licensing. Definitely not a technical restriction. SageTV is still running things inside Google Fiber TV thus far at least.