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We seem to be recording more and more programming off satellite TV (New Zealand Freeview) so we can watch it when we have time (instead of when it is aired). A couple of years ago, it became obvious that the hard disk recorder wasn't really up to the challenge. In fact, the old Media centre in the living room had to give way to a media network, but how to make it work for everyone!
Media Acquisition Requirements:
Everyone (except the littlest one) needs to be able to "book" programs to be recorded. If it is too complicated, someone will have to do this for them (i.e. me). For some programming, they should be able record, watch, then delete, and for others, they should be able to edit and archive it to watch later (or again).
Media Distribution Requirements:
The littlest one wants to watch the same 40 "Angelina Ballerinas" over and over on the TV in the Kids Living Room (KLR) when she gets home from school. The teenagers might watch last week's Glee in the KLR or on their laptops. My wife and I would like to watch something in our room (MBR) or on our laptops.
Sound impossible to do this on the cheap? Read on!
Media Acquisition Requirements:
Everyone (except the littlest one) needs to be able to "book" programs to be recorded. If it is too complicated, someone will have to do this for them (i.e. me). For some programming, they should be able record, watch, then delete, and for others, they should be able to edit and archive it to watch later (or again).
Media Distribution Requirements:
The littlest one wants to watch the same 40 "Angelina Ballerinas" over and over on the TV in the Kids Living Room (KLR) when she gets home from school. The teenagers might watch last week's Glee in the KLR or on their laptops. My wife and I would like to watch something in our room (MBR) or on our laptops.
Sound impossible to do this on the cheap? Read on!
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Signing UpStep 1Media Acquisition
1. Satellite to Dreambox Receiver
The Dreambox (pic 1) is a satellite receiver that has an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) web page that is accessible by everyone on the LAN and it streams MPEG2 video over the LAN to shared network storage devices. The EPG (pic 2) has 24 hours of programming for all the available channels with a clock-shaped "Record" button for each program. You can't book two recordings at the same time on this entry level Dreambox but you can set up repeated bookings.
2. Dreambox to AirDisk
Anything "booked" on the Dreambox records onto a USB hard drive connected to the Airport Extreme, which is also accessible from everyone on the LAN. A NAS would be similar, probably faster. It is recorded as a MPEG2 transport stream or .ts file. VLC happily plays .ts files so as soon as it starts to record, you can watch it on the LAN. However, the .ts files are around 1GB/hour of programming, so it wouldn't take long to fill any hard disk.
3. AirDisk to MPEG Streamclip and Back Again
We use a freeware program called MPEG Streamclip (pic 3) to edit the .ts files and compress them into .AVI files (~330MB/hour) and save them back on the AirDisk. Everyone is responsible for editing and archiving anything they want to save and any .ts file that stays on the AirDisk for 2 weeks gets automatically deleted.
All this happens without any dedicated server or media centre humming 24/7. Just the Dreambox (on standby when not recording), the Airport extreme and AirDisk. If there is a power cut, the Dreambox restarts, reattaches to the restarted Airport and AirDisk and everything is back online.
Cost: The Dreambox cost around NZ$250
The Dreambox (pic 1) is a satellite receiver that has an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) web page that is accessible by everyone on the LAN and it streams MPEG2 video over the LAN to shared network storage devices. The EPG (pic 2) has 24 hours of programming for all the available channels with a clock-shaped "Record" button for each program. You can't book two recordings at the same time on this entry level Dreambox but you can set up repeated bookings.
2. Dreambox to AirDisk
Anything "booked" on the Dreambox records onto a USB hard drive connected to the Airport Extreme, which is also accessible from everyone on the LAN. A NAS would be similar, probably faster. It is recorded as a MPEG2 transport stream or .ts file. VLC happily plays .ts files so as soon as it starts to record, you can watch it on the LAN. However, the .ts files are around 1GB/hour of programming, so it wouldn't take long to fill any hard disk.
3. AirDisk to MPEG Streamclip and Back Again
We use a freeware program called MPEG Streamclip (pic 3) to edit the .ts files and compress them into .AVI files (~330MB/hour) and save them back on the AirDisk. Everyone is responsible for editing and archiving anything they want to save and any .ts file that stays on the AirDisk for 2 weeks gets automatically deleted.
All this happens without any dedicated server or media centre humming 24/7. Just the Dreambox (on standby when not recording), the Airport extreme and AirDisk. If there is a power cut, the Dreambox restarts, reattaches to the restarted Airport and AirDisk and everything is back online.
Cost: The Dreambox cost around NZ$250
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I am curious as to your setup of the usb hdd to dreambox and both of them being attached to the airport. is the hdd attached by usb to the dreambox and then how is t attached to the network? does this hdd also have a network port?
cheers
My Dreambox doesn't have a USB on it for a HDD, just ethernet.
There is a USB port on the back of the airport extreme and I have the USB hard drives plugged into it, effectively turning them into network drives. The Dreambox is set up to stream to them via ethernet. Hope this helps.
It does take a lot of jiggery pokery to get it setup but after that, it's been pretty solid. It even boots and re-mounts the network disk after a power cut.
Hope this helps. I was thinking about a Dreambox setup instructable but I don't know if there is the interest.