Using SnapStream with HSTV

[Jim Doolittle]

I have read a few post regarding use of SnapStream with HSTV. I have been wanting to get HSTV to work with my ATI All-in-Wonder card and am now thinking of trying SnapStream.

I have just about given up on using ATI's MultiMedia Center as I cannot get it to run on my HomeSeer server. It runs fine on another PC that I use for viewing TV. However, I do not plan on watching TV on my HS machine, only recording it.

So, I am curious how others have set up their HSTV -> SnapStream -> TV system for recording and playback. Do you use a Touchpad screen control? A remote? Other hardware used?

[rmiles7721]

I used HSTV with snapstream for awhile when it was still Snapstream PVS. I have been using the BeyondTV interface for scheduling as well as the guide. Much better display on my TV than the web page was, and at least in my area, XMLTV and ZAP2IT were more often wrong than right, I have yet to have a problem with snapstream's guide.

[tman1]

Jim, one thing that made the Snapstream a working solution for me was using a no-ip.com type of service.

Until I signed up with them it was hit or miss on recording shows. If I was at home and had the internal ip setup, all was well with the world, until I tried to schedule from the web. If I set up the web accesable IP it wouldnt work from the inside. Typical problems with a NAT.

After the dns redirect it gets it every time.

If you have the ATI remote control it makes life easier also.

[Jim Doolittle]

This is great! I wonder why it took me so long. I am running Beyond TV trial and am so impressed that I completely removed ATI MultiMedia software.

Now to make it easy to get recorded video to TV. I am using my HS Server running BeyondTV to record but I think I will let another PC play the video. That PC will send video to television via wireless A/V that came with my X10.com Entertainment Anywhere (bought it just to get MR26A). I believe I can set this all up to work "automatically" with HS but still need to figure out the details.

[Rupp]

Jim keep us posted. I wouldn't mind trying to record a few TV shows. I currenly have a ATI TV wonder card I'm using for video streaming but would love to try to record some TV shows.

[Jim Doolittle]

Right now I am just playing with SnapStream's Beyond TV and not using HSTV yet. I want to use HSTV for events and announcements. Pretty cool to use web to schedule/view (via streaming) recorded video.

[bruce l]

I tried Snapstream in a Server/Client setup and was under-whelmed with that aspect of the software. This was several months ago and I had a PVR250 for video capture, I thought it should use less CPU intensive as the PVR250 had hardware MPEG encoder in it. As it turned out Snapstream didn't use the hdw encoder and forced the CPU to do all the work. Maybe they've updated their software to support that better now.

Of course for Jim it don't matter as the ATI card doesn't have a hardware encoder anyway.

[tman1]

Rupp, one cavet to your idea is any time the ATI card would be recording tv it would not be available for Webcam use.

I actually have a Happauge tv card and the ATI tv card in the same machine. Happauge for security cams, ATI for dvr usage. During recording the CPU usage is usually around 30%.

This dual use problem and the fact the ATI had the much better remote control (it's rf not ir)was the reason I tried the dual card setup. So far no problems.

I have an Autoit executable setup to call my BTV from one of the programmable buttons on the remote control. It calls the app and switches to full screen mode. Real handy.

[Jim Doolittle]

Well, I really like SnapStream but my 800Mhz PC is not beefy enough to handle it. I might try it on another PC that is nearly running 24/7 but that PC is 400MHz but is only taxed when kids are playing games.

Ultimately, I may end up waiting until I upgrade a PC. I was wanting to use HSTV to use IR to view a station some time in the future and SnapStream to record. Right now, I have HSTV set to use IR to set VCR to record but that means I need to have a tape in the machine .

For now, I may use my HomeSeer PC for webcam only since the frame rate and quality requirement would be less.

[hec1152]

HS Server and BeyondTV on different machines

Thought about starting another thread on this one, but hope that someone here has quick answer. I have BeyondTV (formerly Snapstream) running on a separate machine from the one on which HS w HSTV is running. Both are part of same domain/network and can see/communicate with each other. Am I correct in assuming that the only way to use the HSTV feature that allows one to select a program from the Listings grid for BTV to record is to have both BTV and HS/HSTV on SAME PC? Is there no way, besides manually posting to BTV website, to send "job" info from one PC (w HSTV) and another (w BTV)? From reading various threads, I assume answer is no - fundamental assumption is that HSTV and BTV are on same machine. Correct?

Thanks,

[CFGuy]

On the admin page there is a text box to enter the url and port number to the snapstream computer.

hstv will add the http:// and you enter the rest which will allow it to be on a different computer.

[hec1152]

Recording command to BTV

Thanks for quick reply. I knew about that setting and have it pointing to the machine with BTV with correct port number, etc. (http://kirk:8129) I haven't tried to record anything using this capability until now. What I tried was via a web client browser logged into HS server with TV listing grid showing. I selected a program and pressed the BTV icon on the grid and then got the info about confirming submission to BTV. A few seconds after I did that I got the following message:


Server Error in '/' Application.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The resource cannot be found.
Description: HTTP 404. The resource you are looking for (or one of its dependencies) could have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable. Please review the following URL and make sure that it is spelled correctly.

Requested Url: /jobs.cgi

Since this behavior is consistent, I'm thinking that I'm missing something here. What I was trying to do is log into HS on a computer that's on network to looks at TV listing and then activate a recording from that client. Note the HS server is on different machine as is BTV - all three machines are on same network. Do I need to be on the HS Server machine to be able to do what I tried?

BTW - what's in the /jobs.cgi? Is that the method that HS/HSTV is trying to use to send message between machines with recording info the BTV needs to use? Where is info on this interface to BTV described/documented?

Thanks,

[CFGuy]

If you tried if from outside your network then it would not know what http://kirk is.
With that address it would only work from inside your network.
If you setup something like no-ip.com then you could set it up from both internal and external.

I believe that jobs.cgi is a SnapStream command.

[hec1152]

Jeff,

I should have noted that all this was inside my network not from outside. Do I still need the noip thing (which I will nevertheless investigate out of curiosity since I've seen it mentioned elsewhere). From my (internal) web browser I can point it to http://kirk:xxxx and get the BTV web pages, etc so I know that it can be seen. Maybe there's something I need to set on BTV (although I can't find it).

I assume though that from what you're saying, I should be able to do what I am trying to do. i.e. schedule a program for BTV to record on a separate machine from the TV Grid displayed on a client PC logged into the HS web server. All on internal network with all thress machines accessible and able to see one another and address each other via DNS name and/or (internal) IP address.

Anything else I should try?

Thanks,

[Bill Brower]

Well, I really like SnapStream but my 800Mhz PC is not beefy enough to handle it.

If you don't have it already, get a video input card that has hardware encoding. This takes the burden off the CPU. Somewhere in Beyond TV's system requirements, it lists two computer setups. One with hardware encoding and one computer (faster reqs) without hardware encoding.

I didn't read the whole thread, pardon me if this has been brought up.