Replace wireless transmitter with IP based solution?

[mesaka]

Hi all,

My second satellite box is two floors higher than the room where I watch TV. I normally watch it using a wireless transmitter while my other satellite box (in the same room as my TV) is used almost solely in conjunction with my TiVo.

The wireless transmitter is not that good and, as I have a CAT-5 lan connection between the two rooms, I wondered if it was possible to connect the systems via the LAN. I've done some initial scouting and I can find systems which use Cat 5 cable but there require a dedicated cable which I don't have and am not likely to be able to put in very easily. Can anyone suggest an affordable IP based solution?

Thanks

 

[spiney]

I'd have thought any electronics for picture conversion would be hideously expensive, and you're unlikely to get sufficient ethernet throughput for real time video!

Wouldn't it be much easier to run another coax cable from sat receiver UHF output? Have you tried repositioning video senders, both ends, or trying the other (3?) channels?

 

[BGonaSTICK]

Fast Ethernet CAT5 is actually more than enough to get a good quality picture down. Even Wireless-G will do a pretty good job.

The popularity of this type of transmission is really starting to take off now with several big players getting on board, such as Sky.

I'm not about to recommend any solutions to you, but kick some Internet butt for more info.

 

[mesaka]

Happy to do the research but am struggling a bit to find the correct search terms....can you give me a hint?

 

[rolfw]

If you search google for video over ip, you'll get a lot of interesting sites, but the vast majority are concerned with commercial applications. Doesn't seem like it's going to be a cheap solution to your problem.

 

[dig deep]

Wireless with an extra (big) antenna will do the job

 

[BGonaSTICK]

I was only commenting on the suitability of CAT5. I think that the problem as far as you're concerned is converting to an IP stream, and decoding at the other end.

As has been said, that's the tricky and expensive bit.

You might consider a Skystar2 card in a PC running ProgDVB and a streaming media server, or maybe a Dreambox. Depends on what your requirements and budget are.

 

[spiney]

I was speaking theoretically, haven't tried actually doing it. However, a digitised standard tv picture will require 30MHz, or 60Mb/s, and that's without any ethernet or protocol overheads!

What you can do is directly transport MPEG2 (or other compressed formats) across ethernet, in real time for viewing, but that requires lots of expensive equipment either end!

Outside real time, it's easier, you just transfer the files, any speed.

 

[harmio]

I dunno if i am wrong but its quite simple for me? I do this at home...

I have a PC with a DVB card ( about 60 quid) running PROGdvb, and I select "Stream to lan" , which basically streams the mpeg image.and i recieve it upstairs via wireless lan with my other pc. picture is fine, only problem is changing channels..but i think you can configure progdvb for remote control as well. its just getting two pcs thats the issue I guess, but you can pick these up for 150 each off ebay. and get a graphics card with a tv out ( like i do) ..it is possible dont give up!

 

[Channel Hopper]

Hi all,

My second satellite box is two floors higher than the room where I watch TV. I normally watch it using a wireless transmitter while my other satellite box (in the same room as my TV) is used almost solely in conjunction with my TiVo.

The wireless transmitter is not that good and, as I have a CAT-5 lan connection between the two rooms.....

Use the Cat 5 as a pulling wire for a decent bit of co-ax....

 

[rolfw]

Use the Cat 5 as a pulling wire for a decent bit of co-ax....

LOL, and who said you could never get a useful answer on this forum.

 

[spiney]

Well, it can be done, as Bgonastick/Harmio say, but basically you need a PC and special cards each end .....

Unless there's special gadgets that just do a "CAT5 video link", but PC based solutions are usually the cheapest ....

This is interesting, because HDTV links are only in digital form, so presumably in future we'll be using HDMI links throughout house, not sure over what distance that'll work .....

SKy have said their first HD receivers will also have a SD output for older type tv sets, so presumably the "eye link" system will still work for SD pictures around the rest of the house? Dunno!

 

[dave branson]

Is it possible to mix the receiver part of wireless transmitters ie different makes,so they receive from one transmitter.they all seem to use the same frequency.

 

[mesaka]

So after a lot of exploring it indeed seems that the cost of doing what I want is, so far, rather prohibitive. I did find a company with a solution but it is really out of my league in terms of cost. The company has a product called EDbox and it costs around 13-15K (euro's). I quote below some interesting figures regarding the overhead

"The current EDBoX provides audio and video compression, at a user selectable bit rate, between 500kb and 5 Mbit from 1.5 Mbit/sec. with full D1 (720 x 576) resolution.
In fact, most of our customers use EDBox for real-time broadcasting over IP (or an E1 line) between 2-3 Mbit in full D1 resolution."

I also took a look at the slingbox (PAL version out later this quarter) which is perhaps half the way there in that it does the encoding and transmission section. I would then need to do the decoding part on a PC and then go via a TV out card...

Finally I took a look at using a microsoft media center PC (I can at least justify a new PC to SWMBO this way!) and an Xbox 360 - it seems to offer the most likely route but again its not a cheap option!

At present I think I will just have to put up with my not so great wireless transmitter soution although I will try an improved ariel...assuming I can find one. I'm also a bit worried about the bandwith as I also have a cordless 'phone and wireless internet....

It seems to me that there will be a market for this sort of thing in the future - any entrepeneurs around???

 

[BGonaSTICK]

Finally I took a look at using a microsoft media center PC (I can at least justify a new PC to SWMBO this way!) and an Xbox 360 - it seems to offer the most likely route

LOL... and that's not a great solution?!?!?!? Look no further! O-Ha

It seems to me that there will be a market for this sort of thing in the future...

You bet. It's the next big thing I reckon. Just look at the market for streaming UK Premiership matches from China over the Internet for example.

Do it over a secure connection, and nobody will ever know. This is exactly the sort of reason that many governments were against high strength encryption technologies being placed in the hands of Joe Public.