Placeshifting, the art of making your media available where you want it.
Okay, you have a computer at home with some music, some pictures and some video files. Maybe you also have connected a TV-card and a web cam. Now, how cool would it be if you could access all of this whenever you where connected to the net with a device that was able to play your media?
This has been possible for quite a while, but as much of the stuff that is possible with computers, it has been too difficult to set up. To make streaming of media out of your home happen doing advanced firewall configuration and setting up a DynDNS service was necessary.
Content owners – watch out!
I said was. I have written about ORB and SlimServer here before, and I am still amazed over how well ORB works. What makes it especially interesting for content producers and copyright lawyers is the fact that it makes your own media inependent of borders and regulations regarding protection of content within countries.
I have all my Norwegian television channels available no matter where I am. At the same time the content producers work hard on their business model that depends on dividing the world in regions.
Availability
MP3 is a technology that forced its way through despite the fact that it was not marketed and actually heavily worked against by the music industry. People wanted availability. Actually people was willing to sacrifice quality on behalf of availability. (While the music industry was working hard making Super Audio CD because they thought that people wanted better quality).
Placeshifting is all about availability. After using ORB for a while I have been quite addicted to having my music available on all my computers. At work. At a friends house. On my mobile.
So what do I do?
You could try one of the most stupid tricks I have ever seen, or start out with one of these:
ORB
Streaming all your media. No fixed IP nescessary. No opening of extra ports in your firewall.
Windows only.
SlimServer
Streaming music. Fixed IP and opening of ports nescessary.
Multiplatform: Windows, Linux, Mac.
BeyondTV
Streaming video and TV. Fixed IP and opening of ports nescessary.
Windows Only.
Video Lan Client
An interesting solution to stream video and music. Very powerful and completely free.
Multiplatform. Windows. Mac. Linux.
Nicecast
Music streaming. Macintosh. (Thanks, Oyvind)
I have also an eye on a very interesting piece of dedicated hardware called the SlingBox
Placeshifting gains attention, but watch out. This is just about to take off.
Link to The Engadget Interview: Jim Behrens, CEO of Orb Networks (via ThomasHawk)
Link to Ian Dixons podcast where Joe Harris VP of Marketing from Orb Networks is interviewed.
Link to the trendmap for “Placeshifting”.
Edit:
Interesting article about the Slingbox and potential lawsuits on Darknet.
eirikso 
[…] It’s time for a short collection of links: 1. First, build a cabinet 2. Then install a silent fan in the cabinet 3. Silence the parts of the computer that is noisy 4. Choose your frontend 5. Set up your advanced remote 6. Make your content available everywhere 7. Follow the important blogs… […]
[…] The discussion has brought back issues that touch the problem with current business models, the way the internet can be used to stream private content all over the world and the big ugly question of digital rights management (DRM). […]
[…] I have been fortunate enough to attend and present at the TiDE conference hosted by Lillehammer University College. Here are some recommended links for the people that attended my presentation: Digital Rights Management: How bob the millionaire became a pirate BMW don’t get it Placeshifting – your media everywhere (ORB) Remixing and open APIs: Give the kids something to remix Panoramio – place your pictures on Google maps BBC Backstage BBC Mood News Flickr hacks Google Earth Hacks […]
[…] Jean-Pierre Della Mussia, Rédacteur en chef d’Electronique International, évoque dans cette chronique les travaux d’opérateurs télécoms qui préparent un magnétoscope virtuel implanté directement dans le réseau, sorte de “killer app” en devenir, avec pour cible les magnétoscopes, analogiques comme numériques. Et si ces opérateurs ne faisaient que prendre le train en marche ? A bien y regarder, les éléments nécessaires à la transformation d’Internet en authentique magnétoscope virtuel, embarqué dans le réseau, sont en train de se mettre en place. La Slingbox et Orb ont inventé le “placeshifting” en permettant à leurs utilisateurs de profiter de leurs contenus multimédia n’importe où, à tout moment, en profitant simplement d’une connexion à Internet. Les réseaux P2P permettent de télécharger de nombreux programmes de télévision à côté desquels on peut être malheureusement passé, faute d’avoir pensé à programmer son magnétoscope. La LamaBox joue la provocation avec les producteurs et les ayants droits en permettant à ses utilisateurs de piocher sur les réseaux P2P comme dans une vaste vidéothèque, depuis leur canapé, avec une simple télécommande. Il n’y a qu’un pas, que certains développeurs inventifs ne tarderont sûrement pas à franchir, pour que naisse un réseau P2P rapide et flexible, accessible directement depuis le téléviseur avec des terminaux Linux “modifiés” – comme une Dreambox, par exemple – ou enrichis d’un plug-in – comme une Freebox, dont le lecteur vidéo fait déjà l’objet de nombreux enrichissements, ou encore un Showcenter de Pinnacle – pour transformer Internet en un authentique magnétoscope numérique virtuel utilisable avec la même souplesse et la même simplicité qu’un service de VOD sur le terminal vidéo d’un opérateur broadband. A la clé, quelques crises de migraines supplémentaires pour les défenseurs des modèles économiques actuels des industries de la culture [NDLA: l’acolade de ces deux mots me fait toujours autant de mal…]. […]
[…] To make it easier for Dagbladet’s readers I will give you a quick roundup of some media center links and advice: – The complete list of software solutions – A quick roundup of some of the systems I have tried – An update with links to other articles as well – Converting DVR-MS files from your media center – Placeshifting, your media everywhere! – Remote control your music collection in MCE – Everything in the HTPC category […]
Lets talk ORB!!!
Can’t get the tv-part to work. I tick the folder for TV and I use a non-set-up box, but the only “area” that apears is somewhere in the U.S. i belive. I don’t get a local (norwegian) area. How do you do this? I don’t have WinMCE, only XP on the pc with the tv-card and ORB (main pc). How did you set it up to get the tv part to work? Have MediaPortal installed on that pc!
As far as I remember ORB does not support Norwegian locations. You’d have to hack it with some Norwegian XMLTV data. I would guess that the ORB forum might be the best place to get info on that matter.
I love Beyond TV with the LINK. Watching tv on my laptop while eating breakfast is excellent :), my HTPC is only connected to my projector also…
Yes. I had a very nice experience back when I was running BeyondTV. The built in place shifting has worked very well for years.
To “conclude” this. What software is the greatest for stream/transfer over a wireless network. I can’t get any connection from my vista laptop from my desktop. Is there any software that can help me with getting i contact with my desktop? Tried ORB, but then I must downloadload the file first(?) if I’m right?
As far as I remember ORB can stream content. You don’t have to download it. You should also have a look at BeyondTV and SageTV. They both have paceshifting technologies.
Tempting to ask if you have disabled the firewall in Vista 🙂
Let me know if you realy want to know Trond! 😉
Sage or Beyond for placeshifting media? Which is the better?
Could anyone pla give their view on this matter?
And what product of them is needed! I aim to transfer media desktop (tv-card) to my laptop.
By the way! I have trouble with networking between desktop (xp) and laptop (vista). Should I convert to both xp?
The last time I tried them Sage was powerful and complete but very ugly. Beyond lack a complete media archive but is very sleek as a PVR. Don’t know if anyone else have something to add? My best bet is to utilize the trial for both of them.
Regarding networking I gave up on Windows when Vista arrived. Guess you just have to spend a couple of hours disabling a couple of firewalls and security stuff… 🙂
I have just tested Windows Vista at our company network for a couple of months. After finishing the test and now using my own Windows XP computer I gain approximately one hour of productive work. Vista was terrible and I needed to reboot the computer three to four times each day due to crashes. Our experience is that Vista isn’t ready for production work.
Windows XP is and OS X is!
I got Beyond TV 4.7.1 installed on my HTPC running XP SP2, and Vista on my laptop with Beyond TV Link, no network problems. Well, except for Vista and my Debianserver running Samba….
[…] embarqué dans le réseau, sont en train de se mettre en place. La Slingbox et Orb ont inventé le “placeshifting” en permettant à leurs utilisateurs de profiter de leurs contenus multimédia n’importe où, […]
There is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to network an XP and Vista machine. Do a quick google search and invest 30 minutes in fixing it.
Make sure they are both on the same work group. You may need to set authentication (username and password) to log into the Vista machine.
I know not everyone is technologically inclined or really even wants to know this stuff, but that is an important and useful thing to understand, especially if you want to “placeshift”
There are a lot of questions that circle around this topic of place shifting. DISH carries something similar that I believe will cover majority of these issues. For starters, it is call the VIP 922, or a sling box. With the 922, because it is a DVR as well there is a $6 server charge for the DRM, which covers any kind of questions about streaming content. This has to be one of the coolest things that has hit the place shifting market in a long time. Check it out.