[ale] Electric bill

[Bob Marley]

Hello there is a way to get your videos from your media server to your
PS3 though I don't own one a program I use on my xbox (I know, I know)
is supported on PS3 its called PlayOn I was an early adopter and get it
really cheap they now do subscription and one time fees.  Basically it
has a plugin that integrates vlc into it and lets you play it that way
and I have been able to throw everything in the world at it and it
works.  Downside (I haven't researched other platforms since I have a
multi-platform home) is you have to run a windows server for this to
work.  PlayOn is supported by xbox, ps3, and wii so what I have done at
my house is put in a purchase req with the misses to purchase 3 more
xbox 360, and I am working on having two access points in my house
(major overkill).  Also with PlayOn I forget to mention you can go to
playon scripts and add custom channels and such, me and my co-worker are
working on it he has the live news and such on it now along with the
weather channel.  So hopefully this helps sorry this was my first post
to ALE and I am long winded today, hope I added something of value.
Have a great day guys.

 On Mon, 2011-06-06 at 15:20 -0400, Pat Regan wrote:
> On Sun, 5 Jun 2011 15:12:44 -0400
> David Hillman <hillmands at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Pat, I like your idea of only using the computer when you have to.  I
> > have been trying to figure out how to have my media server wake up
> > only when I want to watch movies on the PS3 console and without doing
> > much manual labor. I am thinking it would a good idea to have a small
> > device that acts as a delegate for much more powerful machines that
> > actually provide the services. Whenever the PS3 asks for a movie file
> > from the delegate, it'll relay a WOL signal to the media server box
> > (if it isn't awake yet).  The delegate only has to understand the
> > media sharing protocol, but it doesn't have to be powerful enough to
> > crunch the numbers, etc.  Once the media box comes up, the delegate
> > can transfer control directly to the media server box.  The same sort
> > of idea is used for web services.  Is that too complicated for these
> > types of network services?  I haven't been able to find a way to way
> > get the PS3 to directly wake the cranky media box; it always just
> > times out. The media box is old and takes forever to boot up.
> 
> I think this idea is interesting.  As I was reading your paragraph I
> thought of a couple of ways to make this happen...  Running a sniffer
> on the router looking for the right connection attempt or watching the
> arp table on the router for the ip of the media server.
> 
> The problem would be that the PS3 would never try to talk to the IP of
> the media server.  I don't know exactly how the upnp media sharing
> protocol works, but it probably broadcasts and asks for media servers
> to announce themselves.
> 
> You could probably have the router listen for upnp broadcasts, possibly
> just using netcat.  If it sees one it could send the appropriate WOL.
> I think the problem is that the PS3 probably searches for media servers
> as soon as you turn it on.  Your media server would probably need some
> sort of automatic shutdown if it isn't actually streaming anything.
> 
> My use case is a bit different than most people's.  My so called "media
> server" almost never streams any media.  It has been attached to my
> projector for most of the last five years or so, until pretty
> recently.  Most of the movie watching happened right there, so it
> was always simple to just turn on server (aka player) when I turned on
> the projector.  They'd both be ready at about the same time.
> 
> I have a PS3, but it isn't capable of playing most of my media.  It can
> only play baseline h.264 and I encode everything with high profile
> h.264, it also has a 4GB local file size limit.  So far I've found two
> inexpensive boxes that will play high profile 1080p mkv files.  The
> Seagate Theatre+ and the WD Live TV devices (the older serial number WD
> boxes can't ff/rw in high profile 1080p files).
> 
> I have one of the Seagate boxes out on the TV in the living room but
> I've never tried streaming to him.  We're in an apartment and running
> ethernet to my office would be a hassle.  I've just been sneakernetting
> using an older usb hard drive.
> 
> The Seagate and WD boxes can be had for around $100 and play just about
> everything I throw at them.  They both support NTFS, the Seagate
> supports HFS+ as well.  I was able to snag the Seagate box last year
> when Newegg had them on sale for $40 shipped.
> 
> I don't seem to have any kill-a-watt data on the PS3 or the
> Seagate/WD.  I'm absolutely certain that the PS3 uses a lot more juice,
> though.  The little media players have tiny little wall warts with very
> thin power cables and they barely get warm.  I can't say that about the
> PS3 :)
> 
> Pat
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