Playing video from another site over the internet Options

[truckerdude]

Hi!

I'm looking for a solution that would allow me to create the following scenario:

We have video at different physical sites that are VPN'd with LogMeIn Hamachi2. We have sufficient bandwidth to stream video from site to site (25Mbps down/5Mbps up). We are looking for a media player that would allow us to view video from site to site.

Would this work? : Site A/B/C is all VPN'd with Hamachi2. At each site, one computer "Shares" the VPN'd video folder from the other sites to the local network. WDTV Live Plus opens video from this "Local Share" which is actually from another site.

Has anyone tried a similar setup? Any other suggestions on how to stream from site to site over the internet?

[Rev Drew]

5Mbps up is not enough for high def (1080p) video but I imagine divx or xvid would work okay ..
720p MAY stream but I doubt it.

[truckerdude]

Only doing 480p. If required I can up the bandwidth to 70/15.

I'm just enquiring about the setup, has anyone tried something similar or have any ideas for sharing over the internet?

[Rev Drew]

nope, other than streaming from various UMSP plugins I have not tried what you are describing..

I would be interested in how you make out with it though.

[truckerdude]

Not having purchased a WDTV Live Plus yet, I can only say how I'm making out so far with equipment on hand.

I've linked site A and site B using Hamachi on PCs, My video file is at site A, PS3 at site B. At site B, I've mapped a network drive for my share from site A. I've set TVersity to load that share into the library (had to change the user account the TVersity service uses). I am currently able to watch 480p video at site B through the PS3 with TVersity. I would say the exact same setup would work with WDTV Live.

[Trendecide]

Might want to also look into Windows Media Streaming built into Windows Server, VLC Streaming also works well or even Flash Media Server. Having used all three, Flash Media Server is hands down my favorite and probably the best imho, however bar none the most expensive as well, outrageous even. Windows streaming is built into any Windows Server and it's pretty slick, well documented and your savvy Windows user would be up and running in very little time. VLC Streaming is probably the easiest to setup and use, but not the quality the other two services provide, particularly for streaming live video.

You should be able to stream (not download) 1080p or lesser quality without so much as a hitch with any of these products on your current bandwidth (if you can stream 1080p youtube videos you're fine). Since these are WEB SERVER solutions, I'm betting you'll find the biggest trouble being choosing the right solution for you and the learning curve involved to set up both the media streaming and the server.

WDTV cannot do this. Your only hardware option would be the slingbox, which I've heard mixed reviews about (checkout cnet reviews).