[925]

Here is how we were finally able to move shows between Replay 4k systems at LAN speeds of approximately 350K/second. We could never have figured this out on our own, and it is not in any ReplayTV published information. AVS Forum folks helped us by throwing tidbits our way. We ammassed those tidbits, and now report our findings back to you:


ReplayTV 4k systems can transfer information to other ReplayTV 4k systems. For in-home use, LAN streaming (or LAN video sharing?) is normally used. With LAN streaming, you can browse the remote 4k's program guide, and watch shows from the remote 4k system. These shows are NOT transferred to your local 4k system, the video is simply streamed over the LAN network to you. You watch it. When you are done watching it, it resides only on the original 4k system it was recorded on. (LAN streaming is the method used by the fabulous independently produced software "SwapDV" to view shows on your ReplayTV 4k system that were once moved to and subsequently stored on your PC).


The second method of receiving shows from any other ReplayTV in the world is called IVS sharing (Internet Video Sharing). IVS actually moves shows over the internet. The only real problem with IVS is that one user has to upload the show, and the other user has to download the show with both ReplayTVs working together for the duration. The problem is the duration. Most internet users have speed limitations on their broadband connections. Downloading is usually MUCH faster than uploading. But the uploading has to be done simultaneously with the downloading, so whoever has the slowest connection is the bottleneck in the process. Many DSL and Cable Modem broadband users are limited to 128K or so on uploads. At 128K speeds, a one hour show can take 12-24 hours to upload. Dial-up users (yes, I know, most people think you can't dial-up a 4k system) should expect to double or triple those times or more.


We wanted to actually copy shows from a 4160 to a 4320 in our home. Lan streaming doesn't copy shows, it simply lets you watch shows across the LAN. To copy shows from one box to the other, you need to use IVS. Both our DSL and our Cable Modem broadband connections are limited to 128K or less upload speeds. We couldn't tolerate the several weeks time that moving the 20 shows we wanted to move from one box to the other would take. (SwapDV or other independent tools we have been able to locate do not support IVS).


We wanted to use the speed of our local LAN, but encountered many challenges due to lack of documentation, technical support, and our firewall.


In order to get IVS to work between two Replay TV units that are behind a firewall that is doing NAT (Network Address Translation), we found that you need to do the following:


- You must choose a unique "Inbound Port Number" in the "Change Internet Identity" Screen (Menu->Setup->Internet Identity and Address Book->Change Internet Identity->Enter Nickname. You must enter the nickname, and then at that point, you must enter a random but unique port number in the range of 01024-65535).


- Make sure that the IP addresses that are being used have access to the inbound port that you set on your ReplayTV (that is, make sure that your firewall is not blocking these ports).


- Set your NAT/firewall to forward requests to the inbound ports to the corresponding NAT IP addresses (192.168.xxx,yyy) of your ReplayTVs.


If all goes well (as it did for us) you will be able to transfer programs at LAN speeds, limited only by your LAN speeds, and the speed of your ReplayTVs. In our configuration, it looks like we should expect to take about one hour of transfer time for one hour of show being copied. That is FAR better than a DAY per hour of show.


Thanks to all for the assists!

 

[epete]

Does this imply there may be an easy workaround to send a show from a SwapDV PC to ReplayTV4k without involving the ReplayTV Servers?

 

[925]

As I understand it, SwapDV does not and will not support IVS. Without IVS (or opening the box and moving disk drives), you can't COPY shows onto a 4k. So I think the answer is simply, no, there is no implication that you can do anything more than stream video to a 4k from SwapDV.

 

[TanRanger]

Epete -

I think the answer to your question is no. It sounds like all this person did was successfully configure his router and his replays for normal operation. I don't see anything that suggests the Replay servers were taken out of the loop, so I don't think this relates at all to SwapDV. I gather that 925 is pleased that the shows aren't being sent from one RTV out to the Replay server and then back to the other RTV. I'm actually quite surprised that this could or would ever happen as I understand the Replay server is only doing authentication. I sincerely doubt SonicBlue would want to pay for the bandwidth needed to pipe scads of multi-gig mpgs back and forth between RTV boxes. I think 925 should return his RTVs if they are sending data through his modems when the source and destination IPs are both local and private... that would mean his programs would be heading out into the ether, never to return because the IPs don't actually exist out there.

 

[jtl]

The shows aren't ever sent out to Replay servers and back. With broken or poorly configured NAT/firewall systems, however, they can be sent out of the local LAN to the first ISP router and back, taking a round trip over the cable/dsl/dialup/whatever connection.


Also, for IVS, Replays will never send to the 'local and private' IPs -- they'll always send to the IP address that's registered with the Replay servers, which is the address that the registration messages appear to come from -- typically, the NAT/firewall box. It won't ever be a non-routable address.