'HomeRun' App with SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime - LG Optimus L9 P760, P765, P768, P769

LG L9 P769 with stock Jellybean
In brief: I was able to stream live TV from the 'HDHomeRun Prime' to my phone using the app 'HomeRunTV'.
I recently purchased a network cable card tuner: a tuner that will stream to my home network so I can watch cable on computers/phones/etc, a 'HDHomeRun Prime' by Silicon Dust.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HKIB6E/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I did NOT purchase this tuner (actually, it has three tuners) to stream to my phone; that's just a side benefit. There are a couple of apps that will allow an Android phone to stream from this tuner.
-The first is InstaTV, which offers a free and a pro version. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.keyitech.instatv.pro
-The second is HomeRunTV, which is pay only. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zaren.HomeRunTV
Neither of these apps have a 'guide', they only list channels. With either of these apps, the tuner can stream to the phone one of two ways:
1) you can stream native H.264 video from the tuner to the phone.
2) you can install a (free) program on a computer to decode the video and stream a lower-bandwidth signal to your phone.
I was unable to get InstaTV's program to install on my dinosaur PC, but I could install HomeRunTVs program to install (it also requires VLC, also free, but I haven't finished setting VLC up yet), so I chose to just purchase HomeRunTV app 'HomeRunTV' ($2.99) for my phone
Along with HomeRunTV I also needed to install a video player because the ones I have are not supported. I installed MX Player (Free) on my phone. MX Player does NOT appear to have have hardware acceleration on my phone; it has hardware accelerator plugins and I have not checked to see if there is one that supports the L9.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mxtech.videoplayer.ad
The app's developer recommends a different video player, VPlayer; that player is by the same developer and is either paid or has a 7-day free trial. I may try it later.
I am typing this while watching "We Are Marshall" on AMC's SD channel and sitting close to my wireless N wireless router. The movie has a lot of action and there are a few times where there is pixelation or artifacts (i.e. when everyone is cheering and jumping around after the game, or when someone is being tackled) but overall I'm happy with the quality considering that I did not buy the tuner for this purpose. If I go downstairs or to the bedroom (through two walls) I see more artifacts. If I watch the same show on AMC's HD channel in the basement there are frequent artifacts - but keep in mind it's a hollywood football movie; in the more static scenes, the image is fine.
When watching a SD channel with less motion there appears to be some 'deinterlacing' effects but the picture is crisp when watching a HD channel.
I have NOT set up VLC on my computer yet, so I can't test the feature where my computer streams to the phone. This should improve quality and range. If I ever get around to doing so, I will post an update. As I mentioned before, I did NOT purchase the tuner to stream to my phone but I figured I might as well get the ability, especially if it only costs $2.99.
edit:
Tuning into a station takes between 10 and 20 seconds depending on if it is SD or HD and if I am near the router or in the basement, I believe this is a buffering issue but I do not know for sure. Between the time it takes to tune in a channel, and the lack of a guide, you better know what you want to watch because channel surfing would take forever.

So wait, what does this do? Does it let you watch TV on your phone or what?

Ilxaot said:
So wait, what does this do? Does it let you watch TV on your phone or what?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. It's sort of like putting a cable card in a computer so you can watch TV on that computer, except it puts the cable card on the network so multiple devices can share it. DLNA-enabled blu-ray players and TVs can stream from it, and PS3 and XBox.
It will allow me to use a PC as a DVR, and my daughter will be able to use her laptop as a DVR, and we can all watch TV on our phones/tablets.
I believe that with DLNA-enabled devices you can get 'premium' content like HBO. The L9 has DLNA but the app I'm using does not, so I can't watch HBO on the L9 with this app.

That's pretty cool dude! Nice find! I'd recommend a better thread title though. When I saw "HomeRun" I was reluctant to come here since it came off as a Pitch-by-Pitch MLB app lol.

Related

[Q] Issues with recorded videos over DLNA/Allshare

I've searched thoroughly on this and no solutions, only a few other users reporting the same problem.
Got a TV, Blu-ray player, or network media player that supports DLNA? Can you record a video on your Vibrant, and successfully play it on your client device? I think I saw someone say they had success using a WD Live HD Plus...but I'd sure like to get confirmation before I go get one.
I picked up a Samsung BD-C6900 player that ought to do this. Getting the networking set up on both the phone and the blu-ray went extremely smoothly. The Avatar trailer plays over DLNA perfectly. But videos recorded with the phone's camera? No go. They play for a second or two, then freeze, then sometimes pick up again, much farther into the clip, then freeze again. Even on the smallest resolution.
The C6900 is going back, unless I get some satisfaction from level three support in the morning...by the time I got that far tonight, the department had closed for the day.
So maybe I try the WD, or wait until some future time when Samsung finally gets around to doing the engineering that should have been done before releasing product, and spreading hype about Allshare that crosses the fine line from fraud into marketing.
Any other experiences or ideas?
---
Update 10/1/2010 5PM MT:
Amie at level 3 support did not have any solutions, but was conscientious in taking down the data to relay to development.
I discovered that turning off "record audio" results in videos that play through allshare correctly, excepting the highest resolution mode. Even though they play correctly, there is a notice at the beginning: "Audio codec not support". This notice also sometimes briefly appears at the start of the malfunctioning videos that do contain audio.
I've copied the videos over to Ubuntu and used mplayer -identify to start analyzing them. Nothing jumps out as suspicious. In both cases, the audio format ID is 255 and mplayer selects the FAAD AAC codec. Mplayer plays them all fine.
I tried Twonky Mobile Server in addition to allshare, and it behaved similarly to allshare. It produced a log file in which the most interesting difference between avatar_trailer and the recorded videos is that DLNA profiles were found for the malfunctioning videos, but no profile was found for the Avatar trailer.
I wonder if something is triggering on-the-fly transcoding to happen, even though it should not be needed? On-the-fly transcoding is something that can happen under DLNA, so that broader compatibility can be achieved. It's going to be slow, though, on these embedded processors. Slowness due to transcoding would be consistent with the symptoms. I don't know whether such transcoding would happen on the server end (phone in this case), or the client end. Anyone, anyone? Bueller?
My next experiment will be to burn the videos to disc and see what the C6900 does with them in that case.
Update 10/1/2010 10PM MT: All the videos play fine when burned to disc. So it's purely an allshare issue...but is it on the phone end, or the BD player end? I checked back and found the source of the report that the WD Live worked with DLNA from a Vibrant...but it was not claimed that videos recored using the Vibrant's camera worked. So I have never seen any report of anyone ever playing their Vibrant-recorded videos using DLNA/allshare. Seems like something amiss on the phone end, then...but why, if the video files themselves are OK, do two different DLNA server apps (allshare and Twonky) both fail in the same way?
Next experiment: stream to Windows 7 as the DLNA client.
I would like to capture the DLNA streams, but am not sure how to go about that.
Mods: I see you moved this to Q&A. I think perhaps it would be a better fit in Development, now?
Tried flashing a different ROM, Frankin-Twiz Final. It has allshare removed. TwonkyServer Mobile had Unrecoverable Error on startup. So I restored to stock.
(someone has since posted a dlna.apk in that thread that restores allshare)
I had to reinstall Twonky after flashing back to stock, and after that, it worked better! There must have been an update to it in the interim...
Still not perfect; there are pauses every few seconds, but it resumes from the right spot.
My best guess is that an on-the-fly transcode is happening due to the unusual 32k audio sample rate of the camcorder videos. The client device probably doesn't support that rate over dlna. I bet some client devices do, and would play the videos smoothly.
Hopefully a firmware update for the BD-C6900 player will come along that fixes it.
I acquired a Western Digital Live Plus HD player at Best Buy for $99. With the Vibrant running TwonkyServer Mobile, the WD plays all videos perfectly, even 720p!
I didn't try allshare--no reason to bother, and I like how Twonky stays running in the background and lets you do other things on the phone.
The C6900 is boxed up ready to go back to the store.

Any video out capabilities?

I know it may be a long shot, but is there any known way to get a video output from the phone? If not now, does any Dev know if the capability even exists in the hardware that such a feature may come in the future? I realize no hardware = no go.
The Thunderbolt supports DLNA
Sharing media on your home network...
Sharing photos, videos, and music with a bigger circle of friends is easy on your home network. Simply connect your phone to the network and instantly show your captured photos and videos on a big TV, or start streaming your favorite music tracks on hi-fi speakers — all via DLNA®. For more information about DLNA, visit www.dlna.org.
Was looking more for a method I could use for non DLNA, i.e. my car stereo. I think it would be FREAKING SWEET to watch netflix or hulu on my 7" in dash monitor (not while driving, of course!), or put movies for my son in the 32gb card to play while he's riding with me (currently have a series of custom burned DVD's about 5 movies each I have to hunt and switch). I contacted HTC, and their response was that the Incredible was the only VZW HTC device with cable-based-video-out capabilities....
Sadly, the t-bolt doesn't have hdmi output. That's the one feature I wish it had. Sorry, man.

SGT as a Remote for Media Playback on my PC

I'm looking for an app which lets me browse my local media on my PC and begin watching / listening on the PC; like a remote control app, but more developed then say Awaremote for winamp (which isn't really set-up for video or honeycomb).
Similar to the Ipad Tivo Remote app. but not for Tivo, or Ipad.
I currently use Gmote, and while the touch pad mouse is excellent, I'd like to have previews of my media on the tablet; and even better
Also looking for an app that lets me mirror over wifi, or better yet; something that lets me browse to a video (on netflix or youtube, etc.) on the tablet, then watch the video on the PC.
Basically I have my Viera connected to my PC, and would like to be able to use the tablet as sort of an extended remote. I've seen videos of similar on Ipad. Any leads would be greatly appreciated!
Well the XBMC android remote does a lot of what you're looking for, but it does require you to use xbmc on the pc. I think the VLC remote might be your best bet? I haven't tried it myself but it looks right.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.hobbyistsoftware.android.vlcremote_us
My suggestion would have been gmote.
Will follow this as I am looking for the same.
Splashtop does a lot more than that. It is the best rdp I have seen and you can even steam audio and video (netflix, hulu). The HD version force closes right away so I would get the free version which works and monitor the HD version that is supposedly optimized for tegra tablets.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium App
So I've been trying a few different remote Apps from the market. Two of the prevalent problems are - no honeycomb optimization, or lack of functionality.
Gmote: I've been using gmote on my phone for months for basic media playback on my PC. This is the status quo, and really I thought it would be easy to beat as a media remote. (The trackpad is awesome, and I use gmote for that hands down, but I must be looking at my TV.) The media selection is clunky, and I haven't had much luck getting the media controls on the remote to work for anything other then VLC.
Youtube remote: Cool idea, easy set-up. Terrible interface. Landscape just shows a preview of the youtube video. The tablet must be in portrait mode to interact with the interface. I was really hoping it was just an addon for the youtube app with a "Play on leanback" button or some such. Generally disappointed in the limited interface; it should be integrated with the youtube app.
Awaremote: I thought this was for me, I even went as far as purchasing the pro version. (The free version is limited to 400 songs.) Awaremote is very similar to Gmote without the touchpad. Alas it will not pick-up video files when it syncs the library. If your videos are already playing or in the playlist on your PC it will allow you limited control, but you cannot add or remove media from the playlist. As a strict music remote for winamp it's great, but it's sadly lacking in other areas. Widget could be better sized for honeycomb. Add in video and new widgets and I'm sold.
Next up: splashtop, xbmc

Extend screen to TV via DLNA?

I'd like to use my phone as a source to play streaming videos (SWF container in this instance) onto my DLNA enabled TV. This works fine over HDMI but I don't want the cables dangling all over my house ideally.
Any ideas on how this can be done? I know that it can be done with VLC on a PC which converts a stream into a video file which can be sent over DLNA. Is there something similar for Android?
Hi!
You can do the two ways, "to" and "from" the phone right...
I recommend you first install some good video players (maybe some codec issues i had). I have Vplayer and RockPlayer lite
Then, install iMediaShare, also on android market.
Hope it helps
Great app for the content that they have on there...will be buying the full version.
I want to watch a foreign channel that is in the SWF container though so are there any options for extending that onto my TV in real time?

Streaming movies remotely

This is for those of us that are like me and don't have a server deicated to there movies, music, tv shows, etc.
I was looking for a way to stream all the movies that I have on my desktop to my Prime when I am either home or away. I stumbled upon Skifta. Skifta is a program you run on your computer that will let you stream movies to/from any upnp/dlna device. Worked really well last night when I was testing it. I streamed day breakers from my computer to the Prime and played it in Dice Player. The picture quality was perfect. Like I was watching it on my computer. Sound was typical Prime sound. What really surprised me was how long it took to start the movie with load times and such, it was fast as hell. I click got a little buffering icon for about 30 seconds and then it was playing. Granted this was on my own wifi and I haven't tested elsewhere yet but it seems promising so far
Links:
Skifta For your phone
Skifta For your computer
Is it Free?
MrCapcom said:
Is it Free?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
Can you play mkv and avi files from it? If so im downloading now!
MrCapcom said:
Can you play mkv and avi files from it? If so im downloading now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The movie I watched was mkv with subs. Works flawlessly.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
I haven't tried an avi yet.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
The best app for streaming is PLEX hands down, streams anything you throw at it, wifi or 3g. great interface and pretty easy to setup. Android app costs $5 but definately worth it. Nothing else compares. I tried Skifta myself in the past but could never get it to work consistently outside my own wifi network.
i prefer VLC pro myself. plays anything and everything, and all you have to do is enable the Web Interface setting on VLC on your PC.
highly suggested to anyone who actually uses VLC on their PC.
Using windows media player to share your files, combined with "mynet" or whatever app it is that comes with the prime is all you need.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
Plex without a doubt
chrisaba1 said:
The best app for streaming is PLEX hands down, streams anything you throw at it, wifi or 3g. great interface and pretty easy to setup. Android app costs $5 but definately worth it. Nothing else compares. I tried Skifta myself in the past but could never get it to work consistently outside my own wifi network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Plex is the best option. It is worth the $4.99 investment. You can use it for all forms of media and file types.
PLEX.......
Definitely looking for something like this. I have a WHS that is loaded with blu-ray movies. Will either of these play ISO files? I have My Movies installed on my home server so the files are ripped into iso.
smashingtool said:
Using windows media player to share your files, combined with "mynet" or whatever app it is that comes with the prime is all you need.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does mynet work outside of your wifi?
Any recommendations for streaming (off network) Video_TS/VOD movies? It looks like plex does not support it...
+ 1 for plex
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
When I get a chance I'll post my round up of over 20 applications I've tested for this purpose. Plex is towards the bottom of the list.
As a quick summary the two best are :
Qloud Media (free version also available, ad supported)
Lightweight/simple to use server
Supports multiple MKV audio tracks (choose before video playback)
Works with every video I've thrown at it
Remembers last folder browsed
Remembers last video location
Works with MKV embedded subtitles and SRT subtitles
Video quality is very good at higher bitrates. Bitrates are customizable (I recommend 3072 for WiFi Connections).
Very stable over low bandwidth 3G, streamed an entire 1080p movie over a ****ty Sprint connection that topped out at 350 k/b (player set for 250/kb streaming) with no problem.
Includes photo and mp3 streaming, both work great
Has a weird quirk that requires you to press the "play" button after using the seek bar on the video client.
Ability to setup multiple users/allowable shared folders
Only requires one TCP port forward for direct remote connection
Server component available only for Windows
Emit (free version also available, ad supported)
I actually found out about Emit after evaluating Qloud, it's probably my #2 choice under Qloud Media. Their featuresets are very similar and I'm betting they're based on similar technologies. I actually bought Emit too because I like the ability to stream via a PC web browser via the Emit web app. On higher end devices capable of high bitrates/resolutions Emit can produce better video quality than Qloud.
If I could only pick one video streamer to purchase I would still pick Qloud Media, the server and client are simply more stable (especially over 3G) and mature (Qloud client shows video thumbnails in the file browser and remembers last folder/video location between restarts). The Qloud photo viewer is a nice added bonus I actually use. On Emit one video I tested had no audio, restarting playback seemed to fix it, starting it again later had the same issue (may be a tablet issue). So if you get no audio try restarting playback.
Lightweight/simple to use server component
Capable of producing best video quality of all streamers tested
Video frame rate seemed a bit choppier when compared to Qloud
Can be very CPU intensive on the server side
Works with every video I've thrown at it
Works with MKV embedded subtitles and SRT subtitles
Supports multiple MKV audio tracks (single button switcher in video player)
Video quality is excellent at higher bitrates. Bitrates and resolution are customizable.
Includes MP3 streaming capability
Playback on PC via web client/Flash
Ability to pre encode video files for later download
Remote direct connection requires one TCP port (http streaming), UDP port range forward for RTSP fallback support (port numbers not customizable, what If I want to run multiple Emit servers?)
Server component available for Windows, MAC and Linux
Awesome info TalynOne, thanks! I tried Plex and since the folder I want to stream has many subfolders that change often it doesn't seem to be the app for me.
TalynOne said:
When I get a chance I'll post my round up of over 20 applications I've tested for this purpose. Plex is towards the bottom of the list.
As a quick summary the two best are :
Qloud Media (free version also available, ad supported)
Lightweight/simple to use server
Supports multiple MKV audio tracks (choose before video playback)
Works with every video I've thrown at it
Remembers last folder browsed
Remembers last video location
Works with MKV embedded subtitles and SRT subtitles
Video quality is very good at higher bitrates. Bitrates are customizable (I recommend 3072 for WiFi Connections).
Very stable over low bandwidth 3G, streamed an entire 1080p movie over a ****ty Sprint connection that topped out at 350 k/b (player set for 250/kb streaming) with no problem.
Includes photo and mp3 streaming, both work great
Has a weird quirk that requires you to press the "play" button after using the seek bar on the video client.
Ability to setup multiple users/allowable shared folders
Only requires one TCP port forward for direct remote connection
Server component available only for Windows
Emit (free version also available, ad supported)
I actually found out about Emit after evaluating Qloud, it's probably my #2 choice under Qloud Media. Their featuresets are very similar and I'm betting they're based on similar technologies. I actually bought Emit too because I like the ability to stream via a PC web browser via the Emit web app. On higher end devices capable of high bitrates/resolutions Emit can produce better video quality than Qloud.
If I could only pick one video streamer to purchase I would still pick Qloud Media, the server and client are simply more stable (especially over 3G) and mature (Qloud client shows video thumbnails in the file browser and remembers last folder/video location between restarts). The Qloud photo viewer is a nice added bonus I actually use. On Emit one video I tested had no audio, restarting playback seemed to fix it, starting it again later had the same issue (may be a tablet issue). So if you get no audio try restarting playback.
Lightweight/simple to use server component
Capable of producing best video quality of all streamers tested
Video frame rate seemed a bit choppier when compared to Qloud
Can be very CPU intensive on the server side
Works with every video I've thrown at it
Works with MKV embedded subtitles and SRT subtitles
Supports multiple MKV audio tracks (single button switcher in video player)
Video quality is excellent at higher bitrates. Bitrates and resolution are customizable.
Includes MP3 streaming capability
Playback on PC via web client/Flash
Ability to pre encode video files for later download
Remote direct connection requires one TCP port (http streaming), UDP port range forward for RTSP fallback support (port numbers not customizable, what If I want to run multiple Emit servers?)
Server component available for Windows, MAC and Linux
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you mind if I put this in the OP?
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
Haro912 said:
Would you mind if I put this in the OP?
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, go ahead.
What does it mean to "stream"? I have a server in my home that holds all my media, pictures, movies, documents, ya know everything. I downloaded the app ES File Explorer (free) and used the LAN mode to find my server, which listed all my shares. Navigate through the folders, find a movie I want to watch (AVI, MKV, WMV, MP4, WMV, etc) and click on it. Plays fine with MX Player. I didn't need any "streamer" software running on my PC or anything else running or to install. Why doesn't everyone use a method similar to this? I don't see the advantage to have to install additional streaming software on a PC to access media. Anyway, just curious.

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