TyStreamer

how it works

tystreamer 2.0 and later works by streaming the raw ty stream from your tivo using vserver to VLC using plugins from the TiVo-VLC Project. VLC then transcodes and streams your program to the client, any Flash-enabled web browser! Here's a quick diagram:

This is significantly simpler than the old method.

tystreamer is available for distribution under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

^ top

how it used to work

tystreamer 2.0 and later works by streaming the raw ty stream from your tivo using vserver to VLC using plugins from the TiVo-VLC Project. VLC then transcodes and streams your program to the client, any Flash-enabled web browser! Here's a quick diagram:

This is significantly simpler than the old method which tried to use typrocess, requant, and lvemux to pull the stream, split the audio and video, resize the video stream, and then mux it all together before sending it out to the browser.

And on top of all that complexity, it didn't work. There are serious limits to how much the requant function from Metakine can reduce the size of the stream, and furthermore, if it works too hard it tends to choke. By streamlining the process to one application, the process is much easier to set up and has fewer external requirements, even though it does require slightly higher system specs. I'm able to stream video from an S1 Phillips TiVo using the original TiVoNET card in real time using an Intel Pentium III 866MHz processor with 386Mb or RAM running Mandrake Linux 10.1 Official desktop while running X11. You can run tystreamer on slower machines by reducing the quality of output that VLC produces.

tystreamer is available for distribution under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

^ top