Multiple video feeds on a single screen

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leewcraft

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Multiple video feeds on a single screen

#1

Post by leewcraft » Wed Dec 04, 2013 2:58 am

I'm thinking about writing a multi-view application for Media Center to do something like picture-in-picture, or a 4-channel grid for watching multiple sporting events on the same screen. Has anyone attempted to use more than 1 video feed at a time? I don't see anything in the Media Center SDK documentation that says whether it would or wouldn't work. I may just have to poke around and try it, but wanted to see if it's been done (or can't be done).

sccrgoalie1

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#2

Post by sccrgoalie1 » Wed Dec 04, 2013 2:01 pm

I'm almost 100% certain due to the way Media Center is built this cannot be done. Check over at the Media Center Sandbox. I know I've seen discussions surrounding this concept before.

sccrgoalie1

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#3

Post by sccrgoalie1 » Wed Dec 04, 2013 9:26 pm

This seems to contain the technical limitations making this impossible.

http://experts.windows.com/frms/windows ... 12230.aspx

barnabas1969

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#4

Post by barnabas1969 » Wed Dec 04, 2013 9:52 pm

If the OP could figure out a way to create a service (outside of Media Center) that takes multiple tuners as input, scales them to fit in a single 1080i stream, and presents that stream to Media Center as a virtual tuner, then it could be possible. It would be a huge undertaking, and probably would not work with copy-protected cable (CableCARD)... but it could be cool.

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mark1234

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#5

Post by mark1234 » Thu Dec 05, 2013 1:27 pm

In a similar vein, I've often thought it would be possible to take the Flash stream from a service such as tvcatchup.com, strip off the Flash wrapper to get at the h.264 content and present that through a virtual tuner to Media Centre. That way you could use streaming TV as just another tuner/channel.

But I have none of the required capabilities to achieve such a thing.
Windows Media Centre - Abandoned by Microsoft

barnabas1969

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#6

Post by barnabas1969 » Thu Dec 05, 2013 2:56 pm

Mark,

Me either, but that thought occurred to me after I posted #4 above. It would be very cool. If the OP has the ability, I'd say... Go for it!

mdavej

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#7

Post by mdavej » Thu Dec 05, 2013 3:06 pm

You could also do it with just hardware if you can use the PIP feature of your TV. Just have your HTPC on one input and an extender on another. If your TV can do 4 at once, just add more extenders. Not as cheap or elegant as a software solution, but it's better than nothing. Since Echos are addressable, you could easily control them all with a single universal remote. If you decide to go that route, I can post the pronto hex for every possible MCE address used by the Echo.

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#8

Post by barnabas1969 » Thu Dec 05, 2013 3:09 pm

Oh, just in case the OP doesn't already know... there are already products that present virtual tuners to Media Center. For example, the Hauppauge HD-PVR and Colossus capture devices... and I believe the DVBLink software does it too.

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#9

Post by barnabas1969 » Thu Dec 05, 2013 3:11 pm

mdavej wrote:You could also do it with just hardware if you can use the PIP feature of your TV. Just have your HTPC on one input and an extender on another. If your TV can do 4 at once, just add more extenders. Not as cheap or elegant as a software solution, but it's better than nothing. Since Echos are addressable, you could easily control them all with a single universal remote. If you decide to go that route, I can post the pronto hex for every possible MCE address used by the Echo.
I'm not sure how many TV's can use two HDMI inputs for PIP. I keep intending to test mine, but never get around to it. I currently only have one HDMI device connected to the TV (my AVR). I always forget to do it, but I've been intending to connect an extender to another HDMI port to see if it will do PIP from two HDMI sources. I'm thinking that the feature only works with the internal tuner, plus one external source.

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#10

Post by barnabas1969 » Thu Dec 05, 2013 3:54 pm

OK, I'm working from home today, so before I go on my lunch break, I decided to hook up an extender to the TV in the living room (Samsung PN64D8000). As I suspected, the PIP feature in the TV will only allow you to watch the internal tuner plus one external source. This is the top-of-the-line Samsung Plasma from 2011. If it won't do it, I doubt many TV's will.

Oh, and to give you a clue about how un-used PIP is, the remote control that came with the TV does not have a single button to control PIP... it must be done with the TV's menu system, or with a programmable remote that can be programmed to send the PIP on/off/swap/channel/etc commands, like my AR-RX18G remote.

leewcraft

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#11

Post by leewcraft » Fri Dec 06, 2013 12:37 am

Yeah, the main reason I wanted to do this within Media Center is for CableCard support. Any hardware device that does this is in the thousands of dollars range. I definitely don't have the expertise to strip out the flash and present it as a tuner, but might be able to make streaming work with a hosted HTML page. Will have to keep investigating. Thanks for the replies.

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#12

Post by barnabas1969 » Fri Dec 06, 2013 2:17 am

Well, you could probably make it work with copy-freely stuff on a CableCARD tuner, but you wouldn't be able to handle the copy-protected stuff unless you pay for the necessary licensing (Cable Labs and/or PlayReady) and certification to handle protected video.

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