Slingbox
Nov 1st 2010, 10:48 am
#16
Prepare yourself Brisbane
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 280
Re: Slingbox
Hi Dave,
My NAS is a Netgear readynas but any NAS will do (got this one cheap and I love to do these configs as efficiently as possible), so long as its running Linux and you can install your own stuff on it. The NAS is sitting in my study in Sydney and is running a passthrough proxy to my VPN account in the UK. The proxy (squid) is just a bit of linux software which listens on a particular port & forwards traffic to the VPN server. Then the media client (PS3 in my case) is set up to proxy to the IP address of the NAS and the port its providing proxy services on.
I do it this way only because my NAS is always on and I don't need my PC (Mac in my case) to be on in order to watch iPlayer. This is needed simply because while the PS3 can be configured for a proxy/vpn it cant provide authentication information to one (login/password for the VPN account).
A much simpler way is to have a home cinema PC or laptop connected directly to your TV and have that pointed at your VPN account, but I already had the PS3 and NAS and find it useful to have a central always on proxy server, this way I can watch iplayer on any pc/mac/media client in the house, its also great for Spotify, which I stream to my home cinema amp for a free on demand jukebox of pretty much any track except the Beatles. The PS3 is a great media client and does a wonderful job of playing HD material, but there are several others which would work equally well.
I did muse about setting up a service to configure solutions like this for people, but the support calls would be a nightmare and I have a day job doing roughly this kind of thing for a financial institution (at least for now).
Now its all set up it "just works" and for anyone technical I can only recommend getting a NAS, as well as storing all my media centrally its a great backup server, proxy host and does all of my downloading automatically.
BTW, I didn't need a static IP for any of the above, to do certain inbound VOIP routing I use dyndns which is a more portable solution if I change ISP.
My NAS is a Netgear readynas but any NAS will do (got this one cheap and I love to do these configs as efficiently as possible), so long as its running Linux and you can install your own stuff on it. The NAS is sitting in my study in Sydney and is running a passthrough proxy to my VPN account in the UK. The proxy (squid) is just a bit of linux software which listens on a particular port & forwards traffic to the VPN server. Then the media client (PS3 in my case) is set up to proxy to the IP address of the NAS and the port its providing proxy services on.
I do it this way only because my NAS is always on and I don't need my PC (Mac in my case) to be on in order to watch iPlayer. This is needed simply because while the PS3 can be configured for a proxy/vpn it cant provide authentication information to one (login/password for the VPN account).
A much simpler way is to have a home cinema PC or laptop connected directly to your TV and have that pointed at your VPN account, but I already had the PS3 and NAS and find it useful to have a central always on proxy server, this way I can watch iplayer on any pc/mac/media client in the house, its also great for Spotify, which I stream to my home cinema amp for a free on demand jukebox of pretty much any track except the Beatles. The PS3 is a great media client and does a wonderful job of playing HD material, but there are several others which would work equally well.
I did muse about setting up a service to configure solutions like this for people, but the support calls would be a nightmare and I have a day job doing roughly this kind of thing for a financial institution (at least for now).
Now its all set up it "just works" and for anyone technical I can only recommend getting a NAS, as well as storing all my media centrally its a great backup server, proxy host and does all of my downloading automatically.
BTW, I didn't need a static IP for any of the above, to do certain inbound VOIP routing I use dyndns which is a more portable solution if I change ISP.
I've got a ReadyNAS Duo, which I just purchased last week, got it setup with 1TB and in the process of getting dyndns setup. From the sounds of it what you have done is exactly what I'm looking for. I'm going to get a mac mini to use as my source to the TV and have the NAS on all the time similar to yourself. I work in IT but never had any real hands on experience with setting all these services up so just trying to get my head round all the steps I need to take and which is the best solution. I'll need to get squid installed and have a play.
Maybe the answer isn't a slingbox???
Nov 1st 2010, 11:09 am
#17
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 1,412
Re: Slingbox
I've got an Xbox classic set up as my media centre but I'm not getting the full value out of it because the ADSL router is on the other side of the room and I can't really run a cable between them. Xbox is a cheap way of doing this, I think mine was $30 or so used from EB Games.
Nov 1st 2010, 11:13 am
#18
Prepare yourself Brisbane
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 280
Re: Slingbox
I've got an Xbox classic set up as my media centre but I'm not getting the full value out of it because the ADSL router is on the other side of the room and I can't really run a cable between them. Xbox is a cheap way of doing this, I think mine was $30 or so used from EB Games.
http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-WGE111.../dp/B000637RGQ
Nov 1st 2010, 11:18 am
#19
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Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 1,412
Re: Slingbox
Thanks, I have a spare Belkin router here but I've never got round to trying to interface with the ADSL router. ADSL is Billion 5200GRC and the Belkin is F5D7230-4.
Nov 1st 2010, 8:13 pm
#20
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2008
Location: Hope Island, Gold Coast
Posts: 1,920
Re: Slingbox
I don't use wireless but prefer homeplug adaptors, wish I'd brought some out with me as they're really expensive here, but I haven't seen wireless do good enough bandwidth for HD material yet - all depends on distance & walls etc.
Nov 2nd 2010, 10:29 am
#21
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 15,526
Re: Slingbox
How much did your Nas system cost ?
Nov 2nd 2010, 10:34 am
#22
Prepare yourself Brisbane
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 280
Re: Slingbox
Maybe set up a contract system where the two first calls are free, and anything beyond that are 15 bucks for 15 minutes then a dollar a minute from that point on. You would need a Visa merchant number and their credit card details of course.
How much did your Nas system cost ?
How much did your Nas system cost ?
Nov 2nd 2010, 10:36 am
#23
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Joined: Feb 2008
Location: Hope Island, Gold Coast
Posts: 1,920
Re: Slingbox
Maybe set up a contract system where the two first calls are free, and anything beyond that are 15 bucks for 15 minutes then a dollar a minute from that point on. You would need a Visa merchant number and their credit card details of course.
How much did your Nas system cost ?
How much did your Nas system cost ?
Its a ReadyNas Duo like Dave has, there are ones with more drive bays and faster CPU's but this one does me fine (it has been known to spend 5 hours unpacking a bluray rip but as it all happens automatically its no problem).
I'll give the visa thing some thought, especially if my day job contract isn't renewed.
If anyone's interested I also run SABnzbd+ on it, one click and it downloads, unpacks & sends me an email when its done all ready on a network share for viewing, its also setup to automatically download new TV episodes via an RSS feed as they become available. I'm happy with the setup - wish my commercial projects went as smoothly!
Last edited by freebo; Nov 2nd 2010 at 10:39 am.
Nov 2nd 2010, 11:04 am
#24
Prepare yourself Brisbane
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 280
Re: Slingbox
If anyone's interested I also run SABnzbd+ on it, one click and it downloads, unpacks & sends me an email when its done all ready on a network share for viewing, its also setup to automatically download new TV episodes via an RSS feed as they become available. I'm happy with the setup - wish my commercial projects went as smoothly!
Do you download torrents when using hideipvpn?
Thanks for all this advise, I may still get a Slingbox but do think my main source of TV now is going to be a setup simliar to you.
Nov 2nd 2010, 8:30 pm
#25
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2008
Location: Hope Island, Gold Coast
Posts: 1,920
Re: Slingbox
There's no need to use a vpn when downloading from newsgroups as I've configured the session to use an encrypted connection, and of course I never download anything which is subject to copyright
Nov 3rd 2010, 7:55 am
#26
Prepare yourself Brisbane
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 280
Re: Slingbox
So have you got rules setup on your proxy so the llikes of an iplayer request hits it and your newsgroup requests bypass it? If thats the case is that something which is easy to do with the proxy add-on on the NAS?
Nov 3rd 2010, 9:07 am
#27
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Joined: Feb 2008
Location: Hope Island, Gold Coast
Posts: 1,920
Re: Slingbox
I only download movies which I have previously purchased...
So have you got rules setup on your proxy so the llikes of an iplayer request hits it and your newsgroup requests bypass it? If thats the case is that something which is easy to do with the proxy add-on on the NAS?
So have you got rules setup on your proxy so the llikes of an iplayer request hits it and your newsgroup requests bypass it? If thats the case is that something which is easy to do with the proxy add-on on the NAS?
When the NAS (which is also running the proxy server) wants to access the internet to download something it consults its routing table and uses its default gateway (which is my ISP), when my Mac wants to access the net it does the same thing, but my media player is configured to point at the proxy and therefore the traffic gets routed over the VPN connection.
Anything not configured to use the proxy goes out of the normal, NAT'd internet connection. I also have a proxy switcher configured on on my web browser so I can test the proxy connection by switching to it, but the rest of the time my web browser is routed through my normal IP. If I wanted the NAS to use the VPN
roxy I'd set its proxy address as localhostort number. It helps a great deal in the above if you use static IP's for all devices on the home network, I couldn't be arsed to setup my own DNS for about 10 devices total).I only download free software under the GNU license agreement.
This took longer to explain than it did to set up
Lastly - I highly recommend Billion routers, so many more features than home Linksys/netgear/Belkin etc.
Last edited by freebo; Nov 3rd 2010 at 9:11 am.
