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True iPad integration / streaming

P

ptrubey

Well-known member
Well, just as the K download store finally gets going (kind of, no HD still), I'm reliving the horrors of the pre-Kaleidescape days. You remember those days, right? Media would be scattered all over the place and you never had it in the right place at the right time in the right format.

Well, I'm right back there now.

Everyone in the household now has an iPad. We go on enough trips where having access to movies/TV shows on the iPad itself is a must. So I buy movies and TV shows via the iPad iTunes store and they are downloaded directly to the iPads.

But I can't watch those movies on my TVs - well, not unless I want to fiddle with Apple TV integration and such.

It would be SOOO much nicer if I could watch movies on my K system on my iPads.

A good first step would be to allow video streaming over the wifi network.

A great second step would be to allow that content to be actually moved to the iPad for off-line viewing.

Yeah, I know ... pipe dreams ...
 
I agree completely... and it's pretty unlikely.

But look at Tivo... a company many had given up for dead. Recently they launched their Tivo Stream device and you can now access anything on your DVD (recorded AND live TV) from any ipad or iphone in the home. Better yet, they did just what you want... you can also choose to download shows you want to take on the road with you... it takes a while, but it works... load up episodes of shows you missed, head out for a trip... watch on your ipad. I can tell you it works great. Just the in-home streaming is amazing. EVERY ipad and iphone is now able to watch shows off the DVR, all separately, and, if you have enough tuners, any of the users can also tune to live TV on those devices too. (latest Tivo has 4 tuners).

But back to the point... If Tivo can do it, it's really a shame that Kaleidescape can't...
 
Not to derail too much, but DirecTV introduced their "Nomad" product that you can add to your DVR network to let you do this kind of thing, too. It's been out nearly two years now with iPad integration "coming soon" this entire time. It's got iPhone, PC, and Mac support, but no Droid or iPad support. At this point, the only reason I can figure out why it wouldn't be supported is DTV can't work out their contracts to get it allowed to send content to tablets, though TiVo obviously overcame that limitation. Really sucks for us DTV users with large scale installations of DTV receivers (yes, I know I can NOW get Tivo receivers for my system, but it's simply not worth the cost of the change-over to get this one stupid feature).

But to get back on topic, I would dearly love the ability to watch my Kscape content on iPads, too. And this single feature is one that would make me encourage my friends to consider a Kscape system in their homes, too, as it's VERY often I have friends asking for tech support on how they can get their DVDs (or Blu-Rays) ripped to their iPads for their kids on trips. But for now a Kscape system, for what it offers, is simply too expensive for most of my friends.


--Donnie
 
Perhaps at some future point there may be some additional flexibility for UltraViolet enabled content.
 
I got a Nomad and gave up using it. It is unwieldy and time consuming to use. Much easier to just buy TV series on iTunes.
 
Slingbox

Well, I'm going to try using a Slingbox for iPad access. I'll hook it up via the component cables and that should allow me to even view blu-ray content (down res to DVD) on my iPad and even iPhone with the right Slingbox app.
 
brendon said:
How does it work? Are you able to control the movie selection on the iPad?
Click to expand...

It's fairly straightforward. You buy a Slingbox and connect an output of one of your players to one of the Slingbox inputs (they usually have a couple inputs...you could put a DVR on it, too, for example, and switch to whichever you want in the client). Then you connect an IR emitter to the Slingbox (comes with it) and put it in front of your Kplayer.

Then you configure your Slingbox to speak to the Kplayer as one of the supported DVD player modes.

Now when you connect with the Slingplayer client to the Slingbox, it will start and connect to the default source (which will be your Kplayer if that's all you connected). And then you use the "remote" in the Slingplayer app to control it. You'll have to look in the Kplayer's manual to know exactly what the DVD Player controls do to get you in the Kplayer specific menus, but you CAN do it.

Well, that's how I've done it in the past. I don't think the Slingbox knows about the Kscape remote, but maybe that's been added. If so I'm sure someone will speak up, but if not the Kplayers support a couple other common DVD player remote codes.

Maybe the hardware is better now, but the only "flaw" in this is that the thing "glitches" the video a bit when you send remote codes. Otherwise they do a great job of giving you as much video quality as your network connection allows.


--Donnie
 
Oh, and you may need to pop a hole in your firewall at home or use a VPN from your client if you're going to connect from remote locations. This should be covered in the Slingbox documentation, though.


--Donnie
 
I use a Vulkano to stream KS to my ipad. it works a treat but the lag is horrible if you want to use the built in IR. Otherwise you have to swap to the KS app to control it, which is just too clunky.
 
I also received this..
Thank you for writing in. It would definitely be very convenient to watch movies that are on your Kaleidescape System on your iPad. The reason that these movies cannot be streamed to your iPad is that the copy of the movie that is made on the Kaleidescape server is not suitable for streaming to an iPad. We recently joined the UltraViolet™ alliance, which takes us in the direction of providing a service that enables you to watch your movies on an iPad or other compatible mobile device. We recently launched the Kaleidescape Store in the U.S. where movies can be purchased and downloaded directly to Kaleidescape Systems and we expect to launch the Store in the U.K. in the next few months. Movies that are purchased from the Kaleidescape Store and are UltraViolet enabled will be playable on your iPad. The Kaleidescape Store will also provide a way to upgrade eligible movies you have on DVD or Blu-ray Disc to include the UltraViolet copy for a low price – this will enable you to watch those titles on your iPad as well. The movies that will be streamed to your iPad will be streamed over the Internet (from the cloud), not from the Kaleidescape server. This applies to the movies you purchase from the Kaleidescape Store, as well as those that you upgrade using the Store to get the UltraViolet copy. Basically, you will be purchasing the rights to play the UltraViolet copy so that you can watch the movie on your mobile devices. You will not have to do any reloading of your existing content. Part of the UltraViolet feature will be the ability to download those movies on your iPad or computer or other mobile devices, so that you can watch them when you don’t have a reliable Internet connection
 
talitha

Thanks for sharing your message.

That confirmed some of my thoughts when K announced the download store, that our downloads would also come with the UltraViolet copy (okay GREAT). Also glad to know we can purchase UltraViolet for movie we have too. My question now is, what about the movies we already purchased that came with UltraViolet copies? It would be nice to add that those into Kaleidescape Database
 
In the meantime Vulkano is working pretty good for me, from both the LAN and WAN side.
 
The Vulkano is just the black box between your AV source and the iPad viewer App. Connect the Vulkano to the AV source, run the setup wizard (includes IR configuring for remote control of AV source), download the viewer app to the iPad and you're good to go. If you want to view from WAN side the Vulkano can automatically configure a UPnP router, or if the router doesn't support this (such as Fortigate units) you need to forward a couple of TCP/UDP ports. It works well from the LAN side, but from the WAN side performance is highly dependent on your internet upload speed (mine is a bit flakey because my upload maxes out at 0.6Mbps).
 
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