DVBLINK NETWORK PACK
Here is how DVBLink describe Server Network Pack:
DVBLink Server Network Pack lets you enjoy your favorite TV channels throughout your whole house – in Windows MediaCenter, running on network computers, on UPNP enabled clients such as Sony PlayStation3, on nettops and laptops, running Windows 7 and on XBox 360 – and over the Internet using web browsers.
System requirements:
- Windows XP with SP2 or higher (32 and 64 bit)
- Installed and configured DVBLink source product (DVBLink TVSource, DVBLink for Dreambox or DVBLink for IPTV)
Supported clients for LAN streaming:
- Windows Vista with TV Pack or Windows 7 MediaCenter
- Windows MediaPlayer 12 as UPNP client
- Hardware and software UPNP clients (Sony Playstation 3, Power DVD 9, Nero ShowTime 4, Western Digital LIve! network player and others)
Supported clients for Web streaming:
- Computer running Windows XP or higher
- Web browser: Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera
Features:
- HD and SD channel streaming
- UDP unicast and RTP multicast streaming protocol support
- Easy setup for network Mediacenter clients
- Zero configuration for UPNP clients
- Transcoded Windows Media streaming to web browsers with four different quality settings
The installation of the network pack was even easier and quicker than the TVSource software.
Straight away I could see the UPNP server in Windows Media Player on other computers around my house, and even in Media Center on those computers as well. I even had it playing on non Windows devices (shhh, don’t tell Microsoft).
I did have some problems playing back the streams on some devices that claimed to support UPNP (such as my iPad) but that was down to the playback support on the device rather than the fault of DVBLink.
And it did find the channels with no problem at all – I just couldn’t play them!
The area that really interested me though was streaming outside of the home. I wanted to see if it really lived up to all the hype.
Configuration of this element was fairly straightforward as well, and all I really needed to do after setting up a username and password was to open some ports on my router in order for it to work (if you are not sure how to do this, or what you need to do, check out the How To… guide mentioned at the end of this review).
I was very pleased with the results – and I had no real problems that were the fault of the software. I had some stuttering, but that was a bandwidth issue with the connection I was using, and so I just dropped the quality of the stream I was viewing by clicking a link and that was that sorted.
I would like to see something a little nicer to choose the channels in the future for remote viewing rather than having to click a letter to get the list of channels up, but its not difficult, or time consuming and maybe I just want too much 
I've been using this since March to stream Hotbird/Sirius around my house and it works very well. A big bonus, if you have satellite, is that you can trim your guide down to the stations you want rather having to deselect the potentially thousands of channels the old media center way.
Maybe DVBlogic can come up with a separate product to manage the guide more effectively than the present media center way?
Does this work in the United States yet?
Have you looked at: http://1geek1tool.com/2010/06/atscqam/atscqam-ann…
Will that help you?
Hi,
Site is awesome for a newbie.
i'm just about to implement WHS in my new house. Im lucky as i have the choice to put wires where I want!
question i have – should i install as DVB/SAT card in the WHS box or the local TV box, happy to implement software required
Thanks
Jim
Hi Jim – welcome to UWHS 🙂
To be honest the choice is yours – if you are not going to have your TV box on all the time, but your WHS will be, I would recommend putting it on the WHS box so your streams are always available.
Have a good christmas
Andrew
Great, so if I install the card on the WHS will i be able to access the EPG, live as it were, from the other boxes connected to WHS?
Ive not set it up on my WHS but as I understand from those that have, yes. You need to follow all the steps in our How To guides for DVB Link to get it all to work.