HTN Video

AutoHTN can become a virtual Slingbox with the use of a video capture card, HTPC and VideoLan. The video capture card’s composite input can be used to connect video inputs from cable boxes, DVRs, or receivers. VideoLan can then be setup to stream video to an Android phone with AutoHTN. This could be useful to someone who wants to keep up with their local sports team while traveling, or someone wanting to watch any TV channel live.

Configuration of a user’s router to allow port forwarding is required to stream video through the internet. On AutoHTN, the “HTN Video” configuration menu is where a URL and a port number of the PC with VideoLan installed is entered. A short demo is available if the URL entered in the configuration menu is “htndemo2”.

On the HTPC side, VideoLan is configured to stream video by going to File menu and looking for “Open Capture Device.” Click the checkbox for “Stream/Save” and click the “Settings…” button. A “Stream output” dialog box should pop up with a few video output options. Click on the HTTP check box and enter the local IP address of the HTPC in the Address box. The port number input is the port that was opened in the router’s port forwarding configuration.

For the “Encapulation Method” setting, VideoLan supports MPEG TS, MPEG PS, MPEG 1 and Ogg. Use the table at the VideoLan streaming features web page to figure out which video codec and audio codec to use.

It’s important to set the Time-To-Live(TTL) to 9 or higher to allow the streaming video to pass through the multiple routers on the Internet.

On AutoHTN, the “HTN Video” configuration menu is where a URL and port number of the PC with VideoLan installed is entered. The URL will most likely be the URL no-ip.com or dyndns.org gave to keep track of the local network’s dynamic IP address. The port number will be the port number entered in the VideoLan settings mentioned above.

Of course, the streaming video from the HTPC won’t be limited to Android phones. Any PC or device capable of playing streaming video from the Internet will work. For example, to view the streaming video from the HTPC on another PC with VideoLan installed, go to File and then go to “Open Network Stream.” Check mark the HTTP option and enter the URL and port number as shown below.