Articles
Beyond TV Link: Connect
Your World
A step by step guide to multiplying your Beyond TV experience
Introduction
 If
you're like most other Beyond TV users, you're the type that always wants something
better. You want more hard drive space, you want the latest graphics
accelerator, you could always use a faster computer -- this is the same reason
you love Beyond TV. But for many of you, the "better" television
experience is limited to the one computer or TV that you've got Beyond TV installed
at.
Wouldn't life be better if you could get the full blown Beyond
TV experience on all the screens in your house?
Beyond TV Link lets you do exactly that. Get the Beyond TV
experience anywhere in your house with Beyond TV Link!
This article walks step by step through the process of getting
up and running with Beyond TV Link.
Contents
Beyond TV Link Ideas
There are a number of ways you might use Beyond TV Link at
home:
 When
the "Big Computer" isn't near a TV: Rather
than having a bulky computer in the living room, a Beyond TV server
can be in the office, bedroom or closet while a small and quiet "HTPC" is
in the living room running Beyond TV Link. |
 On
that "old" computer: If
you just replaced your old 800MHz computer with a new state-of-the-art
pc, you can give the old machine new life. Just load Link and have
yourself another Beyond TV Client. |
 In
a Dorm Room: Members of a doom suite choose one PC to record
shows for the rest of the occupants. Then, each roommate can watch TV
at his convenience using their personal PC or laptop and Beyond TV Link. |
  In
a multi-person family: each family member that has a PC or laptop
can connect to the Beyond TV server to watch their pre-recorded shows
or live TV. If using the "multi tuner" feature of Beyond TV,
each person can even watch a different show in live TV at the same time. You
can even watch TV by the pool (just make sure not to splash the laptop). |
What do I need?
This is an easy one -- all you need is a PC (see detailed
system requirements here) and a home network. Your home network
needs to be one of the following:
- wired 10/100 Ethernet
- wireless 802.11a
- wireless 802.11g
Because of bandwidth constraints, 802.11b is not fast enough
to transmit real-time full screen video. After all, what would Beyond
TV Link be without the video?
Ridiculously easy
setup
Beyond TV installation/setup
To configure Beyond TV to be ready to accept Beyond TV Link
clients, all you have to do is start the program. There is NO setup needed,
provided the computer is already working and connected to your home network.
 Link
installation/setup:
Hardware:
We chose a mini-ITX based HTPC (case link) computer for this article. The motherboard
we chose is quiet and low power, while having enough CPU power to properly
display real-time full-screen video with Beyond TV Link.
Making the connection:
In our particular demonstration here, we are using Beyond TV Link to get Beyond
TV on a flat-screen plasma TV. So  the
motherboard we chose has onboard 10/100 Ethernet along with built in video
out to the TV. Shown in this picture, we have network, video, audio, keyboard,
mouse and power connected.
 
We hooked into the "AUX" input of our TV using the RCA cable from
the video out of the motherboard and a "mini-DIN to RCA" cable from
radio shack for the sound.
Checking connectivity with server:
Before installing the software, check the network connection to see that you
can access the Beyond TV Server. To do this, open a browser window on the
client machine and open the webpage at http://BtvServerName:8129 ,
replacing BtvServerName with the name of your Beyond TV server.
 Installing
Firefly:
Being that we have a certain affinity for the Firefly Remote control, we decided
to use it in this example. Other than a totally default setup, we configured
our HTPC Firefly to be on different channel than our other Firefly Remote.
To do this, we loaded the "Beyond Media Basic" interface of Firefly
and chose Settings -> Firefly Settings and changed the Firefly ID to a different
number. Then, we followed the onscreen instructions to re-program the remote
control hardware.
  Downloading
and installing Beyond TV Link
Download Beyond TV Link and click through each step of the
installer to get a default installation.
If you have already purchased a key for Beyond TV Link, insert
it when prompted.
 Starting
for the first time:
Choosing "Start Now" at the end of the installer will cause Beyond
TV Link to launch automatically. You will be presented with the follow screen
after a few seconds. As you can see, our Beyond TV Server is listed. Click
on it to connect. If you have more than one server, they will both be listed.
We're basically done now! You can watch live TV or
recorded shows, scheduled new recordings or manage settings, just like you
were on the local Beyond TV Server!
 Multiple
viewers:
With Beyond TV Link, you can have as many live TV streams being watched as
there are TV tuners in your Beyond TV box. But if you try to connect
to live TV while others are watching live TV (and all the tuners are being
used), you will see the message at the right. Click a session and you will
join the other user in live TV. At this point, if you change the channel, the
other user will see the channel change too.
Advanced Features:
 Setting
a password:
To enable using a password to connect to your Beyond TV server,
follow these steps:
1. http://BtvServerName:8129/SetupSecurity.aspx , replacing BtvServerName with
the name of your Beyond TV server.
2. Choose Security -> Enabled
3. Type and confirm a password greater than four characters.
4. Click Save Changes
Now, when you connect to the server with Beyond TV Link,
you will be prompted to enter the password.
Starting Beyond TV Link Automatically When the PC
Boots:
1. Click Start Menu-> All Programs-> Snapstream Media
-> Beyond TV Link and RIGHT CLICK on the Beyond TV Link Icon.
2. Click "Copy"
3. Click Start Menu-> All Programs and RIGHT CLICK on the Startup folder.
4. Click "Paste"
Connecting automatically to a specific server when
Beyond TV Link starts :
1. Click Start Menu-> All Programs-> Snapstream Media
-> Beyond TV Link and RIGHT CLICK on the Beyond TV Link Icon.
2. Click "Properties"
3. In the "Target" field, find the area that reads "/networkclient:true" and
change "true" to be the name of your Beyond TV Server. (I.e. /networkclient:mybtvserver)
Conclusion
The Beyond TV Link is truly the next step in the evolution
of PVR software. Now you only have to configure and maintain a single Beyond
TV server...and then you can quickly and easily add Links around the house
to truly unleash the power of Beyond TV within your home.
If you want to truly unleash the Beyond TV experience, the
Beyond TV Link is the easy way to bring 21st century home entertainment to
the rest of your house.
Useful Links
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