Friday, November 28, 2008

Streaming Mac to 360: Rivet

I've written before that consoles are the stealth players in the coming media landscape. For the vast majority of Americans, the console is a box attached to your TV, and the computer is a box in the room over there. This has been particularly vexing of late because the house I've moved into in LA is way, way waaaay smaller (and therefore only twice as expensive) than the house I was living in in Ottawa. Among other things, I want to rip my DVD's and leave the physical artifacts in my storage unit. This is not to mention the addiction I've developed consuming TV online (I LIKE three ad-breaks a show).

I've been using PlayOn to stream Hulu and Netflix from my BootCamped iMac to my XBox 360 -- you still need bloody Windows XP for that functionality. However, the new update in the 360 allows direct streaming from Netflix. It's dead simple to set up. As in, "watching my streaming queue movies within four minutes and fifteen seconds" easy. There's a limited amount of TV on Netflix right now, but when/if people smarten up -- or Microsoft cuts a deal with Hulu -- then the "broadcast" landscape is only going to get more chaotic.

Considering the licensing and royalty issues involved, that problem isn't going to get solved soon. However, I'm constantly buffaloed when I talk to fellow Hollywood types about "when the techology arrives". The tech is here. The only thing stopping the consoles from ruling the entertainment landscape is, as far as I can tell, a general unwillingness to get involved in an industry far less profitable, with far more headaches, than their own.

The tone of voice when I talk about these things tend to be a disdainful "Well, sure but how are we supposed to monetize this?" Right question, wrong tone. We. Don't. Have. A. Choice.

All this to say, streaming digital entertainment from your Windows computer to an XBox was always pretty simple but if you had a Mac you had to deal with Connect360. It's a fine program, but the menu system is a bit primitive, and I personally ran into some connectivity issues. So I'd like to recommend Rivet. It installs in a flash, it's about $20, and it works off the internal file structure of your Mac -- so however you arrange your media on your Mac, that's what shows up on the XBox. Managed to set it up within a few minutes, possibly even easier than the Netflix setup. Was watching my ripped Inspector Lynley mystery in no time.

In the Comments, your latest tech hacks.

66 comments:

Anonymous said...

My TV is hooked up to an aerial antenna. I do not have cable. Which means that February 19th, my TV will no longer work.

I'm plunking down about $150 for a cheapo Vista-box with wifi capability, and another $100 for a good video card. I'll plug my 500GB portable drive into one USB port and my 1 TB portable drive into the other.

Then I'm plugging the whole mess into my TV and ripping my DVDs onto the portable drives.

Why should I pay for cable AND Internet when the Internet gives me the exact stuff as cable?

Unknown said...

No hacks yet, but with a production gig, if a show isn't online for me to watch, I just don't get to see it. I plan on bending the schedule to see Leverage, but channels either need to go to an HBO/FX model for shows (countless repeats during the week) or get everything online/

Anonymous said...

Yeah Rogers, right on. But two things:

a) A few blu-ray players have picked up the Netflix streaming functionality in the past couple of days, with more promised to come soon. So, we're not looking at just consoles becoming a player. All of that to say, when I get around buying a blu-ray player, I'm making damn sure it's got internet streaming through some service.

Aaaaaaand b) what, exactly, is the projected plan for streaming leverage on the tubes?

TheAma1 said...

IMHO the future will probably be more a link between the TV and the PC via WiMax than a game box attached via some cable to the TV.
I highly doubt that in 30 years from now (perhaps even less!) discs/DVDs/BRs will be as much used as they are now. We're rapidly moving into a mass dematerialization of content where everything is interconnected wirelessly.

Jason Pollock said...

I live in New Zealand. Broadcasters in NZ are typically 2-3 years behind the US with their schedules (BSG in particular!) That has fed a large torrent culture - everyone wants to watch the show _now_.

However, the NZ government has just about to enact a "you're out on 2 threats" disconnection law.

So, now I'm using Amazon's EC2 to stream video from Hulu/etc to NZ. New Zealand has exemptions in their new copyright legislation for parallel importation... If I can buy it anywhere, I'm allowed to do whatever I can to watch it.

The amazing thing? It's cheaper than paying for Cable TV.

Anonymous said...

The problem with the XBOX 360 as a media server is that it is INSANELY LOUD, like Power Mac G4 vacuum cleaner loud. I've tried watching films on it but the noise is too distracting.

Anonymous said...

"a) A few blu-ray players have picked up the Netflix streaming functionality in the past couple of days, with more promised to come soon. So, we're not looking at just consoles becoming a player."

The installed base for Blu-Ray players doesn't even compare to that for 360s, plus most Blu-Ray players won't be able to be upgraded for streaming (especially the early adopters' players), while every single 360 can have Netflix streaming on it. It's a much, much stronger player in the HD streaming field than anything else can really hope to be.

Anonymous said...

You are such a dork.

Anonymous said...

About 5% of video games make a profit.

Is TeeVee less profitable than that?

Anonymous said...

Great, you can stream HD Netflix titles on the XBOX and I had to go and get a PS3 like a sucker. Damn my Final Fantasy fetish!
Anybody know if Netflix is doing the same deal with Sony?

Mike Cane said...

>>>The tone of voice when I talk about these things tend to be a disdainful "Well, sure but how are we supposed to monetize this?" Right question, wrong tone. We. Don't. Have. A. Choice.

I'm going to use that quote in my blog in regard to book publishers. People want to *throw* money at them for eBooks, yet they're all a-scared -- and greedy.

I just read earlier this week about some program that uses the Mac Mini for a bunch of streaming. Of course, I've now forgotten wtf that program is!

I just had my own little epiphany regarding DVDs and now think streaming on demand is best for about 99% of things.

Hal Mangold said...

Some of us just cut out the middle-man and hook up a Mac Mini to our flatscreen TVs. :)

Mike Cane said...

Post done: Dying Dinosaurs Of Print: CHOOSE!

I expect them to continue to clutch their pearls and move too slowly -- when they move at all.

Anonymous said...

If you want to skip the Xbox 360, you can go right to PS3. Not only do you get the best Blu-ray player on the market, but I'm using Nullriver's MediaLink to stream all my media from the Mac and its hard drives to the flatscreen.

The PS3 plays most audio and video, so we're watching those torrented TV shows on the TV through the PS3. Simple.

Nullriver's PS3 product - MediaLink - seems to work much better than its X360 product - Connect360.

Unknown said...

About 5% of video games make a profit.

Is TeeVee less profitable than that?


By, I think, an order of magnitude. That's an interesting stat, got a source?

geedeck said...

Also, the 360 will play XVid right off a DVD-R. Put an entire season of your favorite (uhm ripped) show on that DVD and bam, marathon on a disc. Streaming is good, but if I can keep that much info in a binder thats not bad either. I bet PS3 can do it too, just no experience here. Oh and the people complaining about 360 noise just have panties too tight, its notable but if you're actually... watching something, then it'll be drowned out.

PS, Rogers: http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/56081

Anonymous said...

RankHunter.com is having a website grand opening promotion! To build customers, we are giving away free xbox 360 elite systems shipped to you. We have over 100 units sitting here waiting to be shipped. Tracking numbers will be provided.

RankHunter.com

Gridlock said...

Later (notably Elite) 360s are quieter (and top tip - you can now rip games to the HDD for even quieter gaming).

I have an actual PC hooked up to my lounge TV, running XBMC - it's the best media centre around, bar none. Was amazing on the Xbox but the hardware can't cope with 720p and above, so they ported to PC (and Mac). Give it a go, once you have the Library set up and running you're all good to go.

Using the amazing anonymity the internet gives me I can also reveal that I use uTorrent's RSS option to automagically download TV shows as they appear on my favouriter tracker, meaning that I get home, fire up XBMC and am presented with a list of new episodes (along with a plot summary, air date, cast, etc etc).

I did dabble with streaming to my 360 in the bedroom, but it was slow and didn't allow FF/RW on HD content as you have to transcode (on the fly re-encoding at the server end) to a MS-friendly format. MS may support XVID but only a very narrow definition of it, and all my stuff is MKV now anyway.

PS3 supports MKV, but again only a narrow version of it (out of 20 tested films, only the one that was labelled "PS3-MKV" worked for me). Does Nullriver's connecter work well with HD stuff on the PS3? If so, maybe it is time to invest in Darth Vader's Toaster.

As for monetisation, as you can tell I'm outside of your revenue stream right now. I rented The Matrix HD over Xbox360's service, but a) it was more expensive than Blockbuster, b) more restrictive (24h to watch once I had watched 10s intro to check it worked) and c) ANALOGUE PRO-LOGIC SOUND!!! NOT EVEN DOLBY DIGITAL 2 CHANNEL! Way to lose a customer on their very first go, y'idiots.

I only want to watch certain shows and movies, whenever I want, and I'm happy to pay for it. However, currently half of them are only available HD via download (I'm in the UK) and the studios want me to replace my 250-strong DVD collection at £25 ($40?) a pop? And they're competing with FREEEEEEEEEEE? Try again, guys?

Subscription service (like what your netflix seems to be) is the way to go. Charge me a fair price, be fair about what I can/can't do (maybe I *want* to watch 4 episodes of Duckman at 3am on a Sunday - maybe I want to watch Memento again 3 days later without paying twice - BE AS FLEXIBLE AS THE INTERNET ALLOWS!).

Seriously, the grown-ups want to pay but they don't want to be treated like children. While I have a choice you're damn right I'll take the free option, because the competition fails in so many more ways than simply pricing.

Gridlock said...

My checking question when it comes to DRM - "What if we did this same thing with a VHS?"

Imagine a VHS cassette that stops working after 24h.

Imagine a VHS cassette that would work in the living room but not let you finish watching it upstairs in bed.

Etc.

Would you think "Oh, thank god this cassette is protecting what the studio's interpretation of their IP rights are!" or would you think "fucking thing's broken"?

Obviously the analogy breaks down when you get to what's now possible that wasn't before (multiple front-ends, one backend for instance) but you know what? It's called progress.

Angelos said...

Mike Cane, is Boxee what you're thinking?

aldentre said...

John,

Are you pleased with the streaming quality of the netflix player? I still can't believe that internet speeds are able to deliver DVD quality movies at that rate, but your endorsement would go a long way in convincing me. What do you think?

Tim W. said...

Gridlock,

Not that I agree with DRM, but when everyone watched movies on VHS, you couldn't rip it to your computer and then have thousands of people download it to theirs. It is a bit of a different world, now.

Anonymous said...

зеленый лазер
электрошокер
товары мини камеры
товары народного потребления

щитовые дома said...

Pretty helpful material, thanks for your post.

Асфальто бетонный завод

Obat Raja Singa Ampuh said...

This was a fantastic article. Really loved reading your we blog post. The information was very informative and helpful...

obat kutil kelamin apotek said...


thax for your article..

obat kutil kelamin
obat kutil kelamin herbal d apotik
obat kutil kelamin herbal
obat kutil kelamin alami
cara mengobati kutil kelamin tanpa ke dokter
cara mengobati hpv
cara mengobati kutil kelamin dengan obat apotek
cara mengobati sipilis tanpa ke dokter

obat kutil Kelamin No 1 said...

Nama Obat sipilis Di Apotik, Jual Obat Sipilis Raja Singa Super, Obat untuk Gejala Sipilis, Obat Sipilis

Anonymous said...

Penyakit ini umumnya muncul karena penderita mengejan terlalu keras pada saat buang air besar. Dengan mengejan terlalu keras, maka pembuluh darah di sekitar anus dapat melebar dan pecah menimbulkan infeksi dan pembengkakan yang berakhir pada masalah wasir atau ambeien tersebut.

Unknown said...

Penderita Penyakit kondiloma atau Kutil Kelamin yang telah terinveksi disarankan untuk segera melakukan pengobatan secepat mungkin sebelum Virus HPV penyebab kutil kelamin makin banyak berkembang biak di dalam sel darah makin lama dibiarkan akan memperparah kondisi organ vital karena kutil kelamin akan terus membesar sehingga terlihat seperti jengger ayam untuk penderita yang baru tertular kurang dari satu bulan biasanya akan lebih cepat ditanggulangi obat kutil kelamin Paling ampuh dari De Nature dan terbaik ada hanya di http://obatkutildikemaluan.blogdetik.com/ untuk mendapatkan informasi yang lebih jelas mengenai pengobatan kutil pada kelamin silahkan kontak langsung di nomer 0852 808 77 999 atau 0859 7373 5656 Bagaimana mengobati Ambeien itu sendiri. pengobatan yang terbaik untuk Ambeien adalah dari luar dan dalam sehingga Ambeien benar benar tuntas dan tidak akan kambuh lagi. obat Ambeien terbaik "Ambeclear dari De Nature" AlamiAdalah obat Ambeien herbal yang memang terbaik untuk mengobati Ambeien, dan sudah terdaftar di badan obat dan makanan (BPOM) dengan nomer registrasi POM TR: 133 374 041. terbuat dari bahan alami antara lain terdiri Daung Ungu, Mahkota Dewa dan Kunyit Putih.

Unknown said...

cara mengobati kutil kelamin pada wanita tanpa harus menggunakan operasi cukup dengan menggunakan obat khusus kutil kelamin paling manjur dari klinik de nature manjurserta sangat aman untuk ibu hamil

Unknown said...

Apabila anda sedang mencari pengobatan kutil kelamin untuk pria maupun wanita segera kunjungi kami http://obatkutilkelaminwanita.blogdetik.com cara mengobati kutil kelamin pada wanita tanpa harus menggunakan operasi cukup dengan menggunakan obat khusus kutil kelamin paling manjur dari klinik de nature manjurserta sangat aman untuk ibu hamil

Unknown said...

Berhati-hatilah anda yang suka berganti-ganti pasangan seks, karena sangat besar sekali kemungkinannya untuk terkena penyakit kencing nanah atau gonore maupun yang lainnya.



Unknown said...

Bagi anda yang sedang mencari obat herbal buat kencing nanah atau gonore, kami sarankan untuk memilih obat herba dari De Nature dengan nama Gang jie dan Gho Siah sebagai pengobatan alternatif tradisional alami untuk kencing nanah atau gonore.

Unknown said...

Berapa Harga untuk Obat Wasir Ambeien alami daun ungu AmbeclearAmbeien adalah gangguan atau penyakit yang terjadi pada saluran pencernaan manusia

Unknown said...

Bukan hanya pengobatan medis saja tapi ada juga pengobatan rumah alami yang dapat digunakan untuk menyingkirkan penyakit kutil kelamin ini. Intinya, karena kutil ini muncul di daerah yang sensitif, maka anda harus mencari pengobatan yang terbaik pada kulit Anda dan jika diperlukan juga dibantu dengan tenaga medis yang professional. Sebab dokter akan menjadi sumber informasi yang baik untuk mengobati penyakit ini.

Cara Mengobati Wasir Ambeien said...

MANTAB * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Cara Mengobati Wasir Ambeien said...

MANTAB * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ********

Unknown said...

Cara yang sering di lakukan untuk menghilangkan kutil kelamin adalah dengan cara pembedahah atau operasi, cara ini tentu memerlukan dana yang tidak sedikit. metode Pilihan pembedahan yang dapat Anda lakukan

Unknown said...

MANTAB * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **********

Unknown said...

Kenali penyebab penyakit kencing bernanah sehingga cara mengobati
penyakit kencing nanah dan infeksi saluran kencing nanah dapat dilakukan
dengan benar.

Pengobatan Ambeien Wasir said...

wkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwkwk

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

Bismillaahirrohmaanirrokhiim ???????????????????????????????????

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

Bismillahhirrohmaanirrokhim.... *************************

Unknown said...

شركة كشف تسربات المياه بالرياض
شركة تنظيف شقق بالرياض
شركة تنظيف مساجد بالرياض
شركة رش مبيدات حشرية بالرياض
شركة مكافحة النمل الابيض بالرياض
شركة تخزين اثاث بالرياض
شركة تنظيف بجدة
شركة تنظيف منازل بالرياض
شركة تنظيف بالرياض
شركة مكافحة حشرات بالرياض
شركة تنظيف خزانات بالرياض
شركة نقل اثاث بالرياض
شركة مكافحة الفئران بالرياض
شركة مكافحة صراصير بالرياض
شركة مكافحة بق الفراش بالرياض
شركة تسليك مجاري بالرياض
شركة عزل اسطح بالرياض
شركة عزل خزنات بالرياض
شركة تنظيف موكيت بالرياض
شركة تنظيف مجالس بالرياض

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

Bismillahhirrohmaanirrokhim.... *********************************

Unknown said...

Sekitar Vagina Tumbuh Daging, Berbahayakah? Kutil Pada Kepala Penis mirip bunga kol atau jengger ayam, Merupakan Penyakit Yang diakibatkan Oleh Virus.Kutil kelamin, atau disebut juga condyloma acuminata, adalah kutil atau daging berwarna kulit atau keabuan yang tumbuh di sekitar alat kelamin dan

obar herbal manjur alami said...

Bismillahirrohmannirrokhim ........................

Unknown said...

penyakit yang ditularkan melalui hubungan seks : vaginal, oral dan anal. Juga dapat menular melalui persentuhan kulit dengan daerah yang terinfeksi.

Cara Mengobati Wasir Ambeien said...

Bismillahirrohmannirrokhim ........................

Unknown said...

Sebelum kita membahas tentang pengobatan ambeien, dalam kesempatan ini
saya ingin menjelaskan sekilas tentang ambeien, agar kita semua bisa
memahami benar apa itu penyakit ambeien

Unknown said...

obat wasir, Adalah  Obat alami berkhasiat dalam bentuk kapsul yang berasal dari tanaman herbal seperti daun ungu, mahkota dewa dan kunyit putih, diberikan pada penderita jika penyakit masih dalam tingkatan stadium ringan

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

Bismillahhirrohmaanirrokhim.... ***************************

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

Bismillahirrohmannirrokhim ......................................

obar herbal manjur alami said...

???????????????????????????????????????

Unknown said...

MANTAB???????????????????????????????

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

1111111111111111111111111

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

111111111111111111111

Obat Keputihan Herbal Alami said...

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111

Unknown said...

manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur

obar herbal manjur alami said...

alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami alami

Unknown said...

cara mengobati wasir ambeien tanpa harus operasi aman paling jos . !

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

obat ambeien wasir paling manjur mengobati penyakit wasir ambeien tanpa efek samping terbuat dari bahan alami herbal seperti daun ungu mahkota dewa kunyit putih

Anonymous said...

Assalamualaikum wr.wb, Salam Sehat semuanya. numpang komen ya gan.

Unknown said...

 Apabila menemukan ada daging atau seperti Kutil yang tumbuh di area kemaluan atau alat ...

Unknown said...

 Apabila menemukan ada daging atau seperti Kutil yang tumbuh di area kemaluan atau alat ...

Anonymous said...

kevin durant shoes
fear of god essentials
jordans shoes
air jordan
a bathing ape
bape official
curry 9
kobe
Travis Scott Jordan
fear of god hoodie