Idiots guide?

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M5TXJ
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Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2017 8:34 pm

Idiots guide?

Post by M5TXJ » Wed Jun 02, 2021 8:49 pm

Hi all,

First of all, many thanks to Brian, Mike and anyone else involved in Winter Hill.

I've just completed my build and quite amazed myself that I can now view or control from any PC on my home network using "anyhub" mode. Amazed because software, IP's, Ports etc are all black magic to me, there's not a single valve or relay! Is there an idiots guide to setting up "multihub"? I'm trying to drum up enthusiasm for DATV locally and thought if the locals could log into my Winter Hill we might just hook someone. I may be understanding this all wrong and this isn't what multihub does, if so please forgive me for taking up bandwidth.

73 Dave.
...are you sure I can't use a pair of 813's?... :shock:

G4EWJ
Posts: 1359
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:11 am

Re: Idiots guide?

Post by G4EWJ » Wed Jun 02, 2021 10:33 pm

Hi Dave,

MultiHub mode takes advantage of a class of IP addresses known as multicast addresses. These are in in the range 224.xxx.xxx.xxx to 239.xxx.xxx.xxx. My knowledge of them only stretches as far as how to use them inside your house.

In AnyHub mode, you send a receive command to the RPi and it sends the transport stream to the PC that the receive command came from, say 192.168.1.55. Each of the 4 receivers can send to a different PC, but the TS for each receiver can only be sent to one PC at a time.

Using a multicast address allow the TS for any one receiver to be sent to multiple PCs at the same time. In MultiHub mode, WH is launched with a multicast address, say 230.0.0.230. This isn't the real IP address of a PC, it just exists in the mind of the router. It acts like a reflector group. If VLC is set to receive from udp://@:230.0.0.230:9941, VLC tells the router that it wants to join the 230.0.0.230:9941 group. The RPi sends the TS to 230.0.0.230:9941 and the router distributes it to all PCs that have joined that group.

MultiHub mode may not work with WiFi.

I don't know if or how multicast addresses would enable you to send a single TS to multiple locations inside and outside your house at the same time. More practical is to use AnyHub mode and configure your router to allow 2-way communication between WH and PCs outside your house. Normally, the router firewall would block any receive commands coming from the internet, but once allowed, WH will send the TS onto the internet to wherever the receive command came from.

The receiving end would also need to configure their router to allow the TS through, so it does require some 'black magic' knowledge. All routers do this 'port forwarding' slightly differently. If you like, email me the model number of your router and I'll see how it could be done.

I'm not a network expert, so anyone, feel free to correct me.

Brian

P.S. You can only use 813s if they're in G2DAF conguration.

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M5TXJ
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Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2017 8:34 pm

Re: Idiots guide?

Post by M5TXJ » Thu Jun 03, 2021 10:45 am

Thanks Brian,

I'll have a word with my friend Gavin who is a networking guru, if that fails his friend Pandora is the Cisco worldwide networking troubleshooter. If I get advice I can understand I'll update here.

p.s. The 813's were in 'DAF form, driven by 2 x choke modulated 807's.

73 Dave.
...are you sure I can't use a pair of 813's?... :shock:

G4EWJ
Posts: 1359
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:11 am

Re: Idiots guide?

Post by G4EWJ » Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:15 am

At the WH end, you need to open ports 9920-9924 for UDP in the router, to get the receive commands. At the remote end, you need to open ports 9941-9944 for UDP, for the transport strreams.

Add 4 to those ranges for each additional WH. It may be better to specify a different base IP port for external use. It might get confusing if someone else started using it remotely when you weren't expecting it.

If your router doesn't have a static public IP address on the internet, it would be useful to get a dynamic DNS so that people can find your IP address when it changes. I use noip.com, which is free. The router can probably be set to update it automatically. You get an email reminder to renew it if it hasn't changed for a month.

Question for network experts: if the TS was sent back to the port that the receive command came from (9921 instead of 9941) would that get through the router firewall without having to open any ports?

Brian

P.S. I didn't have any 807s in the system, but the 3kv power supply had mercury vapour rectifiers.

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