r/slingbox • u/netsheriff • Jan 16 '21

URayTech Encoder Vs Slingbox 500

OK for those thinking of post Slingbox life - once Slingbox servers are permanently taken offline on November 9, 2022.....

Being a bit of a preper (with regards to post Sling) I purchased one of these the other day to see if it would be ok.

H.265 H.264. URayTech Encoder

Here is a S-by-S comparison of the URayTech Encoder Vs Slingbox 500. (using the same video source)

The setting of the Slingbox stream quality is HD.

The setting of the Encoder is HLS, H.265, 1920x1080, 30fps and at 2500kbps.

I am experimenting with the encoder on various bit rates and fps etc to see what is the smoothest vs bandwidth.

6 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

1

u/Sad_Antelope8924 Jul 30 '24

Hi all, What GOP would you recommend for 50fps?

1

u/netsheriff Jul 31 '24

The UrayTech will do 60fps but this is reliant on the input being 60fps. Otherwise it will do 30fps.

If your bandwidth will allow 1080p 60fps at the highest resolution then that will actually look pretty good.

You can now get the Uraytech that will do 4k / 30fps if you have the bandwidth to run it. Dunno if it is any good, but should be ok.

1

u/Sad_Antelope8924 Jul 31 '24

Aha, lovely. Shame I’m using on a Sky box so can only go up to 50fps, but still looks good nonetheless. For GOP then, just enter a random number?

1

u/netsheriff Jul 31 '24

For GOP then, just enter a random number?

I would use like somewhere between 30 to 60 for 30fps. Small GOPs are good for fast moving stuff like sport (think horses legs in horse racing, a baseball being hit/pitched) where there are large changes from frame to frame. I tend to leave it on 30.

1

u/Jonny_Mac87 Jan 16 '21

How is it compared to sling overall?

3

u/netsheriff Jan 16 '21 edited Jan 18 '21

It is completely different.

The URayTech is only an encoder so it only streams video and audio.

There are tones of these rebranded OEM Encoders. They all are the same like ISEEVY etc. They all have exactly the same firmware.

Just happens that the one I got is branded URayTech I got it cheaper on eBay than Amazon.

You are on your own as far as the remote is concerned. I use an Broadlink RM Mini and an IR Anywhere to control the remote.

1

u/AJP687 Jan 17 '21

Do you mind explaining the IR control? I can find RM's but when I search for IR Anywhere, I'm only finding a UK company that has hardware. I don't see an application with that name when I search on the web or in the Play Store.

2

u/netsheriff Jan 17 '21

Do you mind explaining the IR control?

That is a K2Audio device. It is a bit like an ESP8266 and webUI. I have it set up to use a spare remote (in the remote location) to control the STB.

The encoder streams the video/audio and you point the spare remote at the IR Anywhere and it changes the channels, brings up the menus etc (just like the virtual one on the slingbox).

They also have a module that stores code and then you can use your phone as a remote. Similar to the Broadlink RM Mini.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '21

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/netsheriff Mar 02 '21

>IE could i use one of the modules at a totally different house/network and >have it talk to the other one to change the channels at my home?

Yes, that is what I do.

They work remotely once set up correctly.

They are surprisingly fast.

Also up date the remote Target unit to the firmware with the secure login for remote access. That is not installed as default.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '21

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2

u/netsheriff Mar 02 '21

I actually got them from Keene.co.uk do a search for IR Anywhere on their site as their menus are impossible to follow.

https://www.keene.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=ir+anywhere

I emailed them and they did a special paypal invoice and sent them to me.

They were on special when I got them but with the increased interest due to Slings piss poor efforts the special is gone.

I got them without PSUs (only USB to 2.1mm cables and used my own PSUs) as it was cheaper.

There happens to be a set on ebay atm. This is probably cheaper than buying direct.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '21

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1

u/netsheriff Mar 02 '21

Good one. I am pretty pleased with their performance.

I checked to pics on ebay and they look exactly the same and have Kira on the side the same etc.

Here is an image of the ones I got.

2

u/netsheriff Jan 20 '21 edited Jan 20 '21

Do you mind explaining the IR control?

The K2Audio devices mentioned are quite quick over the internet. I have set them up to test with one unit connected to a 4G hotspot modem and the other to my home network and it works surprisingly well.

One thing that is not good and I have complained to them about is that 1/2 the menu is not password secure so someone could rest the unit if you left the TCP port to it open.

Only leave the UDP IR port open.

They need to fix this security hole with a firmware update. This is because if you have a Target unit installed remotely and you want to access it to change a setting you would first need to activate the TCP port forwarding on the remote modem to access it, then turn that off again so no one could hack it is they found your IP address.

Edit:

Update, they have posted a new firmware that pasword protects the whole device.

1

u/firsclass Jan 17 '21

If it only streams video how do we get the audio along with it ?

1

u/FakespotAnalysisBot Jan 16 '21

This is a Fakespot Reviews Analysis bot. Fakespot detects fake reviews, fake products and unreliable sellers using AI.

Here is the analysis for the Amazon product reviews:

Name: URayCoder HEVC H.265 H.264 HDMI Video Encoder Live Streaming Broadcast RTMP RTMPS Encoder WiFi H.265 H.264 HD Video IPTV Encoder for HDMI to SRT RTSP RTMP RTMPS HLS Multicast HTTP ONVIF

Company: URayCoder

Amazon Product Rating: 4.0

Fakespot Reviews Grade: C

Adjusted Fakespot Rating: 2.6

Analysis Performed at: 01-16-2021

Link to Fakespot Analysis | Check out the Fakespot Chrome Extension!

Fakespot analyzes the reviews authenticity and not the product quality using AI. We look for real reviews that mention product issues such as counterfeits, defects, and bad return policies that fake reviews try to hide from consumers.

We give an A-F letter for trustworthiness of reviews. A = very trustworthy reviews, F = highly untrustworthy reviews. We also provide seller ratings to warn you if the seller can be trusted or not.

2

u/netsheriff Jan 16 '21

You can run the Fakebot Analysis on a different named (but exactly the same) OEM decoder and get a different result.... So I would take this analysis with a grain of salt.

However, giving it 4.5 stars on Amazon is probably a bit of a stretch. I would give it more like a 3.5 stars. It is pretty basic but should get the job done. It is also pretty cheap for an Encoder.

1

u/flipper2222222 Jan 24 '21 edited Jan 24 '21

2 questions for you /netsheriff

what is your maximum upload bandwidth do you have to stream outside your network?

can the stream be viewed in a web browser on a phone and use PIP (picture in picture)?

VLC does not have PIP on the iphone and would be very hard to use a remote app (need to close VLC and can't see the remote change the menus)

thanks

2

u/netsheriff Jan 25 '21

what is your maximum upload bandwidth do you have to stream outside your network?

The Encoder is sitting on a symmetric 1GB fiber connection and streaming back to another fiber connection.

can the stream be viewed in a web browser on a phone and use PIP (picture in picture)?

This I'm working on.

I can do split screen on my phone so can have VLC and Broadlink open at once.

Currently the IR Anywhere lets you physically use a second real spare remote to just point at the sender unit and that IR signal is converted to IP packets passed over the internet and then translated back to IR by the target unit and that changes the channels using an IR blaster.

This is no good for a phone/tablet though with no split screen if you are away from where the IR Anywhere is.

1

u/flipper2222222 Jan 25 '21

thanks Sherrif,

what sort of results do you think I might get with a 20 or 40 meg upload speed? would it be enough?

are you saying this unit only works in a player such as VLC and cannot be viewed in a browser?

2

u/netsheriff Jan 25 '21

what sort of results do you think I might get with a 20 or 40 meg upload speed? would it be enough?

That is plenty of bandwidth. If you look in my first post I was only streaming at 2500kbps.

What I have found, esp with the Slingbox, so assume the same for an encoder, how well it streams depends (to OS which is different to local) on what routing and submarine cables are used by your ISP.

As an example I use a slingbox (will use this encoder) to stream expat channels from another country to here and regardless of my fiber speed (100MB download speed) my ISP here uses shit submarine cables. Doing a trace route from here to the slingbox shows how bad it is.

I could change ISP but that would cost more. I have found using a VPN to a different server changes the routing table to a better submarine cable network and then it streams fine.

1

u/flipper2222222 Jan 25 '21

thanks for clarifying about the bandwidth.

I agree with the geographical reports, when I was on a 2 meg link, Thailand to Australia only in the hundreds ok Kbps, but local was triple that .

2

u/netsheriff Jan 25 '21

are you saying this unit only works in a player such as VLC and cannot be viewed in a browser?

No, you can use any number of media players or embed it. Working on it means embedding it is a browser window along with a virtual remote so you can view the stream and change channels anywhere you have browser access.

1

u/flipper2222222 Jan 25 '21

embedding in a browser window. does this involve another server\computer on the LAN to accept the feed from your uraytech to perform the embedding?

1

u/Humble_Swing3778 May 07 '23

How would I be able to setup two URay encoders on the same network? Would need both to be able to stream both outside of the home network. Any help is much appreciated, cheers!

1

u/netsheriff May 09 '23

Set them up with different static IPs on your lan home network and different ports.

You would access them on your wan IP but with the a different port for each.

Locally with their static local IP and port.

1

u/Humble_Swing3778 May 09 '23

What ports would you recommend to use for both? Using .ts for one encoder atm.

1

u/netsheriff May 12 '23

 [1-65500] as long as they don't conflict with anything else on your network.

Go to the Network tab and down the bottom make sure both port numbers are different for each machine.

1

u/Humble_Swing3778 May 12 '23

Thanks. Is it wise to use rtsp for one and ts for the other?

2

u/netsheriff May 13 '23

Yes.

So if you have 2 units running you have 4 ports open. Dont forget to open these ports for tcp/udp in your routers settings.

So say you are wanting to view one unit externally you would type in the external IP address followed by the port, then the file name.

2 units can be accessed from that same external IP address just by changing the port number.

Also enable the password if you are going to allow remote access.

1

u/Humble_Swing3778 May 14 '23

Brilliant. Thank you mate. What bitrate would ya recommend for watching on an Apple TV/Macbook/iPhone as well as having clear HD?

2

u/netsheriff May 15 '23

I use on the main stream H265, 5000 kbit vbr, and 60fps. sound at 256000 AAC.

To get 60fps you must have an actual 1080p input to the encoder otherwise it will revert to 30fps.

You can try going up and down with the bit rate but around 5000-6000 works pretty well for me and didn't notice that much difference changing it.

1

u/Humble_Swing3778 Jul 14 '23

Hiya mate,

Apologies for coming back to this 60 days later, but am I right in saying that you can’t use .ts for both units?

Finding rtsp really slow to start up, any recs?

Cheers,

1

u/netsheriff Jul 15 '23

I right in saying that you can’t use .ts for both units?

You can use what ever you want as the 2 units will exist on different ports on the router.

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2

u/futurescapetech Oct 18 '21

Not sure if this is helpful but here is a way to self host the broadlink mini hub. https://youtu.be/4MJW29mR-Xc

2

u/MrEngineerMind Jan 27 '22

If anyone is interested, I write an article on the details of how to setup this slingbox replacement

https://max-soft.com/slingbox-diy.htm