July 9, 2008 8:48 PM

Search here for "multiple instance". The only way I know of that anyone has done it is with VMWare or other 3rd party programs.

Slinging Tivo Series 2, Tivo HD, and TW cable from a Pro. Slinging Tivo HD from a Solo, Slinging Humax DRT800, and TW cable from a Classic to Sprint Mogul, AT&T SX66, N62, 8525, and Dell Inspiron 8600 with Sprint EVDO over Windstream DSL.

August 12, 2008 3:47 PM

pcbbc said: SlingPlayer creates a mutex with the name "SlingAppMutex" and checks for this on startup to ensure another copy isn't already running.  If the mutex is present, it gives the warning message and exits. I can get multiple copies of the player running (although I don't have 2 slingboxes to connect to in order to test fully) by changing the name of that mutex in the executable binary with a hex editor.  Edit: Or you could write an application to remotely close the handle and therefore destroy the mutex.  You can do this interactively with Process Explorer for example.

Interesting.... I don't have 2 slingboxes either, but I'd wonder how the audio situation would work out.

August 13, 2008 6:05 AM

drlove said: Hi guys! thanks for the infos! I try with "sandboxie" it worked..but if I open more then 2 slingbox..it still works but after 2 mins or more, one of the slingbox become crazy and stream 2mbits or more and "freeze"..black picture...I even try 12 at the same times!Im on a 38Mbits link.(very fast..) After I try virtual PC with 4 windows running..way too slow!.. For now I took 4 PC with each a slingplayer..this way it doesn't freeze. We need to monitor the Olympics..for now I can only monitor our mains cities. I will try your tips. But I guess it will freeze like with sandboxie.... :((

The sound will probably be fine.  Gone are the days when the application has direct access to a single channel on the sound card.  Windows is perfectly capable of providing virtual sound channels to applications and mixing them, either in software or by the sound card itself, in to a single combined stream.

Of course the output would be a little overwhelming with 8 channels at once, but you could mute all but one of the players.  And I guess in this application the sound isn't actually that important.

 
With regard to the sandboxing, I've not used that.  But it's significantly more complicated than running the applications independently.  Although I can perhaps see how multiple players may get confused anyway.

Some things I would try:

• Turn off the sling optimisation and manually set the stream parameters to a lower bitrate.  Player, Slingplayer options, Encoding.  This will stop all the palyers competing with each other for available bandwidth.
• Connect via direct connection with IP address and port, rather than slingfinder ID.  It's an outside chance, as after it has discovered the box I expect the connection is just the same, but it may make a difference.

If this does work, it's a simple matter to knock up a "launcher" application which closes the mutex and starts the player.  I could look into this for you if you prove the concept.

 
Instructions for closing mutex with process explorer:

• Find, File handle or DLL...
• Type "SlingAppMutex" without quotes, and click Search
• Double click the result in the search box
• Right click the found item in the lower PE pane, and select Close Handle
• OK the resulting dialogue box

August 13, 2008 7:22 AM

drlove said: I did a little screenshot to show you :)) it's on my pc, just for tests. the first slingbox that you open will always make a black screen..but the other ones can appear in the screenshot (weird!)

 Cool

The first player you open gets the hardware acceleration available through the video card.  Basically it has it's own dedicated video memory just for the video, and then the card overlays that with the rest of the Windows screen using dedicated on board hardware.

After that the other instances of the player have to output their video directly to the Windows screen on their own, as the card only supports one application using video acceleration at a time.  When you copy and paste a screen grap, Windows only gives you the Windows screen area - as it doesn't know about the separate video area.  Hence the SlingPlayer using the acceleration appears blank.

This is always the same for most programs that use video, for example software DVD players.  To get a screen grab you need to turn the Hardware Acceleration off in Display Properties, Advanced, Troubleshoot tab.

Glad I was able to help, and the screen grab is great!

August 13, 2008 7:47 AM

drlove said:Hi pcbbc, Im using PE :)) Thanks for the infos about the screenshot. Of course I would love it if you can make something more automatic, but I don't want you to work hours of time for me :)  Now more than 1h..no freeze!

It's simple, but requires a little research - I will enjoy doing it, and learn from it.  And if it's useful to you and others then it is worth doing anyway.  I shall take a look at the weekend and post back.

I'm wondering what the cause of the freeze was.  A problem with sandboxie, or with the players competing for bandwidth.  Either way it doesn't really matter now, as setting fixed bandwidth has resolved the problem.  It's probably better that way anyway.

August 13, 2008 10:27 PM

Interesting stuff.
You could make the SBCore.ini fie read only and that would make it so any changes to the settings can't be written to it.

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August 14, 2008 5:46 AM updated: August 14, 2008 6:00 AM

drlove said: Hi guys!! Thanks for all your help! pcbbc I downloaded your .exe and tried it..for me it doesn't work, maybe I do it wrong? I start 1 slingplayer, start your .exe and try to open a second slingplayer, still the warning message..

Sorry - You need to put my SlingLauncher.exe in the same directory as SlingPlayer.exe

That's "C:\Program Files\Sling Media\SlingPlayer" on my system.

You do NOT need to launch SlingPlayer separately.  When you start my application it will automatically start the player for you, assuming it is in the right directory.  Although that shouldn't stop it closing the Mutex?

Perhaps it started the second copy of the player over the top of the first?  Or perhaps there is something wrong in my code like you say.

Edit: One question if I may.  When you cfind the Mutex file handle in Process Explorer, what is its full name?

I am looking for the full name of "\BaseNamedObjects\SlingAppMutex" which I suppose might be different on your system?

Also what OS are you running please?

August 17, 2008 4:38 AM

rsaulnie said: Note: follow instruction as directed ..download Process explorer from URL specified earlier. (this is not task manager) Find the Mutex Handle Double click and close the handle ( will be in bottom pane) Now: You can connected to a second Slingbox repeat process to create a third session .. etc thanks Richard

Sorry - I'm not quite sure why you're clarifying this as a reply to my post?  Especially as I wrote them and drlove has already successfully followed them?

In my post of August 14, 2008 1:02 AM you'll see I've already written an application that should launch a new player instance by first closing the mutex handle of any already open player.

This works perfectly for me on XP Pro SP 3.  However drlove seems to be having problems getting it to work for him.  So I was wondering if the mutex name (\BaseNamedObjects\SlingAppMutex) is exactly the same on his system, as that is what I am looking for in order to identify the handle to close.

August 17, 2008 10:18 AM

Alan Richey said: Hi Doesn't seem to work for me using Vista Home Premium. I start SlingLauncher and after about 20 seconds the first instance of Slingplayer starts. Run SlingLauncher again and nothing happens. Checking in PE I can see both instances of SlingLauncher but only the first one has an 'attached' Slingplayer. And I can confirm that the mutex name is \BaseNamedObjects\SlingAppMutex But if I try and manually close that by right clicking and selecting 'Close Process' I get the error message 'Handle Invalid'. I guess SlingLauncher is having the same problem. Al

Are you connecting the second player instance to a second sling box? Only one client can be connected at any one time.

"Handle Invalid" not sure on this, are you running as Administrator or debug? Maybe an issue?

Richard