Configuring TabiStream
(Quick Guide)
1.
Account Setup
When you run the TabiStream very
first time, it will bring up the Account Setup dialog window as shown in Figure
1 below. You can also access this window at any time by choosing (New Account…)
from Settings menu.
Figure 1. TabiStream
Account Setup dialog
Fill up the information appropriately and click on
“Register” button to setup your account.
2.
Setting up the Channel Lineup
You need to choose what you would like to stream by setting
up a channel lineup. To open up the channel lineup configuration dialog, press
the Channel
Lineup button on the toolbar (fourth button from left in
Figure 2) or choose “Channel Lineup…” from Channel menu.
Figure 2. TabiStream
main window
The channel lineup dialog (Figure 3) contains a table with
1000 rows and 5 columns. Each row corresponds to a channel number you can setup
for streaming. The columns from left to right are as follows:
v
Enable: If this box is checked, the
corresponding channel is enabled for streaming. Otherwise, the channel cannot
be streamed.
v
Channel: Specifies the channel number for
the corresponding channel.
v
Video Device: Specifies a set of video devices
that can be configured as video source for this channel. Depending on the
devices attached to your computer, the list will be populated differently.
However, there are two fixed video device types which are “URL” and “File”.
o
URL: Indicates that the video for this
channel will be streamed from a web URL.
o
File: Indicates that the video for this
channel will be streamed from a file on your computer.
v
Audio Device: Specifies a set of audio devices
that can be configured as audio source for this channel. Available options are
same as video device options.
v
Info/URL: This field has different meanings
depending on audio/video devices selected in columns 3 and 4.
1.
If “File” is selected as audio/video source, this column specifies the
path to the file on your computer.
2.
If “URL” is selected as audio/video source, this column specifies the
URL to the web content.
3.
If neither File nor URL is selected as audio/video source, this column
is used to specify any name you can choose to describe the current channel
(e.g., if this channel corresponds to a webcam, you can enter a descriptive
name as “my webcam” to Info/URL field).
If a channel is setup with “File” audio/video device type,
you can use the “Add Files” button at the bottom of the channel lineup dialog
to browse for file(s) to add to the lineup. If more than one file is selected
in file browse dialog, the files are entered to the lineup at consecutive
channel numbers starting from the initial channel number that had been selected
when “Add Files” button was pressed.
Let us setup a channel for streaming a file residing on our
computer. Click on channel number 0 on the channel lineup and choose “File” as
both video and audio devices (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Adding a file to the channel
lineup
Then, click on “Add Files” and browse to the file you would
like to add to your channel lineup.
Figure 4. File browse dialog
Finally, click “Open” and the file will be added to the
channel slot you selected. Make sure the “Enable” checkbox is selected. This
media file is now ready to be streamed on channel 0.
Figure 5. Channel lineup with channel 0
configured for streaming
TabiStream includes different options to fit
to your network environment. The default options are usually suitable for most
networks, but if you are having trouble connecting to TabiStream
from your handheld, these setting are the ones you need to modify.
The main network settings page (Figure 6) includes port
settings and an additional security option.
Figure 6. Main network setting dialog
TabiStream by default uses ports 5718 and 5719
to accept connections from your handheld. If these ports are in use by some
other application installed to your computer, you can change these ports. The
port numbers must be consecutive, so you can only change the first number; the
second number will automatically be set to one plus the number you entered.
In the second field, you can enter the registration code
you used to download TabiPlay. If a registration code
for a device is entered into this field, TabiStream
will allow connections only from that device even if your username and password
are compromised. You can obtain your device registration code from any version
of TabiPlay running on your device by clicking the TabiTek logo at the top left corner to bring up the menu
and by choosing “About TabiPlay” item from the menu.
Figure 7. Advanced network settings dialog
The Advanced Network Settings dialog can be used to modify the
way connections to TabiStream are established. If you are running TabiStream in a local
network where both your handheld and your PC belong to a subnet (e.g, if your PC and handheld are connected to the same
wireless router), you can check “Enable direct LAN connection” box for best
performance.
If you are behind a NAT firewall and you cannot connect to TabiStream remotely from your handheld, you may need to
manually configure your router to enable port forwarding on the ports selected
in main network settings page (e.g., ports 5718 and 5719). Please refer to your
router’s user manual for instructions on how to configure your router for port
forwarding). If you enable port forwarding manually, check “I setup port
forwarding manually” box.
4.
Streaming
Once the channel lineup and network settings are configured
properly, you are ready to enable streaming. For this purpose, press the first
button (antenna icon) on the toolbar of TabiStream or
select “Start” from the Stream menu of TabiStream. If
Windows firewall is enabled, a dialog box similar to the one in Figure 8 may
appear. Click “Unblock” button shown in the dialog box. TabiStream
will start waiting for connections from your handheld. If TabiStream
is blocked, you will not be able to connect to TabiStream
from your handheld remotely.
You can disable streaming at any time by pressing the
second button on the TabiStream toolbar or by
selecting “Stop” from the Stream menu of TabiStream.
Figure 8. Windows firewall dialog