What would it take to create the equivalent of a VPN between a "cooperating set" of non-co-networked HDR-FOXes? Could it be done using RS to track the IP addresses of (registered) participating units via their Unique IDs, and hand them out on request from a particular unit in that set?
Once a unit has the current Internet IP address for the network of another participating unit, how is it possible to ping that unit directly when it has another IP address on the local network (this is a bit of networking I don't fully understand - presumably something to do with port forwarding, so maybe the router has to be specifically configured to translate a port number on the outward facing IP address into an IP address on the local network)?
Assuming this step can be done (and I imagine it can), it is therefore possible to send DLNA index queries to the remote unit. (Alternatively SMB or NFS could be used to query the file system directly, but that would assume pre-decryption whereas DLNA will work regardless of decryption - and I recommend not getting into HiDef!). A local representation of the remote content can be built up... but can that be added to the local DLNA database for easy access via the menus? Maybe, instead of adding to the existing index, an in-the-middle approach could be used to create a separate index on the local HDR-FOX, or on RS.
I come back to thinking that the need for deferred playback is preventing all this working within the standard on-screen menus. It might be possible to use the TV Portal (we know we can pause it to complete the download), but that ties up the box for the duration of the download. It would be better to trigger a download which completes in the background without affecting the normal operation - and that implies using WebIF.
Okay, so we want to download a recording from elsewhere to be available to play at a later time (when the download is sufficiently complete to play to the end without breaking). Using DLNA at the server end overcomes any requirement to have the content pre-decrypted. If wget can be pointed at the content, via come kind of IP sharing mechanism, it can be made to get on with the download in the background at whatever data rate is available. The resulting content can be in a special folder within the normal on-screen Media list, and the display name of the recording can be updated on the fly to show how many percent of the total has been downloaded so far (changing to just the name of the programme when the download is complete - so you would see in the on-screen media list "(11%) The Gadget Show", for example).
So all that is left is to have a WebIF extension for handling all this - registering the co-operating set with RS, listing the content available on remote units, and initiating the download of a particular recording (which needs to be able to resume even if the remote unit lost contact). That sounds a piece of piss compared with EPG pooling and the TV Diary package.
This has got to be a better way to go than something completely bespoke. And, if you'll forgive me for saying, could be available to use in a matter of weeks or even a few days if the relevant experts get behind it, whereas an independent (little spare time) project will take months or years to complete.
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