Stream a dvd movie to a friend's computer

March 9, 2006 7:45 PM

While watching a dvd on the computer, is there a way to stream the video over the internet to a friends' computer as well, so that both of you can watch it at the same time?

For that matter, is there a way to stream ANY video one is watching on one's computer over the internet to a friend's computer? More specifically though I'm interested in streaming a rented movie dvd so that my friend and I can 'virtually' watch it at the same time.

posted by jak68 to computers & internet (10 comments total)

VideoLan Client (VLC) (just don't ask me for detailed instructions. I haven't done it in a while). Not only is it a good media player, it can, and was intended to do, so much more.
posted by gauchodaspampas at 7:51 PM on March 9, 2006

I doubt you could do this at the current speed of high speed internet. Maybe if you lived in a university with a very fast connection.

Hopefully someone can help you. :)
posted by meta87 at 8:26 PM on March 9, 2006

wow, thanks so much. I'll check it out.

I had considered using a regular VNC client but I imagine the screen update rate wouldnt have been fast enough.

There are a couple of "P2P streaming video" applications that are being made including "peercast" and "streamer p2p" (not out yet).

They say these will 'revolutionize' internet media once again... allowing everyone to be a broadcaster or a re-streamer.
posted by jak68 at 8:29 PM on March 9, 2006

Surely this is possible. Software probably exists that will do it.

However - you would need to compress the data a lot in order to send it over the internet, then send it, and also be decoding/playing it -- all at hte same time. This would require a really, really powerful processor to pull off.

Maybe if you ripped the DVD to DivX or something first, and it was streaming from an already compressed file playing off of your hard drive, this would be more realistic? Then VLC might work for you.

I have a hard time believing (but maybe I'm underestimating today's computers?) that VLC would do what you want straight from an actual DVD on most computers.
posted by twiggy at 8:31 PM on March 9, 2006

Well, in order to stream DVD content directly you would need 9gb/second bandwidth.

Also, it would be illegal under the DMCA, because it would involve bypassing the DRM on a DVD. So it's actually pretty unlikely that you'd be able to find legit off the shelf software to do this.

Now, what you might be able to do is rip the DVD (violating the DMCA, unless the disk is not protected) and then compress it offline and then stream it.
posted by delmoi at 9:16 PM on March 9, 2006

I bet whatever you end up with won't be nearly as nice (and probably would end up taking longer to figure out) than copying the disc, fedexing it to them, and watching it simultaneously.
posted by odinsdream at 9:41 PM on March 9, 2006

Over the internet, forget about streaming. Unless you have an extraordinarily fast connection (like the pipes of an entire ISP) this isn't going to work. The only way that video streaming over the internet is practical is if you convert it to a much lower bitrate, and throw away a great deal of quality.

It's relatively trivial to rip the DVD, transcode it to a more space efficient codec (like XviD), upload THAT file to your friend, and then both of you start it in your favorite media player at the same time. This way you only have to upload 700MB of data (or whatever size you choose) and you don't have to do it in realtime. And an Xvid rip of that size is going to be relatively close to DVD quality, although certainly not perfect.
posted by Rhomboid at 9:42 PM on March 9, 2006

Interesting responses, thanks for the information.
Does anyone know anything about peercast, or does anyone have any experience with it in terms of streaming video? Its supposed to be a p2p streaming video application.
posted by jak68 at 10:13 PM on March 9, 2006

delmoi--I think that's more like 9 Mbps. A whole DVD is only about 4.5 GB (or 36 Gb).
posted by adamrice at 7:20 AM on March 10, 2006

jak, it isn't a matter of what software or method you use. It's not physically possible with the connection (lesser of the two between you and your friend).
posted by odinsdream at 3:33 PM on March 18, 2006