Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with streaming

I don't understand the question, and I won't respond to it.

burnfirewalls — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:17:21 -0800

What are the Netflix engineers currently doing to make sure that this weekend's release of Arrested Development Season 4 will go off without a hitch? When Simcity 5 launched in March 2013, the network connection required to play caused scores of problems, not the least of which were server outages. This is a recent example of many high-profile game launches that received mass negative backlash based around server availability and performance.

With the hype and excitement and sheer data required for Netflix to stream the 4th season of Arrested Development into the devices of thousands of fans this weekend, what preparation are they likely doing to make it a success and avoid the pitfalls of so many game launches?

Fastest VNC setup? Concurrent RDP sessions in Windows 8 Pro?

jsturgill — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:19:28 -0800

I just purchased an underpowered computer to experiment further with remote desktops. Ideally I'd like to be able to use a remote desktop technology to stream HD video from the remote server, play a game on the client that's rendered on the more powerful server, and to have a local user work on the remote serving computer while another account on the server is being accessed remotely by the thin client. It's OK if the ideal just can't happen, but I want to try out each thing and see how close I can get.

Does VNC allow concurrent sessions?

Any hacks that won't rootkit my computer to allow concurrent sessions over RDP in Windows 8?

Any specific software or approaches to try out that would allow the client to play high-end video games rendered on the server?

Any tips on getting HD YouTube videos or files to play at high quality on the remote client?

These are all Windows 8 machines, with Linux as a possibility on the client end if it provides some advantage, connected with each other on a fast home LAN.

Is there a service that can stream a video file at a certain time?

AbsoluteDestiny — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 07:47:42 -0800

A con I help run has video art programming which we'd like to stream to people who cannot attend the convention. However, the infrastructure for livestreaming at this venue is prohibitively restrictive. Hence I'm looking for a service that would allow me to upload, say, an mp4 and schedule when it would begin streaming. Does one exist? If not, can anyone think of an alternative solution for time-shifted broadcasting like this?

Daydreaming about nabbing a Roku 3, but have a few Q's.

GilloD — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:58:55 -0800

I think a Roku 3 is what I want: A little box that'll sit next to my TV and feed me media. But I also have a few special needs... Need 1: Can I stream from my laptop to Roku? I download quite a bit of TV. If I have a file on my laptop, can I be like "Hey ROKU, play this on whatever you're hooked up to!"

Need 2: Can I screen mirror? i.e., if I've got STEAM running and I'm playing Bioshock or whatever, can I use Roku to mirror the content to my TV?

Bonus Q: If Roku doesn't do these things (Either natively or via an app), what does? Or am I asking for a miracle?

Note: I'm running off a PC, so Apple TV is a no-go.

Streaming audio player for Android

aerotive — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 17:09:16 -0800

Anyone know of an simple, reliable audio player for Android that can stream audio from a regular URL, and will continue streaming with the screen off? Firefox often crashes when I try this, and Chrome stops when the screen turns off. None of the audio apps that I have can open plain URLs, and the video players either don't work with audio only or stop with the screen off.

Prefer something free but will pay for something really good. Built-in bookmarking would be nice too.

VPN XP woes

merocet — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 15:39:51 -0800

I've installed Private Internet Access VPN software on a Win 7 machine and an XP machine on my home network. The VPN connected Windows 7 machine reports good speeds at www.speedtest.net and streams content like a champ. The XP machine when connected to the VPN shows terrible speeds and buffers and stutters like something not so useful. More details after the fold... The Win 7 machine is connecting to my home network via wifi. The XP machine is hard cabled to the same wifi router.

The speedtest results for both machines when the VPN is switched off are the same. Nice and fast.

Why is my XP machine so slow when going via the VPN?

Inexpensive wireless music streaming

psycho-alchemy — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:46:40 -0800

I want to be able to stream whatever my computer is playing to another room in the house. In addition, I would like to occasionally stream videos to our old, but oversized, TV in another room. I started shopping and looking at media streaming bridges and wireless speakers and frankly it seems there are a bunch of options and I don't know where to start. It probably needs to go 40 or 50 feet away. I don't think bluetooth would work and the only things I own with an ethernet port are my computer and the wireless router. Can someone point me towards a good reliable sytem?

The supposed tech savvy daughter has failed.

youandiandaflame — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 07:04:21 -0800

My parents would like to get a Roku box so they can cancel their insanely expensive DishTV subscription. How do I do this? Can I get them these specific channels? My parents are looking to get rid of their satellite television. Currently, they're spending over $100 a month on the service and I'm under the impression that using a Roku box with their wifi would be cheaper. Is this possible?

As mentioned, my parents have wifi. They'd like access to local news and weather, ESPN, HBO, Speed channel, and the ability to purchase movies. My dad would probably also like access to those channels that show things like Ice Road Truckers and what-not.

I know that I can sign them up for Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, and Netflix but is it possible to add things like ESPN? My dad will want to watch his races in real-time, not after the fact. I have perused the HBO Go and ESPN sites and can't find anything that would clarify this for me. I'm pretty tech savvy but I just can't seem to figure this out.

What are their options here? Are there better boxes than the Roku? Will I be able to somehow get them those channels they want?

Best Home Web Streaming Setup

nickhb — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 12:40:54 -0800

I'd like to create a great streaming setup for my living room. Exact requirements inside I'd like to be able to do the following things in my living room:
-Watch blu-ray discs and DVDs
-Watch Netflix
-Watch Hulu plus
-Watch Amazon streaming (If possible)
-Listen to Pandora (large, full screen interface if possible)
-Stream Video files from my desktop
-Stream iTunes music and video from my desktop or iOS device (essentially airplay)
-watch and record live cable tv (nice bonus, not required. I watch most of my tv after the fact anyway)

My main option I've been considering is building a home theater PC running windows 7 and XMBC with a USB tv tuner, which can do most but not all of the above. The setup I had in mind would cost about $400. I can wire anything in the living room to my home network by ethernet.

However, I'm sure there are other ways, devices, or combinations of devices that can do the above. What do you guys think?

Cheap way to do DVI/VGA capture from a PC to MacBook?

chambers — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:38:14 -0800

I need to figure out a cheap way to take a DVI or VGA signal from a PC, and capture it to a MacBook Pro to stream video to the internet. Situational constraints inside. I am looking into streaming games on Twitch.TV, but I have an older rig that presents some logistical problems. It's not an optimal rig, but bear with me:

Source PC - Mac Pro (2006, 8 core 2.66 Xeons) running XP, sufficient to play the game I wish to stream but unable to handle both streaming and playing at the same time. My video card is has 2 DVI ports, and a displayport. I also have a DVI signal splitter, that would remove any need to mirror the display on the XP side.
Current resolution - 1680x1050

Recording PC - Macbook Pro with a 2.26 Core2Duo processor. Will handle the encoding and streaming to twitch. Twitch provides and suggest software that will work, but here is where I am coming into problems. Not looking for it to stream 720p, but 480p should be fine for now.

I am looking for a converter that would take a DVI or VGA signal and convert it to a Firewire DV or USB that would be Mac compatible. The streaming software will handle the rest.

I see that the Epiphan VGA to USB Video Grabber (VGA2USB) might work, but it's currently outside my budget at $300. Under $150 is my optimal budget.

Used or older equipment is fine. I'm open to both creative, insane, and/or unreliable solutions.

How to go from zero to TV?

barnone — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:31:11 -0800

We haven't had a proper TV in over a decade. I would like to have something other than my laptop to watch streaming media, DVDs, Netflix, etc. Can you explain how this works in 2013? I imagine we'd buy something like this Samsung LED HDTV and some kind of speakers. Then what? Do we plug it into a laptop? What exactly is Apple TV and how does it stack up against Roku? This seems like it should be a simple question, but I feel like a caveman emerging from the dark, and am fairly bewildered at all of the options and variations out there. I tried watching TV on my LED monitor and it was fairly grainy and jumpy. That could be a function of my aging laptop, or maybe it was just the video, but I'm keen on setting up a better screen situation.

- Cable TV isn't likely.
- Gaming capacity isn't required.
- Cost isn't a huge consideration, but I'd appreciate tips on where I can save money, and where to spend more for the best value.
- Interested in 'sleeker' solutions, rather than a million different boxes and cables and remotes.

Most of our media comes from:
- Amazon Instant Video
- Netflix
- iTunes store
- Hulu
- Various websites (i.e. PBS for Downton Abbey, ABC for Grey's Anatomy)
- Occasional DVDs
- Downloaded material

If you could start from scratch tomorrow, how would you set up your media system? Any big changes coming down the pipeline that will change things in a year or two? What's a good reference in terms of choosing a screen size?

Any suggestions on speakers? Bonus points if the speakers could be connected (via wifi or bluetooth) to other devices for music streaming.

Thanks for any instructions, tips or links to good explanatory articles.

A subscription service for classical and opera that beats Rhapsody?

markcmyers — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 13:26:21 -0800

Rhapsody's catalog is pretty good, but poor search and spotty album info are making me unhappy. I want to be able to choose albums and tracks to stream, so I'm not looking for radio. Opera is my priority. Can you help?

Remote audio in 2013

neckro23 — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 11:49:07 -0800

I have two sets of speakers on opposite sides of a room, connected to Windows boxes, that I would like to stream music to. AirPlay isn't working out too well. What's the best alternative? Both the computers are running Windows 7. I'd like to be able to play music on one and have it play on the other. They're in the same room so sync is important.

Right now I'm doing this by running Shairport4w on both machines and streaming to it from my Macbook using iTunes. The problem with this is a) I hate using iTunes, and b) Shairport4w is pretty flaky, even when I plug into the wired LAN. Every time the client stops working on one of the machines, the music stops on both and I have to restart the client on the affected machine. This gets old pretty fast (although when it works the sync is usually pretty good).

I tried using OSX 10.8's AirPlay streaming support so I can use another audio player, but as far as I can tell it only supports one output. iTunes seems to be the only free OSX app that can do multiple outputs. Porthole seems to be an option, but I'd rather cut the Macbook out of the equation altogether, and just stream from one Windows box to the other.

What are my (freeish) options here? AirFoil looks good, but it's $25 and seems like overkill since I don't actually "need" AirPlay support. There's oAEP which I haven't tried yet, but it seems abandoned and I'm still relying on Shairport4w as a receiver. Any ideas?

Streaming Video A No Go

ronofthedead — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 11:16:58 -0800

When I stream video from almost any source, it gobbles up 100 percent of my CPU usage and becomes choppy and unwatchable. I've tried every trick in the book. Any suggestions? So, streaming video. Eats 100 percent of CPU usage. I have:

Cleared the cache
Run malware and virus scans repeatedly
Re-installed Flash
Re-installed Chrome and Firefox
Banged my head against the wall.

Anyone have any suggestions that I haven't thought of? This issue makes Netflix, Hulu, HBOGo and most every other streaming video service unwatchable. HALP!

Streaming live sports to iPhone?

joshuaconner — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 10:26:54 -0800

The Arizona/ASU mens' basketball game starts in about an hour. My mother is on an airplane with wifi and wants to know if it's possible for her to watch the game on her iPhone somehow. She has a DirecTV subscription but no Nomad. Things I've tried so far:

Doesn't seem to be on Justin.tv/uStream/LiveStream though I suppose this could change once the game starts

Not available to stream on the PAC-12 iPhone app

Thanks and good luck Metafilter!

My own private Rdio

the brave tetra-pak — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:56:53 -0800

I would like to create a private music streaming service for a small circle of friends, using Amazon S3, Cloudfront, an HTML5 player and a password-protected website. Is this possible? How to do it best? (Full walkthrough of the idea within.) In my vision, this is how it works:

There is a website. It's password-protected (this would be for a handful of people; it can be .htpasswd rather than something with registration etc). Logging in gets you to a page with a player (ideally HTML5; some of the people involved are Flash-averse). With the player, you can see the whole of the library, which lives in an S3 bucket. Click to stream songs, enjoy!

I'm having trouble sorting out the various players and widgets available (I don't know much about streaming media) and have a few other technical questions. The Streaming setting on Cloudfront is limited to RTMP, which presumably means Flash players only, right? Are there ways around this? If anyone has prior experience with creating something like this, what are the best choices? Any issues I should know about before I get started?

(And just to answer these questions in advance ... this is for a scattered group of friends into very rare music, almost entirely rips of out-of-print vinyl, plus some private field recordings; we're not going to be doing anything piratic. And I'm interested in building this because I like the idea of us quietly, daily in each other's lives, the way other people in this group have built little glancing bits of social software -- that's why I'd like to do it this way rather than just set up a big-ass zip of all the files. It's a digital version of the way we used to hang out in each other's apartments, listening to music and working. Plus I can keep adding to it as it goes!)

What are the best sites for streaming fitness videos?

melissa — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 07:42:13 -0800

What are the best sites for streaming fitness videos? Like so many people do each January, I've decided that I need to incorporate more exercise into my life. I'm having trouble deciding what I want to do so I thought I'd try out some fitness videos to see what would work for me. I'm trying to go with a Health at Every Size philosophy - eat well, get exercise and not get hung up about the numbers.

I had originally planned to try videos through Netflix but I see that they no longer have the license to show them there. I see that there are sites that do memberships where you have access to lots of videos. What ones have you used and recommend? I'm happy to pay for a membership if the quality and variety is good.

I'm a woman nearing my mid-30s, overweight and will probably be doing these videos with a four year-old providing colour commentary at least some of the time.

I'm particularly interested in yoga and Pilates, but don't want to close myself off from general fitness videos.

I saw this recent thread but it it was focused on free videos.

Special snowflake detail: I'm Canadian so US-only sites are no good for me. Thanks for any tips you have.

Rural Internet Access: Help my Dad get a connection that can actually let him stream..., well, anything!

MMALR — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 07:43:40 -0800

Rural Internet Access: Help my Dad get a connection that can actually let him stream..., well, anything! At one point in my youth, I was heavily into hardware and could have probably figured out a way to do this, but at this point -- I'm all ears for help.

The scenario is this. My Dad lives in a small, central Illinois community whose internet access providers are slim to none. Right now, he has a tiny 'dish' on the side of his house that transmits to a wireless access point that is perched on an enormous grain elevator that towers over the entire town. That signal relays to a central station, and he's on the Internet. His downstream is steady at 0.5 Mbps.

We looked into WildBlue, but I'm uncertain as to what plan he would need. I haven't ever had to translate internet usage on a household into gigabytes, only on my phone since I have to abide by my 2 GB limit through ATT. I never hit that, but that's on a phone, not a computer that can stream Netflix, etc.

The other option is... he has a giant house TV antenna that sits outside and is roughly 50 feet tall from the ground. Is there a way to attach some sort of extender that could possibly get him to better providers?

What about other options? Monthly fees is a problem unless he's getting good service. If we can make purchases of hardware (one-time) to improve his service, that would be ideal.

Any suggestions are welcome! Help him enter the age of streaming movies!

Budget iPad audio solutions

craniac — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 13:46:06 -0800

I have an iPad 2, a Sandisk mp3 player and about three ipods floating around my house. I also have a Sony ICF-m1000 table radio. When I plug my iPad into the AUX input on the table radio, it's not nearly loud enough. How can I cheaply amplify the audio from my I-devices so they sound good on the Sony radio? Or maybe connecting the i-devices to the radio is just a dumb idea. I'm looking for small solutions, as my wife is very protective of counter spaces. I ask because I'm sick of skipping CDs. Thanks.

choose the right pathe

mattoxic — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 19:55:32 -0800

I would like to know what options are available to me to enhance (or indeed the opposite) video streams - What I'd specifically like to do is download specific youtube footage (personal use) and render it with a jumpy black and white Pathe film-like quality. What would be the best approach to achieve this? - And please take into account that I have no Apple products to hand and very limited experience in manipulating the moving picture.

Easiest/cheapest way to have music on the go?

mikeweeney — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 16:43:05 -0800

What is the cheapest and/or best option for listening to streaming (cached) music at the gym? Looking for hardware and software options. I've been torrenting music for years and copying it to my old-school Sansa Clip. However, in the last year I've become addicted to Spotify and I'm willing to pay a premium to never have to go through the hassle of downloading music again.

However, I currently do not have a device that can run the Spotify app (I don't have a smart phone and don't plan on getting one in the near future). I will be using it primarily at the gym (which does not have free wi-fi) and while out on runs.

I'm looking for advice on two things:

1. What is the cheapest but still good quality device that I should use? ipods are $200, and i saw a Samsung Android thing for $120... is there anything better?

2. What software is best for streaming music? Right now I'm willing to pay the $10 a month for Spotify, but if there is a better service I'd be willing to switch.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Reloading Videos

freddymetz — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 04:38:54 -0800

How do I avoid my web browser having to reload a video again if I view it again after having navigated away from it earlier or when I go full screen? It seems so wasteful!
To clarify, if I just watched a video on youtube for example, it should be saved somewhere on my computer already. If I navigate away and return after a brief time period it should still be loaded. Is there any way to enable this?
I use safari, but i'm willing to switch browsers for this.

Apple TV connect to My Apartment Public Wi-Fi?

snap_dragon — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 14:41:31 -0800

I have public wi-fi at my new apartment, and am able to stream Netflix just fine via a friend's laptop. I am not sure if there is a way for my Apple TV (2nd gen) to work here. I have googled around and others seemed to be able and others not. Normally when using my home computer or kindle tablet, I have to connect to wi-fi after a given period of time left unattended and then click "connect" from a browser page so perhaps this is why the ATV2 cannot work. Any thoughts? Thanks and have a good Thanksgiving!

MP3 streaming in the sky?

clorox — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 06:07:26 -0800

It's about 6 AM. I'm leaving my house at about 7 AM. I'm getting on an airplane at about 9 AM. While on that airplane, I'd like to listen on my iPhone 4 to an .mp3 file that will be posted onto the internets at about 7:30 AM. The .mp3 file will be about 3 hours long at will weigh in at about 100 mb. Normally, I could either download it ahead of time, or stream it through 3G. But I'm leaving too soon to download, and I'm worried that Safari/Quicktime won't precache (?) the whole file.

What can I do in the next three hours that will allow me to listen to this file while I'm on the airplane?

(I will be able to fiddle around with my phone and will have internet access on my phone between 7 and 9, it's just that I won't have access to my computer after 7 so I can't import the file to my phone via iTunes.)

Looking for software to aid with streaming via an unreliable connection

Nameless — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 22:01:36 -0800

Is there a music streaming program that will continuously cache a stream while a connection is available and play from that cache on demand, in a first-in-first-out manner? I'm interested in all platforms with the following order of preference: iOS, OS X, *nix CLI, Windows, *nix GUI.

The less babysitting required, the better.

I'm OK with a complicated config.