Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with video and Streaming

Help me fix my wireless streaming video setup!

killdevil — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:27:22 -0800

I want to stream video at 720p from a storage server on my apartment LAN to wirelessly-connected clients. I've set up FreeNAS on an old laptop, but the setup isn't even fast enough to stream standard def movies without stuttering. Tell me what I'm doing wrong, and how I can fix it. More details about my setup inside My setup is as follows:

FreeNAS 0.7 running on a vintage ThinkPad X30. The OS (FreeNAS is a special-purpose FreeBSD distro) is loaded from a USB key.

eSATA PC card in the X30 provides the connection to a 1.5Tb eSATA external hard drive. The drive is shared out to windows clients via samba.

Laptop is plugged directly into a Linksys WRT54g V2 wireless router running the latest DD-WRT firmware. Router's wireless LAN is 802.11g.

I can mount the remote drive on my laptop with no problem, but transfer rates are no faster than 200Kb/s. I suspect that 802.11g is the culprit here, though I could be wrong. Would an 802.11n router be fast enough to stream 720p to other machines on the wireless network, or will I have to resort to a wired network to fix this?

live video to remote computer?

ConnieL — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:16:01 -0800

Hello. Is it possible to send a live video/audio signal to a remote computer in another state? I'd like to send live video to a disabled friend in Missouri of the sites of Southern California. So I would be wandering around outdoors with a digital camera, and I would want it to be sent to his computer live. I have a duo quad core Mac Pro and he has a fast PC. Is that even possible?

thanks in advance

Golf! On the internet! Now!

ignignokt — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:25:41 -0800

Help My Parents With Their Inexplicable Obsession Filter: Is there a way to watch the Golf Channel online for free or cheap? My parents pay for cable TV just so they can have the Golf Channel. (Yeah, I don't get why they love golf so much, either.) My dad wants to use this Internet thing to get around that. Is there a way? So far, I see that certain golf events are streamed on ESPN, but what they're looking for is to be able to just turn something on at any time and see more or less original golf content.

An alternate source of streaming golf video content will probably work, too - it doesn't have to be the Golf Channel.

Live sports on PC

paulyballs — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:50:10 -0800

What's the best way to watch live tv (sports mainly) on a PC? My gf's parents have a vacation cabin with only internet access and they want to be able to watch live sports while they are there. What's the best option. Her mother asked me about "Digital TV for PC" but I think it's a scam. They do have full cable at their main home so I was thinking of advising Slingbox. Anything else out there that won't require me installing hardware at their main home? Thanks!

Multimedia-filter: Looking for help from all you Network and digital media Gurus in making my first house totally awesome. Movies, Televsion, Music, Wifi, Streaming Content and 50mgbt broadband within.

Cogentesque — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:03:13 -0800

Multimedia-filter: Looking for help from HDTV, NAS, Media Servers and Network Gurus' in making my first house totaly awesome. Movies, Televsion, Music, Wifi, Streaming Content and 50mgbt broadband within. Ok guys, this is my first new message on metafilter, so thanks for everything thus far - to business.

The Premise:
In two weekends time, my girlfriend and I are moving into our first house together in Southampton (UK).

Thankfully she is very accomadating and shares the same views with me reguarding the wonder of technology and allure of gadgetry and thus: we have decided to go down the "cyberhouse" network route - all be it slowly.

What we currently have
50mgbt line and a Television package from Virgin.
2 relatively high-spec PCs downstairs (in the lounge) (XP/Vista soon upgrading to Windows 7 im sure)
A new TV - to be bought - (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/154997/show_product_reviews?offset=10&review_type=both&review_order_by=RLF - ebuyer's own)
1 ipod touch
Host of parts to make a low spec PC.

What I would like in my cyber house
DVD's playable on the TV
Normal channels (Virgin package) playable on the TV
Video (films, episodes) from PC's playable on the TV
Music, both downstairs and upstairs: DAB radio/Cd's/Downloaded Music/Online Radio (last.fm etc would be great)
The ability to change the music remotely (ideally, different sources for different rooms)

Some ideas I've been looking at so far
KVM Switch and a long HDMI cable for my computer to use TV as alternative screen - enabling videos from pc to be played
NAT Storage hiding somewhere in the network
Popcorn Hour to play video from PC
Sonos music system to play upstairs and downstairs
Media pc configured to do the job of sonos and popcorn hour (apparantly this is very tricky?)

What do you think metafilter? Remember that we are definately "on a budget" but I much more trust your collective ideas and conceptions than my own - so what would you reccomend should be my immediate course of action?

Big Ten Network football on streaming video?

ragtimepiano — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:34:08 -0800

Can I get Big Ten Network football games on streaming video online? Does anyone know if this is possible, and if so, how to do it?

How do I capture a small part of a long video stream?

tamarack — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:16:42 -0800

I want to capture a small part of a long video stream from the web. And I want it in mp4. It's my convocation webcast, and it's in asf. I have managed to capture just the five minutes (of 2+ hrs!) I want, but I did so with Real Player and so the file is in the ever-unfriendly rm file format. I haven't had any luck with file conversion programs, and I can't crack the nut which is VLC (I've tried the VideoLAN forums). I'm running WinXP, and I'm looking for a free way to do this.

I need a recommendation for a tried and true free file conversion that deals with rm->mp4; or step-by-step instructions for how to do this with VLC (I don't want the entire file). I did look in the back posts, but didn't find anything dealing with a partial capture. Many thanks, mefites.

Recommendations for downloading and saving streaming video?

bluesky43 — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:44:24 -0800

Recommendations for downloading and saving streaming video from youtube, hulu, megavideo? This has been covered before in Meta but not since 2007 and this seems to be an 'evolving' discipline. There is also lots on the web but a lot of it seems to be about potentially sketchy, looks-like-freeware-but-it's-not programs with questionable reviews. I'm primarily interested in lifting from megavideo. I'm not particular about format and have VLC, which if what I have read is correct, will play pretty much any format (and not having to convert formats seems like a desirable thing). Any suggestions based on your experience welcome (pc running windows xp). Thanks!

Hey BBC, stop being stingy.

photoslob — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:04:01 -0800

How do I watch streaming video from the BBC 4 site in the US? Is there a way to spoof or use a proxy to circumvent country restrictions on streaming video from the BBC?

I thought this video from this MeFi post was funny and so I did the google thing and found the show on the BBC 4 site. I tried to watch the streaming video and I get the "this service is not available in your area" message.

I know the Beeb is tax payer supported but it sucks they don't want us yanks to watch.

Computer shuts down when streaming video?

mediocre — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:12:08 -0800

Why is my laptop shutting down when streaming videos? Whenever I watch videos online, particularly from Megavideo but even from Youtube occasionally, the whole system will simply shut down. Can anyone offer any help, anyone ever experienced a similar issue? Would a clean system install help matters? Overheating?

It's an eMachines M5312 (yes yes, I know.. my first error was buying eMachines..)

I can't see invisible things!

timpollard — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:44:30 -0800

Having recently reformatted my XP PC I'm having a very confusing time accessing media files from it using my ethernet-cabled Freecom MP 350 MediaPlayer as it can see some of my shared files, but for some reason not all of them and I would greatly appreciate some advice and help! The MediaPlayer is attached to my TV downstairs and is connected by ethernet to the PC upstairs. The PC can see the MediaPlayer (via NDAS) and vice-versa. I use ZoneAlarm Security Suite and that's configured to allow the MediaPlayer's IP into my 'trusted' zone.

On my PC I have two shared folders, one on drive Q: (which I've called 'Mediabox') and one on drive H: (called, startlingly, 'Mediabox II').

My MP350 can see and play the Q: drive's shared folder and files perfectly. Life is good so far.

However, although it can see the name(s) of the shared folder(s) on the H: drive it can't see any content at all, despite it being set up in exactly the same way. (Which was basically ticking the 'share this folder' box). I've checked the properties on both drives on my PC, they are exactly the same. There appears to be no option in the MediaPlayer software to account for this discrepancy either.

Renaming the shared folders on my PC doesn't make any difference, nor does creating new ones, either on the H: drive or any of any my other hard drives. The MP350 still just sees the folders, but never the content (except from the Q: drive).

Can anyone suggest where I (or my setup) is going wrong? Surely if the MP350 can see and play files from one hard drive on my PC it should be able to see and play from any or all of them?

What am I missing?

Many thanks in advance!

How often should I post to maintain an audience?

gusandrews — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:13:08 -0800

I produce a YouTube show about media literacy/criticism. Right now we post weekly, on a schedule which is driving me insane. Does frequency of publishing new content matter (whether it's for a blog, a podcast, a comic, etc) so long as you publish regularly? Could I do it every other week or monthly without losing people's attention? And what do you suggest doing to help make up for less-frequent publishing? I produce a YouTube show about media literacy/criticism which is aimed roughly at high-school- and college-aged students. Right now we post weekly. I've been sticking to this schedule because I've always felt that blogs/webcomics/other online serials which post regularly tend to have a more devoted audience. (This also echoes advice I got when working for an organization which supported small-circulation magazines.)

However, posting weekly is kind of driving me crazy. Editing and shooting video is a hell of a lot more time-consuming than writing a blog post. I'd like to post less frequently, but I'm worried I'd lose audience. A lot of the people I speak to about the show don't seem to have a YouTube account, so using the "subscribe" button is out.

So I'm hoping to gather up the expertise of people who have been doing this for longer than I have. Does frequency of publishing new content matter (whether it's for a blog, a podcast, a comic, etc) so long as you publish regularly? Could I do it every other week or monthly without losing people's attention? And what do you suggest doing to help make up for less-frequent publishing?

AppleTV users... how do you watch sports?

JReed — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:21:05 -0800

So between Netflix streaming and AppleTV I'm considering dropping cable entirely. Pretty much the only thing holding me back is football. How do you all watch sports? Caveat: I don't have a local sports bar nearby, and honestly I'd rather not spend all day Sunday in a bar.

What's the best solution for streaming HD media from a PC?

YoungAmerican — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 11:08:27 -0800

What's the best solution for streaming HD media from a PC? I just got my first HDTV. For a couple years, I've been using an XBox Media Center with a wireless adapter to watch downloaded video from my WinXP PC in the other room. XBMC, however, lacks the power for HD video.

What's the best, reasonably priced solution in 2008?

I do have Netflix, and Netflix "Play Now" would be neat, but isn't a requisite. I play video games sometimes, and that would be nice, but again, not required. BluRay, same deal. What is important is that it work really well, not require a lot of hacking on my part, and that it play all the stuff I download -- DivX, Xvid, MPEG, etc. I am not opposed to something with an HD I can easily access over my network, but I don't want any sneakernet. I'd rather spend $150 than $300 or $400, but I'd consider the latter if it was something really kickass.

These questions have some sorta answers, but they're also a year old. What's the latest and greatest?

How can I get a macro program to know when a streaming video ends?

idyllhands — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:54:21 -0800

I'm looking for a way for a macro program (RoboTask is the one I'm currently using) to tell whether or not a streaming video has completed playing. I think the best way to do this would be to monitor the current download rate to my PC, and when it drops to 0 kb/s for a second or longer, then trigger the video completion event. I have no idea how to do this, however. Robotasks does offer a variable that will import whatever is in the clipboard, so if I could somehow copy my current download rate to clipboard maybe twice per second then I could go from there and have RoboTask check that every second.

So, in summary: does anyone either know a better way to tell when a streaming video is done playing, or know a way to copy the current download speed to the clipboard?

ps-I don't have to use RoboTask; if you know another free macro recording prog to use, then I would use that.

No TV! Online streaming for the presidential debate?

stance — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:39:39 -0800

Where can I watch the presidential debate online? I don't have a TV! Can I stream the debate online? Video feed preferable.

Streaming news?

rockstar — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:50:02 -0800

Do any of the major news networks offer live streams online? I'm thinking especially of CNN and MSNBC. Do they offer live (with anchors) programming online?

GlueTube, more like...

so_necessary — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:44:32 -0800

Why have YouTube videos started loading very slowly for me, and how can I fix it? For no apparent reason my computer now downloads YouTube videos very slowly. It used to be the case that they'd load at what I think of as "decent broadband speed" - maybe two or three times faster than the length of the video itself. But they now arrive at a pace which is rather slower-than-play-speed, so I can't even hit play and watch the thing normally, let alone skip ahead.

It's a bit erratic though, sometimes it's only a bit slow, sometimes it is PAINFULLY SO. I don't get any problems streaming video from other sites, even HD stuff.

I'm using Windows XP and Firefox 3, no funky add-ons. Any ideas?

What do I need to know to stream a TV station to between 500 and 100 people?

asnowballschance — Sat, 03 May 2008 09:29:44 -0800

How do I set up a server to stream media ? A client has contacted us about developing a website with a streaming TV station and a streaming radio station. The stations will run 24/7 with a great deal of duplicated content. Content items will run from 15 minutes to 2 hours. The client wants to set it up as a broadcast, so that if someone tunes in at 8am, he sees the same program as everyone else, just like with regular stations. Because of the need for playlists, it looks like progressive (http) downloads won't work; however, if there are alternatives to setting up a streaming server, I'd love to hear about them.

Right now, I'm getting a handle on hardware and coding requirements so that we can put a team together. We're in West Africa, so the budget is thousands of dollars, not tens of thousands of dollars. We're also looking at a maximum of about 1000 simultaneous users, but hoping to average between 100 and 500.

What kind of hardware should I be looking at for (managed dedicated) servers? And where can we find the Terabytes of bandwidth we'll need?

What do I need to know about compressing media (into Flash)? Best practices?

Anything else I should generally be aware of?

Licensing, content, and profitability are not my problems. Putting together a plan, a budget, and hiring people to do this are.

Help Me Create a Live Video / Audio Stream for our Company Meeting?

jmprice — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:44:50 -0800

How do I broadcast a video or audio announcement to our remote employees? The last Friday of the month we have an in-office happy hour. Before the drinking get rolling, we have about ten minutes of company announcements.

My boss would like me to broadcast these announcements live to our 6 remote employees. Are there any web services that would accommodate this? That would create a public stream?

Are there any cameras in particular you can recommend? I have some time to dash off to Best Buy.

Also, I don't know if this helps, but I have a Rock Band USB microphone that I am willing to use as a Plan B if I can't get video streaming to work. Or simply to complement the camera which might not capture audio so well in our loud conference room.

web site design firm recommendation?

reddot — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:49:14 -0800

hi there. A friend of mine like to have a website created for his business. As someone more technical than he, he's asked me to help him find someone. He owns a Jewish funeral home. The site would be mostly informational, with two exceptions.

The first non-standard item would be the integration of the Memory Book product offered by FuneralNet (http://funeralnet.sharedbook.com/pilot/enterBook.do?bookId=FuneralNet_2007). This is a print on-demand service by Shared Book that has been customized by Funeral Net to create the books from obituary / guest book sources.

The second item would be integrating / linking to a streaming video service like StreamHoster or UpStreamNetworks. The new trend for funeral homes is to offer streaming video of funeral services. Ones held in the funeral home would be live. Ones at the graveside or elsewhere would be recorded then uploaded.

So, I'm looking for recommendations for web design firms geared towards small businesses that would be able to take this on.

The only updates that would happen regularly with the site would be to update the list of funerals and whatever would be associated with that.

Also, if you have any recommendations for live / pre-recorded video streaming services, I would love to hear it.

Thanks.

Todd

How can I stream video?

kbanas — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:40:17 -0800

DesperateITHelpFilter: So, someone sprung this on me a half hour ago at work, and I have no idea what to do. How do I stream video over the web? I have a laptop computer with a USB web cam, and a static IP address running Windows XP. Apparently, two guys - one in New Mexico and one in California, need to see what's on the camera, in near real-time. They don't need audio, that will be provided by a separate PolyCom unit, but they need to watch the video feed.

The only (only! Hahaa!) limitations are that the software that does this must be free, and must be bundled with Windows or must not be a pain in the ass to install for the clients.

I tried Skype, but that only seems to support video in one on one settings.

I tried NetMeeting, but that also only seems to support video in one on one settings.

I tried WireCast, but that seems to cost $500 and, in the mean time, include a horrible, horrible watermark.

I think Yahoo Messenger might do this, but the thought of having other people install Yahoo Messenger makes me die inside.

So, now I am left in a pickle, and I have no idea what to do. Googling "free webcast" is not giving me much to go on, and, honestly, the expectation that this is to be done with no money seems kind of improbable, but, you know, since when to academic-types ever make reasonable demands?

Anyone have any ideas? I have all the time in the world, and by that I mean it has to work by tomorrow morning.

Xbox 360 + Connect 360 (OS X) + 720p + 802.11n = jerky video?

bryanjbusch — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:26:43 -0800

Xbox 360 + Connect 360 (OS X) + 720p + 802.11n = jerky video? While recently streaming some 1280x720 video from the MacBook (10.5.2, RAM maxed out) through the AirPort 802.11n thing to the Xbox 360, which is connected via a physical ethernet cable, the show would periodically stop.

Then the audio would continue by itself, and then after a minute or so, the video would sort of "fast-forward" and catch up with the audio.

I wasn't running any other applications or downloading big files at the same time. Is this normal behavior, or should I be able to stream HD quality video with this sort of setup?

DIVX/XVID from PC to TV by DVI

onshi — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 15:08:45 -0800

I want something just like an Apple TV, but without the reliance on iTunes. Specifically, I want to view DIVX/XVID content from my Vista PC, wirelessly, with DVI output. With a $200 budget, have I no hope? All the CES coverage has reignited my interest in this product category. If streaming devices are too expensive, are there any simpler products analagous to the SanDisk TakeTV... again, with DVI or HDMI out?

DVI out (or HDMI in a pinch via a converter) is important because I'll be viewing content on an LCD monitor lacking component inputs.

Streaming video from a Mac to an Xbox 360

ssmith — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:28:06 -0800

I was reading the December 2007 Video Playback FAQ about the new video options that are going to be incorporated in tomorrow's Xbox 360 dashboard update. And I was surprised to see question #28: "How can I stream content from my Mac?". They imply that it's possible, but they don't mention any 3rd party solutions. What Mac software can I use for this?