I'm trying to figure out a way that two people can watch media over the Internet together, sharing the experience of the movie or whatnot. So far many of the solutions I've found have been sub-par and limited (ie requiring Chrome, only works with Netflix but nothing else etc) , but maybe Sup Forums has some ideas.
Ideally I'd like have solutions for different sources, that is to say being able to stream/share/watch files on my PC (including those with subtitles, in .mp4 and .mkv formats, x264, x265 video mp3/AAC and other audio, etc..) For anything browser based I'd prefer to use Firefox which I do already, instead of having to go get Chrome/ium. Any ideas? I'd also be up for an (ideally open source) streaming server that can handle the stuff I mentioned above, and ideally is relatively easy for at least the client to use. Bonus to have good logging to figure out any problems and stuff.
Anyone up to this? Pic related, VLC seems plausible but holy fuck it seems have a lot of issues with the tests I've run on my own streaming and whatnot. Maybe I'm missing something or fucking up...
If that was possible at the moment it would be ideal, but it isnt - barring air travel anyway.
So to the topic at hand....
Solutions I've found mostly A) are limited to streaming sites like YouTube and whatnot, not supporting your own videos hosted locally (or remotely for that matter) This will not work, especially for watching full movies and tv episodes etc. B) Require Chrome for some god awful reason. Not really sure why. This isn't a deal breaker but I'd prefer it it wasn't a requirement.
Anyone have some suggestions?
Hudson Cruz
You could setup a basic webserver and host the files there. Just make sure you take proper security measures.
That is an idea; I was hoping it wouldn't come to that, but I'l keep it in the back of my mind.
Holy fuck..if this works as well as I hope, this is exactly why I come to Sup Forums ! FOSS, Linux compliant,recently updated... this could be exactly what I need! Lets just hope it can handle things like .mkv or .mp4s with x265 or x264, audio, and subtitles that need tot to be streamed as well...
Noah Scott
idk
I've never used it but I wish you luck user.
Jace Reed
noice
Dominic Gutierrez
Aww damn spoke too soon. It doesn't coordinate streaming unfortunately so both parties have to have direct access to a copy of the file. Still looks like a damn good program though.
Does anyone have comprehensive experience and/or recent tutorial for VLC streaming? I've been messing with it recently and it seems that there are some real idiosyncrasies. For instance, something connecting doesn't seem to work other times it does (using 2 copies of VLC, 1 streaming using HTTP mode,, the other accessing the stream as a client connecting to my external IP). Furthermore it seems it doesn't support streaming x265 content at all (audio works video doesn't even in local mirroring) which is odd considering standard play a file locally it works just fine. Seems other issues as well (ie transcoding, subtitles being muxed into the stream properly) .. though when it works it works great!@
It's not FOSS, but it's free and works really well. The "host" basically gets access to a VM that screenshares a browser to all participants, and there's a built in chatbox. Really low hassle to setup.
The only problem is that you basically get a browser, so you still have to handle streaming the files. Just use a streaming site like gomovies.sc/ with it and you're set.
Nathaniel Adams
I should add that I've done VLC streaming before and it's a major pain in the ass. I honestly think it'd be easier for you to setup Plex or something for streaming, then use that with rabb.it
Dominic Sanders
Press play at the same time. That's what my friends and I do.
Hunter Rogers
Could you not both download the file beforehand? Or host the file on a ftp server or something and point that sync tool to it?
Ryan Butler
/thread
Aiden Bailey
Thanks. I saw Rabb.it but didn't check deeply into it yet. So it is browser-based as well it seems and you say you also need another streaming locale? That gomovies.sc site seems useful though..have any others with a good assortment and high quality?
Oh, does Rabb.it handle things like Netflix, Hulu, or Crunchyroll with HD quality?
Thanks, it seems VLC is a pain. No idea why as when it works, its fucking great! Regarding Plex (or Emby - could I use Emby instead of Plex? A) how would it fit into Rabb.it? I thought Plex/Emby had full clients and servers, not browser stuff if Rabb.it is basically browser only?
We could, but it means additional wait time and my Internet is significantly faster than hers. Also, some of my content comes from private torrent sites and whatnot, so it means I would have to download it and then send it to her. All of this can work, I just wanted to see if there were some ways around it first. Likewise, the FTP server idea is another that requires some setup but may be worthwhile in the long run.
Gavin Price
Oh and by the way...
What does everyone think about the possibility of using a screen sharing server/client? Set up a sever on my side, let her connect with a client, then just start the movie assuming we have enough bandwidth and it can handle audio and video, it seems like it could work.
Anyone have suggestions on something like this or is it pretty much not going to work? FOSS utils seem best. Maybe UltraVNC? Havne't used any of that sort of thing for awhile..
Juan Lewis
>Netflix
yeah, rabb.it can handle netflix and anything else you throw at it. Personally I've never put my own credentials in the rabb.it vm 'cause security, but I'm pretty sure it's safe. I've never heard of people having a problem, but I've been happy letting other people do it or just use free stream sites.
solarmoviez.to/ is like gomoviez. Pretty sure it's the same guys actually. I tried scraping their sites before and they're all hosted in the same way using gdrive.
>Plex
I haven't used Plex and Rabb.it together myself but I thought you could access Plex just by going directly to the url/IP address. I do have the Plex client installed, but "opening" it really just opens a webpage like Netflix pointing to the IP addr. If you can skip having the local client installed you could use both together but I might be wrong.
Anthony Taylor
Get a friend in real life.
Aiden Clark
Thanks for that so far. Rabb.it seems to be a VM with a Firefox browser (nice of them instead of Chrome), running on Linux, as well as a little VM desktop "launchpad" quicklinks. Curious.. yeah irs probably okay but I am concerned about logging into any of the sites they list with a private account - Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll et.c.. or even Twitch.tv and the like. It would be a good way to harvest people's accounts to run a service like that but I'm guessing that many are legit - it would implode easily if there was even a hint that Rabb.it was shifty like that.
That said, with regards to Plex and Emby... I never set up a server with them so far, but it appears they are basically streaming and transcoding easily. Could we just use a service like that perhaps? I set up a Plex or Emby server ( Emby I believe is fully open source...unless that changed?), we both download clients, and connect to my server/library to watch the media? Hell, I'll pay the $5 to support a FOSS project to get all the bells and whistle, if it works. The only question is syncing and I wonder if Syncplay could could support Plex/Emby clients or even servers Hmm
Jack Ortiz
>It would be a good way to harvest people's accounts to run a service like that but I'm guessing that many are legit - it would implode easily if there was even a hint that Rabb.it was shifty like that.
That's exactly my thinking too.
>That said, with regards to Plex and Emby... I never set up a server with them so far, but it appears they are basically streaming and transcoding easily. Could we just use a service like that perhaps? I set up a Plex or Emby server ( Emby I believe is fully open source...unless that changed?), we both download clients, and connect to my server/library to watch the media? Hell, I'll pay the $5 to support a FOSS project to get all the bells and whistle, if it works. The only question is syncing and I wonder if Syncplay could could support Plex/Emby clients or even servers Hmm
Plex is fantastic, but AFAIK it doesn't support synced viewing. Like the only way you guys can watch at the same time is by pressing spacebar at the same time. On top of that, Plex transcodes for each source destination. That's great because you can play like, an .mp4 on an iPad because it'll transcode on the fly, but this takes CPU cycles on the host. You used to need a pretty beefy machine to stream to a few different devices simultaneously without lag, not sure how things have changed in the last few years. Just something to keep in mind. I've only gotten back into Plex the last few weeks and have no problems with performance, but haven't streamed to multiple devices at once.
I just googled for you and saw that while Plex doesn't support synced viewing out of the box, there seems to be this 3rd party solution - plextogether.com/app/
I'd still use rabb.it personally, but this might work for you.
Anthony Ramirez
Aww you have a long distance girlfriend user, thats so cute
Jayden Anderson
that's a penpal not a girlfriend
Henry Cruz
spam system is fucking me badly, too tired for this shit
