VoyageVideo
Current PeerCast Stream Search URL's are:
Experimental H264 Video Stream
NB..Stream ID last changed 12 Feb
2007
See viewing software download/setup details below.
Original Theora/Vorbis Ogg stream
[*currently offline*]
http://127.0.0.1:7144/stream/B615D4B5C24B934C2D3BF1053F1D9854.ogg
Both streams use the PeerCast P2P Streaming System
and require the
PeerCast Client software to be installed and running
on any system used to receive the streams.
PeerCast is free Open Source software.
The latest version can be downloaded
from the PeerCast Support Site at:
http://www.peercast.org/
Viewing the H264 Stream
WinAmp should be used to view the experimental stream
but 2 pieces of software
need be installed before video is
enabled, the packages are:-
1) A recent version of the FFDSHOW directshow
multi-codec filter.
A current version can be downloaded
_here_
A older version can be downloaded
_here_
[only
requires a minimum of a Pentium 2 based computer to run]
2) The 3rd party WinAmp X264 decoder shim DLL
found _here_
.
Once unziped the dll needs to be copied into the WinAmp
plugin directory, you can find this
location by opening WinAmp's
"options" menu then "preferences" and then
clicking on "plug-ins".
In a default WinAmp install it's
found at C:\program files\winamp\plugins .
Once copied the plugin
needs no other setting up and WinAmp finds it automatically.
Configuring Ffdshow.
Go to "start"
> "Programs" > "ffdshow" > "vfw
codec configuration"
In
the conf window click the "decoder" tab.
In the left
menu window highlight "codecs".
Now select H264 in the
"format" column and right mouse click on the "H.264"
entry.
Select "set all stable formats to libavcodec".
Ffdshow is now configured.
Press "apply"
to save the configuration, and "ok" to exit.
There are some optional "Postprocessing"
settings which can be added.
Postprocessing is CPU intensive and
not recommended for lower end machines.
With the dll copied and Ffdshow installed,
WinAmp should now be able to display the LVV stream video.
WinAmp does not readily resize the anamorphic
16:9 video used in the stream very well,
BUT if you go to the
"video" preferences you can force it to a 16:9 like mode by
setting the following in the Advanced Video Options:
Tick "Lock video aspect ratio"
Tick
"My screen has an aspect ratio of" and set the boxes to "4"
: "4"
In this mode WinAmp "downsizes" to the
aspect ratio but you can "drag" the bottom right corner of
the
picture horizontally to the right and it will resize up to
the Netcast original and fill the WinAmp Video frame.
The above packages have been tested working with
both 2.9x and 5.x versions of WinAmp.
A copy of the older but still usefull
WinAmp Version 2.95 can be found _here_.
Mplayer can also be used to view the H264 stream "out
of the box".
Download the very good Windows Mplayer Package
from the link below :
(NB. Some mixed results running this pkg
have been reported by users)
(I myself found it excellent
image wise, but occasionally struggled to sync the stream)
If you use the MplayerFE package
please remember to set the “movie aspect” to 16:9
A small configuration tweek can help the performance
of this package.
In the install directory where the MPF.EXE and
MPLAYER.EXE programs are located there is also a folder
named “mplayer”, this is where the
programs configuration files are held, open this folder.
Open the “config” file found there in a
text editor ie “notepad”, this is the main Mplayer
configuration file
and should read something like this:
vo=directx
ao=dsound
font=mplayer/font/font.desc
autosync=100
framedrop=yes
Now add this following line
really-quiet=yes
and save the ammended file back to the folder.
The additional line you have added switches off
almost all information and error reporting in the Mplayer program,
this would normally appear as text output in the MPF
program BUT this process is extreamly slow and blocks internal
processes within Mplayer. By switching these messages
off Mplayer is allowed much more cpu time to process and display the
streams.
Download the current full MPF package from the home
site below.
