MMS streams

[Dotan Cohen]

On 17/07/07, Lee Tambiah <leetambiah at ossgeeks.co.uk> wrote:
> On 7/15/07, Dotan Cohen <dotancohen at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > At my university we watch lectures in Windows Media Player via MMS
> > streams. The streams are over 2GB in size, so saving the entire stream
> > is not an option. I need a player that will play the stream, including
> > Fast Forward and Rewind functions. Is there a linux player that can do
> > that? I have had no luck with mplayer or vlc.
> >
> > This is the output of Mplayer:
> > [dotancohen at localhost ~]$ mplayer
> >
> mms://video9.technion.ac.il/Courses/Solid-Mech1/Solid%20Mechanics%201%20-01.wmv
> > MPlayer 1.0rc1-4.1.1 (C) 2000-2006 MPlayer Team
> > CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU         T7200  @ 2.00GHz (Family: 6,
> > Model: 15, Stepping: 6)
> > CPUflags:  MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
> > Can't open joystick device /dev/input/js0: No such file or directory
> > Can't init input joystick
> > mplayer: could not connect to socket
> > mplayer: No such file or directory
> > Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote
> control.
> >
> > Playing
> mms://video9.technion.ac.il/Courses/Solid-Mech1/Solid%20Mechanics%201%20-
> 01.wmv.
> > STREAM_ASF, URL:
> >
> mms://video9.technion.ac.il/Courses/Solid-Mech1/Solid%20Mechanics%201%20-01.wmv
> > Resolving video9.technion.ac.il for AF_INET6...
> > Couldn't resolve name for AF_INET6: video9.technion.ac.il
> > Resolving video9.technion.ac.il for AF_INET...
> > Connecting to server video9.technion.ac.il[ 132.68.1.27]: 1755...
> > connection timeout
> > Resolving video9.technion.ac.il for AF_INET6...
> > Couldn't resolve name for AF_INET6: video9.technion.ac.il
> > Resolving video9.technion.ac.il for AF_INET...
> > Connecting to server video9.technion.ac.il[132.68.1.27]: 80...
> >
> > It seems as though it cannot find the server, however Windows Media
> > Player 11 in VMWare loads and displays that video just fine. There is
> > no AU sniffing at the server, I checked that with the university's
> > computer department.
> >
> > Dotan Cohen
> >
> > http://lyricslist.com/
> > http://what-is-what.com/
> >
> > --
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> >
>
>  I have to say that the ideal solution is your university not using Windows
> Media for this! Why? Well they are an education facility, Students may use
> Linux (as you do) and Macs (alternative platforms). It would make more sense
> for the university to deploy a solution which runs on all Platforms, now OGG
> would be nice, but if they want the proprietry route why the heck didn't
> they go for realplayer.
>

Actually, after talking to the IT department, I am convinced that MMS
_is_ the right tool for the job. It is the only streaming media format
that allows fast forward, rewind, and fast/slow playback, all as if
the file were local. It really is amazing, and before I dug into the
details I wondered how it was all done. It is an M$ technology (and an
abandoned technology! WMP 11 doesn't support it!), but it is very,
very good.

> This is simular to the IBBC Player which is now being challenged by the open
> source community, I would also complain to the university too! Content is
> for all not just for Micorosft Windows Users. Microsoft will not make it
> work on other platforms as it is there way to create a lock in.

You are 100% correct. Unfortunately, no open source tool currently
supports the features that MMS provides. If you can suggest something
that supports FF, rewind, and fast/slow playback then I'll certainly
suggest it. I'm serious.

> You can get some Windows Media content to play using the VLC and MPlayer,
> but much of it fails . Its a pain in the ass but the real blame here is the
> University deploying a windows centric solution in the first place!
> Typical.......

Well, if I download the whole 2 GB file to the drive I can play it in
anything. However, that is not practical. Hence the need for
streaming.

Dotan Cohen

http://lyricslist.com/
http://what-is-what.com/