Stream AVI to a pc over lan via FTP

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raytaylor

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#87492 30-Jul-2011 00:35

Has anyone tried this and managed to stream and possibly prebuffer a few seconds, an avi file from an ftp server?
I cant use windows file sharing / samba, but i can use FTP

So im looking for a program I can install on the client pc that will stream an avi from an ftp server without having to save it first.

VLC aborts the ftp stream instantly after it starts though its meant to support it
Windows media player tries to download the whole file first then play it
mediaplayer classic doesnt allow ftp streaming

Anyone got any other ideas?

Ray Taylor

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Snowflake

#499641 30-Jul-2011 02:09

ftp is a bit of a painful protocol for something like that. you could use HTTP instead - VLC and WMP both work fine for http stream, even ones on the other side of a DSL connection....

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gzt

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#499671 30-Jul-2011 10:46

VLC aborts the ftp stream instantly after it starts though its meant to support it

Didn't know VLC supported ftp, that's cool. VLC often breaks stuff between versions.

If you have to stick with FTP..

First of all, try VLC 1.0.5. If this doesn't do it for you, discuss the exact problem (with the latest release) on the VLC forums. People there and the VLC team are usually responsive to well written posts.

raytaylor

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#499686 30-Jul-2011 11:27

Yeah I had been using http but IIS in XP Pro is limited to 10 active connections at a time so if two users come along with a download manager, they can kill it off completley.
So I changed the file browsing php script to alter the file download url from http to ftp and use filezilla to offload the traffic from IIS

Filezilla also lets me see which ip address is downloading files live, where as IIS requires a log analyser and isnt live.

I didnt realise vlc had forums which now makes complete sense to me, so I'll head over there and ask around.

Thanks guys

Ray Taylor

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Snowflake

#499743 30-Jul-2011 14:43

you could install apache (or another open source http module) on windows xp? http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/platform/windows.html

or a cheapish paid alternative like http://www.raidenhttpd.com

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raytaylor

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#499799 30-Jul-2011 16:50

Thought about that, cant be bothered getting the php sorted again.
I know there is all-in-one solutions like WAMP but i have my scripts and everything working with IIS

If the user cant stream via ftp then its not super important.

Ray Taylor

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lostangel

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#499852 30-Jul-2011 18:55

Why not limit the connections per ip in your iis? Then they could stream the movies.

This wouldn't be ideal though as there is no support for skipping/fast forwarding etc that a rtsp or similar capable server allows.