Can't Stream General Conference

[scion-p40]

I have no idea. I just clicked on all English speaking options at LDS.org. The video never worked at all. The audio ran for something like 1 - 5 minutes, then paused for several minutes. We spent more time with dead air than listening. German, on the other hand, suffered from no such technological maladies. The only problem with German (both video & audio) is that I don't know German. I used that as a test to verify that I had whatever software was required & that my ISP & wireless were both functioning properly.

[jdlessley]

During general conference the startup can take quite a few minutes. There are numerous factors affecting the feed. It has taken over seven minutes for me on lds.org. I get better results using BYUTV. Even then during general conference it takes about 3 to 4 minutes before I get anything. But after it starts there is no problem. Both lds.org and BYUTV use the Move Networks video player as the default.

[jborup-p40]

I also use Linux, Mandriva 2009.0 if that matters, and my family and a member neighbor watched all four general sessions of conference at home this past weekend. Using Firefox 3.0.8, I went to the lds.org main page, clicked on the link for the general conference broadcast, then paged down to a section titled something like "other video streams". I right-clicked on the link for English WMV, selected the 'Copy Link Location' option to put the URL into the X select buffer. Then, in a terminal window, I typed mplayer ' (open single quote), middle clicked to paste the URL into the command line, typed a closing single quote, and pressed <Enter>.

Within a few seconds, mplayer was producing audio and video output of the conference session about to start. There were some glitches early on, but it settled out within a few minutes to a very viewable condition. My wife was viewing it on her computer, and she used 'f' to toggle mplayer to full-screen mode after I showed her that could be done.

(Between sessions, I did a bit of experimenting and stumbled upon mplayer's 'ASCII Art' output mode. It was pretty amusing to see full-motion video in ASCII art.)

That is nice. I did some poking around, but never found you solution. Will try that next time..... If they haven't come up with a linux client by then.
- Jørn.

[scion-p40]

During general conference the startup can take quite a few minutes. There are numerous factors affecting the feed. It has taken over seven minutes for me on lds.org. I get better results using BYUTV. Even then during general conference it takes about 3 to 4 minutes before I get anything. But after it starts there is no problem. Both lds.org and BYUTV use the Move Networks video player as the default.

Well, we sat huddled around the computer waiting for the video to load, but it didn't. We gave it plenty of time before switching to English audio, which only ran a few minutes straight. It was only a problem with English. I did find that we have the correct software. Other languages appear to be fine.

[adamonduty-p40]

I'm an avid Linux user and I can say I've also been disappointed that the Move Network plugin does not work in Linux. For the record, the message about Linux support has been ongoing for some time (I'd say at least a year and a half) so I wouldn't hold my breath for it. I blogged about this issue some time ago:

http://blog.layer2.org/2007/10/08/use-m ... nly-sites/

Using Firefox under WINE does work pretty well for the Move Networks plugin. I didn't experience any real color issues (even the full-screen option worked), but I found my 4 year old laptop couldn't keep up well enough to play the Move Networks video. I had to use my newer desktop computer.

Other than the lack of Linux support, I'd say that the Move Networks plugin was a pretty good choice for the Church. It provides great video quality and adapts well to the speed of the network. You can't beat the rewind and fast forward features. Just the fact that they had a Firefox plugin at all is surprising.

For the past 3 or 4 conferences I've used the MMS streams the Church lists as "alternative" streams. These are super-useful to me because I stream them using XBMC on my TV. It is much more comfortable to watch when we don't have to huddle in the front of the computer and can sit on the couch. The quality is more than enough for my TV and I've had absolutely no problems with streaming delays or glitches (though I do have very fast FIOS). I'm sure other people can use the MMS streams with their Apple TVs or other set-top multimedia systems.

Jorn, I think you bring up an excellent point about the Church using open standards. As the Church grows, we are going to have a larger and larger population that isn't in the United States and doesn't want or can't afford Microsoft Windows and other proprietary software. The Church needs to be aware of this issue and act accordingly.

[fraserredmond]

These are super-useful to me because I stream them using XBMC on my TV.

What setup do you use on XBMC? I tried Navi-X but that just freezes for me, and I couldn't see anything else that might do it.

[oronnie-p40]

We are watching the women's conference: Slackware 13. on Mplayer using the windows media stream, it is working very well.

I may also try the Wine route and Windows-Mozilla-Firefox-3.5.3 in 2 weeks for General Conference in 2 weeks.

Thanks Everyone for the above discussions and info!

[aebrown]

I may also try the Wine route and Windows-Mozilla-Firefox-3.5.3 in 2 weeks for General Conference in 2 weeks.

By my calendar, General Conference is a few hours less than 1 week away -- I just want to make sure you don't miss it!

[marquicus-p40]

On the Move Network forums they announced in March that they are working on a capability for Linux that will be released soon.

Hi, just for logging that there isn't still any release or support for linux, i found a site where we can add a sign petition for linux support, now there are 449 signatures with mine on there. http://www.petitiononline.com/movlinux/petition.html

[mkmurray]

Hi, just for logging that there isn't still any release or support for linux, i found a site where we can add a sign petition for linux support, now there are 449 signatures with mine on there. http://www.petitiononline.com/movlinux/petition.html

Make that 450