Video Streaming - Learning how to...

An important aspect of teaching is the use of audio/visual aids. AV in Second Life is a bit (shall we say) primitive for an immersive 3d environment. Some time ago I was given FreeView FlatScreen TV by Bitje Smadga and although the picture slideshow worked I could never get the video streaming to go.

My intention was to use the TV as a display screen for slide and video presentations, because it provides basic menu selection tools to viewers who aren't the owner. The bookmarks behind the menu are easily edited as a Note.

The FreeView FlatScreen TV links to an online guide:

Hurdles overcome included:

• Parcel Owner restrictions on video media - solved by buying some land.
• Quicktime source video streaming formats - partially solved by using MP4 (info below)
• A file hosting service that doesn't convert to FLV format - I used Airset
  

It works OK. Still need to test it with a non-owner avatar user. Also still need to produce streaming video, currently the file needs to completely download before playing.

*** Have now tested it with another avatar and found that they need to be a member of the group associated with the flat screen TV in order to use its menu system. However it does not need to be 'Shared' with the group (that allows group members to take it away). I've set up Workplace English as the group which anyone can join from my profile.

Now we need to find out how to stream properly (might need to buy Quicktime Pro), and also need to increase the video resolution (now using MP4 320x240 which is OK for video but not really for text presentations). ***

Torley Linden has a couple of useful blogs on the subject:

• http://torley.com/play-youtube-mobile-videos-directly-in-second-life
  
• http://torley.com/how-to-convert-youtube-videos-for-playing-in-second-life
  

Useful online video converters are:

• http://vixy.net/ (problem producing streaming video rather than downloaded) and
• https://veodia.com/beta/index.php

The vixy site was recommended by Torley while the veodia site was recommended by Rob Smart:http://robsmart.co.uk/2007/06/27/free-video-streaming-into-second-life/

Another useful movie site is:http://www.movie-list.com/
The Second Life Wiki article is here: https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Streaming_Video

Here's a pic of the screen working with a slave texture on another object. A parcel has a single video and audio stream available selectable directly through the menu World - About Land - Media. The TV sets this parameter automatically, but any other objects in the land parcel area
containing the same textures will also display the video.



*** (update 2007-07-27) Success! Can now stream video directly into Second Life using Veodia. The clue came from http://robsmart.co.uk/2007/06/27/free-video-streaming-into-second-life/
Veodia is a web broadcasting site which happens to present files in Quicktime streaming format rather than FLV (a la YouTube etc) meaning that a Veodia broadcast can be streamed into Second Life. Moreover Veodia allows live broadcasting using a web camera so you can live stream into SL. Veodia is designed for maximum compatibility with browsers and even mobile devices making it extremely useful for business/education/anything broadcasts. It also allows a (non-live) broadcast file to be downloaded in mobile device formats (Ipod etc).

Veodia's CEO has published the following explanation of how Veodia works here:
http://www.podtech.net/home/3404/broadcasting-live-with-veodia

One last sticking point was finding the correct URL compatible with Quicktime. Veodia tells you the http:// address for a browser but not the rtsp:// address used directly by Quicktime for streaming video. This can be found by opening the source code of the browser page and looking for "rtsp://" you only need the segment up to the portal code. A full set of instructions will be included in a new blog entry and copied into instructions in my flatscreen TV in SL.