TV "Broadcasting" Over Wireless Networks?

nuggetman asks: "This year we're starting an in-high-school TV network. What we would like to do is be able to broadcast from anywhere in the building using our wireless 802.11b network. In doing some tests at home, I discovered 802.11b has enough bandwidth to allow me to send live video at VHS quality (320x240 29.97fps) w/ FM quality audio when using Windows Media encoder on the sending end, and Windows Media Player at full screen on the receiving end. When applied in school, the receiving computer would simply output the full screen display to a TV signal. Are there any other free (as beer) solutions that would let us do this, other than WMP?"

Comments

several options...

[Pathwalker]

You have all sorts of options:

• If you have access to a Mac, then QuickTime Broadcaster would be an excellent choice, as it supports broadcast and multicast, so you can have several machines playing the same stream without duplicating data.
• If you have access to a Unix like system (Linux, OSX, FreeBSD, Solaris, Irix, HPUX, etc...) then mpeg4ip should let you do much of what QuickTime Broadcaster does, with a bit more hassle.

Some other choices would be:

• Live Channel
• Sorenson Broadcaster
• Real Encoder

and probably many more.

Use Shoutcast!

[TermAnnex]

Nullsoft developed NSV, nullsoft streaming video.
It can use a regular shoutcast server and winamp to play it.

It's a bit poorly documented, but any geek should be able to figure it out. It can play a set of files in a loop, do live feeds, etc.

http://www.nullsoft.com/nsv/

This is not VHS quality

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

live video at VHS quality (320x240 29.97fps)

Sorry, the best you can say is near VHS quality. And I don't even agree with that. A fresh, first generation tape in a good machine blows 320x240 away any day.

Tell the truth and people will trust you.

Re:This is not VHS quality

[RzUpAnmsCwrds]

"A fresh, first generation tape in a good machine blows 320x240 away any day."

Yeah, and a 128kbit MP3 may not hold a candle to a fresh, properly mastered CD. But most CDs aren't properly mastered: they have their dynamic range compressed so much that they are clipping almost constantly. When most people think of VHS, they think of their own personal recordings or old tapes from Blockbuster, not the full capability of the medium.

Try a real TV transmitter

[SchnauzerGuy]

You'll probably find that, even with light traffic, 802.11b is going to be too slow and unrealiable for 30fps streaming video...

Since you are going to output to a TV anyway, why bother with computers/802.11b and broadcast directly using a small TV transmitter. I would have expected Ramsey to have a transmitter kit, but all they seem to have these days is a semi-cheesey 'cube' transmitter. Even so, the high powered version might be good enough for what you are looking for, especially with a good antenna.

A quick Google search turned up some other kits. Most of these have a fairly short range, but with good antennas, they'll easily transmit further (and with higher quality), than compressed video over 802.11b. Plus, if you get a kit, building it can be a nice little project for an electronically minded student.

What's limiting you?

[Wonko42]

It's 802.11b, so at best you've got 11Mbps to play with, and at worst 1Mbps. Why limit yourself to crappy 320x240 "VHS-quality" video? Windows Media is a good solution, I agree, but you could probably get away with 480x360 encoded at 768Kbps, plus a 128Kbps audio stream for a total of 896Kbps, which still puts you under the minimum 1Mbps speed of your 802.11b network and gets you much more bang for your buck. Of course, I'm not accounting for TCP overhead, but I know I can stream 1600Mbps DivX video from the 802.11b base station in my bedroom to the QCast in my living room without any problems.

In any case, bandwidth considerations aside, if you want a WMP alternative, try Nullsoft Streaming Video and Winamp 2.9x (as a few other commenters have suggested). It's good stuff.