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Streaming March Madness On Linux?
neersign writes "March Madness is here and NCAA.com is streaming all of the games over the internet for free. The downside is they are using Microsoft technologies to do so. The standard player lists Windows XP/Vista, IE6, and WMP 9 as the base requirements. The High Quality Video Player requires Silverlight 2. So my question is: how would a Linux user be able to work around these requirements and watch the games?"
Yahoo typically streams NCAA basketball games, and I've had success with opening the videos with Totem using GStreamer codecs (from the "bad" and "ugly" set, though).
and yes, I mean to be a bit obtuse about this. sorry. not hiding it, just not advertising it either.
When my cable modem comes back up, I'm hoping to see if I can figure out how to get the HQ streams working, the streams I'm getting right now are viewable and smooth, but crappy resolution wise.
Then you would be watching sports which would make you not a Linux user.
*computer explodes from the incongruity*
it's my understanding that moonlight is supposed to fill that gap.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/05/15/moonlight-release-puts-Silverlight-on-Linux_1.html
As unabashedly brutal as his wording was, I think he's absolutely correct. The technologically-oriented community must teach the rest of the world that things like proprietary formats, vendor lock-in, and all of the other various things we rail on about are bad.
A high-profile example like the NCAA, which attracts many "Joe Sixpack" fans across the nation (does anyone outside the US watch basketball?), would be a perfect example of how closed formats hurt the average consumer.
I know Mac users are about as likely as Linux users to watch basketball, but with the recent increased popularity of Macs, wouldn't that be a selling point for open formats? I can't imagine OSX has a good Silverlight implementation. I couldn't even find evidence of Moonlight being ported over.
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Download VirtualBox
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
Install a version of Windows XP. If you don't have one find a torrent... cough cough blackxp cough.
Watch March Madness on Windows on Linux.
For the record, I don't watch sports, so I don't know that it work. That said, I have watched Netflix (uses Silverlight) on a licensed Windows in Virtualbox on Ubuntu.
CAPS LOCK: ITS LIKE THE CRUISE CONTROL FOR AWESOME
Microsoft has a native Silverlight plug-in for OS X. It's how Netflix was able to include OS X support for their streaming-video service, which is requires the kind of DRM that Silverlight offers.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
What is this 'bas-ket ball' you speak of?
Given the fact that this is Sports, I suspect you'll find that using a closed, proprietary technology was spec'ed as a business requirement for this. The streams are probably wrapped in some kind of DRM, which is something that (as a practical matter) you'll only get by going with a single-vendor solution.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Just watch it on TV. And tell them you are forced to do that because you cannot watch the games your non-Windows computer, your smartphone, your Playstation etc.
Want to hear the voice of GOD? cat
you don't. You educate the asshole media companies by calling them assholes. If it's all 5 linux users that care, they'll ignore you; if it's 500 e-mails in one day, they might take notice.
Or you could be like Twitter and talk about how evil Microsoft is in IRC channels and how Slashdot moderation is so unfair.
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SIlverlight 2.0 is only supported on Intel Macs. So any PPC Mac owners are screwed.
So are people with another platform without a Silverlight implementation, such as Linux, BSD, Nintendo Wii, Playstation, your phone, etc...
I was able to watch the games online last year using the mediaplayerconnectivity plugin for firefox and vlc. I tried this year, but they block all non-IE browsers from accessing the video streams. I was able to get past this check by using the UserAgentSwitcher plugin, but now it won't let me get to the streams because I don't have windows media player.
Kinda off topic but in Atlanta the CBS affiliate has activated OTA digital channel 46-2 as NCAA CBS. Sadly quality is only 480i (the game on 46-1 is in 1080i) but it's there to watch. I'm wondering if NCAA CBS is a national addition to the OTA Digital lineup?
"The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now?"
Where are the mod points when I need them. Thanks Molochi, you just doubled my Tournament coverage. My 768k internet just doesn't stream well, but my 12ft antenna picks up High Quality Basketball. The second channel is in 480i, but that is mostly because if they wanted two HD feeds they would have to turn down the bitrate and that would annoying the 99% of people watching the main channel.
educate the asshole media companies by calling them assholes.
I suppose you don't see the "pot and kettle" variety of irony in that method. But trust me, most people would see it.
"When you see a unixer brainwashed beyond saving, kick him out of the door." - Xah Lee
Please be sure you're not part of the quiet minority: http://www.cbssports.com/login?xurl=/help/askmmod&p_next_page=ask.php
I'd be curious to hear how well it works.
Their Silverlight 2 support's in alpha now, targeting beta in May and final in September.
http://www.mono-project.com/MoonlightRoadmap
Less than 11 months until the Vancouver WInter Olympics in Silverlight! I'm sure they'd appreciate any help in their Hackathon:
http://www.mono-project.com/Moonlight2Hacking
My video compression blog
Nope, I don't. It's like walking into some dude's trailer when he's beating his wife, and beating him in the face with an empty trash can you found. Don't see the problem here.
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Mega March Madness has all games on direct tv and some bars are likely to have it.
Try the all-knowing wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Men's_Division_I_Basketball_Championship
A Human Right
Well, a company named Real Networks ships a fully supported Linux player and you see the feedback they get. I don't know if they can DRM on Linux, on OS X and Symbian they can.
He will probably accept 10s of MS patents in process, have a Mono framework but he will likely watch it with that Moonlight thingie. It is not evil right?
MS missed a huge opportunity by not shipping official Silverlight 2 to Linux and PPC/OS X right from Microsoft.com. Some could really believe they have changed their 1990s model. If they have managed to ship a 64bit player for Linux before Adobe did, imagine the feedback they would get.
They spend their money and power to bribe the low ethics ''sports'' admins and suits instead. It is the 1990s for you, ''Watch it with our exclusive (insert dead dotcom codec) technology!''. H264 and MPEG4 SP and even simple http streaming took over, it is only MS not admitting it. Even Real moved to AAC (plus) and some variant of h264 in rv10.
I can't imagine OSX has a good Silverlight implementation. I couldn't even find evidence of Moonlight being ported over.
I can't either, but that's because I don't have to. I have an Intel Mac Mini, and Silverlight/Netflix works perfectly - so well that I've replaced my cable service with Netflix and Internet TV.
Sad that Linux isn't supported (yet) but I understand that Moonlight is making good progress...
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
You don't? Seriously? I suggest you start a train of thought somewhere around How-Would-Beating-Him-Up-Prove-Violence-Solves-Nothing station.
See, you're trying to solve a problem with someone acting anti-socially by acting anti-socially. All you're telling them is that they're going about it the right way, but it's just their implementation that's wrong.
"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
Which still kills the argument for Average Joe -- if he's switching to Mac, he's probably switching to a new Intel Mac, not a hand-me-down PPC. Silverlight will work fine, and the anti-DRM speech will get a "what's your point?"
Because ultimately, if the argument is that you can't watch it on the PS3 (running Linux) on your TV, Average Joe will see that as a feature that "they" didn't add, whereas we see it as a basic right they took away.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
You're just encouraging them.
Try Justin.TV Sports. That's how many expats get sports from their home countries while away. It's also a great resource for getting sports (and other programming) not generally available in your own country.
This works on Macs (Intel and Power). I thought it worked on Linux with the latest Flash plugin, but I've had one Linux user tell me that it didn't. (Then again, I don't know what version of Flash he was using.) Please give it a try and report back what happens on Linux. I'd like to know for sure myself.
that states "express written consent of the NCAA and the -insert major network here-" thanks to lock-ins, black-outs, exclusivity rights, and licensing agreements, and the crushing monopoly the NCAA maintains on their franchise, what led anyone to expect they would allow people to watch the game in any other format but one of the most coontrolled and restrictive? if this were PBS it might be news for nerds on some level, but this highlights a greater problem with monopolistic entertainment industries.
Good people go to bed earlier.
look up the Moonlight project. its a Silverlight implementation for *nix that is being partially supported by MS.
I know Mac users are about as likely as Linux users to watch basketball, but with the recent increased popularity of Macs, wouldn't that be a selling point for open formats? I can't imagine OSX has a good Silverlight implementation. I couldn't even find evidence of Moonlight being ported over.
Wrong. Im a Mac user and I watched about 5 hours of tournament coverage last night (Go Horns!) over the intartubes via http://mmod.ncaa.com/video. Silverlight 2 worked like a champ in Firefox 3.0.7 atop OS X 10.5.6. It was pretty slick, and the quality of the stream was fantastic. Blew through over a gigabyte of transfer per hour of streaming. And I watched over the air on my couch. It was great.
Once Silverlight showed up with OS X support several months back, both initial installation and subsequent upgrades 'just freakin worked'.
But I likely wouldnt have had such a good night if I still pimped Ubuntu on a portable ... :/
hah probably using a router in your house that uses some form of unix.
We should also show kidnappers a good example of socially-acceptable behavior by giving them freedom, instead of holding them in an enclosed space against their will. Holding people against their will is what a kidnapper should do, and that's bad, so let's not do that.
Do you really think that you'll be able to talk the guy out of beating his wife? With most violent people I've encountered, the only thing that will deter them from committing more violence is physical prevention. Most people aren't trained in restraint techniques, and don't carry around handcuffs, so beating them into submission is the only available recourse.
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From your grand-grandparent:
I couldn't even find evidence of Moonlight being ported over.
Already been discussed.
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Im a Mac user and I watched about 5 hours of tournament coverage last night (Go Horns!)
I'd venture a guess that you're a statistical anomoly. ;)
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Of course, this is why Mono's support of the .NET APIs in general, and Moonlight in particular, is bad for Linux: it is encouraging services to deploy Windows-specific technologies under the guise that it's actually "cross platform".
If a publisher tests its Silverlight app on Moonlight, then how is it not cross-platform?
but they should stick to implementing Free APIs, like Qt and GTK+.
What makes an API itself non-free, as opposed to its implementation?
A better suggestion is to take that $125 installation fee and $80 for the month and pay off your bar tab at the local sports bar :) The games are more fun there than hunched over a Linux laptop...
It'd be a pity to be a freshman or sophomore in college and not be able to watch your own school's team because you're too young to get into a bar. I haven't seen a lot of sports bars with family rooms.
Well done, you've managed to create false dichotomies, (the only thing you can do other than jail someone is free them, the only alternative to violence is discussion) and you've discovered the joys of anecdotal evidence.
Would you like to try again?
"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
the only thing you can do other than jail someone is free them
But isn't that a true statement? So far as I can tell, "in jail" is a binary state: you either are, or you aren't. I mean, unless you add in the possibility of death.
As for force, most of the time it is the only alternative to discussion (I'm speaking of personal, face-to-face violence by the way; I'm ignoring disputes between nations for the purposes of this thread).
When someone acts violently towards you, or someone in the same room as you, you have only three basic options: run away or ignore the problem, use logic and reason to talk the aggressor down, or force him to stop.
-Running away isn't always possible.
-Ignoring violence committed against other people is even more anti-social than committing the violence in the first place. (hence Burke's famous quote: "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing")
-Some people aren't willing to listen to logic and reason.
That leaves force. It's not the solution to every problem, but some problems require it. Anytime you call the police because someone's acting violent, you're asking them to stop him, using force if necessary -- lethal force if necessary -- on your behalf. The police cannot always be there though; would you really be willing to sit there, waiting for the police to arrive to stop a murder when you could do it yourself, because "violence is wrong"?
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You don't? Seriously? I suggest you start a train of thought somewhere around How-Would-Beating-Him-Up-Prove-Violence-Solves-Nothing station.
You walk down the dark alleyway.
You are in a dark alleyway. A man is holding a knife, forcing a young girl to disrobe. He seems intent on raping her.
Obvious actions: [D]iplomacy, [K]ick his ass
$ Diplomacy
He seems uninterested, both in discussing it and in having witnesses. He stabs the young woman, and hurries after you to cut your throat!
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Don't forget the third option, which is sadly the one most people take:
[W]alk away, and pretend you didn't see anything.
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That is the most asshole thing you can possibly do. Every problem in the world is not your problem, so it's obviously not your fault for not making a possibly ultimately failed attempt to help someone. Right. I'd carry a knife just on principle because of this, but I'm not comfortable with it; my hands are a better weapon for me, somehow, so I guess I'm already always ready to stand up for what's right.
Everyone should learn some form of self-defense. It's the only decent thing to do. Put yourself between someone helpless and someone trying to hurt them, and then defend yourself.
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No, it doesn't kill the argument logically, but it absolutely neuters it. If I may play devil's advocate for a moment:
These computers (PowerPC Macs) are x years old, and ONLY due to using non-open, rights restricted formats, they can't play this, this and this
So what? My computer is new. Shouldn't new computers be able to do more stuff?
if it was open it'd play.
Still not getting me to care.
The computer you get NOW may not play closed video formats in the near future just because some vendor doesn't want to support it any more.
Well, in the future, I'll just buy a new computer and it'll support those formats, duh! I don't expect this computer to last forever.
And in the future, I'll want to watch the game that's new then. If I need this game, it'll be on YouTube.
Support open formats, and you can use the current computer indefinitely.
That sounds nice, but if by "support open formats" you mean "don't use closed ones", I'd rather watch my sports than not.
I'd also point out the numerous rights restrictions schemes recently that have shut down, leaving people completely unable to use the (mainly music) they paid for
That's why you go for the subscription services. If one closes down, you just switch to another, and re-download all your stuff.
Finally, I comment "Do you want to be able to move music on and off whatever video or music player you'd like? Closed formats try to prevent this, open formats do not."
Answer: I don't really care, that's complicated and hard to do anyway.
Eugh. Now, speaking as myself...
I do avoid all DRM in media, with two exceptions: Other people's systems (if I'm at someone's house, I won't insist it's a Mythbox before I use their DVR), and several video game DRM schemes (Steam actually makes a really good trade -- you have to be on the network all the time, but the network actually does benefit you, and it's not like you were going to play an open source game instead.)
Oh, and I suppose you could count Windows itself, though I only boot it for games.
But it's really hard to make that sale to people who haven't already been burned by DRM. Even once you do, it's even harder to convince people that this is something they should be enraged about, rather than something they should be annoyed about.
Again: They see it as a feature that wasn't added, rather than a feature that was killed. Remember, for us, the ability to transfer large files between computers is as "easy" as scp, ftp, etc. For them -- once they understand that email can't handle it -- a brand-new service like yousendit, or copying everything to an external hard drive, is a brilliant innovation.
The most important point to communicate, and the most difficult, is just how cool our lives get when you take away DRM. I try to demonstrate that as effectively as I can, by occasionally saying things like "Oh, that movie isn't on my laptop, but it's on the server upstairs. Ten minutes and it'll be transfered down over the wireless."
And even then, it's still on the basis of individual features, not "freedom", that Joe understands this. Meaning that as soon as Microsoft adds enough DRM that you can do that (but only between Windows Media compliant machines), it deflates the whole argument.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!