IPFS as an alternative for movies/shows

[Imagineer]

It's possible to use IPFS as a way of play video files on cytube.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterPlan ... ile_System
https://ipfs.io/

Here's the installation guide. It is cross platform.
https://ipfs.io/docs/install/

I'm just trying it out with small videos and can confirm that it does work without having to install any scripts. I'll try doing this with bigger files and hopefully movies.

Here is an explanation on how to use it from some guy on reddit.


"I've been messing with IPFS on the site and it works great. There's a guy in the ubermench channel that taught me how to do it.

Install IPFS
Upload the file via ipfs add -w
Browse to the directory created with https://venus.i.ipfs.io/ipfs/[The Hash]
Copy the url there to cytube

Why the -w? Because we want to preserve the file extention.
Why venus.i.ipfs.io? Because plain ipfs.io round robbins each of the planets but that means that it isn't cached in most until several hits. By picking one it will be cached on the gateway once one user requests it. It lowers the odds of one user getting a bad gateway.

You can also tell your users to install ipfs and the browser companion so you get more seeds. The gateway takes care of bandwidth so one seed can serve to 50 people but it adds more persistence to the files if a user or two uses the browser companion."

[GetThe50]

So you use your own computer as a server of sorts (host for the files) instead of Google Drive, Youtube or Dailymotion.
If so, that makes sense given that outside host links can get zucced.
The problem is, as I see it (I'm not familiar with the system), user throughput. It sounds like people are limited by their own upload speed. That could be detrimental to people accessing the system. Which also makes me think, what happens when 30, 40 or 50+ people access the file?

I'm not trying to be a naysmith but I am trying to be practical in my approach.

[bashfoal]

So you use your own computer as a server of sorts

No, IPFS is decentralized, there wouldn't be a single individual host location like there would be with the other services we currently use and have zucc'd.

It's more closely similar to a torrent, once there are peers replicating the data, you only have to point at the data and not the original uploader anymore.

[GetThe50]

No, IPFS is decentralized, there wouldn't be a single individual host location

Except you would need someone with a complete file to host the media otherwise Cytu.be will probably not play well with it. It has enough problems with hosts and full links. Seriously, Cytu.be is very pick with what links and websites it will cooperate with.

[marlokk]

Imagineer said he was able to play Scanners using this no problem. Still need to try it myself but seems like if nothing else it works as a backup to google drive if you don't mind the setup and hosting.

[Imagineer]

Imagineer said he was able to play Scanners using this no problem. Still need to try it myself but seems like if nothing else it works as a backup to google drive if you don't mind the setup and hosting.

Scanners did play well but I did notice my connection coming and going in short intervals. Not enough for people to complain or notice. I did recently play an episode of Night Gallery a few weeks ago that was giving people issues. The video would not load completely so people were constantly refreshing and my connection was coming and going every 10 minutes or so, don't know if my ISP was having issues that weekend or if my ISP was throttling my connection. Might need to configure my network settings or IPFS, but so far my experience using IPFS it can be hit or miss for long videos.