Streaming March Madness On Linux? 120
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?"
Re:Faggots (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
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.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
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
Re: (Score:2)
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?
Rehabilitation (Score:2)
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
Re: (Score:2)
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"?
And this is exactly why hyperextensions are awesome. It's so easy to get yourself up against an opponent, where they can only awkwardly reach you with the opposite arm, and in one quick twist of your body and one smooth motion SNAP their elbow isn't supposed to go that way. They are no longer trying to stab you with a knife.
Sorry but yeah, you come at me with a weapon, you're trying to kill me. If I break your arm, you're not dead. You should be thanking me for letting you feel blinding, excruciating
Re: (Score:2)
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!
Re: (Score:2)
Don't forget the third option, which is sadly the one most people take:
[W]alk away, and pretend you didn't see anything.
Re: (Score:2)
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 bet
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Faggots (Score:5, Informative)
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...
Re: (Score:2)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
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
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
From your grand-grandparent:
I couldn't even find evidence of Moonlight being ported over.
Already been discussed.
Re: (Score:2)
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...
Re:Faggots (Score:4, Informative)
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 [ncaa.com]. 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 ... :/
Re: (Score:2)
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. ;)
reverse engineer their website (Score:1, Offtopic)
search deadspin, you'll find my site ;)
Re: (Score:2)
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.
Yahoo Sports (Score:4, Interesting)
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).
Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)
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
Has anyone asked if the games play on under MS Windows or as they are known "Games for Windows"? If this is the case then for the Linux user assuming you could download the game you would have to use a MS Windows emulator such as Wine. I think the average Linux user should ask if they are really that interested in playing these games since it is not native to Linux but even if you could download it you have to ask the question do I like sport games? Some people do some people don't.
Basically like it or no
Re: (Score:2)
You do realize that they're talking about WATCHING March Madness games, right?
Unless grandparent was supposed to be an ironic comment about the difference between participatory sports and spectator sports.
If you could make it work under Linux (Score:5, Funny)
Then you would be watching sports which would make you not a Linux user.
*computer explodes from the incongruity*
How about Moonlight? (Score:3, Funny)
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/05/15/moonlight-release-puts-Silverlight-on-Linux_1.html [infoworld.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Currently support for Silverlight 2.0 is in pre-Alpha stage, but if you want to test it, or contribute to the code, you will need to: ...
Re: (Score:1)
Last I read, Moonlight support for those specific features aren't available until Q3 this year.
That said, you might try the Moonlight that let everybody stream the presidents inauguration address. I doubt it will work, but it's worth a try.
http://www.go-mono.com/moonlight/ [go-mono.com]
Re: (Score:2)
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".
Mono is a nice VM and C# is a reasonable language, but they should stick to implementing Free APIs, like Qt and GTK+.
/Mike
What is a non-free API? (Score:2)
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?
Re: (Score:2)
If a publisher tests its Silverlight app on Moonlight, then how is it not cross-platform?
Then great! But I would suggest that the majority of publishers won't, since if they are deploying a silverlight app they are going to be Windows-based anyway and not care.
Also, unless Mono's implementation is 100% up to date with Microsoft's, you're going to lose anyway since effectively no one is going to not use the latest and greatest version of Microsoft's technology, as soon as it is released.
"To view this site you need Silverlight 2.0, click here for a free download from Microsoft."
What makes an API itself non-free, as opposed to its implementation?
I didn't talk abou
Re: (Score:2)
"To view this site you need Silverlight 2.0, click here for a free download from Microsoft."
How many web sites are going to require Windows Internet Explorer 8 the month it comes out?
they should stick to implementing Free APIs
What makes an API itself non-free, as opposed to its implementation?
I didn't talk about "non-free APIs"
To "stick to" something implies that something has an opposite from which one should abstain. As I understood it, the opposite of "free APIs" is "non-free APIs".
I said they should stick to providing access to APIs for Free software, rather than helping to increase Microsoft's market share and harming users of Free software in the long run by implementing Microsoft's APIs and technologies.
GNU got started by implementing AT&T's UNIX APIs. Inventing new APIs to be deliberately incompatible with non-free software smacks of NIHism [wikipedia.org]. Besides, Silverlight/Moonlight has an advantage over Gtk# in that Silverlight/Moonlight is intended to run as part
Re: (Score:2)
How many web sites are going to require Windows Internet Explorer 8 the month it comes out?
None, because Microsoft is implementing an open standard, rather than someone implementing a Microsoft technology.
To "stick to" something implies that something has an opposite from which one should abstain. As I understood it, the opposite of "free APIs" is "non-free APIs".
Sorry, I thought I spelt it out enough the second time around. Lets try again: They should stick to providing access to APIs for Free software, where the important point is the "access to Free software" part, not the API.
GNU got started by implementing AT&T's UNIX APIs. Inventing new APIs to be deliberately incompatible with non-free software smacks of NIHism [wikipedia.org].
Dude, you need to check your reading comprehension skills. I said "access to Free software", I didn't say "reinvent crazy new shit to replace stuff that already exists". I even
VirtualBox (Score:3, Informative)
Download VirtualBox
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads [virtualbox.org]
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.
Re: (Score:2)
and you're sure that going through a VM-VMM boundary won't slow things down?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
On x86, it shouldn't. They all have 2d acceleration (on hardware level) which covers the acceleration features a video player would need too.
What matters is RAM. XP should run on at least 768/1GB RAM and Linux overhead must be calculated along with it. It should be prevented from swapping (real swapping, not tactical one). The ''Virtual GPU'' should have 16 or 32MB of RAM too.
Another thing is, if CPU has virtual machine acceleration, it should be enabled (disabled by default).
Sun's Virtualbox comes with _ve
Re: (Score:1, Redundant)
Gibberish! (Score:3, Funny)
What is this 'bas-ket ball' you speak of?
That's not a bug, it's a feature (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
They don't stipulate in the fine print that you need Silverlight 2.0.
Telling the situation and solution? (Score:2)
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
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, a company named Real Networks ships a fully supported Linux player and you see the feedback they get.
Mostly because RealPlayer absolutely sucks, on any platform. It's cool that they ship a Linux player, but it's still not something I want.
Kind of like how MySpace probably works well on Firefox. Great, I can use it on Linux, but I still really don't like it.
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.
Firstly: It's actually between these and WMV.
Second: While h.264 and aac support is generally better than the latest wmv (or vc-1) and the latest wma codecs, keep in mind that all of these are exactly as proprietary, and exactly as patent-laden.
So, if yo
Re: (Score:2)
wrong, they are not encrypting anything. if you can figure out how to get to the streams, they play fine in mplayer, vlc and totem-xine (albiet not totem-gstreamer, as no support for windows media audio v3).
and yes, I have figured out how to get to the streams. someone even posted my setup to this thread already.
Forget about their crappy online stream (Score:1)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
Seems kind of silly to subscribe to cable for just one month and just one sport.
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...
Mega March Madness has all games on direct tv and (Score:2)
Mega March Madness has all games on direct tv and some bars are likely to have it.
Go away, you're not 21 (Score:2)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm sure a lot has changed in the 16 years since I was a freshman, but we certainly had no problems finding places to drink, let alone to watch March Madness.
It worked last year (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
I succumbed today and downloaded Silverlight 2 at work today so I could watch the games in high quality. Worked in Firefox, but I felt a little dirty.
digital broadcast (Score:3, Informative)
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?
MOD Parent up (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
That doesn't seem to bother Sky in the UK - where sports are a fuzzy mess of mpeg artifacts. Yummy.
Send them a message (Score:1)
Anyone try Moonlight? (Score:3, Interesting)
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 [mono-project.com]
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 [mono-project.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Their Silverlight 2 support's in alpha now, targeting beta in May and final in September
Just in time for September Madness!
Re: (Score:2)
You forgot to mention that it would require buying Windows to run in virtualbox.
Re: (Score:1)
Erm, what? (Score:1)
For the benefit of the 90-odd percent of Internet users *not* in the US, wtf is "March Madness" and NCAA.com? The site is slashdotted, or broken, or something.
Re: (Score:2)
Try the all-knowing wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Men's_Division_I_Basketball_Championship [wikipedia.org]
Don't. (Score:2, Flamebait)
You're just encouraging them.
Justin.TV (Score:2)
Try Justin.TV Sports [justin.tv]. 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
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)