Live Streaming

Marbella Stream

Here

Loving the snappy Spanish tunes during the change-overs….

 
 
General Notes:

• ATP matches can typically be seen on StarSports via PPStream and PPMate
• WTA matches are usually carried on Eurosport via TVAnts
• Sometimes also available via Windows Media: WM1, WM2, WM3

If you have streams to share, hit the comments section below!

 
 
 
 

Introduction to Live Streaming on the Interwebs

The following are some links and a quickie crib sheet to help fans find and watch live match streams on the net, so people can get their fill of tennis action.

First of all, a few words of prayer and thanks. One for our bretheren in sport, the soccer hooligans, without whom we would not get such good info in English. Second is for our friends the Chinese, without whom none of this could be possible. Not only do they not get cable in much of their rural country, but they have brought us such classics as the Teen Romantic Comedy Channel, the Brokeback Mountain channel, and the 24-hr Fox 24 channel.

Amen.

Watch Streaming P2PTV on the Internet

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you should be familiar with peer-to-peer technology (p2p). This is what has the Recording and Motion Picture Industries screaming and dragging people into court. Typically speaking, p2p occurs over existing file-sharing networks such as Kazaa or eDonkey, which cater to the distribution of specific commerical products (i.e., movie or audio files) that a user downloads to his/her computer. But p2p has also offered a new choice — it has made the distribution of video and TV streams possible over networks.

P2PTV is not the old method of downloading movies, dvds, or tv episodes by using Kazaa or eDonkey or other file sharing network. P2PTV is freeware which enables you to watch video streams, including live tv channels from pay cable or satellite tv. P2PTV makes it possible to make every tv channel in the world available to all viewers globally over the Internet.

Behold the awesomenessnessness.

How Does P2PTV Work?

In the traditional method of video streaming, all viewers connect to a streaming server, which then creates bottlenecks or traffic congestion slowing down the downloads and viewing pleasure.

With P2PTV, only a few users need to connect to the main streaming server. Each user then becomes a streaming server that broadcasts to other peers while at the same time receiving the streaming video from other peers streaming servers. Think of it as a big chain: You connect to me, and I’m connected to her, and so on. This sharing greatly reduces the burden on the main video streams hosting server, and increases the sources where the media can be streamed from. Add to this that download speeds become higher, and so too the smoothness of the media playing. Most P2PTV streams are broadcast quality.

Rest assured that stream sharing does not exploit you to hackers or spyware. The only thing you are sharing is bandwidth.

Cool. How Do I Get Started?

First off, you should know that you’ll need to download a small piece of software. Most P2PTV applications are well under 1 Meg and are spyware free. The buzzkill is that almost all of them are made for Windows OS, which leaves us Mac users in a pickle, which I’ll talk about later. Most streams also require Windows Media Player.

Here’s some basic requirements:

1. A reasonably good computer (Pentium 3/AMD K6-II minimum); running Windows OS, preferably XP.
2. A broadband internet connection of at least 0.5Mb/sec. DSL works just fine.
3. Up to date versions of Windows Media Player and Realplayer.

Here’s a list of some P2PTV applications to get you started:

• PPLive
• SopCast
• TVAnts
• TV Koo
• MySeeTV
• MaxTV

This is not a comprehensive list of course, but a list of applications that have channels that broadcast tennis. Keeping in mind that many of these appy’s are written by Chinese, with corresponding Chinese websites, so I’ve conveniently given you links with translation. You… are… soooo… welcome!
 

FYI: All of these apps are available only for Windows OS. I’m a Mac user as well as a (forced) PC user, and it sucks that there are no streaming apps available for other platforms. There is, however, a rumor that someone is writing Mac and Linux versions of Sopcast though. Maybe it will be ready by the time Shanghai rolls around…. This project has been stalled by the SopCast people, who aren’t keen to open up their source code.
 
 
The folks over at football4less have put together a good introductory ‘how to’ which is definitely some good required reading and contains screenshots for helping you set up some of the software you might use and some instruction on how to configure each application.

Where Can I Find Matches Online?

Usually a good place to start is by looking at the tournament websites themselves. Of course the tourneys want people to tune in, right? Here’s a big tip for you: Most ATP events outside the U.S. are carried by StarSports, and most WTA events are carried by Eurosport. I post links up when I can, so make sure to check my site too!

Here are a few links to get you started:

• PPLive

In Hungarian with some English mixed in. I like this one because it takes you to another page and gives you the options of what app to use.

• Fan forums such as MTF or WTA World often have threads where users swap links. Look in the ‘General News’ sections and keep your eyes open!
• How about right here? I post up links when I find them, so keep coming back.

 
 

What About Us Mac Users?

As noted above, these applications are all written for Windo$e, which seemingly leaves Apple fanatics out in the cold. As a Mac user myself, I am feeling you dawg. But there is hope. Macs are better than those cheap hunks o’ junk that only run M$ stuff.

We run both. Nyah nyah.

If you have an Intel-based Mac, such as the iMac, Mac Mini, MacBook, MacBook Pro, or Mac Pro Towers, you can run the Windows operating system via Apple’s own free Boot Camp software, or via Parallels Desktop for Mac for $79.99. These are emulation packages, which, as the name implies, allow you to run all existing Windows applications from your Mac. With Boot Camp, you switch between OS’ by restarting your computer. With Parallels, you can run them — you guessed it — in parallel to one another.

For those not using Intel-based Macs, such as the Powerbook, G4, or G5, you can run Micro$oft’s very own Virtual PC 7 for Mac, for the low low price of just $249.

Bear in mind that all of these applications also require you to get your own copy of Windows. Not that copies of Windows are hard to come by if you follow the Boy Scout motto and ‘always be prepared’.

Now that you know, you’re ahead of the game.