Tips for live streaming

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GrevenGull
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se unió: 12/18/2017

I was thinking about buying my own domain and figure out a way to live stream to it, but then I realized that I could probably just live stream to domains that already exist like goblin media or what it's called - the thing that FSF streams to when they have LibrePlanet.

Anybody have any tips/guidelines? :)

I'm not technical, so easy solutions are celebrated - I am, however, grateful for any suggestion, and willing to learn :)

GrevenGull
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se unió: 12/18/2017

In the event of buying my own domain and setting up everything from scratch:

During the 2016 LibrePlanet, they used HUBAngl to stream, and I think Icecast as the server software to receive the stream.

I am not familiar with the HUBAngl software - would it be possible to use Icecast as the server software and OBS as the client/uploader? I guess I could try to learn the HUBAngl interface, I suppose it's not that strange.

Is setting up a server with Icecast (or something alike) doable for a non-technical?

chaosmonk

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se unió: 07/07/2017

> Is setting up a server with Icecast (or something alike) doable for a non-technical?

Read this page, and see if it makes sense to you.

=> https://icecast.org/docs/icecast-2.4.1/basic-setup.html

If so, you will probably not find it very hard to setup an Icecast server. If not, you will need to learn some new concepts and skills first.

You might also be interested in Owncast.

=> https://github.com/owncast/owncast

Installation itself looks trivial (just run a script), so you would just need to understand how to configure it.

=> https://owncast.online/docs/configuration/

Before all this, though. You'll need to learn to setup a web server.

If you are planning to run this out of your home, do a web search for "$ISP blocked ports" where $ISP is the name of your Internet service provider, and find out whether your ISP blocks port 80 and/or port 443. Port 80 is the default port for HTTP, and port 443 is the default for HTTPS. If you ISP blocks one of those, you will need to use an alternate port. That means that users will get an error when they go to grevengullssite.com, and will need to know to specify a port manually, i.e. "grevengullssite.com:8080", which is not ideal.

Another issue wth running a server out of your home is that your ISP probably will not assign you a static IP address. That means that your IP address may occasionally change. This generally doesn't happen often, but when it does your website will appear to be down until you update DNS so that your domain name points to your new IP address.

Running a server out of your home could also use a lot of electricity, and if you are expecting a very large amount of traffic then you may hit the limits of your ISP plan. It should be fine for small websites, though.

If you don't want to run a server out of your home, you'll need to instead rent a VPS. A VPS a server running in a virtual machine on someone else's hardware. The cost will depend on how much RAM, bandwidth, and storage you need, but will likely be in the range of 5-10 USD/month.

One you have a server running, use your domain name registrar's web interface to point your domain name to the IP address of your server.

Then, you'll SSH into the server to

* install and setup Apache or Nginx
* configure HTTPS
* install Icecast or Owncast or whatever
* configure Apache or Nginx for use with Icecast or Owncast or whatever

GrevenGull
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se unió: 12/18/2017

Thank you. Another question:

"How important" is it to have a router (running free software) as a physical firewall between the server and proprietary ISP modem in terms of security?

chaosmonk

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se unió: 07/07/2017

Why are you even asking this? Do you not already use a router?

GrevenGull
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se unió: 12/18/2017

I'm just asking out of curiosity, really. What is so strange about that? :p
I'm currently just connecting my computers directly to the modem without any router. Some time ago I used an old router with LbreCMC, but it was *very* slow

chaosmonk

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se unió: 07/07/2017

So your household only has one device connected to the Internet at a time? If you want to run a server out of you'll home then you'll likely want to use a router so that you don't have to unplug the server and bring down your website in order to use the Internet on one of your other devices.

As for a firewall, it is also possible to configure a firewall on a computer, so a router is not strictly necessary. IDK if it will add security in your case.

GrevenGull
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se unió: 12/18/2017

Well my ISP issues this modem and router in one type of thing. That's what I use, sorry for the confusion.
Do you have a modem that's strictly and only modem? Didn't realize those exist anymore, unless you have a special customer deal or something.

But anyway I heard that a router would provide security like a physical firewall, is that just bogus?

chaosmonk

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se unió: 07/07/2017

> Do you have a modem that's strictly and only modem? Didn't realize those exist anymore, unless you have a special customer deal or something.

I own a modem and router. I don't rent hardware from my ISP. My ISP pressures people to rent hardware from them, and many people do so not understanding what a predatory ripoff this is, but I choose not to.

I tend to by used hardware, but I see new modems for sale in stores like BestBuy, so it can't be too strange of a thing, at least in my country.

> But anyway I heard that a router would provide security like a physical firewall, is that just bogus?

If you have a router, it will "route" different kinds of traffic to different devices. For example, if you set up a server you would configure your router to route port 80 and port 443 traffic to the server, and so port 80 and 443 traffic would never make reach another device like your laptop. In this way, a router functions as a hardware firewall. There is also such a thing as a software firewall, which runs on individual devices and determines how they handle different kinds of traffic.

GrevenGull
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se unió: 12/18/2017

That's very interesting. I didn't even know that it was an option not to rent the crap. I gotta check with my ISP and/or other ISP in my area if I can use their line without their hardware.

This brings another question though:
Is there any big difference in the modems like for internet quality? And what about modem software?

Bonus question:
Do u have any experience with ThinkPenguin's router?

chaosmonk

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se unió: 07/07/2017

> I gotta check with my ISP and/or other ISP in my area if I can use their line without their hardware.

They may have some restrictions on what models they support, so look into that before purchasing. Once you have the modem, plug that into the wall, call your ISP, and ask them to activate it.

> Is there any big difference in the modems like for internet quality?

A faster modem can be better than a slower modem, but only if your modem is the bottleneck in your Internet speed. Look up what Internet plan you are paying for. If you are paying for a bandwidth rate that exeeds what your modem can handle, then it's a waste of money to be paying for that rate and you should either downgrade the plan or upgrade the modem. On the other hand, if your modem is already able to match the rate that you are paying for, then upgrading the modem won't buy you any extra speed unless you also pay for a better plan.

> And what about modem software?

A modem is an extremely simple device. I've never heard of anyone replacing the software on their modem. I'm not even sure that this would be legal. A router on the other hand, can usually run a free or mostly free operating system, with advantages for the user.

> Do u have any experience with ThinkPenguin's router?

No.

> and/or other ISP in my area

Whoa, wait. What? Do you have a choice of multiple ISPs? That is not a thing where I'm from. Each ISP has a regional monopoly, and if you want Internet access you have to buy it from whichever ISP is available in your region.

lutes
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se unió: 09/04/2020

> Whoa, wait. What? Do you have a choice of multiple ISPs? That is not a thing where I'm from. Each ISP has a regional monopoly, and if you want Internet access you have to buy it from whichever ISP is available in your region.

Shouldn't ISP be a public service? It seems that either private ISPs manage to divide the market between themselves along regional lines as you mention, or their plurality is in fact an illusion that does not create actual competition nor reflects into customer prices: once in a (long) while a new entrant manages to cut prices until their market share allows them to play level with the incumbents. In the end, in a way or another, the market gets divided between a handful of actors who can easily manage to keep prices up without significant investment.

I know of a few nonprofit ISPs but I doubt this could ever become a popular model.

GrevenGull
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se unió: 12/18/2017

Thank you for answering as always, chaosmonk.

Well some places there are choices and some places there regional monopolies.

It's also dependent upon your housing situation. You are ofc more free to chose the more independent the housing situation is - at your own expense of building the needed infrastructure that is.

In most apartment blocks it's a monopoly or a "neighborhood deal".

Magic Banana

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se unió: 07/24/2010

PeerTube live streaming is supposed to be available very soon: https://joinpeertube.org/en_US/roadmap

GrevenGull
Desconectado/a
se unió: 12/18/2017

Thank you both :)