MPEG-2 Streaming Client for Mac?

foobar104 asks: "Macintouch posed an interesting question: is there any MPEG-2 streaming client software for the Mac, either for OS 9 or OS X? According to Kasenna, maker of the MediaBase streaming video platform, there isn't. You'd think Quicktime 5 would be able to stream MPEG-2 content, but sure enough the data sheet lists MPEG-1 only. Is Kasenna right?"

"Because I can't seem to figure out how to link directly to a story on Macintouch, here's the entire question.

David Hannah asked this interesting question about streaming video support on the Mac:

'I am a developer for the SGI and Linux Platforms, and have begun working with a product called MediaBase from Kasenna; it is a MPEG 1|2 Streaming Server. They are preparing to release MediaBaseXMP, which will support MPEG 4 as well. I was told by them that they do not support MPEG 2 streaming on the Macintosh, because there is no existing player that will accommodate this, including QuickTime 5. They said that QuickTime 6, when it releases will support MPEG 4, but until then, I cannot stream to a Macintosh without also having a QuickTime streaming server like the one provided by the Darwin project. Any truth to this? Are you aware of an MPEG-2 capable player that will stream on the Mac?'

Since there are a number of MPEG-2 software decoders for Windows, some of them plugins for Windows Media Player, it seems reasonable to think that something similar would exist for the Mac. Can anyone help?"

all paths lead to DivX

[Pauly]

It may not do exactly what you describe, but DivX [divx.com] (for Mac [divx.com]) is an important technology to have in your back pocket on any project of this type. Check it out.

Re:all paths lead to DivX

[daveschroeder]

DivX is a ridiculous thing to leverage for an enterprise streaming project. QuickTime 6 is the appropriate solution for this.

Re:all paths lead to DivX

[0x0d0a]

DivX is a lot more sane. MPEG 2 is designed for really high bitrate stuff...I'd rather *not* have someone streaming it, thank you very much. :-)

Re:all paths lead to DivX

[Alan Partridge]

No they don't. Anyway, WTF is "streaming MPEG2" other than television? Macs come with an MPEG2 decoder in the shape of Apple DVD Player, incorporating MPEG2 playback into QT Player - while desirable - will attract futher fees from the MPEG LA if included. Windows can't do it either without separate software.

All paths lead to QuickTime 6

[daveschroeder]

QuickTime 6 handles MPEG-2 (and MPEG-1 and MPEG-4) decoding in software, and will also be able to handle streamed content. Our university is embarking on a large Cisco IP/TV deployment (we'll be streaming a dozen or so TV channels on the campus network), and a requirement was support of Mac clients. The IP/TV gear creates standard rtsp MPEG-2 streams, and we've been told by Apple that QuickTime 6 will handle this (QuickTime 4/5 handles MPEG-1 rtsp streams from IP/TV hardware now, so MPEG-2 rtsp streams, should, in theory, be no problem for QuickTime 6). The current QuickTime 6 Public Preview does NOT include MPEG-2 decoding, but the final release will. So there ya go.

Re:All paths lead to QuickTime 6

[daveschroeder]

I should also add that, until QuickTime 6, NO version of QuickTime has done MPEG-2, streamed or not. This has been an annoying thing to many people about QuickTime for quite some time. But this should all be solved by QuickTime 6. MPEG-4 is great, sure, but for the time being most enterprise streaming solutions will still be be MPEG-1 or -2. And QuickTime's support for even MPEG-1 has not been the best, historically. QuickTime 6 is tons better with MPEG-1 as well.

VideoLan

[jtl]

VideoLan Client is available for Mac OS X, can play MPEG-2 streams (either transport or program), and can play while straming from a VideoLan server or an HTTP server.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Re:VideoLan

[reverius]

I have to second this... when reading the story, I immediately thought, "VLC has a Mac version, don't they?" VLC is the best streaming media player I've used, because they remain dedicated to an open source, cross platform streaming media solution.

My only question is whether it can be used to play back the MPEG-2 streams we're talking about... I don't know whether they stream over HTTP or not.

Re:VideoLan

[iomud]

qt6 with divx problems on my system (green interlaced lines), I resorted to using vlc, though I have to use it in thousands of colors as opposed to millions.

Re:VideoLan

[daveschroeder]

There's 2 problems with VideoLAN:

1. People want a commercial, supported product when they depoly an enterprise streaming solution. Right or wrong, most people won't consider vlc a large-scale solution.

2. The larger problem is that vlc doesn't currently handle the type or stream generated by commercial MPEG-1/2 streaming servers (rtsp or rtp), so it can't be used for this application.

QuickTime 6 solves both of these problems.

Re:VideoLan

[g4dget]

People want a commercial, supported product when they depoly an enterprise streaming solution. Right or wrong, most people won't consider vlc a large-scale solution.

Many people would consider an open source product if they knew about it. The problem with acceptance of open source software in many businesses has to do with lack of a marketing budget for open source software projects, not with lack of either quality or acceptance.

quicktime

[mbaudis]

quicktime 6 has been out in beta for a while, and works flawlessly so far. i think, apple holds it only back due to the mpeg4 licensing issues.

Does VLC for OSX does this?

[stephdau]

See http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ [videolan.org] and it's cross-platform too.

Did you try Google?

[Wesley Felter]

MPEG-2 streaming client Mac [google.com] gives you VideoLAN as the first hit.

Re:QT 6 + VLan = ø

[Alan Partridge]

we're all fuckin crying. AVI != DiivX, BTW. Proper AVI files are still perfectly playable under QT 6.

MPEG-2 Is *NOT* in QT6

[M'Barr]

I have been working w/ mpeg-2 data for a little while, and was searching for a way to use it & play it on the Mac. I don't have a DR of QT6, only the public trial, but it does not support MPEG-2, only MPEG-4 & 1. Now, Divx is actually based on MPEG-4, and there are actual codecs out for quicktime now that allow DIVX to play.
http://mpeg4.jamby.net/ [jamby.net] is the site that used to support that codec. It recently moved- follow the link to the new location...

I now use VLC to play MPEG-2 that is extracted from my Tivo. A slight modification to the standard linux util to convert the date works wonders, and plays beautifully. It also allows you to play SVCD's, and is in a nice aqua window.

MPEG-2 *IS* in QT6

[daveschroeder]

MPEG-2 is in QuickTime 6, just not in the public preview.

From http://www.apple.com/quicktime/preview/quicktime6/ faq.html:

I thought QuickTime 6 included MPEG-2 decoding. Where is it?
The QuickTime MPEG-2 decode component is not available during the preview period but will be available when QuickTime 6 is final.

Re:MPEG-2 *IS* in QT6

[captainjon]

Just to be clear, MPEG-2 decoding of local files will not be in QuickTime 6--Apple plans to charge for it as a separate option, feeling that most people won't need or care about it. This option will be apart from QuickTime Pro, but they have not said how much it will cost. And of course you will not be able to play DVDs using QuickTime either.

Microsoft Media Player

[pbaker]

Did you try Microsoft Media Player for Mac? I bet it does MPEG2. I'm not sure though since I don't have any plans of installing Microsoft software on my tibook, and Media Player is no exception.

Re:Microsoft Media Player

[Binary Boy]

Why would it? Windows Media doesn't support it (out of the box) on Windows either... of course there are a number of DirectShow filters which support MPEG-2, and you probably have one if you have installed a DVD player app on Windows, so this might lead you to think Windows Media itself supports MPEG-2. However, even with the MPEG-2 filters, Windows Media Player doesn't support RTSP (or other realtime protocols) for delivering MPEG-2 (only standard file-based transports like http, ftp, file, etc)

But yes, Quicktime 6 will ship with a comprehensive MPEG-2 decoder, including apparently RTSP-delivered MPEG-2... and given Kasenna and Apple have had a relationship for some time - both through Kasenna's previous media servers which streamed Quicktime, as well as through their mutual status' as founders of ISMA - I am hoping for interop between QT6 and the next Kasenna MediaBase XP (which I recently licensed for a VOD application).

'QuickTimeMPEG2.component' from the DR works

[Anonymous Coward]

'QuickTimeMPEG2.component' from the DR works perfectly in QT 5. Size is 660 KB, dated 2002-05-02 and i just put that one file in /Library/QuickTime/, no further installation necessary.

Finally i can Watch SVCDs with QuickTime Player an ddon't need to rely on this awkward vlc.

Re:'QuickTimeMPEG2.component' from the DR works

[wealthychef]

Can I "pretend" to be totally ignorant for a minute: What's "the DR?"

Re:'QuickTimeMPEG2.component' from the DR works

[nedron]

"Developer Release" maybe?

Does anybody RTFFAQ anymore?

[anarkhos]

It's right there in the QT6 FAQ.