Linking two TV's to show the same thing

[Metalcoldreaper]

Hey i am trying to link two TV's to show the same content, these are the free low prim TV's where you have to manually apply the Media stuff on the screen But i want these two screens two play the same media in sync.

Does anyone know how?

[Claireschen Hesten]

as long as the two TV's use the same texture where the media is shown they will both show the same thing at the same time

[Qie Niangao]

I'm not sure what the OP means about having to apply the media stuff to the screen manually.  This suggests it may be prim media, instead of parcel media -- and only in the latter case is the stream display shown everywhere the texture appears.

In the other, prim media case, there'd be a bit of scripting involved, to slave one screen to the controls of the other.  Not rocket science, by any means, but nothing automatic, and synchronization wouldn't be exact because the stream would be played by separate plugin processes, one for each media surface (again, in contrast to parcel media).

Whether it's prim or parcel media, however, this "in sync" thing isn't assured among multiple viewers watching the same surface. If the content is a real time stream*, then it will work (caveat varying delays in traversing the internet), but if it's something like a YouTube video, it will start from the beginning for each individual when they first accept the stream (automatically or otherwise).  There is some facility for advancing file stream content to a specified time, but this works only for certain formats, where the set of supported formats differs from one operating system to another. (Hence, TV scripters don't generally bother with it, because it will cause more complaints than sastisfied users.)

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*I would have called the stream "live" but that seems to offend "this community" according to the post editor. Heh.

[Metalcoldreaper]

These are two prim TV's the cheap plasma 0$ ones that you have to manually places a media texture ontop of the screen for it to work.

But after reading what you are saying it does seem Impossible which is kinda sad, i wanted both screens to stream the same video when DJing guess i'll have to figure something else out. Thanks anyways guys

[Qie Niangao]

Well, it's not impossible at all if you stick to parcel media, and can live with the fact that new arrivals will likely start from the beginning of a media stream (unless it's being broadcast live, in which case they'll all see the same thing at pretty much the same time).

Parcel media has actually been around a lot longer than prim media (aka "shared media", "Media on a Prim", "MoaP", etc.). And I'm still not 100% sure what these free TVs are, because both parcel and prim media units are commonly free.

(In case it matters, I think it's still possible to show YouTube video on parcel media TVs, too, although the way that works has changed a few times in recent years, so I kinda lost track of the current hackery.)

If it's really a question of pasting a *texture* to get the screen to work, it probably is parcel media, so then, any surface with that same texture will show that same media stream (whether you want it to or not).  If instead a little address bar appears above the media surface into which you can enter a stream URL, then it's prim media. 

And even if it is prim media, that slaving of one screen to another is just a little scripting exercise; I only doubt that the free TVs have it.

[Nova Convair]

You don't even need a TV. Every prim surface with the media texture will play the parcel media stream.

They play it simultaneously - for one avatar.

Keep in mind, that every avatar has their own media stream. So if you want to watch a movie simultaneously with multiple avatars - all avatars have to start their media at the same time. Every avatar will see the movie from the beginning from that moment on, their player starts to play the media.

The media is not on the TV screen in SL as some people might think. The media is streamed independantly to every viewer and the viewer replaces the media textures in view range by the stream data. The avatars are not synced!

 

[Myth024]

I'm still kind of new to scripting but could you have some kind of button to click that starts the media. Then, could you have some kind of system that an avatar would click a button to start the media but would "hold" that command till others had clicked a start button. Then when everyone has clicked once, you hit a submit button and it kind of "releases" those requests at the same time. It wouldn't keep it  perfectly synch'd but if you are all watching a video it could get it starting at the same time. Unless there is a way that one person can hit a start button and it tells everyone else's to start at the same time. There might be a way to use CHANGED_MEDIA to detect when the media loads on one for an avatar and then automatically start on the other. Or you could use some kind of trigger to "start" the media simultaneously on two different prim faces.  I guess on the really complex side, if you had access to a web server, you might be able to do some kind of cross between php and LSL.  In either case, streams would have to be triggered by some kind of event and if you could get that event to trigger on both two different prim faces, that would get you halfway there.

[Selene Gregoire]

2 hours ago, Myth024 said:

I'm still kind of new to scripting but could you have some kind of button to click that starts the media. Then, could you have some kind of system that an avatar would click a button to start the media but would "hold" that command till others had clicked a start button. Then when everyone has clicked once, you hit a submit button and it kind of "releases" those requests at the same time. It wouldn't keep it  perfectly synch'd but if you are all watching a video it could get it starting at the same time. Unless there is a way that one person can hit a start button and it tells everyone else's to start at the same time. There might be a way to use CHANGED_MEDIA to detect when the media loads on one for an avatar and then automatically start on the other. Or you could use some kind of trigger to "start" the media simultaneously on two different prim faces.  I guess on the really complex side, if you had access to a web server, you might be able to do some kind of cross between php and LSL.  In either case, streams would have to be triggered by some kind of event and if you could get that event to trigger on both two different prim faces, that would get you halfway there.

I don't think the OP really cares after 7 years. 

[Myth024]

.. and that's what I get for not paying attention to dates but still wondering if there is a solution.

[Selene Gregoire]

1 hour ago, Myth024 said:

.. and that's what I get for not paying attention to dates but still wondering if there is a solution.

With MOAP,*  you don't need a tv in SL anymore. Haven't needed one in about 5 years or so. 

 

*Media On A Prim