parcel media/ media on a prim options?

[TIRRMHguy]

Hello everyone, this is my first time submitting a question on the forums and I appreciate any help!

I'm currently trying to set up a room where audio (ideally video) can be played to a group of approximately less than 15.  Just in like in real life, I'd like to be able to use an avatar to play a video/track to a group of people, pause it if needed, but essentially let it play on until the end of the track/video is completed.  I did some research, but am struggling to find something that would work. 

I've tried media on a prim - Where I split up the audio of a music track into 10-second intervals using Audicity (3rd party software) and used a script that loops the audio sequentially until the track finishes playing out.  I was hopeful using this route, unfortunately, the track isn't consistent.  The track plays out, but the sequence in between the 10-second intervals is not consistent, pauses, or is out of sync and makes it very distracting (obvious it is chopped up).  

I also tried using media on a prim, where I placed an embedded url from youtube and made the prim into a nice movie screen.  This will work, but when I tried it out with other users, they do not see the same thing I see at the same time or there is a delay.  

I found another option using a media texture (not sure if that is the current term), displaying a specific texture on a side of a prim, where it will show the source of audio/media wherever that specific texture is displayed throughout a parcel of land.  I just didn't have any luck with this one! :-(   

Lastly, I did find some information about possibly using winamp with a shoutcast DSP plugin???? Not sure exactly how to do this, but its next on my list to try out.

I've been trying to follow tutorials on youtube to teach myself but am struggling.  Based on the age of the videos (over 6 - 9 years old), my guess is that there are different options or these are no longer the best practices as they have been replaced with different alternatives?  My next step is pursuing the winamp /shoucast DSP plugin, but I'm not sure if it will only allow me to play media from their online radio stations and not let me choose a specific track.   

 

Does anybody have any ideas or different options that may be helpful?   Please send them my way and thanks in advance!  :-)

[Rolig Loon]

This is not really an art/music/photography question.  It's a scripting one -- and one of the oldest, most frustrating ones in SL.

Unless you are prepared to make your own music mp3 and stream it from your own external server so that you can play it as a parcel media stream, you're really forced to create a long daisy chain of 10 second sound bites that you can play with an LSL script.  That comes down to two challenges.  The first is the tedious business of creating that daisy chain.  Ideally, what you need to do is use Audacity (or your favorite sound editor) to chop the original sound file into slices of exactly the same length.  As long as they are all under 10 seconds, you can upload them individually (at L$10 per slice) and collect them in your inventory.  Be sure to label them all very carefully so that you don't get them out of order.  You'll be puttting the whole stack of them into the object that becomes your player.

Then you need a script.  If you are quite lucky, you will find a good one in world that you can use as is.  Beware, though, that there are a lot of poorly written ones.  A good script will be able to set sound queueing, to allow smooth transitions from one sound slice to the next, and then play all of the slices in sequence.  Ideally, the effect will be a clean, uninterrupted piece of music.  In reality, if the sound slices are not all the same length, or if your region has much lag, you will hear occasional gaps or hesitations.  There's a fair amount of magic to writing a script that does the job well.  Some of the best ones are in music instruments (pianos, commonly) that have been refined many times over the years and, understandably, are no-mod/no-trans, so you can't lift them out to use for your own.

All in all, this is a time-consuming and potentially expensive project.  If you get it done well, you can be very proud of having accomplished something.

Edited March 28, 2018 by Rolig Loon

[TIRRMHguy]

Yes, I think that option isn't going to work.  I've used Audacity and played with different lengths of sound bites (10, 9, 9.2,9.5) as well as several scripts both free and paid.  It didn't occur to me that my region may have lag.  Oh well, I'll try posting in the scripting section and will pursue Winamp and the Shoutcast DSP plugin.  Thanks again!

[Rolig Loon]

Good luck.  That's the same response that I would have given you if you had posted this question in Scripting.  It's really the only option you have unless you stream from an external server.  I have seen it done successfully several times, and have done it myself on files that are no more than a minute or two long.  It is a real pain, though, and takes a lot of patience.  And is still likely to be choppy if the region has much lag.

[Markiz Sorbet]

This would really depend on the media source you're trying to view, but it's never failed for me to set up a single prim as a URL source for youtube and a few other media websites. It would just take just a little bit of coordination with your viewers to all turn their media on/ be media capable. You can enable a surface via your land settings or just create a stand-alone prim with one face able to view web. Of course depending on everyone's internet connection, their viewer settings, their personal computer capability and your sim's health, there may always be just a few seconds of delay (I've found between 1-5 seconds) but I've always been able to watch youtube videos this way with my friends without having to buy a SL "tv" (if those still exist?)

I'm happy to show you in-world; just reach out if this is what youre looking for. My text explanation seems confusing to me but I tried.

Edited March 30, 2018 by Markiz Sorbet