VLC multithreading

[sitnet]

Hey guys

So this is what I want to do:

There is an AVI video file located on the internet, say i.e. here: www.example.com/video.avi

Now I want to watch that file (stream) without downloading it. So in VLC media player I go to Media>Open network stream. I enter the direct link and it starts streaming, but very slow. When I download this file in IDM the file download at 450KBp/s with the use of multithreading (8 threads, it's aka pipelining). This file will download in half the time it takes to watch on IDM.

So this brings me to the conclusion that VLC doesn't multithreading, causing slow speed.

Is there a way to make VLC multithread, or is there an alternative media player that can use multithread to watch a video directly from the internet?

Thanx

 

[ToxicBunny]

So you want VLC to act as a multithreaded download manager and "stream" media at the same time?

 

[sitnet]

Yeah that's what I wanted. I wanted to stream a video but with multithreading so it won't stream to slow. But I got a better solution, still with problems though. When downloading that file using IDM parts are created. As the file is downloading you can already open the parts and play them with VLC. But there are 8 parts so it won't work. Using firefox's built in downloader it works because only a single part file is created while downloading. But the speed isn't great.

Is there a good download manager that multithreads and only uses a single part file to save the temp download data to?

 

[rooi baard]

are the pieces necessarily sequential? Coz if not then watching it that way will definitely suck!

 

[davemc]

Multi-Threaded = Give me the file in n chunks, each chunk starting at varying positions, we don't care if a downloading chunk stalls.
Streaming = Give me the file from the starting point, we care if the file stalls because somebody is watching the stream.

i.e. Trying to watch a file downloading in different pieces is a lot impossible, well, unless you like watching movies using the "random chapter" option.

 

[Pada]

Technically downloading from the same server using multiple threads shouldn't give you better download speed.
Multi-threaded/multi-segmented downloads are useful if you're downloading from multiple servers/hosts which can only upload at a fraction of your connection's maximum download speed.

Just use FDM to download the file in multiple segments if you think that it does make a difference (which could be, if the ISP has weird shaping policies) and then just view the file using VLC, while you're still downloading...

Just take note that if you're downloading the video in multiple streams, that you might actually view faster than the first segment can download.

 

[davemc]

Technically downloading from the same server using multiple threads shouldn't give you better download speed.<snip>

It's because useless hosting companies limit the per-thread download rate, in an effort to provide an even service level.

 

[sitnet]

Thanx davemc

That is exactly my point, on a 4mb account there are lots of website that only provide at 40-90 KBp/s but when multithreading I get 400 - 600 KBp/s.

A lot of websites do that in my experience. I will try Free download manager, sounds like it downloads only to one physical part.

 

[Pada]

sitnet: FDM is pretty much like IDM, but the difference is that it is free.

If you download 1 file as 10 segments with FDM, then it will start downloading at positions 0%, 10%, 20%, ..., 80% & 90%.

I haven't seen a download manager that can download in multiple segments while starting all the download threads near the start position of the file.

 

[Valerion]

sitnet: FDM is pretty much like IDM, but the difference is that it is free.

If you download 1 file as 10 segments with FDM, then it will start downloading at positions 0%, 10%, 20%, ..., 80% & 90%.

I haven't seen a download manager that can download in multiple segments while starting all the download threads near the start position of the file.

Chances are if you start each thread 10% into the file (for 10 threads), they will finish more or less the same time. If you start all of them close together at the start of the file, then all the threads will have to disconnect and re-connect in rapid succession (especially on a fast link). TCP connections are relatively expensive (in terms of setup/breakdown cost, as well as connection tracking and proxies), and you run the risk that not all the threads can re-connect properly, perhaps due to a connection rate limiter somewhere in the network, or a lack of resources on the host. For streaming the single-threaded approach is still the best, unless you want the video to fully buffer ahead of time, then you can do multiple threads.