Watching webcast on Mac

We currently webcast our stake conferences and offer shut-ins the ability to watch from home if requested by the Bishop. Recently we had a member inform us that they could not watch conference with the stream.lds.org URL.

Does anyone know how to pickup webcasts using a Mac?

Thanks
Don Goehring
Houston Texas South Stake
Technology Specialist
dgoehring@byu.net

Most likely the user does not have Windows Media Player installed. It is available here.

Microsoft stopped supporting Windows Media Player on the Mac in 2006. Microsoft has instead turned Mac compatibility for MWV files over to Flip4Mac which provides a plug in for QuickTime on the Mac so that it can play back MWV files.

It can be downloaded here.

Edit: I just noticed that the link posted by oregonmatt automatically redirects to the Flip4Mac download page.

Once you have downloaded and installed Flip4Mac on your Mac, you can test the webcast ability with one of the following streams:

http://stream.lds.org/webcast
http://stream.lds.org/webcast2

I've gotten both feeds to work on Firefox 3.6.12 but can only get the audio to work on Safari 5.0.3 on Mac OS 10.6.5.

At some point in the future it would be nice to be able to stream this content to an iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch using HTTP Live Streaming protocol instead of being stuck with WMV format. But as that protocol is still in development, I expect it will be some time before this becomes an option for webcasting stake conference and such.

Check out VLC. That's what we use to view our stake conferences in other buildings and it works on Mac and Windows as well as I believe iOS devices now too.

VLC seems to work fine on the Mac, but has anyone found a way to play on iPad?

Unfortunately VLC for iOS was pulled. As far as I know, there are no viable alternatives for iOS to stream Windows Media Files. So one of the following would need to happen:

1. The Church needs to offer the stream in a format iOS can handle natively (such as HTML Live Streaming).
2. Apple needs to modify its App Store rules so that the VLC app doesn't violate them.
3. A new iOS app needs to be developed that can play Windows Media streams without violating the licencing terms of Apple's App Store.

With the release of the new Apple TV that can output video at 1080p, with the 3rd generation iPad that can now output video to another device at 1080p, and with Apple having sold more iPads last quarter (15.4M) than HP sold computers (15.1M), hopefully #1 will happen sooner than later.

schester wrote:VLC seems to work fine on the Mac, but has anyone found a way to play on iPad?

Hi all. I just downloaded an iPad app called GoodPlayer. It allows you to play streamed WM content, including Church webcasts. You need to preface the url with mms://, e.g. mms://stream.lds.org/webcast, but it works reasonably well. Enjoy!

Had to use mmsh://stream.lds.org/webcast to get it to play and it works within reason, because it this or nothing on the iPad 2
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Is VLC still the best option for Mac? It's been a few months since the last post, so just seeing if any new developments have come along.

I am able to get it (http://stream.lds.org/webcast) working on Mavericks on Mac using Safari and flip4mac. However, I cannot get our stake broadcast working properly. I can see video just fine but no audio. Same thing for my iPhone or iPad using VLC for iOS. Anyone know how to modify the broadcast from the stake broadcast box? I'm assuming that the codec it is using in that box is different from what would be on stream.lds.org/webcast and the reason why sound is not available.

Are you able to verify that audio is being sent? VLC usually works, but I think others have reported problems with sending sound.

I use the QPlayer app from the App Store. It works, but it takes 3-5 minutes to load the stream. It works over cellular or WiFi.

I just downloaded "VLC for iOS" on my iPad and it can receive our stake's weekly broadcast (a sacrament meeting for shut-ins). I can hear the audio and video.

If you can't hear the audio, you probably selected an incorrect option in the setup of the broadcast. I've done that before and learned the hard way.

bcressall wrote:our stake's weekly broadcast (a sacrament meeting for shut-ins).

Interesting. Is this staged in a room other than the chapel? And I assume they're not doing the sacrament itself, but just the talks?

The reason I ask is because it's against policy to broadcast from the chapel, except for stake conference. It's also against policy to broadcast the ordinance of the sacrament.