streaming live video from gopro

S asked me about streaming live video wirelessly from their GoPro Hero 3+ camera.

This article gives the steps in text form:
http://www.wikihow.com/Stream-Your-GoPro-to-Your-PC-Using-VLC-Media-Player

This youtube video shows in video form.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BByvuPSdms

EZcast dongle - wireless display - display mirroring over wifi

I recently got an EZCast dongle, which can handle MiraCast, Apple AirPlay and DLNA as well as output from it's own EZCast app. Things to take care while using:

• Make sure that the USB port powering the dongle can supply sufficient power. Or use a good quality USB charger. Low quality chargers may have electrical noise issues. 
• First set up using the EZCast app - that is the easiest way to get things going. Using an Android phone, for eg, install the app, then connect to the EZCast dongle's wifi access point SSID displayed on the initial setup screen. After that, run the app, it scans for the EZCast device, and the setup is fairly self-explanatory after that.
• EZMirror - display mirroring using Miracast - requires the device to support it. Many cheaper devices don't.

Using the Xiaomi Mi3 with EZCast with EZMirror mode was similar to the youtube video demonstrating the Mi2 - but the menu item is in Settings -> More -> Wi-Fi Display

When the EZCast is set up in EZMirror mode, once you go to Settings -> More -> Wi-Fi Display and Enable Wifi display, the EZCast device will be displayed below it, and can be selected to start the screen mirroring.

About the quality - the video quality degrades a bit compared to a direct wired HDMI connection, due to the re-encoding with H.264 and depending on the setup, resolution of the video may also be changed. There is also a bit of latency, 5 frames or so in the case of mirroring on my phone. 

stream video from gopro camera

The Studio folks got a GoPro Hero3+ camera and they wanted to use it wirelessly. Showed them:

This article gives the steps in text form:
http://www.wikihow.com/Stream-Your-GoPro-to-Your-PC-Using-VLC-Media-Player

This youtube video shows in video form.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BByvuPSdms

Unfortunately, a lot of delay in the video - so usefulness would be limited for live programs. The range of the wifi would also be a limitation. 

exporting anu fonts to unicode

At long last, found a web tool to convert anu fonts - used by the Telugu team to create pagemaker documents, exported to pdf - to unicode, for pasting in Wordpad and so on.

https://www.google.co.in/search?q=export+text+anu+fonts+telugu

http://crossroads.veeven.com/2010/11/15/converting-text-from-anu-to-unicode/

I used the second link, Dynamic Font to Unicode convertor, and got reasonably OK results. 

large file download and unzip

Just documenting the time taken etc. - downloading the 98 GB zip file from ESO's website,

• On my machine with a single download segment, 3 Mbps, 3 days estimated, with our 10 Mbps network. 
• On R's machine at college with their 1 Gbps network, Sat-night, Sun-morning, 4 segment download at around 15 Mbps. 1.5 MB per second. 15 hours. 10 segment download might have been faster. 
• Copying from their NAS over their 1 Gbps internal network to the external hard disk - half an hour. 
• Unzipping on my machine - around 4 hours with 7-zip. 

godaddy dns editing

One of my colleages needed some help with editing the DNS records on godaddy. The interface is not the easiest to navigate: In godaddy site -> expand domains by clicking the + sign to the left -> click Launch for the required domain -> Click on DNS Zone file tab, make edits there. 

internet radio, AppleTV etc and possible local issues

The Logitech internet radio of our neighbour was "not working". Found that the radio had some issues connecting when their ip camera is streaming. If the internet radio is started before the camera, then it can play even when the camera is on. Possible mitigation by reducing the frame rate or resolution of the camera image for reducing its network usage.

In case they think of the Apple TV or Roku, the internet connection may need to be upgraded. Some Indian reviewers mention that Apple TV needed > 5 Mbps for smooth video. Apparently Apple TV does not support live streams. So, the live broadcasts can't be watched (without airplay and another apple device, of course) only after the program concludes can those programs be watched. Maybe support for live will come later, like for the iOS app.

Similarly, the Roku Youtube app also has limitations, it apparently works only in US, UK, Canada and Ireland.

Here is a nice review of many of the current set top boxes, but US-centric
http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/roku-3-best-streaming-box/