5 ms·

Yup, DTube, like most projects related to STEEM still have a high degree of centralization. This reddit comment gives a good evaluation of DTube: https://www.re

Yup, DTube, like most projects related to STEEM still have a high degree of centralization. This reddit comment gives a good evaluation of DTube: https://www.reddit.com/r/dtube/comments/7ysdn1/how_distributed_is_dtube/dujaxpi/ https://www.reddit.com/r/dtube/comments/7ysdn1/how_distribut... So most parts of it could at their core be used in a distributed fashion, but are actually accessed via CDNs. E.g. you could use ipfs-companion[0] to alter all instances of ipfs.io URLs to point to a local IPFS daemon that is connected to the IPFS network in a distributed fashion. I did just that and streamed a video on DTube via a local IPFS daemon and the result was pretty underwhelming, since it took quite some time for the video to load, but I don't dare to evaluate why that is so. After that it does have the nice benefit though that the same video streams instantly on any other machine in my home network! In a transitional phase to a distributed web I'd expect a lot of websites to employ a similar approach of using CDNs at first (since not everybode has local nodes running), but its sad to see that some of the flagship projects like DTube aren't even open source (and I have no idea if they ever plan to be) and/or have a distributed version available. [0]: https://github.com/ipfs-shipyard/ipfs-companion https://github.com/ipfs-shipyard/ipfs-companion

arghwhat 9y ago
This solution might make a lot of sense as a build-up process. However, until DTube release a client so that the network can build, it's just a centralized video platform using IPFS and STEEM as storage backends. Unless clients are made available, it might as well use S3 and Postgres.
- TekMol 9y ago
  If it uses IPFS as a storage backend, then why is it faster to watch the video on the website then via IPFS as hobofan did? This seems to be an indication they store that data on a server all the time.
  - diggan 9y ago
    By default, when making requests to the HTTP gateway, it'll cache the content requested until a GC runs. So it's possible that the local node you're using, have not seen the content before so it needs to go out and fetch it while the gateway d.tube uses, already has the content fetched and only needs to serve it. Of course, the second time you load the content (or if another node on your local network already loaded it) via a local node, it'll be much faster than the public gateway d.tube is running. Disclaimer: I work for Protocol Labs specifically on IPFS.
    - arghwhat 9y ago
      Furthermore, being behind a CDN, the CDN might be caching some resources at their edges for additional performance improvement. (I believe someone stated DTube was running behind a CDN.)
- btczeus 9y ago
  The content is hosted on the STEEM blockchain. d.tube is just a front-end. You can access it thru different front-ends i.e.: steemit.com, busy.org Just like blockchain.info is a frontend to the bitcoin blockchain
leoc 9y ago
> In a transitional phase to a distributed web I'd expect a lot of websites to employ a similar approach of using CDNs at first (since not everybode has local nodes running) I'd like to think so, but a more cynical take is that efforts like this to trade on 'distributed' will either (and most likely) fail or, if they do get traction, ditch the distributed backend once it's served its purpose as a selling-point to attract early adoption.
- hobofan 9y ago
  TBH, I'm not sure how big of a future video "platforms" will even have. With IPFS+Filecoin and a few other parts, it might become quite trivial to host your own video content. With that the focus could possibly shift to platforms like Patreon, and if the payment parts of that can be commoditized (via things like Stellar and SatoshiPay), maybe even back to the good old website. One can only dream...
  - TekMol 9y ago
    With IPFS+Filecoin and a few other parts, it might become quite trivial to host your own video content. Using Filecoin means you are not hosting it yourself.
    - hobofan 9y ago
      Oh, of course, my bad. I mean't to express "have your content hosted without a central party gatekeeping party".
diggan 9y ago
> I did just that and streamed a video on DTube via a local IPFS daemon and the result was pretty underwhelming, since it took quite some time for the video to load, but I don't dare to evaluate why that is so. After that it does have the nice benefit though that the same video streams instantly on any other machine in my home network! Could be that you just started the IPFS node and it didn't really have any time yet to connect to a large enough number of peers. But yeah, as you said, the benefit is that after the fetch from the internet backbone, the content now lives much closer for the next time. Disclaimer: I work for Protocol Labs on IPFS
- hobofan 9y ago
  No I don't think that was it. I had ~700 peers connected. I guess due to DTube using CDNs in front of IPFS most content is probably only available from very few actual nodes. PS: Keep up the great work on IPFS!
  - Bombthecat 9y ago
    My guess would be that distributed internet will never work. Sure for popular content like Google.com. or the top 1000 of YouTube will work. But the rest will always crawl to a stand still, since the content will always be on a far away or slow node...
    - prophesi 9y ago
      It just needs an incentive to have others host your content, AKA FileCoin. You've always gotta pay a little bit to keep your sites up.
      - xyzzy_plugh 9y ago
        I think it's worse than that, there needs to be an incentive for businesses to own and support it for non-enthusiasts. How could Apple or Google or Amazon or Facebook make money by promoting a distributed internet?

arghwhat 9y ago

This solution might make a lot of sense as a build-up process. However, until DTube release a client so that the network can build, it's just a centralized video platform using IPFS and STEEM as storage backends. Unless clients are made available, it might as well use S3 and Postgres.

TekMol 9y ago
If it uses IPFS as a storage backend, then why is it faster to watch the video on the website then via IPFS as hobofan did? This seems to be an indication they store that data on a server all the time.
- diggan 9y ago
  By default, when making requests to the HTTP gateway, it'll cache the content requested until a GC runs. So it's possible that the local node you're using, have not seen the content before so it needs to go out and fetch it while the gateway d.tube uses, already has the content fetched and only needs to serve it. Of course, the second time you load the content (or if another node on your local network already loaded it) via a local node, it'll be much faster than the public gateway d.tube is running. Disclaimer: I work for Protocol Labs specifically on IPFS.
  - arghwhat 9y ago
    Furthermore, being behind a CDN, the CDN might be caching some resources at their edges for additional performance improvement. (I believe someone stated DTube was running behind a CDN.)
btczeus 9y ago
The content is hosted on the STEEM blockchain. d.tube is just a front-end. You can access it thru different front-ends i.e.: steemit.com, busy.org Just like blockchain.info is a frontend to the bitcoin blockchain

leoc 9y ago

> In a transitional phase to a distributed web I'd expect a lot of websites to employ a similar approach of using CDNs at first (since not everybode has local nodes running) I'd like to think so, but a more cynical take is that efforts like this to trade on 'distributed' will either (and most likely) fail or, if they do get traction, ditch the distributed backend once it's served its purpose as a selling-point to attract early adoption.

hobofan 9y ago
TBH, I'm not sure how big of a future video "platforms" will even have. With IPFS+Filecoin and a few other parts, it might become quite trivial to host your own video content. With that the focus could possibly shift to platforms like Patreon, and if the payment parts of that can be commoditized (via things like Stellar and SatoshiPay), maybe even back to the good old website. One can only dream...
- TekMol 9y ago
  With IPFS+Filecoin and a few other parts, it might become quite trivial to host your own video content. Using Filecoin means you are not hosting it yourself.
  - hobofan 9y ago
    Oh, of course, my bad. I mean't to express "have your content hosted without a central party gatekeeping party".

diggan 9y ago

> I did just that and streamed a video on DTube via a local IPFS daemon and the result was pretty underwhelming, since it took quite some time for the video to load, but I don't dare to evaluate why that is so. After that it does have the nice benefit though that the same video streams instantly on any other machine in my home network! Could be that you just started the IPFS node and it didn't really have any time yet to connect to a large enough number of peers. But yeah, as you said, the benefit is that after the fetch from the internet backbone, the content now lives much closer for the next time. Disclaimer: I work for Protocol Labs on IPFS

hobofan 9y ago
No I don't think that was it. I had ~700 peers connected. I guess due to DTube using CDNs in front of IPFS most content is probably only available from very few actual nodes. PS: Keep up the great work on IPFS!
- Bombthecat 9y ago
  My guess would be that distributed internet will never work. Sure for popular content like Google.com. or the top 1000 of YouTube will work. But the rest will always crawl to a stand still, since the content will always be on a far away or slow node...
  - prophesi 9y ago
    It just needs an incentive to have others host your content, AKA FileCoin. You've always gotta pay a little bit to keep your sites up.
    - xyzzy_plugh 9y ago
      I think it's worse than that, there needs to be an incentive for businesses to own and support it for non-enthusiasts. How could Apple or Google or Amazon or Facebook make money by promoting a distributed internet?