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I doubt that live(!) P2P video sharing would work. You will have some users who get the video stream directly from you. These primary peers will then need to re

I doubt that live(!) P2P video sharing would work. You will have some users who get the video stream directly from you. These primary peers will then need to relay the same data through their tiny consumer DSL line (slow upload!) to secondary peers. These secondary peers will have a noticeable lag. It will get even worse when you have tertiary peers.

thaumasiotes 2y ago
But the problem is that you have a gigantic audience. Many of them will make effective primary peers. If that weren't true, you wouldn't have a problem in the first place.
oliwarner 2y ago
One great thing about P2P is you can provide more peers. You can surge inexpensive machines near your market and drastically reduce the load on your main servers. And home connections —while still largely asymmetric— are much faster than they used to be. Having 10mbps up means one client can serve two more. And there's a lot more FTTP with 100-1000mbps up too. These really make a difference when you have a large swarm.
- IanCal 2y ago
  A problem with live is that everyone wants the content at the same time. One client can only serve two more after it has the content. Any drop in connection is also very disruptive because you don't have a big buffer and everyone wants the content now. A place this could work is streaming a conference, live-ish is the goal and the producers aren't rich. Sports would be the worst case.
  - thaumasiotes 2y ago
    > A problem with live is that everyone wants the content at the same time. Isn't the point of the P2P approach that it gets better the more this is true?
    - IanCal 2y ago
      No, not really on those timescales. If it's about a popular show that's released the whole season today, yeah absolutely. Pulling ep1 from my neighbour while they watch ep2 makes sense. It doesn't really work for something you want to watch simultaneously and reliably. I have to wait for my neighbour to get the chunk I want, then I get it. If they got it from someone else, we form a bigger chain, and then you have all the broadcasting etc to figure out who to actually get a chunk of video from. Hearing the street cheer while I watch my national team captain take a runup for a penalty is really quite bad.

thaumasiotes 2y ago

But the problem is that you have a gigantic audience. Many of them will make effective primary peers. If that weren't true, you wouldn't have a problem in the first place.

oliwarner 2y ago

One great thing about P2P is you can provide more peers. You can surge inexpensive machines near your market and drastically reduce the load on your main servers. And home connections —while still largely asymmetric— are much faster than they used to be. Having 10mbps up means one client can serve two more. And there's a lot more FTTP with 100-1000mbps up too. These really make a difference when you have a large swarm.

IanCal 2y ago
A problem with live is that everyone wants the content at the same time. One client can only serve two more after it has the content. Any drop in connection is also very disruptive because you don't have a big buffer and everyone wants the content now. A place this could work is streaming a conference, live-ish is the goal and the producers aren't rich. Sports would be the worst case.
- thaumasiotes 2y ago
  > A problem with live is that everyone wants the content at the same time. Isn't the point of the P2P approach that it gets better the more this is true?
  - IanCal 2y ago
    No, not really on those timescales. If it's about a popular show that's released the whole season today, yeah absolutely. Pulling ep1 from my neighbour while they watch ep2 makes sense. It doesn't really work for something you want to watch simultaneously and reliably. I have to wait for my neighbour to get the chunk I want, then I get it. If they got it from someone else, we form a bigger chain, and then you have all the broadcasting etc to figure out who to actually get a chunk of video from. Hearing the street cheer while I watch my national team captain take a runup for a penalty is really quite bad.