Nowadays there are a lot of sporting events (not only football games), that may not be transmitted in your country, or the television service provider to which you are subscribed doesn’t include in their grid those video channels, leaving us to watch “live text” on the Internet, a name became more and more familiar amongst fans everywhere: SopCast.
SopCast is the easiest way to transmit live any video – audio file or to watch TV channels and listen to online radio.
SopCast is based on P2P (peer-to-peer) technology and is very easy to use. It allows users to transmit video – audio files over the Internet with no additional costs, or even build their own online digital television.
It is equipped with a technology that allows it to pass 90% of NAT or Firewall boundaries. Real-time streaming, and support for various data transport protocols (mms, http) are in-built technologies.
Sop Player can be integrated into a webpage or any other software application. It works just the same as Windows Media Player.
Sop Player and Sop Server can both run on Windows and Linux.
The system is efficient, easy to use and well thought so that anyone can broadcast directly over Internet, even if not given a powerful server or an impressive bandwidth. With a simple personal computer and a regular Internet connection, you can broadcast in homes of over 10,000 users.
Sop stands for “Streaming over P2P”, because as I said before, SopCast is a streaming service (Streaming Direct Broadcasting System) based on the P2P system, and the communication protocol is produced by the SopCast team.
What are the advantages of SopCast?
Performing P2P technology makes users to share the same data, resulting in a stable and easy to follow video channel.
Minimum delay and fast buffer loading (somewhere between 10 and 30 seconds).
The possibility to create your own video channels, combined with the support for a large formats number: asf, wmv, rm, rmvb, mp3, etc.
Reduced resources consumption (both in terms of memory and CPU loading).
It can record.
We are not forced to use a specific player. We can choose between Windows Media Player, RealPlayer or VLC.
It allows the transmission of real time events.
It has support for http and mms protocol.
The channels are monitored in real-time, so that users can make a good opinion regarding the source quality and the transmission network. We even have at our disposal a quality indicator.
The service uses standard URLs, thus a simple click on the address that starts with sop:// is enough to open the channel.
Loops are allowed.
The buffering is done only inside the RAM memory, so the HDD is not worn out. Not everyone has SSD.
The authentication is allowed for both those who broadcast, but also for regular users, consumers, but I haven’t noticed any benefit from the second case.
The performing technology used in the case of address translation (NAT) overpass the majority of limitations of the P2P system.
System security at both ends.
A single PC can be used to transmit multiple video channels.
The SoP Player, like the Media Player, can be embedded into any web page, or into another application.
Both the SoP Server and SoP Player runs on Windows and Linux.
Finally, SopCast is a freeware product, or at most ad-supported.
SopCast. Download and installation
Now, after I explained why SopCast deserves installed on your computer, let’s see what are the required steps to do so. I’m interested only in SopPlayer for Windows, which you can download from here.
Download the SopCast -3.2.8.zip archive, inside which we have two files:
- changeLog.txt (developers log)
- Setup-SopCast-3.2.8.exe (the program which we run)
I. Choose the language for the installation, but the options are very numerous.
II. In the next screen, we are noticed to close any SopCast related applications, including the web page. We do that, and then click on Next.
III. Accept the License terms.
IV. Choose a path for the installation. Then click on next.
V. Instead of a typical installation we choose a custom installation and deselect the box referring to the Ask personalized toolbar. Click on Install.
VI. Click on Finish to run SopCast.
SopCast. The Welcoming screen and interface
If you are interested to create your own channels and you are only a consumer, you can log in as “anonymous”.
At the top of the screen, we notice the address bar (with the validation button) and five tabs:
- “Home” – It’s the standard selection and where a series of commercial are displayed.
- “Live Channels” – The list of predefined channels that are available for watching over Internet.
- “Rec. Channels” – Refers to the recorded video channels.
- “My server” - Here you set your own transmission.
- “FAQ” – frequent questions.
At bottom of the screen, we have four buttons:
- “Subscribe” – for registration to a certain channel.
- “Apply” – Selected options validation.
- “Options” – Here we select the language, number of allowed instances and standard player.
- “Exit” – SopCast is closed.
For a detailed description of the interface please see the official help manual, available on the SopCast site.
Watching a video channel with SopCast
Just double-click on any of the predefined channels for the viewer window to open, and in less than half a minute, you can sit and watch TV. Or, instead of a double click, right click and choose “Play”. Make sure the buffer reaches 100%, or else the image will be framed.
As a hint, I can tell you that one of the best web sites that can offer information about SopCast channels (and not only) available in real time is MyP2P.
I need to clarify a few things. Not all channels broadcast 24 / 24, seven days a week, and sometimes might happen the breaking of the connection. Before blaming the computer, the internet service provider, the universal crisis or some universal conspiracy, please check if this situation is general or just for a particular channel. Before you rush to draw conclusions, read the page with frequently asked questions, and the answers will come.
