[icruise]

According to this entry at TUAW, iTunes 6.0.2 allows you to share videos with other computers on a local network in the same way that you share music. However, I can't get it to work. I'm trying to access the videos on my new iMac Core Duo running Tiger with my PowerBook G4 running Panther. They both have the latest versions of iTunes. The only thing I can think of is the difference in OS.

When I access the "shared music" for my iMac in the sources tab on my PowerBook, it only displays a small portion of the videos on my iMac, and it seems like they are the last ones that I added. I have a bunch of playlists that should include other videos, but they are blank when viewed on the PowerBook. Plus, when I try to actually play the videos that do show up, nothing happens. The videos I'm speaking of are ones that I encoded myself. The few that I've downloaded from the iTMS don't show up on the PowerBook (just like most of my videos). Is this feature working for other people? Am I overlooking something?

[icruise]

Posts here lead me to believe that only videos imported into iTunes after version 6.0.2 will show up for sharing, which might explain why only a few of my videos are showing up. But that doesn't explain why none of them play.

[icruise]

So has anyone else tried this? I tried accessing the videos using iTunes for Windows as well and it didn't work.

I take that back. I just tried re-importing a video I downloaded from iTunes and it does work over the network, even though none of the ones I've converted myself will. I wonder what the difference is.

[jay3ld]

i have a video from when itunes first started offering videos. and i tried the sharing and the movie plays. takes a bit to load but it does play.

[icruise]

I also tried some video podcasts, and they work. So it would appear that something about the videos I encoded myself is preventing them from playing. They were done with Videora iPod Convertor for Windows and Handbrake.

[the3rdParty]

I have spent a few moments playing with this and so far:

Positive:
- Works Mac to Mac with both Tiger and Panther OS
- Works over wireless
- Works between Win XP and Tiger/Panther

Negative:
- There is evidently a bandwidth or processor limitation as I could only get low bit rate streams (15fps, small image size (100x150)) to work over wireless (iMac G5 2ghz to ibook G3 800mhz).
- I have had several freezes (of stream rather than application) even with low bit rate video. There appears to be a stability issue.
- Some video just will not stream successfully. I have had no joy with h264 encoded clips. There is evidently something mysterious going on that needs further research. Either bandwith or format or processing capacity.
- with some video you need to hint the file with Quicktime pro before it can be shared (export, Movie to Hinted Movie). This isnt always successful.
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...&lsrc=osxh


Doubts:
- I read conflicting reports on Max image size. One post stated that it will stream 720x400 whereas another indicated that you cannot stream more than 320x240. I have tried 720x400 and can get sound but a new frame every few seconds.

I really want this to work and be able to access video material on my iMac G5 from a powerbook elsewhere my home wireless network.

[the3rdParty]

More experience:
I linked via ethernet an ibook (dual usb) g3 800 os 10.3.9 to a 1.5 ghz pc running xp. This made a 100Mbps connection. Both computers had the same video clip in the shared video library which was 688x400 pixels, h264, aac, 25 fps. Implied data rate 1.29mbits/sec.

The pc played the file from the mac flawlessly. No visible loss of quality, no hangs.
The mac palyed the file from the pc with great difficulty. Sound was continuous but only about 1 frame every 10 secs.

Other videos on the pc with smaller bit rates played ok on the mac. This makes me think that there are either OS or processing power limitations to video sharing.