VMS

A Python utility to keep multiple devices playing the same video file in sync, using MQTT.

(Originally made for easing out movie-watching for nerdy long-distance-relationships)

The module can be run on a device connected locally to the device hosting the VLC session.
For example, it is possible to have machine A (with internet access), connected locally to a machine B (with or without internet access) running a VLC session and control the B's playback. This essentially is the typical RC interface provided by videoLAN over a telnet interface.

Configuration and Requirements

On your host machine, go to
VLC > Tools > Preferences > All Settings > Interface > Main Interfaces > Lua
and edit these options for Lua Telnet:

Host 		: <Find the local IP of the host and insert here>
Port 		: <port>
Password 	: <password>

The utility runs on Python3.7. A stale branch for Python3.6 is available. It features no GUI and is not extremely friendly to interface.

Use pip3 install -r requirements.txt --user to install necessary modules.

Usage

1. Run vms.py and master.py.
2. Wait for all connections to establish.
3. Open same files on different systems connected to the internet.
4. Use the master.py script to send commands/messages.

master.py can send various commands (most of the ones provided in the VideoLAN interface) to control behaviour on all screens.
Send h for a list of available commands, or x to exit.

Due to the VLC Interface responding only to specific commands, the master.py interface doubles up as a group chat, where each message is sent to all live users!
The messages can be sent from the master shell and can be received on the vms shell.

Examples

Public Server

For a quick test, a config file for Mosquitto's public server is already provided with the configuration:

MQTT Broker IP/Server: test.mosquitto.org
MQTT Port: 1883
MQTT Topic: vlcMQTTSyncPublic
VLC Host IP: localhost
Host Port: 4212
Host Password: test

The configurations can be done manually as well.

Run python3 vms.py, choose option 1, and follow-up with:

MQTT Broker IP/Server: test.mosquitto.org
MQTT Port: 1883
MQTT Topic: randomTopic
VLC Host IP: localhost
Host Port: 4212
Host Password: ****

If the above server doesn't work out for you, consult this list of publicly available MQTT servers.

Some public servers allow traffic only on certain ports. The server test.mosquitto.org for example, listens on the following ports:

• 1883 : MQTT, unencrypted
• 8883 : MQTT, encrypted
• 8884 : MQTT, encrypted, client certificate required
• 8080 : MQTT over WebSockets, unencrypted
• 8081 : MQTT over WebSockets, encrypted

Private Servers

Run python3 vms.py, choose option 2, and follow-up with:

MQTT Broker IP/Server: <server-ip>
MQTT Port: 1883
MQTT Topic: customTopic
MQTT Username: <username>
MQTT Password: *******
VLC Host IP: localhost
Host Port: 1437
Host Password: *******

Using a separate interface

The only change that needs to be made when vms and VLC sessions are running on different devices is giving the correct VLC Host IP and port and making sure the VLC host is configured to listen to it.

MQTT Broker IP/Server: test.mosquitto.org
MQTT Port: 1883
MQTT Topic: randomTopic
VLC Host IP: 192.168.1.5
Host Port: 4212
Host Password: *******

Saved configurations

All configurations are saved in the config folder and are accessible by vms.py as well as master.py

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Update

I'm thinking of refactoring this project to:

• make it more modular in terms of features
• send and receive encrypted messages
• implement rooms
• eventually support a GUI : possibly a floating widget that can expand into the chat window.

Please feel free to submit a pull request :)