by Patrick Villanueva, Technology Instructor and Media Lab Assistant
1/16/21
I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season. Until things return to somewhat normal, online gatherings will maintain its role in helping us stay connected to friends and family. We've been using apps and services like Zoom, Facebook Messenger, text messages, our various social media and other platforms to help fill the gap created by social distancing.
Aside from gathering online with friends and/or family to hang out and chat, it made me wonder what other services there were to close the gap even further. I figured that listening to music was possible, but also discovered that the same applied to watching movies. This includes TV shows, YouTube videos and some other streaming services that comprise our digital worlds. Let's explore how to do that.
I thought about popular chat software's ability to share video and tested many of them. They all work about the same, and the problem is they're definitely not ready for what I was expecting. Audio is not up to expectations, and neither is video. Clarity may be okay, but I've had more choppy experiences than not. So it would be very difficult to recommend any of these for the purpose of an online watch party or listening party. As far as I know, this applies to Zoom, Facebook Messenger Rooms and Google Meet. An app called Discord, which works similar to the others, is promising with its recent video updates, but while it's a feature that continues to be developed, I'm looking for good solutions right now.
Facebook's Watch Party
I've explored Facebook's Watch Party a few months ago, and it's pretty much exactly what I would expect of an online watch party. As you see in the picture, you can watch a video simultaneously with your friends or family and chat in real-time. Video and audio are also what you'd expect. The biggest flaw to the service is that videos are restricted to what is natively available on Facebook. So, that means you can't watch your own videos unless they're somehow part of the featured videos. Unfortunately, I also can't find Facebook’s Watch Party at the moment. But if you can navigate to the Watch Party, feel free to explore it.
Plex.tv
I looked around for something similar to Facebook's Watch Party, recalling services like Netflix Party (Teleparty) that was recommended to me, but with the ability for users to share any video locally. That also means, a free service to watch videos with others in real-time. The ability to exchange messages with other party members, via an integrated chat box, would be great but not necessary. The most important thing would be to watch videos concurrently, with good video and audio quality. That's when I remembered an app called Plex, something I read about a few years ago.
As stated on their website:
"Plex brings together all the media that matters to you. Your personal collection will look beautiful alongside stellar streaming content. Enjoy Live TV & DVR, a growing catalog of great web shows, news, and podcasts. It's finally possible to enjoy all the media you love in a single app, on any device, no matter where you are."
Plex allows you to watch any video from your library with other people online, which is where the real power of this application lies. You will need to create a free account, download and install the Plex media server, sync up your files and/or folders, and add your friends or family to your network. Each of them will also need to sign up for free Plex accounts.
Please note that the server application pretty much references your files and doesn't copy them over to their system. The software turns your computer into a server for the videos you'd like to share. But once a specific video is shared with your watch party members, it's easy to watch together. There's an option that will tell you to do just that. See below.
There isn't too much more to it. You should know that anyone can pause/rewind/forward and it will do the same on the other computers.
Side note: As the "watch together" option may not show with the video, you may want to restart your media server and toggle your log in by refreshing your login. When you're finished, don't forget to turn off your server unless you want to keep it available for your shared party. Just remember that these things can take up computer resources.
Other notes: No chat is included. If you want to instant message with your party while the video plays, it's probably best to use your chat service of choice alongside Plex. There's also an option to share music, but it's also paid. I'm looking for free resources.
Listening to Music Online with Others (via YouTube)
In researching Netflix Party, I stumbled upon Scener - a more advanced Google Chrome extension that enables joint real-time viewing amongst many popular services. As stated on their website:
"Scener is the best way to watch shows and movies with others. Whether you’re looking to hang out privately with friends, or connect with fans in your virtual theater, Scener is the only way to watch premium entertainment from the major services in perfect sync with people around the world."
It works with YouTube, so Scener can be used to listen to music together. Aside from Netflix, other popular services include HBO Max, Disney+, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and Vimeo. Scener also enables things such as your webcam/mic and includes a chat box. It's pretty much what a "Viewing Party Online" should be, but accommodates the services above. It's a lot, but excludes local files. If it did, it'd be perfect.
Everybody in your party will need to use the Chrome extension, so that means using Google Chrome is required. You'll also need to create a free Scener login, and the rest is pretty straightforward. There are a number permission prompts that you'll need to verify, and you'll ultimately get to the main screen. It didn't take very long, a few seconds to be exact. Let's take a look at the interface.
The Scener app/plugin configures your service and interface, while adding the camera/mic and chat box option to connect with your party. The entire right column is where that functionality resides.
Again, I'm using YouTube as a free music source. To listen to music with others, create a playlist and add all the songs you'd like to listen to. You may want to have your party collaborate on it, which isn't too difficult. Just make sure to enable that option when initially making the playlist on YouTube. This way, you not only are listening to music together, but also engaging everyone involved.
Share the invite link with others, press play, and that's it. I know that whoever has the "remote" can play/rewind/forward, much like how it's done in real life, and it will reflect on the computers of the other party members. The user with the remote can also change the videos.
Other notes: YouTube Premium will disable all commercials, while those with a free account will continue to see commercials as before. All users will need to have accounts set up for the other paid services and be logged in where necessary like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video.
If you have any questions, you can email me at MediaLab@lakeforestlibrary.org. And please feel free to make a virtual appointment with me or my colleague Kristin at lakeforestlibrary.org/medialab. We'd be happy to help with your digital needs.
And until next time, please stay healthy and safe!