Syncplay
Syncplay is a neat application that allows you to… well sync playing movies remotely.
It’s cross platform supporting Linux, BSD, OSX and Windows and open source. While also supporting a number of different movie players, mpv, mpv.net, IINA, MPC-BE, MPC-HC and VLC.
There are some free servers that are up and running that you just join and create a room and start watching. Alternatively you can also setup your own as well. The client also supports chatting with everyone that your watching with as well.
Pandemic Movie Nights
I had never heard of Syncplay prior to last weekend, but I’m glad I know about it now, it came in very handy. And while not being as good as all watching a movie together in the same house / theater it was a pretty great experience that I would definitely recommend.
We used this last weekend to watch a movie together with a group of friends. And quite honestly I was impressed at how quickly we all got it setup and ready to use. I was in Arch Linux using MPV, we had a few watching from OSX and a couple running in Windows as well. Some of us were also in a Discord server to allow voice chatting, but the built in chat overlay also worked quite nicely as well.
How to use it
Note: Everyone needs a copy of the movie your going to watch.
Usage:
- Download and install syncplay
- Point the media folder to the location where you have a copy of the movie
- Join the same syncplay server and #channel as your pals
- Click I’m READY
That’s it, then whoever’s leading the movie night will have remote control over peoples players and can pause etc.