[Spice-devel] Video buffering

[John A. Sullivan III]

Hello, all.  We spent some time testing audio and video performance with
SPICE today with mixed results.  Talking heads and some movement were
reasonably acceptable.  However we tried some music and ballet videos to
get lots of movement and the results were unusable - Rite of Spring was
more like Frozen Ice of Winter.  These were not full screen - simple
YouTube type video using an cable Internet connection - several Mbps
download, a couple upload.

We are thus thinking of pursuing our plans to wrap SPICE inside X2Go so
we can use the new mimebox facility and offer users the choice of either
the streaming SPICE video approach or the more Citrix like download and
play locally approach.

I'm guessing the problem is buffering.  If the pipe isn't big enough, it
just isn't going to get through in a usable way - stuttering and
starting all over the place.  Are there any plans to build some sort of
buffering into SPICE when it detects a video stream?

I'm sure many are thinking likewise but we are looking at video as not
just a technology shift but a huge long term cultural shift almost as
large as the printing press so we see any VDI solution which does not
address video despite the huge technical hurdles as inadequate.

We have already been told by some schools that they could not use our
X2Go VDI model because of their need for video.  Likewise, adoption has
been delayed by some large PR / Communications companies because of a
lack of video support.  As we look at consumerization of VDI for
potential service to lower income users, video is a potential show
stopper.

Enough of teaching Grandma to suck eggs but this is why we are so
enthusiastic about SPICE - at least it has a fighting chance with video.
So we look forward to integrating with X2Go and would love to know if
there is a plan (or even an existing way) to implement buffering in
SPICE.  Thanks - John