
PeerTube 1.0: A decentralized video hosting network, based on libre software - varal7
https://joinpeertube.org/en/?
======
sctb
Discussions from the last few days:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18204410](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18204410)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18196255](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18196255)

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fabricexpert
I've been doing lots of research on video games and some other niche areas,
it's staggering how much information is on YouTube and only on YouTube. There
are millions of hours of super high quality user-generated content locked up
in videos that can't be (or aren't) indexed properly, all of which are
effectively owned and maintained by Google.

The number of alternatives to youtube is approximately zero. No one wants to
upload to a new platform because it's a lot of work and you don't get paid for
it (once you hit a certain number of YT views you start getting paid and
there's real incentive there, you can potentially get relatively wealthy from
it).

Perhaps peertube will be the solution, but I suspect we need something
groundbreaking to conquer the monopoly here.

~~~
CobrastanJorji
It's a good point. I'm very interested in plans to allow recouping of network
costs. I'm happy to store my videos on my home desktop or in the cloud
somewhere; that's inexpensive. But if a million people want to download my
videos in 4K someday? I can't afford to pay for that. Those downloaders might
be willing to pay a few pennies each, though. An advertising network seems
like the obvious but wrong solution. I wonder if there could be some
standardized way of generifying payment for videos, so that users could plug
in any combination of ad viewing, direct payments, or whatever as desired, so
that the ecosystem around getting money out of viewers could develop
independently from the ecosystem for providing content.

~~~
stev0lution
Ever heard about Brave or BAT?
[https://github.com/brave](https://github.com/brave)

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gobengo
Good media hosts with all the fixins like CDNs, multiple formats, etc. are
much needed on the fediverse.

And iirc this project has been ongoing for at least a year, maybe more than
two, so this isn't a rushed 1.0. Kudos for the persistence and contribution.

Another win for ActivityPub!

~~~
corobo
I don't think it's possible due to issue #1229. I know I shouldn't judge a
project by it's closed issues but honestly I think the issue closure here has
branded PeerTube as forever small fry in my mind

[https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube/issues/1229](https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube/issues/1229)

~~~
austinheap
Chocobozzz didn't say that PeerTube _will never_ support load balancing, just
that -- for the issue you linked -- _load balancing the transcoding engine_ is
not a priority for the core dev team/doesn't promote their top-line goals of
decentralization.

I'm sure they'd accept a well-written PR.

~~~
corobo
For context

> Sorry but peertube does not support load balancing. If you plan to have many
> users, you should consider creating different instances (to promote
> decentralization).

How I read this, whether correctly or not, was that it’s suggested you set up
an entirely new server, new database, new domain, new storage (cluster?), etc
instead of being able to grow out your one instance. So now any new users need
to register and upload to server2.example.com because of “because
decentralisation”

It’s just not feasible for the mainstream.

Please do correct me if I’m interpreting incorrectly

~~~
austinheap
> How I read this, whether correctly or not, was that it’s suggested you set
> up an entirely new server, new database, new domain, new storage (cluster?),
> etc instead of being able to grow out your one instance.

I could see that interpretation. Personally, I read that as "if you need to
load balance transcoding, that code won't be done by the core team (right
now)". You can already use whatever Postgres/Redis/nginx setup you want,
cluster/load-balance those how you desire, etc. Load balancing _the
transcoding engine_ for new uploads is simply a different beast.

> So now any new users need to register and upload to server2.example.com
> because of “because decentralisation”

The only scenario in which load balancing transcoding changes anything is if
1) a user is uploading videos to a specific instance and 2) that instance is
busy transcoding videos that were uploaded previously. So if a user uploads a
video to an instance where all the transcoding threads are already busy, it
wouldn't be available until a thread freed up to transcode it.

> Please do correct me if I’m interpreting incorrectly

FWIW I'm not trying to put words in Chocobozzz's mouth, just my
interpretation.

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kodablah
So close, but ug [0]. A worthy effort (one I might pursue myself) is a self
contained binary (or installer if I have to) that runs on Windows,
daemonizes/service-izes itself w/ built in web server, dyn DNS's itself or
other NAT punch approach, etc.

A laudable first step to be sure, but to decentralize we need to target
desktops. Many have them at home and are willing to leave them on all day,
especially content creators. And it needs to be as easy to setup and non-
desktop-invasive as possible. So sqlite instead of postgres? In mem instead of
redis? Built-in web server instead of nginx? Windows instead of not-Windows?
UI instead of a bunch of scripts? Bandwidth concerns, now we can talk about
the value of BT or similar, but lots of content has few enough users to
leverage a home connection.

Or we can meet in the middle, find a quality hosting reseller, and have a UI
that internally deploys containers/content for them for a couple bucks a
month.

0 -
[https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube/blob/develop/support/...](https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube/blob/develop/support/doc/production.md)

~~~
toomuchtodo
An omnibus Docker container is preferable, and could even be run from always-
on home gateways and NAS devices instead of transient desktops.

Targeting desktops natively (and the development effort required) would be a
bucket of sadness, and IMHO, a waste of time.

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tyfon
I like this project in it's concept, but I could never get the server to run
properly.

I also have problems with the fact that the IPs of the watchers are publicly
shared due to the nature of the beast (p2p sharing). I'd like something like
this but where I could give the users the option of running directly off my
server or p2p. Perhaps this is even possible and that I have not seen it yet.

It would be awesome if I could run my own "pod" with my let's plays and have
it federated throughout the network. Currently I use google but without any
form of monetisation as it's a hobby and I don't want to burden people with
adds.

Knowing google though they probably show adds themselvs and/or penalise me in
the search for not having the on.

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14
With YouTube I have noticed more and more videos require "age verification"
which means forced log in. Just turns me off to be honest. Because first of
all, anyone can create an email address and sign up, including my teen kid. So
no it is not an age verification but a tracking system. If I am at my moms or
a friends and using YouTube I don't want to sign into their potentially
compromised pc with my credentials(sadly no yubikey at this time). Plus my
password is like 20 long and random generated so I have no chance of
remembering it. So I get to these videos and I am blocked from watching it
without putting in an effort so I clearly can be tracked. I wait for the day
people ditch YouTube for peer tube and the few videos I have in mind to future
create, will be straight to peer tube not YouTube. My motivations are to share
my knowledge not make any money from it.

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TekMol

        anyone can create an email address and sign up
        including my teen kid
    
        my password is like 20 long and random generated
        so I have no chance of remembering it.
    

Solution: Ask your kid to set up a throwaway account for you. With an easy to
remember password.

~~~
14
That does not address the tracking I have a problem with so not exactly a
solution. Every time I use that throw away account on any pc I become
connected forever to that pc in many data points. Youtube is getting plenty of
data even if I use a throw away account. I would need to make a new throw away
account, from a different ip address each time I wanted to do as you describe
to avoid tracking so sometimes I just don't bother with the video.

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ajvs
I prefer the DTube approach personally.

It instead uses the Steem blockchain for text content so it doesn't have the
issue that ActivityPub or other federation protocols have where it needs to
bootstrap to the largest instances, which is in effect partial centralisation.

Blockchain use also means that server costs are passively paid for due to
block rewards which makes it scalable. Lastly content creators can get paid
directly via cryptocurrency so it encourages much more content creation.

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thepra
I was hopeful for something more normal user manageable, an .exe would've be
nice :/

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rfugger
How do you search across all those instances?

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austinheap
IIRC You can search from any instance that's well-peered:
[https://instances.joinpeertube.org/instances](https://instances.joinpeertube.org/instances)

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narrator
So what does this do that bitchute.com or d.tube doesn't do?

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KaoruAoiShiho
Is this going to be the new youtube for piracy?

~~~
austinheap
Piracy, or other objectionable content, is not exclusive to P2P platforms.
YouTube has moderation features and so does PeerTube. From the FAQ:

    
    
      Being free doesn’t mean being above the law! Each PeerTube hosting provider can decide on its own general conditions of use, abiding by their local laws.
      
      For example, in France, discriminatory content is prohibited and may be reported to the authorities. PeerTube allows users to report problematic videos, and each administrator must then apply its moderation in accordance with its terms and conditions and the law.
      
      The federation system, for its part, allows hosts to decide with whom they want to connect, depending on the types of content or the moderation policies of others.

