View/streaming via Torrent with Webtorrent-cli
View/streaming via Torrent with Webtorrent-cli
The streaming content via Torrent has become the workhorse of many developers struggling to impose this way of broadcast content between users without industries such as MPAA can hardly do anything. I'm not running for or against. I'm paying for online-content and sometimes also download some TV shows I can't get in my country.
In any case, a new tool has appeared on the scene in recent days that surely you already have read something: Webtorrent Desktop. Perhaps what maybe don't you know is that it has a version for the command line that run perfectly on boards as Raspberry Pi or similar. This weekend I've tried and I'm going to teach you how to install and use it.
NOTE: The use of torrent may be prohibited in your country. Make sure you can use it before following the steps below.
First update Node.js to the latest version. If you have not installed and prefer the easy way, remember that you have an install script available with PiKISS.
sudo npm cache clean -f
sudo npm install -g n
sudo n stable
Now it's the turn of webtorrent-cli:
sudo npm install webtorrent-cli -g
You have all the help available with webtorrent --help, but the most common use is with the following parameters:
Download torrents: webtorrent-cli torrent_link. It can be a file, a magnet link, http address,...
Streaming torrent files to a device/player: webtorrent-cli --device, which can be:
--airplay Apple TV
--chromecast Chromecast
--mplayer MPlayer
--mpv MPV
--omx [jack] omx [default: hdmi]
--vlc VLC
--xbmc XBMC
--stdout standard out [implies --quiet]
That's right, it supports omxplayer flawlessly. My testing have been in a Raspberry Pi 2 and was able to play a 1080p video with a little problem (1/2 second with no sound maybe due my limited bandwidth).