Home streaming, in plain terms.

A server on a machine you own reads the video files you already have and sends them to the screens in your house. No catalogue that changes every month, no film that disappears the week you meant to watch it, and no second subscription to see the rest of a series.

How it works

• One computer holds the files and runs the server. It can be the machine you use every day; it does not need to be a dedicated box.
• Every screen asks that machine for what it wants: a browser, a phone, a television.
• Inside the house the video travels over your own network, which is far faster than any line to the internet - a 4K film plays without buffering because nothing leaves the building.
• From outside, one port is opened so the same server can be reached from anywhere. That part is your connection's upload speed, and it is the only number that matters for watching away from home.
• A second computer can follow the first and keep copies of what is being watched, so the machine you use every day can be turned off at night without anybody's evening ending. The app moves between the two on its own.

What it is not

• It is not a catalogue. Nothing is provided with it: what you can watch is what you already have on disk.
• It is not a cloud service. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is stored elsewhere, and it keeps working if the company that wrote it stops existing.
• It is not a way to share a library with strangers. Guests are people you invite by link, and you can see what they are watching and stop it.

What you need

• A computer that stays on while somebody is watching - Windows, or Linux with Docker. An ordinary desktop is more than enough; most files are sent as they are, which costs almost nothing.
• Storage. Films are between 2 and 60 GB each depending on how they were made; a series is smaller per episode and larger in total.
• A network. Wired is best for the machine holding the files; the screens can be on wifi.
• For watching away from home: a router you can forward a port on, and enough upload speed - about 8 Mbit/s for a 1080p film sent as it is, less if it is converted on the way out.

Where the work goes

Most of the time the file is sent untouched and the screen does the decoding - that is what a television is for, and it costs the server almost nothing. Converting is the expensive case: a browser that cannot read the codec, or a picture-based subtitle that has to be drawn into the image. Palladium uses the graphics card for that when there is one, and says plainly which of the two is happening while something plays.