Frequently Asked Questions

When I open Lanovision it says, "No Computers Found." Why is this?
One reason could be that no one else on your local area network has downloaded Lanovision. But if you know other people have Lanovision, the most common reason for this problem is that you have a wireless connection enabled. Even if you also have a LAN connection, if the wireless is on too, Lanovision gets confused and you won't be able to see your friends. Disable your wireless, then hit "Stop Server" and then "Start Server" Occasionally, the server won't restart, and so you will then need to restart your computer.

How can I move forward and backwards in a movie?
You can't really. With .wmv's and .avi's, you may be able to move forward to a section of the movie that has already been buffered. With avi's this might freeze the movie and then you'll have to hit stop and then play and fiddle around with it.

Why the name LAN-O-VISION?
LAN stands for Local Area Network. Vision comes from Television. The "O" is to make it sound retro-trendy. Plus, the domain name was available at a non-extortionary price.

Is Lanovision Secure?
Lanovision was built in Python, which is an interpreted language. This means that buffer overflows, the most common cause of security flaws, should not happen. The code has been checked over carefully to avoid any possible security problems and I believe Lanovision to be completely secure. Of course, with any application that opens itself to the Internet, there are always risks. Lanovision is provided free of charge and the creator cannot be responsible for any damage that occurs through use of the software.  Lanovision will run in limited mode.  For maximum security, we recommend that you do not run Lanovision from the Administrator account.

How can I download a video from another person's computer?
Lanovision only supports streaming, not downloading.

Is Lanovision storing videos on my computer in the buffer folder?  Isn't that downloading?
For .avi files, the only way to stream them is by buffering the file to the hard drive.  However, as it writes the files, Lanovision encrypts parts of the file.  If you try to move the file out of the buffer folder or play the file outside of Lanovision it will not work.  Lanovision unlocks parts of the file at a time as you watch it.  The videos are stored temporarily to save on bandwidth usage.  The default storage space is 1 gigabyte, though you can make it more if you wish.  As the files take up more space than that, the oldest files are deleted.
 

Is Lanovision open source?
Yes, it is released under the GPL and hosted at SourceForge