Comfy Watch Party with Syncplay

I love watch parties. I mean who wouldn’t? Unfortunately, popular solutions like Discord or other such apps limit the audio-visual fidelity of your favourite BluRays and DVDs to pixelated garbage. So here is how you can still enjoy your watchparties without loss in fidelity.

Syncplay Logo

Caveats

  1. mpv is required
  2. Everyone in the watchparty should have the same video file (same duration and file name)

Installing Syncplay

You can install this FOSS app called Syncplay which essentially syncs the timings between the watch parties. You will also need mpv to play it. It is available in CLI mode with an optional GUI. Install it from syncplay.pl for Windows and Mac. Alternatively,

winget install --id=Syncplay.Syncplay -e

for Windows

sudo pacman -S syncplay pyside2

for Arch Linux

GUI mode in Linux requires the pyside2 package.

Using Syncplay

  1. Choose a server from the list (Huge respect to the guys over at syncplay for providing them) or host your own server.
  2. Create a room name for the watch party.
  3. Select the video player you want (mpv preffered).
  4. Everyone pick themselves a nickname for chatting.
  5. Make sure everyone has video files with the same duration and filename.
  6. Drag and Drop the file to the mpv window that opens.
  7. Enjoy