How to: View Apple’s Live Stream if You Are Not On iOS or Snow Leopard

Last night we found out that Apple would be live streaming today's press conference. The downside is that thanks to the fact that it's using  the HTTP streaming protocol, it's only available through computers running 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and iOS devices such as the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

You can check this sample stream from Apple if you aren't entirely sure that the video will work for you when the event comes around.

However, there seems to be a workaround, according to MacRumors. The problem is, while it works in theory right now, there is no sure way to know how it will work in practice. Still, it's better than nothing.

You will need to download video player VLC from here, which is a free download. Now you can enter the URL for the stream as shown below:

In the image below they have entered the following URL: http://devimages.apple.com/iphone/samples/bipbop/gear1/prog_index.m3u8 (of course Apple's stream will be different, and we will find out what that is when if goes live)

(image from MacRumors)

Now, as mentioned before, there is no way to be sure how well it will work when the live event happens.

Here's why, according to MacRumors:

VLC works well for streams of prerecorded video, because the stream is just an MPEG2 playlist (or an m3u file). When watching prerecorded video, the playlist is already compiled. However, this is a live event, and the video player doesn't know that there is additional video on the way. MacRumors says that users will likely have to manually reload the playlist to grab each segment. Here's to hoping it goes smoothly for those of you who don't have Snow Leopard or iOS.

Don't forget, iSmashPhone will also be live blogging the event: Here.

[Via MacRumors]