However, to be able to watch P2P video, you will need to install a custom player. Sopcast is the most popular among all P2P players. Sopcast is available for Windows and Linux. The installation in Windows is pretty straightforward, but it can be very tricky in Linux. Let’s see how you can get it install in Ubuntu.

Download the dependencies

Download libstdc++5.deb (for x86) or libstdc++5.deb (for amd64) Double click the deb file to install.

Install Sopcast

Open a terminal. Add the following repository and install the app. That’s it. You should be able to find the Sopcast Player in Applications -> Sound & Video.

Configure Firefox

To configure your Firefox to open “sop://” link automatically in Sopcast Player:

  1. Type about:config in the address bar.

  2. Click the button “I’ll be careful, I promise!”

  3. Right click anywhere on the screen and select “New -> String”

  4. Enter “network.protocol-handler.app.sop” (without the quote) in the preferences name

  5. Enter “/usr/bin/sopcast-player” as the value.

  6. If you are using Firefox 3.6 and above, you need to change the value of “network.protocol-handler.expose-all” to “false”

Now, when you click on the sop:// link, a window will open and prompt you for the application to open the link. Navigate to /usr/bin/sopcast-player. remember to check the box “remember my choice for sop link”.

Whenever you open a sopcast link, it will automatically open in sopcast player.

Update: After you have associated the sop link with Sopcast player, go back to the about:config page and change the value of “network.protocol-handler.expose-all” back to “true“, else you won’t be able to open any links. What other means do you use to watch World Cup in your computer?