Send keystrokes simultaneously to both host and slave over internet?

Question

I would like to watch movies with a friend who lives far away from me. For this, the playback should be synchronized on both our pc. However, we have some constraints:

• Due to our low bandwidth internet, any form of streaming solution wouldn't work. We do however both have the same copy of the movie on our harddisks.

• We use movies to learn languages and because of this, we very frequently pause and rewind. The typical "3...2...1...go!" solution over skype wouldn't work because it would soon get out of sync.

I imagine an approach that sends keystrokes simultaneously to both our pc would work (for example, if I press space to pause the movie at my pc, space should also be send to his pc). Any ideas how this could be realized?

I looked into Synergy and InputDirector, but both neither seem to be an option, because

• I don't want to see the desktop of my friend, I want to see my desktop

• Keystrokes should be sent simultaneously to both pc, not just to one pc

We have both Windows 7x64, and we might use any media player (VLC, XBMC,...).

Answer 1

Synergy is a valid option since it is possible to capture a key press and send it to both machines. The following example should do it (adapted directly from the Synergy Configuration Guide); just place the following in your synergy.conf:

keystroke(space) = keystroke(space,larry), keystroke(space,curly)

Pressing space (on any screen) will synthesize space on screen larry and space on screen curly.

So if you set up synergy and have both media players currently set to the foreground application in a ready-to-play state. Then you can use the above with whichever key starts playback. There will of course be a slight delay to send the command over the network.