Posted by Bill on 07/07/06 14:51

We certainly have the bandwidth, and this will not be very high volume.
I would guess no more than 2 or 3 users at any given time will be
accessing video (it's no a commercial site-- we're a charity).

Looking at Red5. Anyone with experience?

Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media] wrote:
> On Tue, 4 Jul 2006 09:02:16 -0700, "Richard Crowley"
> <rcrowley@xpr7t.net> wrote:
>
>
>>"Bill" wrote ...
>>
>>>As I'm describing this, I'm beginning to realize that, actually,
>>>"streaming" video is likely always going to be a proprietary
>>>codec; the other codecs are aimed at downloaders. Point taken.
>>
>>However, since you said that you are already using IIS server,
>>take a look at Windows Media since the encoder is free (even
>>for streaming as I have heard.)
>
>
>
> "These aren't the droids you're looking for" ;-)
>
>
> IIS is a web server - as such it's only capable of providing long-term
> downloads of files masquerading as "streaming" (but isn't, because you
> have no random access within the file). If the user decides to rewind
> the player to 1 minute in, they get to download (buffer) the entire 1
> minute again before the content plays**
>
> To run windows media services 9 you need at least windows server 2003
> standard (enterprise for advanced playlist support and other goodies).
> The web version of WS2003 *is not* capable of doing WMS delivery. WMS
> v4.1 used to be provided with windows server 2000, you might still be
> able to eBay that.
>
>
> Windows media encoder can support up to 50 streams with a registry
> mod, but there's no service quality management available - i.e. the
> end to end connection can drop off or become patchy under stress.
>
> In this case you're actually re-encoding the video for broadcast,
> rather than just 'reflecting' the stream - unless the profile used to
> encode the original content matches the profile to deliver from the
> encoder (then, no re-encoding takes place).
>
>
> Personally I wouldn't run WME on a web server box, so you then have to
> host it on a PC on your network. Do you have enough outgoing bandwidth
> for 50 simultaneous connections @ 200kbps == 10mbps outgoing ?
>
> You'd have to open your firewall on (often port 8080, can be changed
> though) and possibly configure your NAT to forward those requests.
>
>
> ** Unless it's been cached completely end to end by the browser
>
>
>
>>I have read some interesting arguments that Macromedia Flash
>>is likely the most "widespread" format out there today. More
>>PCs and Macs came with Flash player already installed than
>>any other technology.
>
>
> That's probably true, but to "stream" flash you need to consider the
> flash video server unless it's short form video - again, otherwise
> it's a long term download. One alternative to handing adobe several
> $'000 is to use Red5 to deliver the FLV content - check out
> http://www.osflash.org/red5
>
> HTH
> Cheers - Neil
> ------------------------------------------------
> Digital Media MVP : 2004-2006
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs

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