Video Streaming

[a13wes]

Hi Guys,

I'm looking to broadcast a live 60 minute conference/webinar, It'll be streamed to no more than 500 viewers, probably with a low quality & high quality stream.

Is there any tips anyone can recommend for setting this up?

I've been looking at hosting etc, as I know it can be very bandwidth intensive. I have found a hosting company that normally offers shoutcast and game server services (So I would assume their servers would be capable?) and was thinking that a package with 40gb transfer a month would be more than suffice, however I have asked them if their servers would be up to the task.

Is there anything else I should be taking into consideration?

For a setup.. I have a camera man and sound technician, so was thinking a macbook pro set up with an application such as quicktime media server to broadcast to a http address? The internet connection is 300k+.

Is this the best way to achieve this or am I missing something?

[TimT]

[quote='a13wes' pid='11023' dateline='1256638550']
Hi

From experience I suspect that you are likely to hit problems (excuse me for stating the obvious but.....with live you only get one shot).

If you are talking about 500 concurrent viewers, assuming a regular hosting co will suffice is very dangerous. When you read the small print you typically find that whilst the SLA states 40Gb of transfer, it won't be provisioned to be used in a single 1hr chunk... (more like an aggregate shared by multiple customers over the month)

For delivery you would typically be better of using a CDN designed for live traffic (do contact me off list).

For encoding you would reduce the risk of problems by using a hardware encoder rather than a Macbook & delivering the stream in Flash or wmv. This will enable you to serve a high number of both PC & MAC viewers without getting bogged down in tedious support issues.

Lastly the IP connection to the streaming servers..... Ideally you should have a non contended link as contention in ADSL lines is one of the most common oversights associated with unsuccessful webcasts. Where dedicated bandwidth is not available we typically use IP satellite links with CIR set approximately 20% above the streams bit rate e.g. get a 600K CIR if you are streaming at 512K. Depending on which part of the world the event is being produced we may be able to point you in the direction of IP satellite provider (off list)

Good Luck!

[martinez7990]

Yes definitely moving me the way I want to go. I forgot to mention we create our own content - so we won't run out of work unless we stop developing our own content. Right now we have a space, but it isn't a studio. It's just a room with an internet jack and we have to tear down and set up for every shoot. We're hoping to build out a rented space with Video Streaming fixtures.
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B&B Ballina

[Tim Green]

I suggest you try before you buy and that means testing out your CDN offers. As stated above, to be successful you must have a very clean up-link. In many cases the venue will have sufficient capacity such as FIOS or Business Cable (such as our office).

Testing first is always recommended over a few periods of time. Better yet, leave the broadcaster in a loop for a day or two and watch if from your office. In a lot of cases our customers are doing Remote HD broadcasting and producing awesome VOD archives to the server at the same time. If you need more info, hit me up off line.

You would be surprised at how much money you can save with the right tools and network that may already be in place.

Thanks,

Tim Green

[ivc]

Tim,

I have Panasonic DVX-100B camera with IEEE 1394 output and want to stream live video ( kids soccer game) to their perents. What would be the best setup that is not expensive.

Thanks in advance !

IVC

[Tim Green]

You can test your streaming out by creating your own channel from TikiLIVE.com here for free: http://www.tikilive.com/login/register

You can use either the web based broadcaster or the Download (High Quality) broadcaster. You can record all of the action to the server as a VOD for those who want to catch it later.

If you do not have a Net connection and want to upload your video to your channel via Monster Encoder, no problem this will encode your video for the web in HD or SD.

Let me know if you have any questions and if you need a complete TikiLIVE network, we can hook you up.

Thanks and happy Friday!
Tim Green

[ekenej]

Tim,

I need a little help. Am streaming with canon camera and with IEEE 1394. the video is coming out perfectly clear but we are having issues with the audio. i need help urgently

[Kathleen]

I know 2 companies that could work for you:
Brightcove.com => Company oriented toward online video technology and (I think) leader on the market. They offer a service where you can built your own apps and choose your own settings thanks to their dynamic updates service, app available on Android, Iphone and tablets. Brightcove only offers monthly plans and it starts at $99/mo.

DaCast.com => Best pricing model and the less expensive of all! They offer a pay-as-you-go or only $29 monthly plan (includes 140GB) with the possibility to monetize the video by adding paywalls such as subscription or pay per view. They have a great customer support for people who need help setting up their stream. White label company, you can customize your player to match your website.

Now, regarding the bandwidth, if you are not expecting to do a lot of events and spend huge amount of bandwidth per month, you should not contact a CDN. I would advice you to work with a video streaming platform instead, the bandwidth costs wont be that different. To give you an idea:

150kbps low stream quality
500 simultaneous viewers
1hour length (live event or VOD file)
You need 34GB. You pay $0.2 per GB, so your total cost is $6.8.

For a high quality (800kbps) you need 180GB so the cost is $36.

This was an estimation made with DaCast bandwidth calculator if you chose the pay as you go pricing plan. http://www.dacast.com/streaming-pricing-calculator.html

Hope this helps ;-)