Dedicated Media Server vs. Justin.TV/U-Stream

[Daniel Payne]

Hello-

New to the forum here. Can someone describe why running a dedicated media server would provide better stream quality for playback vs. using a free service like Justin.TV or U-Stream? Is there no difference? Or does it simply have to do with upload bandwidth and compression codec?



Thanks

[Tim Green]

Hello Dan:

Lots of factors to streaming to an SAAS (Software as a Service) like you described. There are better streaming tools and it all depends on your market and who you are trying to reach. Web, mobile, set top boxes? There are many variables but all targets pretty easy to hit with the right live and VOD playout tools.

Can you please expand on what markets your after and possibly I can offer a few tips.

Thanks,

Tim Green

[Daniel Payne]

[quote='Tim Green' pid='11570' dateline='1275071111']
Hello Dan:

Lots of factors to streaming to an SAAS (Software as a Service) like you described. There are better streaming tools and it all depends on your market and who you are trying to reach. Web, mobile, set top boxes? There are many variables but all targets pretty easy to hit with the right live and VOD playout tools.

Can you please expand on what markets your after and possibly I can offer a few tips.

Thanks,

Tim Green
[/quote][hr]
Sure can and thank you for the info. I'm webstreaming live amateur skating sports events primarily to Justin.TV at this time. Generally using Adobe Media Encoder utilizing the h.264 codec. I think at 300kb or higher at times. There is considerable movement with skating sports of course. I've noticed that it can seem a little bit jagged and slightly blurry with the client playback image. It also seems like the frame will freeze or glitch at times every so often and I would really like to improve the quality for client playback.

I've also used a.wmv server in the past which seems to provide better quality at either 15 or 29.97 FPS with the encoding. The advantage I see with Justin.TV is that it's free and I don't have to worry about bandwidth for hosting on site with the server. Is the better stream quality simply because Windows Media Encoder provides better quality output than Adobe Media Encoder? Is the quality better because of server set up or is it all just on the encoder end? Why am I getting smoother quality image with the .wmv set up and how can I improve the h.264 stream to Justin.TV? What role does the host server have to do with image quality for client playback? Does it just spit out the exact same image quality it takes in from the encoding stream? Speedtest.Net indicates about 5.2 Mb upload speed when I run a test from their web site at the venue. The target audience would be primarily web for PC/laptop not so much mobile or set top box.

[streamboy]

I am developer and I have installed many streaming dedicated servers such as Flash media servers, Wowza Servers, Windows Media Server and Darwin Quicktime server for many companies. Dedicated servers have many advantages. First of all, your limit will be capacity of network port. You can choose best streaming bit rate by knowing these fact. But Justin TV has limits after certain users numbers and bandwith control that is controlled by dropping frame rates that cause low quality videos.

Ken

[Tim Green]

Hello Dan:

First let me say, I understand the free aspects of the Justin solution and we do offer the same thing for low volume audiences. When you want higher volumes of audiences without all of those nasty advertisements, or if you want to control the advertisements (pre-roll, mid-roll) we can set you up - under your own brand. We can even offer you a pay per view options for your channels. With the SAAS solutions you do not have that choice. Just some food for thought.

As far as the quality:
It may have to do with a bit of both the encoding and the server really. Generally its quality of the single pass encoder (broadcaster) that is the culprit. If traffic loads are high then your streams may seem to lag and even go out of sync with the sound. We have developed a patent pending streaming transport in HD quality and offer it in BETA from www.TheHDWave.com. We have LIVE demos of channels that are live on air at www.TikiLIVE.com for you to examine. Ask us anything you like, we are the ones behind those live cams. If you want more info on SD / HD or pseudo live let me know.

Thanks again,

Tim

[streamboy]

Hi Tim,
You are offering HD streaming which required uplinks speeds about 1Mbps . I am not categorizing 512kbps as HD. I believe many users will have difficulties for HD streaming, how can you solve this issue? Do you use geographical data centers selection algoritm. So that streamer will use closest data center and it will be least packet lost and even more than 1Mbps streaming will be possible.

Thanks
Ken

[Tim Green]

Hello Ken:

Yes we do use Do you use geographical data centers selection algoritm. We manage just under 100 servers from TX, to SC and Germany and looking at Hong Kong at the moment for the PAC Rim areas.

We can establish very inexpensive hosting plans as long as the Data Centers offer Linux machines with 8GB RAM and 1000Mbs pipe.

Thanks for the questions.

Tim

[MrBox]

In my opinion a dedicated server is ALWAYS better and allows you to have more control over your streaming services. I have been providing dedicated machines preinstalled with all kinds of streaming services to streaming businesses for years. They always tell me how much better the bandwidth and stream quality is EVERY single time. If you have any questions about dedicated streaming servers feel free to ask me anything or contact me directly. I offer free advice/consultation as well as dedicated and management services. Take care and good luck!

[edia]

Well, there are many reasons you can assemble when highlighting the dedicated media server to a free service streamer. However, some of the main reasons are of the tools that are used in the dedicated media server. Besides, the VOD playout tools do the job of hitting targets very efficiently!
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[Jacob6080]

There are better streaming tools and it all depends on your market and who you are trying to reach. Web, mobile, set top boxes? There are many variables but all targets pretty easy to hit with the right live and VOD playout tools.

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