Just so you know, Windows Media Services have extremely good codecs and the media server is a snap to manage. What's more, it comes included in the Windows Servers.
The great thing about media servers is they can determine the best bitrate for the client to receive. If the client is running on a dial-up connection, then an appropriate bitrate (if it is encoded in the file) will be chosen and that will be delivered to the client. If the client is on a backbone, and the file supports a 5Mb stream, then that can be delivered through the same publishing point. Like Jochem said, streaming servers can be configured for either broadcast or unicast connections. Broadcast is where each client receives the same signal and watches it from beginning to end, like a TV show. Unicast allows each client to control his own version of the signal, like VHS. Windows Media Services are insanely easy to set up, so you should try that before investing in a new host. Even before that, you should compress the files using the Windows Media Encoder and get the file size down to something manageable. Just ask me if you have any questions about it. - Matt Small -----Original Message----- From: Jochem van Dieten [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 12:58 PM To: CF-Community Subject: Re: Streaming Media Erika L. Walker-Arnold wrote: > From: Jochem van Dieten >> >> 15 MB / 10 seconds = 1.5 MB/s = 12 Mbps >> 350 MB / 30 seconds = 11.7 MB/s = 93 Mbps >> >> These are insane bitrates. 12 Mbps is comparable to highly >> compressed HDTV, 93 Mbps is of the scale. > > What should they be? That depends on the quality that is desired. A good MPEG-4 codec will deliver VHS quality at 800 kbps, so that is 1 to 3 MByte for 10 to 30 seconds. DVD quality will be about 4 Mbps MPEG-4, so that is 5 to 15 MByte for 10 to 30 seconds. Some other considerations are: - streaming vs. download & play Streaming is only possible if the visitor has more bandwidth then the bandwidth of the movie. If that is the case, then the stream starts immediately, while usually you have to wait for download & play. - just playing or jumping Do you want a format that only allows the visitor to see it from begin to end, or should they be able to jump through the movie and start at any position inside it? - which platforms Some codecs are only available for certain platforms. My experience is that when all the requirements and consequences are clear, people without special needs or large clips tend to go for a simple dwnload & play where they just upload the clips and serve them through HTTP from their normal website. You get the full choice in codecs which means you can choose a codec that allows jumping and can be played from any platform. Next up is Windows Media Services. It offers streaming and is relatively cheap, but there are few CF hosting packages that have it included so you probably have to find a dedicated host. There might be platform issues with the codecs too. Top off the bill is dedicated Real Server / Quicktime blahblahblah hosting. If you go that route, you should be able to afford a real consultant :-) Jochem ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support efficiency by 100% http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:149692 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
