--- In [email protected], "Nathan Freitas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Yes, I do. Its what we run all of our video hosting on for Mux.am and > Cruxy.com. > > Basically, the rate is 15 cents per GB stored per month, and 18 cents per GB > transfered out each month. So, 3GB of storage will cost 45 cents a month, > and 60GB transfered will be $10.80 month. > > It works well for progressive video streaming - somewhat of a lightweight > CDN. The downside is that it does basically infinitely scale - if you get > Dugg or Boing'd be prepared for the costs, as S3 will handle just about any > load you can throw at it. > > +Nathan > > On Dec 18, 2007 2:11 PM, Jay dedman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Nathan-- > > > > do you know much about Amazon's s3 service? > > Stan has some issues he's dealing with. > > > > Jay > > > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > > From: Stan Hirson, Sarah Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Date: Dec 17, 2007 6:27 PM > > Subject: [videoblogging] Amazon S3 for Flash Videos > > To: [email protected] > > > Has anyone had any experience with Amazon's S3 service? I'm having a > > lot of trouble with their terminology. > > > > I am currently using DreamHost for my videos. Other than a few > > glitches, it's been pretty good and it certainly is cheap. But I am > > planning a new project that will require almost instant streaming of > > .SWF files to an international audience. Apparently Amazon has the > > resources to fill these needs. I just cannot figure out the costs. I > > use 3GB of disk space and 60GB of bandwidth per month. But I just > > can't make out their jargon. > > > > I wrote AWS and they suggested I ask in their forum. I don't > > understand a word of it! > > > > Has anyone had any experience with progressive downloads of Flash > > videos with them? > > > > Stan Hirson > > http://hestakaup.com
This was all good help for me. Nathan's explanation of the costs as so close to what I am paying on DreamHost encouraged me to do some tests. I would like to share the results. Opening an account through Amazon was very easy, same as for book shopping. Setting up the file system was straightforward once I was able to figure out some of the terminology. For example, in Amazonese, "bucket" corresponds to "folder". There is easily enough Googled documentation on this. I uploaded the files using a FireFox plugin, S3 Organizer. I tested some short SWF files first and, of course, nothing worked. It turns out I had to set permissions by editing an ACL file (whatever) so that everyone could read the file. Then the SWFs worked. As I use vPIP in my site, there was no problem pointing at the AWS file by copying the path in S3 although it looks a bit odd compared with the familiar apache files. Feeling cocky, I then moved to the big time, longer FLV files sending up the player as a SWF. And then the heavens opened with a huge dump! The FLV files did not play and the forums had lots and lots of talk about the impossibility of playing Flash FLV files in Amazon because of cross domain issues, etc. and all kinds of computer and Amazonese I could not understand. It looked like a total loser for the longer FLV videos. Then I realized that all I had to do was set up vPIP to use its built-in FLV player. Gave that a shot and it worked! There are still some problems. I wanted a minimum amount of pre-loading -- none if possible -- and I can not do it with the vPIP player. I get the spinning cobweb for a few seconds. It works well enough and if there is a way to get it to pop on instantly and play, that would be great. To show how S3 works, I made a simple HTML page with a comparison of the DreamHost hosting using an ON2 player and the Amazon S3 with the vPIP player. See for yourslf: http://shirson.com/web_pages/amazon_compare.html I've picked a scene with difficult compression: 30 fps with moving horses and landscapes. The motion should be smooth and fluid. 480 x 360. Thanks Jay, Chris, Nathan, and Markus for your help. I thought I should pay back and share the results. Stan Hirson http://hestakaup.com
