[OT] Streaming Video

[Rick Stevens]

Andrew Kelly wrote:
> Hi Rick,
> 
> Don't know if you got my earlier response to this mail, I haven't heard
> back from you.
> 
> On Tue, 2005-04-12 at 19:20, Rick Stevens wrote:
> 
>>Andrew Kelly wrote:
>>
>>>Hi all,
>>>
>>>anybody out there have any experience with serving streaming video?
>>>Help? Pointers? Links to good reading?
>>
>>You'll have to be a bit more specific.  There are at least four popular
>>formats:  QuickTime, Real, Windows Media and Macromedia FLASH.  What
>>are you trying to do.
>>
>>My company is one of the largest streaming companies on the Internet
>>(http://www.vitalstream.com) and I have LOTS of experience in this
>>arena, but I need to know what you are trying to accomplish.
> 
> 
> It's been a bit of a challenge to get "my people" to tell me what 
> exactly it is that they want to accomplish. As it so often turns out, 
> they don't yet rightly know and are being a bit premature with everything.
> 
> What I know:
> Our PR folk have a CD with a 26 minute video (mpg, 600+ Mb) documentary that
> they would like to make available from our web site. To this end they have 
> had it compressed, and it comes to me in two flavors: .wmv and .mp4, both 
> of which land around 35 Mb.

Well, you need to figure out which form of streaming you want to do,
then you have to run the file through the appropriate encoder and set up
a server.

The cheapest way is via a progressive download.  This requires nothing
more than a webserver to "stream" the data.  What happens is that you
set up a webserver that launches a PD player on the client computer.
The client then downloads part of the file and plays it.  While it
plays, it continues the download and plays each bit as it comes in.  It
essentially uses the web browser as a buffering agent for the player.

True streaming would require you to encode the file and put it up via
the streaming server.  Most of the servers are commercial, however, and
can cost a pretty penny.  Also, most run on Windows (gaack!).
Quicktime, Real and Macromedia do have Linux versions of their server
code, but it's still commercial.

There are a few open-source Linux-based servers, the most common one is
VLC (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/).  Have a look at that.

In reality, it's probably better to sign up with a streaming company
such as ourselves (this is NOT a plug).  The pros have contacts with
companies that will do the encoding for you and have paid all of the
streaming server license fees.  They typically also have far more
robust networks and bandwidth.

  > Initially it will only be about this one bit, but I would assume 
that within
> a few months there will be an additional clip or two joining it. I'm certain there 
> will be no talk of live broadcasts or anything of that nature for 
> at least 2 years, but I'm pretty confident that once the ice is broken,
> they'll want to begin to take advantage of the medium.

We handle a number of non-profit organizations now.  I can't speak to
our policy regarding that, but I'm sure our sales gang could tailor
something for you.  We're not so big that we can't "bend the rules" a
bit to suit a client's specific needs.  I'd suggest you give them a
shout.  You can even use my name as a contact if you wish.

> So, the nutshell is this:
> My employer is a non-profit NGO on a painfully limited budget. They need 
> the biggest bang for their buck in everything they do. The goal is the 
> most cost-effective way to begin to make video material available to
> the widest possible public (the site has a very strong 3rd world interest).
> Whether that be an open source solution on one of my hosts, or contracting
> to a third party interest like your organization or anything in between, is 
> virtually unimportant at this point. The goal is biggest bang. :-)
> 
> Hey, perhaps you'd like to broker a service donation to the "leading global 
> non-governmental organisation devoted to combating corruption"!

You've got to talk to our sales gang.  I'm sure they can help you out
one way or another.

> I'd really appreciate any direction or help you could offer, Rick, and thank 
> you greatly in advance.
> 
> 
> (Oh, I've also just notice that your company is looking to fill a few 
> positions.... What's the cost of living down there?)

Depends.  The corporate office is in Irvine, CA.  We're about 15 miles
from Disneyland in Orange County.  Much of the county is "beach", so
it ain't cheap.  You can live in the inland areas (Santa Ana, Orange,
Tustin, etc.) which aren't as expensive.  The costal areas (Huntington
Beach, Newport Beach, Seal Beach, Costa Mesa, Santa Ana, Corona Del Mar,
Laguna Beach, etc.) are quite a bit higher.
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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-    First Law of Work:                                              -
-    If you can't get it done in the first 24 hours, work nights.    -
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