H.264 compressed video streaming at 300kbps

[Harikrishnan Ponnurangam]

All,

I did Quicktime compression video streamign at 300kbps FCP5 compressor and uploaded it with a size 17mb. But while viewing through the site it takes a while to download. Its not actually streaming. Its downloading and playing it.

We can see the movie trailes in apple quiktime site where it the progress bar moves while streaming and the playhead moves separately after clicking on the play button.

My videoclip is not doing that. Its just waits till it gets downloaded andthen plays it. What setting should i choose. I use Adobe Golive fro developing my site.

Any idea.

Thank you,
Hari

[Sean McHenry]

Sorry, don't speak Mac here but, in Windows land, we have to tell the compression software that this will be a "progressive download" or for streaming when the file is compressed.

Also note you don't say where you are parking this file. To truely stream media, you need a streaming media server, not just a web server or web space on an ISPs server. This is still a specialized process that needs real dedicated hardware. Sorry if you know all this but lots of folks don't.

If you want to build your own streaming media server you might want to look on the Apple site under the developers section for Darwin Streaming Server. (Not Darwin but Darwin Streaming Server). Darwin is free to use. Love Open Source. You can also buy an Apple XServe but it's going to cost you.

Be aware of how fast an outbound connection you will need to do this at home. My cable connection up speed is about 768K. I could only have 2 people watching streams at 300K. A third person connecting would choke my uplink and everyone would get choppy video after that.

Again, sorry if you already know all this. The average home users best bet is to do Progressive Download QuickTime files and park them on a web server. The bandwidth used is on your ISP to handle and not your home connection. They will likely warn you and threaten to kill your connection if you have too high a traffic downloading your files from their sites however.

Progressive downloads allow fast start of the QT file before it is completly downloaded. Last issue is, how much space do you have available on your web site to hold files?

And that's about it. Amongst all the other things I do here at the Post Production House I am an Engineer for, I build streaming servers from scratch.

Sean McHenry

[Les Wilson]

THis is a common mistake. Creating a file for streaming means creating it to be served from a special video streaming server. QuickTime trailers use Progressive Download as you describe. Instead of using a Streaming setting in FCP's Compressor and use a Progressive DOwnload setting. You can also do this from QuickTime Pro.

[Fernando Cesar]

hallo Sean

Here Fernando from Germany...can u plesa suggest me somo quictime streaming serversservices in germany,or its the sameif I rent some broadcast space in the US for my custoomers here in Europe?

Im triying to work with 3 cameras, im testing channelstorm and wirecast software for thee camera switching and the wuicktimebroadcast signal,do u know fron any other software? Thanks a lot

Fernando Samillan

[Sean McHenry]

Fernando Cesar,
Hello. I would suggest you look at a few things and decide what is right for your skill level and the time you have available to make this system.

I would look at the Apple XServe which comes with A/V Broadcasting capability built in. If that system is too expensive, there is also the hard to understand (due to lack of a good manual) Darwin Streaming Server. I have one set up here but it isn't an easy thing to do unless you have a Windows or Linux box that you have time to configure.

Last, there is the Sony Anycast system. Mostly sold to broadcasters but it has Real or Helix server built into a nice laptop size (a little bigger) case that can handle almost anything input wise. It is has a live switcher, keyer, graphics and title tools built in, switches and creates a Real Media stream all in the one small box. A great idea except for the Helix server part. Sony would be wise to drop Helix and run with Windows Media Player, or better yet, 2 versions, one with Helix and another model with the FREE Windows Media Encoder tool.

There is also the TriCaster from another company but that's a bit thrown together for my tastes. I could build that box myself from free software and inexpensive AV input cards.

There are a few options. If none of those streaming formats work or you don't have the time to build, you might look through the old archives from 2005 and this year on the Apple Darwin Streaming mailing lists.

It's that or rent space. Where in the world the servers are located is not an issue if they are prepared and run correctly, with a big pipe in/out of them.

Happy hunting.

Sean McHenry