Live Stream Hosting

Audio and Video Streaming: Deciding on a Host

If you are planning on streaming video, audio, or both, from your website, then you should take a number of factors into consideration before choosing your web hosting company. Some offer advanced streaming capabilities, while some don’t permit it at all. In between are a number of companies that will allow you to stream, but with some pretty hefty limitations.

An inexpensive hosting company like AWcast.com is a good choice if you are looking to Broadcast Live Online. They are a high quality streaming media solution. Awcast shows to be the least expensive and highest quality in the markets today. http://www.awcast.com

Here’s a checklist you should use when making your hosting decision.

Streaming vs Downloading

Though downloading is, over time, becoming the less popular option, many ISP’s work this way because it’s easier on their end. Basically, they treat your audio or video file as just that — a file. When the user clicks on it, the file downloads to their computer, at which time they can decide to play it “locally.”

Streaming is a technology that plays from the server, not the user’s computer. When the user clicks on the audio or video link, that file begins to play almost immediately, and the server “streams” data to the user’s computer as the file is playing. All in all, a much better experience for the user, which is why it has gained in popularity.

Audio / Video Formats

The four most commonly used formats are: Flash, Windows Media, Quicktime, and Real. Many ISP’s will offer one or two of these, in which case you have to make sure that your file types are supported.

NOTE: Each format has its advantages and disadvantages, which are covered here: Video Format Article. As an added bonus, some audio / video hosting companies will actually provide you with a facility to re-encode your files into different formats — this is called “transcoding.”

Traffic Capacity

Should you anticipate a small amount of traffic — for instance, your audio files might get played only once every few days — then bandwidth is not an issue for you. But if you think that your audio and video files might very well see a lot of action, then there are two facets to your streaming hosting provider that should concern you.

The first is overall bandwidth. All ISP’s put a limit on the bandwidth you can use per month. Video files, especially, use up a lot of bandwidth, and could cause you to incur extra charges. There’s a handy formula for calculating this, here: Bandwidth Calculator.

Second is the amount of concurrent streams your host can offer you. Most ISP’s will let, at most, 10 listeners listen to your audio files or view your video files at one time. But what if you do a big promotion, and dozens of fans try to view your content at the same time? The result: long wait times, delivery glitches, or just plain lack of access. Not a good idea!

Your ISP, or a Dedicated Streaming Host

While your website host may offer some limited streaming capabilities, they will probably never match up to a “specialty” streaming host. These are companies which have the latest servers, and virtually unlimited access to bandwidth, both data delivery and concurrent viewers. Surprisingly, they’re costs are quite reasonable because they deal in volume. What’s more, they allow you to use their servers to deliver your files without the view ever being aware of a 3rd party.

The upshot is that if you’re counting on any substantial traffic to your audio and video files, you should seriously consider a dedicating audio and video streaming hosting company. You’ll be glad you did!

Archived and Live Streaming Hosting

How to Produce Streaming Video

As the prevalence of broadband web access grows, the importance of both audio and video files is paramount for many websites. There is no doubt that most user experiences are enhanced by those media, which is why it’s a good idea to understand how the process works.

File Formats

While many different file formats are used to create streaming video, five have emerged as the most popular — and therefore the most widely used. They are (in no particular order):

- Adobe Flash
- Quicktime
- Windows Media
- RealMedia
- MPEG (particulary MPEG-4)

Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, and in fact much of the decision to use one or the other depends on the video producer’s preference. However, you should be aware that users have their own preferences, as well. In in ideal world, you’d make your content available in all formats, but this is not usually very practical. Generally, your website will offer, at most, one or two different options.

Streaming Methods

There are two principal methods of streaming video on the Internet: HTTP Streaming, and Streaming Servers (true streaming). It is good to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each before deciding which to use.

Downloading

When a user “downloads” a file, the entire thing is delivered to and saved on their computer (often in a Temporary Internet folder). Only after the entire file has finished downloading can the user open it up and view it. For small files, it may not cause a noticeable delay for the user; large files, however, will take a while to download — an experience which most users find frustrating.

The advantages for the user are the ability to get to different parts of the video more quickly, as well as having the file available for playing even when they are not connected to the Internet. The advantages for the video producer are the fact that this is quite easy to do: just upload the file to your web server, and link to it on your site.

Known as HTTP Delivery or HTTP Streaming, this is the same way that web pages are delivered (HTTP stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol, if you’re interested!). Actually, this is not really “streaming” at all, and for that reason is not as popular as true streaming.

Streaming

“True” streaming actually allows the viewer to begin viewing the file almost immediately after it begins downloading. The way this works is that the file is actually delivered to the user in basically a constant “stream,” which the user can view as it arrives to their computer.

The most obvious advantage? No waiting! But beyond that, it opens the possibility for broadcasting live events in real time — a method which is sometimes referred to as “netcasting” or “webcasting.”

Progressive Downloading

There is a third and less common method called “progressive downloading,” which is, in effect, a hybrid of downloading and streaming. While it can in some respect simulate the effect of true streaming, it doesn’t enjoy all of its advantages.

Which is Right for You?

Many website producers will opt for HTTP streaming, as it is the easier and cheaper choice. However, if you asked your viewers, they would almost exclusively prefer [true] streaming. Therefore, if you can, always opt for streaming when the viewer’s convenience is important to you.

Hosting Solution

An inexpensive hosting company like AWcast.com is a good choice if you are looking to Broadcast Live Online with no add on services. They are a high quality streaming media solution. AWcast is the least expensive and highest quality in the market today. There are no forced logos, banners or ads.  No contracts or overage charges. You pay one fixed monthly rate.