[linux-audio-dev] RE: Streaming media solutions for cafe

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Subject: [linux-audio-dev] RE: Streaming media solutions for cafe
From: Simon Lang (simon_AT_encoderboy.com)
Date: Mon Jun 24 2002 - 05:10:51 EEST


I sent this once, but i think it didn't work.

> Abdul-kadir's questions are quite beyond my expertise in these
> matters. Perhaps some of the streaming media gurus here can lend him
> some assistance ?

I'm no streaming guru, but I used be close to the action so i'll give it
my 2c.

> > 2. For the live streaming, I have been considering Darwin streaming
> > server of Apple, Darwin has been developed for other OS on open
> > source. It will server the main objective of 4,000 concurrent users
> > watching my stream. The only drawback is that all my viewers via my
> > website will need quick time. Is there any other plug-in that will
> > enable my viewer seen the videos via their browser?

this is the paradox that is the streaming media industry. in my mind,
the darwin streaming server is the pick of the bunch atm because it is
the only of the two *nix servers which is in anybody's price range.

there are two unfortunates with quicktime. firstly the client plugin
for the browser is only available on win/mac although codeweavers have a
crossover plugin for linux which reportedly works fine, although is not
free. secondly, you can only encode live streams on a mac as far as I
know. on demand streams can be produced on either win/mac and must be
hinted.

the best technical solution is without a doubt RN, but they're pricing
structure got lost somewhere on alpha centarui.

the cheapest and most effective method is... you guessed it, M$.
they've engineered it that way. (see RobG's testimony @ antitrust for
details).

4000 concurrent streams seems a bit high. generally, you will get at
most 10% of the number of streams you were expecting. (that's partly due
to media hype drivel by majors diddling their numbers... "we got 1
miiiiilion viewers"). even the most saavy of our clients suffered from
these misconceptions.

the last streaming gig i did was big (the biggest in my country,
australia, and by all reports the biggest everywhere except perhaps the
US). The numbers you are talking about are on par with those kinds of
stats... which involve _serious_ prime time cross media promotion.

consider also that regardless of the spec of your streaming server, your
bottleneck is your network interfaces. A 100MBps segment will only
handle a sustained 30Mbps aggregate at best. Network design for
streaming is tricky, and will vary depending on where you are... if your
local ISPs have good quality caching engines etc. (our servers handled
about the same bandwidth as the UK for example, even though we had half
the numbers, simply because the locals in the UK used netapps
predominantly, and at the time cacheflow didn't support our transport
method)

My advice is start small and see how it goes. too often i've seen
people fork out on a delivery machanism for an audience which simply
isn't there. (or more to the point is there, but they haven't figured
out how to pay for it)

Build a smaller version of each, and see which one bites, then add bits
accordingly.

> > 3. Within my cafe, I want some users who want to watch films and
> > movies on the LAN, to do so. Any Linux application that can support
> > Video on demand within a LAN with a DVD quality output or any good
> > format? I know quick time does.

check out mplayer or xine. lots of dependancies but prpabably the
players you're after. On a LAN, I wouldn't bother with streaming...
just use an SMB of NFS mount.

streaming is constant and is not nessecarily the best means to deliver
media (on demand). QT/WM/RN will all have new additions to their
protocols which allow the use of bandwidth overhead to cache files
locally and in terms of network usage transients are often favourable to
constant congestion. if that be the case you should also look at http
streaming on apache. you lose some transport functionality, but you
save an utter fortune.

Many of the major ISPs in australia loathe streaming, because it creates
sustained network congestion, instead of sporadic congestion. One
provides locally cached content which is 'downloaded' rather than
streamed. They won't turn on multicast though, so it's their own stupid
fault.

If it's going to clog up, get it over with quickly so the experience is
better all round.

Golden rules of streaming :

1. Don't cross the streams
2. The doors only swing one way. (if they don't, go slap your isp around
a bit).
3. If someone asks you if you're a god, say YES!

s.

-- 
--------------------
S i m o n   L a n g
simon_AT_encoderboy.com
--------------------

-- -------------------- S i m o n L a n g simon_AT_encoderboy.com --------------------


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