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D
deshggg
Participant
September 9, 2010
Answered

Do i need fms and how easy is live streaming for users?

  • September 9, 2010
  • 1 reply
  • 1482 views

Hi everyone,

I am just investigating requirements for a new project and wanted to ask a few questions about FMS if you'd be so kind. The site i'm building will (amongst other things) stream video that has been uploaded (predominantly by the site admin, but also potentially by users) and i need a solution for this. Additionally (ideally) the site will do live broadcasts every now and then that users can watch. As a result my questions are:

- Presumably we will need to add some encoding software onto the site to convert various file formats into FLV so FMS can play them (as it doesn't include any conversion functionality)?

- We would be using a relatively powerful dedicated server, is it generally suggested that you install FMS on a totally different server or can it run on your main server (as long as you aren't serving ridiculous amounts of video simultaneously).

-Am i right in saying that if we use FMS then it won't work on the iphone or the ipad because of the lack of flash support? Is this also true if we use h.264 videos rather than flvs? My understanding it that even with h264s it won't work because the player is flash and hence it can't read the player, despite bein able to read the video format. Is there any way round this?

-Can FMS be used to allow users to record straight off their webcam into the correct format for future (not live) streaming (like the My Webcam feature on youtube) or does this have to be done via flash media encoder and then recorded?

- Am i right in thinking that to stream live video you have to use Flash Media Encoder and then connect to the FMS? Is it easy to setup media encoder to point to a specfiic FMS (ie is it feasible to use this as a solution to get senior members to stream themselves or is the setup of FME quite complicated)? Is there anyway to build it into the website so someone can broadcast via their browser and webcam and then have it transcode it via the FMS?

Thank you so much for your help/info in advance, it really is massively appreciated,

Dave

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer

    - I have read up about php ffmpeg conversion which was one option i was looking at, although presumaby to do this i would need a separate server as the encoding is pretty processor intensive? Are there any other options (even if it requires buying separate software that runs on the server, this would not be a problem)

    Yes. Check our Rhozet Carbon Coder and Sorenson Squish.

    - Am i right in saying that you can use a flash based encoder embedded on your site to encode videos but only using h.263 which is worse quality (i know that's what you said below but i just wanted to clarify). Assuming we were happy to allow encoding into a slightly lower quality file then is this possible through FMS or does this require other software?

    A flash application can only encode from camera sources (for live streaming). So, if you want to publish from a webcam to FMS, Flash will do the job. If you want to re-encode an existing video file, flash won't do it.

    1 reply

    A
    Anonymous
    September 9, 2010

    - Presumably we will need to add some encoding software onto the site to convert various file formats into FLV so FMS can play them (as it doesn't include any conversion functionality)?

    There are a few options here. You can deploy your own encoding application server (can be expensive depending on volume), or you can provide users with a desktop application for encoding. I don't know of any browser based encoding solutions (On2 used to offer one, but the project was scrapped when google bought them out)

    - We would be using a relatively powerful dedicated server, is it generally suggested that you install FMS on a totally different server or can it run on your main server (as long as you aren't serving ridiculous amounts of video simultaneously).

    Assuming your overall demands are within the limitations of the hardware and network interface capacity, there's no reason why you can't run FMS on the same server.

    -Am i right in saying that if we use FMS then it won't work on the iphone or the ipad because of the lack of flash support? Is this also true if we use h.264 videos rather than flvs? My understanding it that even with h264s it won't work because the player is flash and hence it can't read the player, despite bein able to read the video format. Is there any way round this?

    Correct. It's not about video codecs, it's about the transport. Currently, there is no support for the RTMP protocol for iOS devices. FMS4 offers http streaming, but I believe it's the wrong flavor of http streaming for iOS.

    -Can FMS be used to allow users to record straight off their webcam into the correct format for future (not live) streaming (like the My Webcam feature on youtube) or does this have to be done via flash media encoder and then recorded?

    Yes, but you'll need an RTMP client that supports webcam and mic devices, and supports publishing that data over a stream to FMS (Flashplayer does this, and Java is capable of it as well). The concept is the same as live streaming, but in your use case, you just wouldn't have any subsribers connected to the stream.

    - Am i right in thinking that to stream live video you have to use Flash Media Encoder and then connect to the FMS? Is it easy to setup media encoder to point to a specfiic FMS (ie is it feasible to use this as a solution to get senior members to stream themselves or is the setup of FME quite complicated)? Is there anyway to build it into the website so someone can broadcast via their browser and webcam and then have it transcode it via the FMS?

    FMLE isn't the only option, but it's the only free option for H.264 or VP6 video, and the learning curve isn't very steep (so yeah... with a little coaching and practice, non-technical users can handle it). It is not possible to "build" FMLe into a website... it's a desktop application, and the EULA prevents third party distribution.

    The flashplayer is also capable of publishing live to FMS, but the only video code is sorenson spark (h.263), and the video quality isn't very good. The upside is that a flash based encoder application can be embedded into a website.

    D
    deshgggAuthor
    Participant
    September 9, 2010

    Thank you very much for your extensive reply, it's very much appreciated. I didn't realise that the online encoding was such an issue. I have read up about php ffmpeg conversion which was one option i was looking at, although presumaby to do this i would need a separate server as the encoding is pretty processor intensive? Are there any other options (even if it requires buying separate software that runs on the server, this would not be a problem) that would enable this as this is definitely something that we would want to be possible without users having to download desktop software and convert their videos themselves? Am i right in saying that you can use a flash based encoder embedded on your site to encode videos but only using h.263 which is worse quality (i know that's what you said below but i just wanted to clarify). Assuming we were happy to allow encoding into a slightly lower quality file then is this possible through FMS or does this require other software?

    Thanks so much for your help and advice it really is massively appreciated,

    Dave

    A
    Anonymous
    Correct answer
    September 10, 2010

    - I have read up about php ffmpeg conversion which was one option i was looking at, although presumaby to do this i would need a separate server as the encoding is pretty processor intensive? Are there any other options (even if it requires buying separate software that runs on the server, this would not be a problem)

    Yes. Check our Rhozet Carbon Coder and Sorenson Squish.

    - Am i right in saying that you can use a flash based encoder embedded on your site to encode videos but only using h.263 which is worse quality (i know that's what you said below but i just wanted to clarify). Assuming we were happy to allow encoding into a slightly lower quality file then is this possible through FMS or does this require other software?

    A flash application can only encode from camera sources (for live streaming). So, if you want to publish from a webcam to FMS, Flash will do the job. If you want to re-encode an existing video file, flash won't do it.

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