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foxteeth
Participant
April 15, 2008
Question

Progressive or Streaming for this project

  • April 15, 2008
  • 1 reply
  • 498 views
We're getting ready to start a new project at work, and the concept will be somewhat similar to the subservient chicken site done a few years ago. Basically we'll have tons of video clips in a folder that load based on commands (or questions) that you pose via input box below.

The idea is simple enough, but the issue that we're having is deciding how to serve up the video. There will likely be at least 100 different clips, ranging from 1-30 seconds or so. They will be (I'm assuming at this point) around 200kb to 1mb in size - I'm not picturing them being huge in file size, but at the same time the quality will not be low. We really want it to be "snappy", as in, when you type something and press 'submit' we'll want a video response to load in pretty quick, or at least as quick as the client will allow. Also, the site will potentially be getting a lot of hits a day (in the thousands).

Would we be receiving any sort of benefit from using Flash Media Server for a project like this, or is it overkill? Would it make more sense to stick with progressive download? I'd like to hear what all of your thoughts are, either for or against using FMS. Thanks in advance for any help!
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    1 reply

    K
    kijakarn
    Participating Frequently
    April 16, 2008
    I understand that you will try to response to search queries by video clips.
    Script like youtube or metacafe seems to serve better for repeated search , busy sites . Keep all video in FLV , put the keywords , in database and show the videos from media player upon search. IMHO
    F
    foxteethAuthor
    Participant
    April 16, 2008
    Thanks for the response, but what I really need to know is should we use Flash Media Server to host something like this, or can it be pulled off with progressive download? Keeping in mind the specs I provided above. Thanks.
    W
    walt999
    Participating Frequently
    April 16, 2008

    >but what I really need to know is should we use Flash Media Server to host something like this, or can it be pulled off with progressive download?

    I'd stick with progressive download. Simply because you don't use the advantages streaming offers. 'Nobody' wants seeking in a short clip of up to 60 seconds length. You don't need drm, encryption etc. So why the burden and cost to stream that content?

    I did a lot of tests recently in the same field, comparing how fast static and streamed *.flv are delivered. Basically no significant difference.

    rtpm stream is on port 1935 and to go through your clients firewalls you have to tunnel it over http port 80 and has to use the rtmpt or rtmpte protocol. Though, your Apache cannot run on the same port any longer I red in the docs.

    I'm not a network expert so the following might be wrong: Isn't it that progressive download is served on port 80 which would mean you are 'tunneling over http' by default?

    Well, I'd do progressive download. In case it turns out that streaming would be better you can easily switch. Make sure that you embed your player dynamically by php. That way you can switch easily to streaming without rewriting your html pages.
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