Good for-fee services for streaming video?

[Todd Wilson]

Hello,

I have a pair of web sites on which I need to have embedded some video clips customers can view. I prefer streaming (instead of progressive download) so they won't have to wait to start viewing. Until now, I've been using .FLV files streamed from PlayStream, and it's worked OK.

One of my biggest complaints is that it takes a few seconds from the time the web page opens to the time that the video appears (customers could think that it's not loading). I wish that it were more instantaneous, like on a lot of other sites I've visited.

Aside from that, it seems to work pretty well, and I've thought that the prices were pretty decent. (I pay $10/month for 50 MB of storage and 1.60 GB of streamed content.)

I'm thinking about upgrading for more storage and more streamed content, but before doing that, I was wondering if any of you out there had recommendations for good PAY services (I want control over the quality of the video, etc).

Thanks!

Todd

[Josh Chesarek]

Well, if your only requirement is that the videos play fast and can be scrubed anywhere on the time line I might suggest you upgrade your webhosting and then host the files your self. You can then use an FLV player like JW FLV along with a PHP script which allows random access. You can see the above in action here: http://www.simplethoughtproductions....o-2008-defeat/

[Todd Wilson]

Hello,

Thanks for your reply. I could guess a few things, but let me just ask directly to be sure.

What do you mean by "upgrade your webhosting"? Do you mean, for example, upgrade my GoDaddy account so I can run PHP?

For whatever kind of upgrade and hosting you're talking about, could you point me at a site or two that talks more specifically about how to do this, or recommend a book or something? (In other words, to date, the most sophisticated thing I've asked of my service provider are mail and http; I'll need some more 'how to' info to do what I think you're describing.)

Thanks!

Todd

Originally Posted by Josh Chesarek

Well, if your only requirement is that the videos play fast and can be scrubed anywhere on the time line I might suggest you upgrade your webhosting and then host the files your self. You can then use an FLV player like JW FLV along with a PHP script which allows random access. You can see the above in action here: http://www.simplethoughtproductions....o-2008-defeat/

[Josh Chesarek]

No worries, the player and script all run over HTTP protocol so it is NOT true streaming, BUT it does allow the feature that you want. GoDaddy should support PHP just fine but check with your package to make sure. When I said upgrade your hosting I meant if you had to invest more money, put it into your hosting to get more Bandwidth or space if needed. Chances are you wont need it as the shared plans have ridiculous amounts of bandwidth and space to begin with. I have never used GoDaddy my self but I did use this setup with 1and1.com with great success until I moved to a dedicated server.

Originally Posted by Todd Wilson

Hello,

Thanks for your reply. I could guess a few things, but let me just ask directly to be sure.

What do you mean by "upgrade your webhosting"? Do you mean, for example, upgrade my GoDaddy account so I can run PHP?

For whatever kind of upgrade and hosting you're talking about, could you point me at a site or two that talks more specifically about how to do this, or recommend a book or something? (In other words, to date, the most sophisticated thing I've asked of my service provider are mail and http; I'll need some more 'how to' info to do what I think you're describing.)

Thanks!

Todd