Streaming live video over web

mavericc wrote on 7/8/2004, 10:04 AM

Hello Everyone,
I know this really is not a Vegas question, but I was hoping someone could help me out on the subject or point me in the right direction. A client wants me to stream a short video live via the internet.

I know the pc will have a video card of course that can capture video or some sort of capture device (Would a DV Camcorder using firewire be better). My question is getting recommendations on a video server software to use. I was not sure to use microsofts netmeeting or real's real producer software or if anyone had better suggestions.

Only one pc should be viewing the video accross the web they will not need to communicate only view the live presentation.

If anyone can help point me in the right direction or give me any suggestions I would greatly appreciate the help.

Thanks in advance
Dan

Comments

cosmo wrote on 7/8/2004, 10:09 AM

Lots of people use NetMeeting for that function all the time - it's free. Definately use a digital camera if available, plugged into the firewire port(IEEE1394). If it's just a one time thing, why buy. Try it out though prior to the event and make sure it'll do what you want it to.

Spot|DSE wrote on 7/8/2004, 10:14 AM

There are many ways this can be accomplished, question is, how much bandwidth do you anticipate, how many viewers are you expecting to serve at once? That's the big question. If it's a lot, you'll want to buy bandwidth from someone that specializes in this. But it's expensive to over anticipate.
Turtle Island, Sonic Foundry, Akamai all can manage this for you. They are multicasting companies that assure you clean streams to viewers
If you are expecting only a few streams and can unicast, then yes, your MS server can handle it. Just upload to your server...
There is a simple tutorial on this at the sundance site.
http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/serving1.htm

mavericc wrote on 7/8/2004, 11:14 AM

Thank you for your quick comments. This really helps out a lot. I only plan on one person viewing the live broadcast. The equipment I have right now will probably be a Windows XP P4 Laptop with regular composite video in. I have a digital camera sony dsc75 currently. This event will only be a one time event with only one person viewing. That is why I was not sure if I should use netmeeting, real producer, or Darwin Streaming Video from quicktime. Any recommendations or changes of equipment I should make?

The links will be either cable/dsl to and from the internet.

I hope this helps. Sorry for the lack of detail in the previous email. I was not sure exactly what would be the best option but based on reading the posts I think this will be the option I choose unless I get more feedback.

Thanks again,
Dan

Spot|DSE wrote on 7/8/2004, 3:40 PM

I'd just use the Windows encoder then...it's free. Works great. One viwer? No big thing! That tutorial should get you up and running pretty quick.

mavericc wrote on 7/9/2004, 10:51 AM

Thank You so much.
Windows Media Encoder works great!!!

I appreciate all the help.

Dan