[Hidden-tech] web streaming

[Richard Lanham]

$10k might be reasonable depending on what is provided.

I work with a streaming server Wowza Media Server (WMS) wowzamedia.com and
Amazon Web Service EC2 (cloud computing). You can do live events on this
stack very cheaply. Wowza has Amazon web service devpay version of their
server on EC2, 14 cents per hour plus a flat 20 cents per gig bandwidth. No
license needed. An EC2 small instance (single core, 1.7 ram, 32 bit, 150Mbps
network throughput), will handle upwards of 300 simultaneous subscribers to
a 512 kbs stream. And you can scale with "origin/edge" configuration using
as many edge servers as needed.

To calculate WMS/EC2 costs you have to convert bits (kbs) to bytes (/8). At
512kbs (kilobits) for a stream, each subscriber consumes about .225
gigabytes per hour. So, for example, it would cost $4.64 per hour for 100
subscribers viewing a 512 kbs stream. I think, about that -- It's very
cheap.

But that is just out-of-pocket costs for WMS/EC2 if you do it yourself. For
$10k a company might provide people and equipment on-site. Some companies
use streaming appliances, hardware solutions, that are very pricey. It could
be a lot of work. But there is a commodity infrastructure in place if you
want to tap into it. And all you really need is a decent camera and internet
connect with up-speed at least 300kbs.

I am using WMS/EC2 and have done live events. I charge for my time to assist
with WMS and EC2, but do not handle the venue side.

If you want free, try mogulus.com . Their system uses WMS/EC2, and you can
use it for free if you don't mind advertising inserted in your video.

Richard
lakesidetechnical.com



On Thu, Aug 7, 2008 at 11:43 PM, Frederick Clarkson <
frederick.clarkson at gmail.com> wrote:

>   ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
>   ** If you did, we all thank you.
>
>
>
> Hi,
>
> I am involved in staging an event at a church in New York City next fall. I
> had suggested that is would be cool to live stream the event over the
> internet.
>
> Someone looked into it and was given an estimate that it would cost a
> prohibitive $10,000.
>
> Does anyone have any idea what a realistic range for live web streaming of
> an event of say, 2 hours duration, should cost?
>
> The church already has a web site and has a welcome video on it, for what
> that may be worth.
>
> Frederick Clarkson
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net
> Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
>
> You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion list.
> If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members
> page on the Hidden Tech Web site.
> http://www.hidden-tech.net/members
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.hidden-tech.net/pipermail/hidden-discuss/attachments/20080808/cc052788/attachment.htm