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General Category => Random Technology => Topic started by: David on May 30, 2013, 12:50:50 PM

Title: Server based video streaming
Post by: David on May 30, 2013, 12:50:50 PM

Have any of you thought about or actually doing this?
I was asked to check on the cost, viability, ease of doing etc, -  How to be able to offer to a business a video stream as a service.

I have checked with the almighty goog...
streaming video servers versus http streaming video, hosting versus embedding youtube link type stuff...

I got some good info, just wanted to know if anyone is actually doing this, how does it work in real world environment, was it worth it?

any ideas?
am I nuts?
are you still reading this?

thanks!!!
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: Joe on May 30, 2013, 01:09:18 PM
Check out the highend Netgear NAS units. It is built into the device but don't try to cheap out on the lower end models as they barely have enough horsepower to play it let alone serve it. In all reality I'd just let Youtube or one of those sites serve it up and you just put up the embedded code in your website. Unless you are going into the porn business...then you would need a data center with top end video servers. :laugh:
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: Farabomb on May 30, 2013, 01:19:55 PM
With redtube available I don't know anyone makes money in the porn business.

Not that I watch that stuff... it's for research.
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: Joe on May 30, 2013, 01:21:27 PM
 :laugh:

I never said it was a good business to get into. But RedTube probably could use some competition. Not that I would know anything about that stuff.
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: David on May 30, 2013, 02:28:02 PM
Quote from: Joe on May 30, 2013, 01:09:18 PMCheck out the highend Netgear NAS units. It is built into the device but don't try to cheap out on the lower end models as they barely have enough horsepower to play it let alone serve it. In all reality I'd just let Youtube or one of those sites serve it up and you just put up the embedded code in your website. Unless you are going into the porn business...then you would need a data center with top end video servers. :laugh:

weird...
when I do a search on the Netgear site for video streaming, all I get back is routers?.?
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: Joe on May 30, 2013, 02:47:48 PM
Search for Netgear Ready NAS Pro. They have a built in media server in them but I don't know if it will meet the requirements that you need.
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: DigiCorn on May 30, 2013, 02:51:04 PM
For most stuff I've wanted to do, you need ReadyNAS and/or Python. Twonky and others DO NOT work, I can assure you.
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: Joe on May 30, 2013, 03:00:09 PM
Yeah, I have a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo v1 and it is nowhere near adequate for video streaming. It works OK for using it as a network drive to serve a real media server though.
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: DigiCorn on May 31, 2013, 09:49:47 AM
This was recommended to me today by amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004UBU3SY/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i7?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=1SQ1ANNKPTNPV5YMKR3Q&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938811&pf_rd_i=507846 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004UBU3SY/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i7?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=1SQ1ANNKPTNPV5YMKR3Q&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938811&pf_rd_i=507846)

and you can pair it with 2 of these: http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST3000DM001/dp/B005T3GRLY/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1370014698&sr=1-1&keywords=ST3000DM001 (http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST3000DM001/dp/B005T3GRLY/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1370014698&sr=1-1&keywords=ST3000DM001)
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: Joe on May 31, 2013, 10:03:33 AM
That 1.6GHz Marvell processor is a little on the weak side. Using it as a network share would be OK I suppose but I wouldn't want to try heavy duty video streaming.
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: DigiCorn on May 31, 2013, 10:09:13 AM
Yeah - but for that price point, it's pretty awesome!
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: Farabomb on May 31, 2013, 10:35:27 AM
Remember, you get what you pay for.
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: Joe on May 31, 2013, 10:50:48 AM
My Android on a Stick has a dual core 1.6 Ghz CPU in it so that is less horsepower than it.
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: delooch on July 10, 2013, 01:28:07 PM
so being the cheap bastard that i am, i picked up one of these for $80 new.
http://www.amazon.com/Iomega-Media-Backup-Center-35541/dp/B007A2JNGS/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t (http://www.amazon.com/Iomega-Media-Backup-Center-35541/dp/B007A2JNGS/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t)
has a lot of shitty reviews, and most of them are true, but once you upgrade the firmware and read the manual, it does what its supposed to.

works awesome as a dlna/upnp server, its running Twonky, and surprisingly, it works.

last night i was fooling around on the nexus tablet, i use a little app called Medahome (free) - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dbapp.android.mediahouse&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5kYmFwcC5hbmRyb2lkLm1lZGlhaG91c2UiXQ.. (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dbapp.android.mediahouse&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5kYmFwcC5hbmRyb2lkLm1lZGlhaG91c2UiXQ..)

i discovered i could stream anything on the twonky server to the xbox 360 FLAWLESSLY, without intervention.I think i had one or two videos without proper encoding, but for the most part, the nexus is the remote.  tap the video/playlist on the tablet, it pops up on the xbox automatically.  Gonna try this with the samsung DVD player in the bedroom, its supposed to behave the same way via dlna

got me really excited about how easy it was, ive been fololing with this stuff a while and there is a certain amount of dicking around you have to do to get things to work properly, but this "just worked"

gonna fork over the $3.99 for the full version of the app.. also gonna disconnect all the other bullshit i have hooked up to stream video - this renders them all useless, as far as im concerned..


Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: DigiCorn on July 10, 2013, 01:33:34 PM
Do you have XBox Live Gold, or just a regular live gamer account?

How are you streaming through the XBox? Using Windows Media Player, or other? What file format?
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: delooch on July 10, 2013, 01:45:58 PM
i had a gold account, but it just rolled back to regular. i dont use it much anyway.

i used to use the system video/audio player on the xbox, but as you know, its fucking combersome and hard to navigate. i gave up on that long ago.

im not streaming through any particular app. its upnp/dlna. i dont even touch the xbox, it just has to be on and on the network.

i have all my media sitting on that 2TB NAS running twonky.

i use the mediahome app to browse the twonky (via dlna, NOT shares).  When mediahome starts, it asks you to select the dlna server, and which device you want to output to - it will show the device its running on (nexus7) AND any other DLNA/upnp compatible devices on your network (xobx, smart tv, etc).  i select xbox for output

then you just use the tablet/app to browse your collection (provides thumbmnails based on file metadata).. you click and BAM! xbox starts playing it, no intervention, no app to start.. you can control the video through the tablet.  tv/xbox displays the video, tablet displays controls.

was really surprised how easy it works - give it a try, the app is free, and as long as you have some type of upnp/dlna server running, it will see it.

I have a mix of wma, mpeg4 and avi.. one of these days ill normalize it all, like i got time to do that.


Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: DigiCorn on July 10, 2013, 01:51:33 PM
I tried once, and eventually gave up thinking that it was because all my shit was .mp4

one of my externals runs twonky, but i never tried to use that one.

thanks!
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: delooch on July 10, 2013, 01:54:17 PM
i still havent been sucessful in finding a good app/format to encode to. shit, i cant even remember the name of the app im currently using. it works, but its slow and makes HUGE files if you want quality. 

i usually just take my chances with whatever the torrent delivers..  :wink:
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: DigiCorn on July 10, 2013, 02:05:39 PM
I hear handbrake is good, but I don't use it

I use DVDFab and I love it - it does everything
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: Joe on July 10, 2013, 03:16:01 PM
Handbrake works fine for me. As usual, the faster the hardware the faster in encodes. It takes me about an hour to encode a movie on a mid-level PC running Windows 8.
Title: Re: Server based video streaming
Post by: mc hristel on July 12, 2013, 09:23:15 PM
I use Handbrake all the time. On my MacBook Pro it takes about a 1/2 hour to encode a full length movie going from DVD to .mp4 formatted to fit on my iPod. It is also able to reformat the files you already have (like converting that .avi to .mp4 or whatever). There are a number of presets, but you can go through and adjust quality, frame rate, sound, etc.

The big problem with Handbrake (at least on the Mac) is you need to download the codec files it uses and install them into the system folder manually. They used to pull them out of VLC until they changed how VLC decodes video which means it didn't need the codecs anymore.