Video streaming solution - lighttpd or wowza?

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • Kolargol
    Confirmed User
    • Mar 2003
    • 1319

    #1

    Video streaming solution - lighttpd or wowza?

    I need a video streaming solution for a paysite. Customers will be able to download videos so I don't think I need some hardcore protection of the videos preventing downloading the stream. The paysite will be run on Wordpress. What are the advantages of Wowza vs LightTPD?
  • mafia_man
    Confirmed User
    • Jul 2005
    • 1965

    #2
    Almost any server can do this. Unless you mean live streaming.
    I'm out.

    Comment

    • Kolargol
      Confirmed User
      • Mar 2003
      • 1319

      #3
      No live streaming, just prerecorded videos. Are there any advantages of Wowza vs Lighttpd ? Speed maybe?

      Comment

      • k0nr4d
        Confirmed User
        • Aug 2006
        • 9231

        #4
        Wowza will save you around 20-30% bandwidth and let users skip around your videos a bit better.
        Mechanical Bunny Media
        Mechbunny Tube Script | Mechbunny Webcam Aggregator Script | Custom Web Development

        Comment

        • Kolargol
          Confirmed User
          • Mar 2003
          • 1319

          #5
          Thanks! I am also looking for someone who can set it up for me. Any suggestions?

          Comment

          • mafia_man
            Confirmed User
            • Jul 2005
            • 1965

            #6
            Originally posted by k0nr4d
            Wowza will save you around 20-30% bandwidth and let users skip around your videos a bit better.
            That's a bold statement.

            Let's see some details on how Wowza saves 20-30% bandwidth.
            I'm out.

            Comment

            • k0nr4d
              Confirmed User
              • Aug 2006
              • 9231

              #7
              Originally posted by mafia_man
              That's a bold statement.

              Let's see some details on how Wowza saves 20-30% bandwidth.
              Imagine you have a 10mbyte video file that is 3 minutes long and a guy on a 10mbit connection. For the sake of simplicity, lets say he can download at 1mbyte/second. This is slightly inaccurate but I don't feel like busting out the proper math . Not ever user watches every second of every video they watch.

              Via http, this guy loads up this video on your site and it downloads in approximately 10 seconds. While it's three minutes long, he might decide to go watch another video instead after 15 seconds. He's downloaded 3 minutes of video but watched 15 seconds of it.

              Via RTMP, this guy loads up this video on your site and it's "real streaming". If he watches 15 seconds of it, he downloads more or less 15 seconds of it.

              So in a nutshell, with rtmp you waste less bandwidth. The http problem can be mitigated by throttling each user connection to just over the amount of kbytes/sec it takes to stream the video without stopping to buffer all the time, but in the real world on say a tube site you have tons of varying bitrates so there's no good way to optimize this.
              Mechanical Bunny Media
              Mechbunny Tube Script | Mechbunny Webcam Aggregator Script | Custom Web Development

              Comment

              • mafia_man
                Confirmed User
                • Jul 2005
                • 1965

                #8
                Originally posted by k0nr4d
                Imagine you have a 10mbyte video file that is 3 minutes long and a guy on a 10mbit connection. For the sake of simplicity, lets say he can download at 1mbyte/second. This is slightly inaccurate but I don't feel like busting out the proper math . Not ever user watches every second of every video they watch.

                Via http, this guy loads up this video on your site and it downloads in approximately 10 seconds. While it's three minutes long, he might decide to go watch another video instead after 15 seconds. He's downloaded 3 minutes of video but watched 15 seconds of it.

                Via RTMP, this guy loads up this video on your site and it's "real streaming". If he watches 15 seconds of it, he downloads more or less 15 seconds of it.

                So in a nutshell, with rtmp you waste less bandwidth. The http problem can be mitigated by throttling each user connection to just over the amount of kbytes/sec it takes to stream the video without stopping to buffer all the time, but in the real world on say a tube site you have tons of varying bitrates so there's no good way to optimize this.
                Right but that's not a Wowza exclusive feature. But I get what you are saying that it would save bandwidth.
                I'm out.

                Comment

                • k0nr4d
                  Confirmed User
                  • Aug 2006
                  • 9231

                  #9
                  Originally posted by mafia_man
                  Right but that's not a Wowza exclusive feature. But I get what you are saying that it would save bandwidth.
                  yeah it's not a wowza specific feature - it's true of any http vs any rtmp comparison.
                  Mechanical Bunny Media
                  Mechbunny Tube Script | Mechbunny Webcam Aggregator Script | Custom Web Development

                  Comment

                  • DWB
                    Registered User
                    • Jul 2003
                    • 31779

                    #10
                    Wowza = Not free / Full streaming solution
                    Lighttpd = Free / Pseudo streaming

                    Comment

                    • mafia_man
                      Confirmed User
                      • Jul 2005
                      • 1965

                      #11
                      There are also Nginx plugins:

                      https://github.com/arut/nginx-rtmp-module
                      I'm out.

                      Comment

                      • Confined
                        Registered User
                        • Jan 2006
                        • 93

                        #12
                        lighttpd can do all that video streaming shit and save bandwidth if it's configured properly

                        It's handled 600 mbit consistently (not streaming flvs though) on some old boxes.

                        Comment

                        • Spudstr
                          Confirmed User
                          • Jan 2003
                          • 2321

                          #13
                          you can accomplish rtmp like bit rate streaming limitations if you know your bitrate your videos are encoded at and set the throttle/rate limit per connection based on that bit rate thats encoded. This isn't rocket science.

                          Now saying that. Wowza/Abobe FMS is hell on disk IO vs a progressive download.

                          Nginx/lighttpd can be ran on fast disks and atom servers..


                          Wowza/FMS requires a bit more processing power and memory and is better suited on a quad or dual quad with ample ram.

                          It really comes down to what "perks" you want to accomplish, any of the modules/bw check, swf tokens etc? then wowza/FMS is your way ot go. If you just don't care and want to be cheap? lighttpd/nginx works fine.
                          Managed Hosting - Colocation - Network Services
                          Yellow Fiber Networks
                          icq: 19876563

                          Comment

                          • HushMoney
                            Confirmed User
                            • Apr 2005
                            • 2256

                            #14
                            Originally posted by mafia_man
                            That's a bold statement.

                            Let's see some details on how Wowza saves 20-30% bandwidth.
                            Wowza is great!
                            Hushmoney.com

                            Interracialpass
                            Hushpass

                            Comment

                            • Kolargol
                              Confirmed User
                              • Mar 2003
                              • 1319

                              #15
                              Does it mean lighttpd is enough for a small paysite ? Apart from bandwidth any other advantages of Wowza?

                              Comment

                              • mikesouth
                                Confirmed User
                                • Jun 2003
                                • 6334

                                #16
                                I tried Wowza a couple of years ago and honestly it sucked.

                                As a video streaming platform it worked fine until I wanted to put the videos inside my member section and keep them protected. I could never get an answer on how to do it. short of the wowza support people telling me I had to write "custom code"

                                fuck that I dont know if version 3 has made that easier but version 2 was given back to them.

                                If it is behind a members area or if your server is fully managed and your hosting company can set it up for you (mine couldnt) I would avoid it.
                                Last edited by mikesouth; 08-13-2012, 08:53 AM.
                                Mike South

                                It's No wonder I took up drugs and alcohol, it's the only way I could dumb myself down enough to cope with the morons in this biz.

                                Comment

                                • ditlev
                                  Registered User
                                  • May 2006
                                  • 32

                                  #17
                                  if no livestreaming wowza is meaningless
                                  www.onapp.com + www.cloud.net + www.cdn.net

                                  Comment

                                  • Kolargol
                                    Confirmed User
                                    • Mar 2003
                                    • 1319

                                    #18
                                    Originally posted by mikesouth
                                    I tried Wowza a couple of years ago and honestly it sucked.

                                    As a video streaming platform it worked fine until I wanted to put the videos inside my member section and keep them protected. I could never get an answer on how to do it. short of the wowza support people telling me I had to write "custom code"

                                    fuck that I dont know if version 3 has made that easier but version 2 was given back to them.

                                    If it is behind a members area or if your server is fully managed and your hosting company can set it up for you (mine couldnt) I would avoid it.
                                    What solution would you recommend then?

                                    Comment

                                    • mikesouth
                                      Confirmed User
                                      • Jun 2003
                                      • 6334

                                      #19
                                      unless you need live streaming Id say lighttpd would suit you just fine. if its a small site bandwidth probably isnt an issue anyway.

                                      Medium term I would be looking at MPEG-DASH but you wont need a media server for that because apache can do it although Id bet lighttpd will also support it. When it becomes readily available it will solve LOTS of problems.

                                      Advantages:

                                      encode once play on anything

                                      adaptive streaming

                                      streams in segements that are not stored so much simpler to protect your streams from being ripped. plus simple to insert ads between segments

                                      streams over HTTP and allows future and past seeking

                                      supported by adobe, microsoft, apple, sony, netflix, wowza and most everyone else except google.

                                      Standardized.

                                      Im watching it closely
                                      Mike South

                                      It's No wonder I took up drugs and alcohol, it's the only way I could dumb myself down enough to cope with the morons in this biz.

                                      Comment

                                      • Kolargol
                                        Confirmed User
                                        • Mar 2003
                                        • 1319

                                        #20
                                        I guess I will go with lightpd then. How difficult is to set it up on the website? I have lighttpd installed by my host already but I don't know how to make it work with JWplayer.

                                        Comment

                                        Working...