Using Streaming?

[inCharge.co.uk]

Are you streaming audio or video?

Are you using Windows Media Services or something else?
Is there anything I would be aware of?

Streaming is allowed from my servers's South Pointe datacenter.

I'm not going in for big-time streaming and only expect 1 or 2 people to be streaming at any one time, so bandwidth allowance is not a problem, although I don't want performance for regular web visitors to be killed.

Currently the video is in MPEG4 format and audio is MP3. Not bothered what format it's delivered in as long as it works with standard PC, Mac & linux clients.

Cheers
Julian

[KyleMulligan]

WMS is relatively easy to work with. If you're worried about the streaming eating up too much bandwidth, you can limit the allowed bandwidth to the server or per publishing point.

I just have a streaming server setup for test purposes, like trying out different wrapper playlist settings, working with ad publishers, dynamic content, etc...

Hopefully this MMS url works, but you can have a look at a test file here (mms://stream01.flaretech.biz/flaretechnet/wgv2003.wmv).

[inCharge.co.uk]

It installed OK but I didn't get much further than switching on the Sample_Broadcast

When I try to access it from a client PC using...
http://www.incharge.co.uk/stream/Sample_Broadcast.asxor
mms://inCharge.co.uk/Sample_Broadcast
...I just get "...cannot connect..." which is error 0xC00D11B3: Encountered a network problem. I get the same error message from your test file. Maybe the required ports are being blocked in the datacenter.

In the WMS MMC the internal machine name (e.g. SERVER123) is shown - shouldn't it show the external name? (e.g. stream.inCharge.co.uk). I tried deleting the server and adding it again with that name but it just reverted to the machine name. :shrug:

[KyleMulligan]

Broadcast publishing points are only active when you're actually pushing data to them. They're a bit more complicated to setup and work with. You're probably wanting an on-demand publishing point, which allows you to select a directory of files and access them via a URL.

It will always adopt the machine name as do most of Microsoft's server products. That part isn't really important, though as the client will never see the server name.

Regarding your inability to connect, I would guess it's a problem with your connection. I can connect just fine to both your sample urls and my own.

[inCharge.co.uk]

:homer: My 8 year old child told me I had some FIRE WOOL in the wires and fixed it for me. Something called ZoneAlarm, sounds nasty whatever it is...

You're right I don't need broadcasting publishing points. On demand will do fine - and it's working. Thanks for your help :thanks:

[inCharge.co.uk]

BTW: Another free streaming server option is Helix Universal Server: http://helixcommunity.org/ - but I'm going to persevere with WMS.

Any tips for streaming to the widest range of clients?

Operating systems:
- Windows
- Mac
- Linux

Players:
- Windows Media Player
- Real Player (including older versions e.g. 8)
- Quicktime
- Others e.g. WinAmp (Are they just clones of the above 3?)

Protocols
- HTTP
- RTSP
- MMS

So far I have successfully streamed a .wma file (created with free http://www.dbpoweramp.com/) to Windows Media Player 9, but not Real Player or Quicktime. What do I need to do to support Real & Quicktime?

I have MMS and RTSP protocols enabled. I'm assuming that supporting HTTP is essential for users behind locked down firewalls. HTTP is not enabled yet because the server is running IIS on port 80. I think that if another IP address is allocated to the server then it can be used for streaming via HTTP on port 80.

I tried creating a .ra file with Cameo (free from http://helixcommunity.org/) and it played through RealPlayer 8 locally (on Windows XP) but I couldn't get it to stream. Tried both .wma and .ra files with mms:// and rtsp:// url prefixes.

Do files need to be converted to the relevant format to stream to the corresponding client or does WMS do it automatically? i.e. wma to Windows Media Player, .ra to RealPlayer and .mov to Quicktime.

Are the protocols and media types idependent of each other or is mms:// for .wma and RTSP:// for .ra? Surely they are idependent because all can be delivered over HTTP.

Are the RTSP ports blocked by ServerBeach? If I get HTTP working then is there any point persevering with RTSP as all clients seem to support HTTP?