5 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
5 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Video file streaming

by Bart Loos
4 replies
Hey Guys,

I've been trying to run a Camtastia produced SWF file on my squeeze page.

But it barely runs smoothly.

What's your experience with how big the video files can be?

It's on my hostgator server atm.

Should transfering it to the Amazon S3 server make an improvement, Or doens't that really make a difference?

THx

Bart
#file #streaming #video
  • Profile picture of the author Gavin Morrissey
    Your best bet would probably be to go with an FLV file (instead of an SWF) and find a player for it (like the JW Player) or just upload it directly to YouTube and use their player. SWF's are only really useful for vector (and sometimes bitmap) animations ie: banners, web cartoons etc. Just think of an SWF file as a glorified animated GIF. And while an SWF does have it's advantages over an FLV file sometimes (file size being one of them) it's very project specific. If you're doing anything lengthy with screen captures you're essentially recording video and you'll need to find an appropriate codec to fit that output. Enter the glory of the FLV
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1426232].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jimbo999
    I always produce my Camtasia projects in .avi format, and then upload to youtube. I've had good results with this, and it takes the bandwidth strain off of your own server.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1426326].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author HomeBizNizz
    Tried screencast...?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1426957].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Jeff Poulton
    Originally Posted by Bart Loos View Post

    It's on my hostgator server atm.
    Bart - Some people will disagree with me here, but I never host my video files on my webserver. Sure, there's plenty of bandwidth that comes with the hosting solutions, but to me it's best form to separate the functionality of the website from resource-intensive activities like downloading and streaming.

    Originally Posted by Bart Loos View Post

    Should transfering it to the Amazon S3 server make an improvement, Or doens't that really make a difference?
    I tend to avoid Amazon S3 for video streaming. A great solution to look into is SimpleCDN. They offer an incredible array of options, including SSL, RTMP, etc. They'll also start you off with a $15 dollar credit, which is a great way to test out the service.

    As for the smoothness of the video playback experience, check what your bitrate is. The trick is to find the right balance between the file size and the playback quality. This is one reason it's nice to go with YouTube, Blip.tv - they handle this for you.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1442115].message }}

Trending Topics