I think the point about the bit rate of the videos is worth repeating.
Take two videos that are each ten minutes long. One is 100MB
and the other is 50MB. The 50MB one is going to take half as
long to download, of course, so it may well download fast enough
to play continuously, while the 100 MB one would be buffering half
the time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tblocker
After configuring my streaming server ( Wowza ), if i go back
on a playing stream ( seek ), it starts downloading again from where i seeked even when
it was already downloaded!
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Of course it does stupid things, it's used WINDOWS. ;)
Quote:
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How can i cache the already downloaded streamed content ? This feature should be configured on server or player? it sounds more likely that it would be on player, which players support this feature ?
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Both server and client. The server can suggest that the client cache it, suggest that the
client not cache it, make it easy to cache, etc., but in the end it's up to the client. The client
CAN cache anything it can display, and it can decide NOT to cache anything, regardless
of what the server suggests.
You'll notice that even the simplest the simplest set up, just serving the video files
straight from the same Apache server as the rest of your site, will generally allow
them to cache and work pretty well overall. The main thing that a specialized
streaming server buys you is the ability to fast forward, something that Apache
can't always do. Contrary to popular misconception, a seperate streaming server
doesn't get you better performance, lower load, etc. Yes, it's possible to load up
Apache with 100 different modules that you aren't using and therefore increase
memory usage and add a touch of CPU usage, and many people do that because
they don't know any better. However, a reasonably configured Apache will perform
as good or often better than a separate streaming server and you get all of the
advantages of keeping your whole site together, such as having videos displayed
in your regular server stats, being able to secure them the same way you secure
the rest of your site, and generally treating them as just another file. So for a great
many sites, a separate streaming server may be completely unnecessary and
really only adds extra hassle and expense. Consider therefore what you plan
to gain from streaming server. If you're answer is just "performance" or "load"
give me ten minutes to fix your Apache config and save you a lot of hassle.
PS - Yeah some sites use a streaming server for "advanced" DRM options.
Several huge companies have spent tens of millions trying to get DRM to
work and all eventually gave up on DRM, so I don't consider that a good
thing to do at all, much less a god reason to run extra servers.