Whats the server software out there?

[AWSP]

Does this software require a download on either end?
What does it use to stream video ? JPEG Push ?
31kbs for 5000 viewers on a 155m connection.
How does it act with high speed connections ?

200 viewers per 1gig stick .. you going to need alot of ram to run 1000 hosts like iFriends or somthing .

[Dr.MIke]

Nope the viewer doesnt have to download anything. It is a Java applet for the viewer. I can pretty easily make an ActiveX chat client for viewers without Java. You can check out a running version at www.camgirlslive.com they are running all 22-25kbps modem streams ( to save BW $ )


JPEG Push ?? People still do that ? That's SO 1993 !

The stream format is a propriatary compression that is similar to MPEG-1 but optimized to be able to run the decoder in Java. The audio compression is also custom. but the hosts who use it have a terrible habit of holding the mic WAY too close to their mouths when speaking. Which makes it sound bad.


As for the bandwidth test,

We choked it down to 28.8kbps/stream to be able to get the 5000 on the 155mb network. If we had a gigabit network we could have gone higher. The CPU usage on the server was only 20% That was with a Dual 550MHz PIII server.

Higher stream bandwidths do not load down the server so much, as the server does not re-encode the signals. It acts more as a packet switcher. You can have the server re-encode streams for lower bandwidth users. i.e. have a 128k stream from a chathost and have the server also make avalable a 22kbps stream for modem viewers. Then the CPU cost is per host. not per viewer.

200 viewers per gig ?

No.. 200 HOSTS per gig stick. Viewer contexts are much smaller. About 128kbytes per viewer. Which would be 8192 viewers per gig ideally. That is one of the things what we were trying to find out when we ran out of net capacity @ 5000 viewers durring the stress test. YMMV

If you really want to run 1000 hosts, I would split it up over several boxes. Servers are cheap.

[showxstream]

I surely can post my point of view. Not willing to get in a "this is better than that" and not willing to get flamed i would state Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX is the best stuff for this kidn of websites. Well of course it has some bugs. It costs a bit ( it's like $4500 for a 2500 users/10Mbits licence) but it does the job. Well actually it is quite a hassle to get into it some functions that prolly Macromedia left undocumented and in the same time not functional. But it worths. Flash nowdays is such a common software and makes the best client side software. And most of the browsers ships with flash player included. Anyhow not such a pain in the *** to install it online. But once more each person around here may have own opinion.

Sincerely SXS

[AWSP]

Yes Flash will blow away the competition.
I use FlashCom, Design develope with it.
I use it because it is EVERYWHERE, Most people have it, and is easy to install.
You can get better then TV quality video from it (provided the Cam on the other end is a decent top end cam).