I am considering taking on a project that will involve building a FW site to promote and stream (not download) 2-3 full length movies and several shorter films. The movies & films will also be available for purchase on DVD. I’m inexperienced with the media streaming side of this.
How doable is this? What streaming solutions are available? (People will pay to stream – it won’t be free) I need something that is
Reasonably secure
Reasonably priced
Integrates with FWPro
Doesn’t slow down the website
What kind of hosting requirements are necessary? I’ve been using BlueHost with good success, but I’m not sure what questions to even ask.
Are you using shared hosting?
How much traffic do you anticipate?
Can your server cope with potentially massive traffic spikes?
Are you better off using a CDN to deliver it?
Many hosts offer Quicktime and Flash streaming but may not accept other formats.
I would prefer to use shared hosting, as the cost is much more in line with my client’s budget.
I have no idea how to anticipate traffic. I would think a host that would allow me to upgrade as the traffic increases would be the best way to go. If a lot of people are paying to stream his films, he’ll be able/willing to pay for more bandwidth.
I’ve never used a CDN and I don’t know the breaking point that makes using one necessary/advisable. Can a system like CacheFly be integrated into Freeway if/when that becomes necessary?
The films are currently available on DVD. I anticipate I will need to convert them. I want to stay away from Flash and anything else that is not mobile-friendly.
BlueHost claims their hosing is unlimited bandwidth & webspace. It also says this on their website about shared hosting, “Our technology identifies websites using excessive resources and temporarily re-assigns them to isolated systems. This defends your website performance and mitigates the risk normally associated with shared servers.” Again, I have no idea how to anticipate traffic and/or how many people need to be streaming at once to make a big hit on the server.
I think my client would be thrilled if 3-5 people per day were streaming his films. This is a brand new website, so there is nothing but past DVD sales as an indicator of viewing interest.
To me scalability would be a big consideration. I’ve not used BH but if their infrastructure allows you scale things if/when needed then it might be fine for your needs. It doesn’t sound like a high-traffic scenario, at least not yet, so perhaps you won’t be using excessive resources, however BH is defining that term.
But if things do take off in a big way then it might worth considering a more dedicated and robust solution (VPS, CDN or Enterprise class hosting), something other than a shared plan.
I would prefer to use shared hosting, as the cost is much more in line with my client’s budget.
I have no idea how to anticipate traffic. I would think a host that would allow me to upgrade as the traffic increases would be the best way to go. If a lot of people are paying to stream his films, he’ll be able/willing to pay for more bandwidth.
I’ve never used a CDN and I don’t know the breaking point that makes using one necessary/advisable. Can a system like CacheFly be integrated into Freeway if/when that becomes necessary?
The films are currently available on DVD. I anticipate I will need to convert them. I want to stay away from Flash and anything else that is not mobile-friendly.
BlueHost claims their hosing is unlimited bandwidth & webspace. It also says this on their website about shared hosting, “Our technology identifies websites using excessive resources and temporarily re-assigns them to isolated systems. This defends your website performance and mitigates the risk normally associated with shared servers.” Again, I have no idea how to anticipate traffic and/or how many people need to be streaming at once to make a big hit on the server.
I think my client would be thrilled if 3-5 people per day were streaming his films. This is a brand new website, so there is nothing but past DVD sales as an indicator of viewing interest.
I’m inclined to agree with your thoughts. If/when a CDN were to become necessary, are there any special considerations with interfacing with FreeWay?
How do I handle streaming in a way that makes it less likely that someone will steal the content – either without paying or streaming, but actually downloading and potentially re-selling? He’s had issues in the past with this and I know it is a huge concern. I also need to make him aware that just putting his stuff out there is a risk that and nothing is 100% secure.
Ideally, I would like a PayPal/Mals/Ecwid solution that provides a link automatically to stream the film. I think YouTube has paid accounts also, but I’m not sure how these work.
I’m inclined to agree with your thoughts. If/when a CDN were to become necessary, are there any special considerations with interfacing with FreeWay?
As far as I know nothing specific to FW. If BH offers the Cloudflare (CDN) as part of their cPanel then that’s one way to get your feet wet with minimal effort.
How do I handle streaming in a way that makes it less likely that someone will steal the content – either without paying or streaming, but actually downloading and potentially re-selling? He’s had issues in the past with this and I know it is a huge concern. I also need to make him aware that just putting his stuff out there is a risk that and nothing is 100% secure.
A true streaming server should be slightly more secure because of how the content is delivered, meaning you’re not dealing with embedded files which are easy to grab. That should thwart casual thieves but naturally the more clever people know how to skirt the technical hurdles. Like you said, if it’s online it’s fair game. Even if you put the video feed behind a member’s area there’s no reason a tech-savvy member couldn’t grab and redistribute it. But still, streaming should make it more difficult to steal.
I suspect there are probably some very clever techniques developed by very smart people to protect video content, but I would also bet they are extremely expensive and maybe even proprietary.
Ideally, I would like a PayPal/Mals/Ecwid solution that provides a link automatically to stream the film. I think YouTube has paid accounts also, but I’m not sure how these work.
I think you’re right but I’m not familiar with that side of it.
I would take a look at Vimeo Pro – they have features that could make this quite easy to do. It’s $100/year, which is peanuts compared with a serious QuickTime Streaming server plan.
Walter
On Apr 15, 2015, at 1:29 PM, Todd email@hidden wrote:
Ideally, I would like a PayPal/Mals/Ecwid solution that provides a link automatically to stream the film. I think YouTube has paid accounts also, but I’m not sure how these work.
The Lounge Video Area uses the Vimeo plan as well. Beneath better quality (towards the basics) it offers to hide the videos from Vimeo Frontend. So only the pages you define there, are authorized to play the videos.
The entire page is built on WordPress. I then purchased a plugin called Restrict Content Pro. This allows me to create plans (Silver, Pro …) for to purchase em via PayPal (the only current payment gateway if iI’m correctly oriented).
Last but not least, I created the basic design in Freeway, flavored it by the required WP terminology (which was the heavy weightiest part). To get in, I screened this procedure in several episodes starting from here:
I’d like on this way thank Walter for creating the amazing Template Helper action which allows to create the required partials.
On top - I’m convinced of finding a nice e-commerce plugin as well - so you’d be able to cover all aspects required, keeping them in one family.
Naturally - an adjust of a template would be possible as well.
Last but not least:
There is a sentence of critical budget. So the client has big needs but low budget. This is a critical breakpoint at all. Projects like those smell time-consuming and brain-sucking, too. Chances are good that thy row boats of gold. Consider this as well.
The Vimeo idea sounds like a winner. It looks like the pro & business accounts are both $200/year. I can’t tell the difference between the two right now. Walter, do you think your $100/year thought is an old model?
Thomas, I have real budget concerns as well. That’s one of the reasons I’m doing this research now before I accept him as a client!
What would be required to get Vimeo working inside my FW site? I understand, Thomas, you’re using WP. I would rather not use WP if I don’t have to!