Streaming

Streaming Features

All StreamZilla CDN accounts offer integrated, high performance support for all popular delivery protocols, formats and players. 

What is the difference between progressive downloading and streaming?

Downloading generally generates more traffic than true streaming. A progressive download is pushed at maximum speed to the viewers computer. Even if a viewer watches for just one minute, the entire 10 minutes video could have been downloaded. Streaming only generates traffic during view time, plus a small buffer. The costs for streaming traffic can be 10 times lower than with progressive downloads!

A download is actually copied to the end users harddrive. A stream is not copied, only the audio and video data are sent. Only a small buffer is in the memory of the client device. The asset can not be copied and re-distributed, unless someone uses a specific stream ripper application.

Streaming offers better Quality of Service control, better traffic management, intelligent bursting and buffering, random access, better reporting and of course live streaming features.

Some CDN's claim that they offer streaming support, but in reality they only offer progressive downloads to save costs. Some use intelligent download technologies to limit traffic, but these solutions never really match the benefits and efficiency of true streaming.

StreamZilla offers true streaming via MMS, RTSP and RTMP, and offers progressive download support as well. With StreamZilla there is no operational cost difference between progressive download and streaming, but the benefits are huge, and you can save dramatically on traffic costs, so we advise to use streaming delivery whenever you can.

Are there downsides to streaming?

Some firewalls, proxies and thin clients may have issues with streaming. We optimized all protocols (RTMP, MMS, RTSP) by enabling HTTP tunneling to bypass this. You can also use our progressive download feature as an alternative delivery method.

What are the most popular media formats?

H.264+AAC for Flash and QuickTime. WMV for Windows Media and Silverlight. 3GPP for mobile content. FLV is for legacy Flash players. We advise to standardize on H.264+AAC. If you want to delivery content via RTSP, do not forget to 'hint' (optimize for streaming server) your MP4, MOV or 3GP assets.

What are the most popular media players?

Flash, Silverlight, Windows Media Player and 3G mobile clients. The market penetration of the latest versions of Flash and Silverlight are 60% in offices and schools and 75% at homes. Do not believe the >90% marketing claims. For maximum market penetration we advise to offer your content in H.264 and WMV via Flash and Silverlight.

Which on-demand streaming formats do the accounts support?

We support all popular streaming formats including WMV, FLV, AAC, MOV, MP4 (H.264+AAC) and 3GP VOD streaming.

Which live streaming formats do the accounts support?

We offer integrated support for Windows Media, Flash, H.264, 3GPP, QuickTime and Icecast live streaming.

Which live encoders do the accounts support?

We support Windows Media Encoder, Flash Media Encoder, QuickTime Broadcaster, Wirecast and Icecast compliant encoders. Compliant hardware and software encoders may work as well.

Do the accounts support web delivery?

Yes, all our servers also offer support for HTTP downloadable delivery of content. You can upload any file type including web pages, images, documents, media, applications, configuration files and zip files. We do not offer PHP, ASP, database or other application support.

Do the accounts support progressive downloads?

Of course. You can progressively deliver any media file via our service. Upload the assets to the wwwroot. In addition, for FLV files we offer a advanced progressive download feature that lets the viewer skip through the video even if the video is not downloaded. Note that in general progressive download generates more traffic than with streaming delivery and that there is less QoS control and less exact reporting compared to streaming delivery. Use our true streaming service whenever you can.

Does the wwwroot support server side scripts?

The wwwroot is for static assets. You can upload any static asset type. You cannot run applications, execute PHP, ASP, CGI scripts or run databases. Please use your existing web server(s) for applications and use our CDN for web acceleration and streaming.

Which delivery protocols do the accounts support?

We offer integrated support for true streaming protocols: Windows Media Streaming (MMS/RTSP) with advanced bursting, QuickTime, H.264 and 3GPP streaming (RTSP) with advanced bursting, Flash and H.264 streaming (RTMP) with advanced bursting, advanced HTTP progressive download for FLV files and HTTP progressive download for any file type.

Are the accounts optimized for firewalls and NAT?

Yes, all streaming protocols are also available on port 80 (the default port of HTTP) so streams are not blocked by firewalls or NAT routers. If you still encounter issues with firewalls and proxies we advise to offer a progressive download option next to the streaming delivery options.

Does StreamZilla modify our content?

Not at all, you have complete control over your content quality, sizes and bit rates. You encode your content, upload to our CDN and we distribute. We do not downgrade your content by transcoding or modifying your content.

Can I stream simultaneously VOD and Live?

Of course. Your account supports VOD and live streaming, and (progressive) download.

Can I stream multiple formats simultaneously?

Of course, you can mix multiple live and/or on-demand streams in any format.

Can I upstream/upload one format and you deliver in other formats?

We do not transcode, downgrade or modify vod streams or live streams. You can upload and upstream and we serve it out exactly the way you offer it to us. If you want to offer content in multiple bit rates or multiple formats, you are free to upload or upstream all variants to us and offer these to your audience.

Which transcoders do you advise?

Great free transcoders are Windows Media Encoder, Adobe Media Encoder, QuickTime Pro. In the semi-professional range we prefer Sorenson Squeeze and Episode Pro. In the high range we advise Flip Factory or Rhozet Carbon Coder.

Do you have generic transcoding tips?

Plenty:
Encode at a decent bit rate. A low bit rate means low quality. A high bit rate means that users may experience buffering issues. European and some Asian customers may have high speed links that allow for HD quality content. But for other regions and for corporate viewers you must keep the encoding bit rate under 750Kbps.

Low quality videos are encoded at 320x240 at 250-500Kbps.

Medium size quality videos are encoded at 720x400 at 500-1000Kbps.

High quality videos are encoded at 720x400 at 1-2Mbps
High Definition videos are encoded at 1280x720 at 3-8Mbps.

Make sure that the video size fits the encoding bit rate. Do not encode a 320x240 movie at 2 Mbps. Do not encode a 1280x720 movie at 500 Kbps.

De-interlace your content before transcoding. The quality improves significantly.

Use 2-pass CBR (Constant Bit Rate) encoding for a high quality streamable file.

Play with the number of keyframes. The more keyframes, the lower the quality, but the stream becomes more reliable.