How do I get streaming video on my website?
Getting up and running with streaming video on your website is really simple:
- Choose your video format: Flash Video Streaming or Windows Media Streaming or QuickTime Streaming
- For Windows Media and Quicktime use the calculator to work out the monthly cost. For Flash Video Streaming pricing click here
- Signup online (Flash Video Streaming) for a free trial or contact us (Windows Media/Quicktime) to purchase a package.
By following this guide, you can be streaming online video from your website in a matter of minutes. But if any of the steps above give cause for concern, don't worry, just pick up the phone and call one of our streaming media specialists here at iWeb Hosting, or send us a message online, and we'll be happy to help.
How do I make a Quicktime or Windows Media streaming video?
You will need to use software to encode your video in a 'streamable' format so that it can be streamed online. Windows users can use Windows Media Encoder and Mac users can use QuickTime.
How do I make Flash Streaming videos?
If encoding your own video sounds a bit complicated, our new Flash Video Streaming service is for you. Simply upload your video in any format and we will convert it for you.
Click here for Flash Video Streaming pricing
Calculate the cost (Windows Media / Quicktime)
Follow these tips and enter your requirements in the calculator below to get an instant price online:
- Our pricing is based on the maximum number of concurrent users you wish to be able to connect to your video and the bit-rate of the video you are serving
- The number of downloads per month is unlimited; we only limit how many streams can be viewed at once, which is your maximum number of concurrent viewers
- We can offer up to a maximum of 500 concurrent viewers (people who are watching your streams at the same time)
- Each concurrent user (based on a typical bit-rate of 250kbps) costs just £4.99 +VAT per month
- Our most common bit-rates are between 250kbps and 300kbps, but the choice is yours. Play around with your video encoding software and see what works best for you
Each person watching the video at any one time is a concurrent viewer, so five people watching a video at the same time is five concurrents - simple as that. Once the concurrent viewer limit has been reached, the next person who tries to simulatinously watch the video will get a server full message. When someone who is watching one of your videos leaves a free slot will become available for someone else to watch. So even though you may only have fifty concurrents, over the month you have the ability for thousands of different people to watch.
There is no rule to say what bit rate you should go for. The lower the bit rate, the cheaper the stream will be, but the quality will be reduced. Play around with your video encoding software and see what works for you. Need somewhere to start? Our most commonly used streaming rate is 300kbps.
Unsure of what software you'll need to encode videos to stream online? For Windows use Windows Media Encoder and for Macs use Quicktime.
You can stream 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for this monthly cost. Want to discuss this further? Call us on 0845 0066 528 and ask to speak to one of our live video streaming experts or use our contact form.
We appreciate live streaming can be tricky to configure, so we are more than happy to offer FREE TRIALS of our live streaming server.
Need something out of the ordinary? Contact us with your specific requirements.
Need more assistance?
We're happy to talk you through the process, give you advice on technical matters and point you in the direction of more help if you'd like to give us a call.