Streaming Flash Video with open-source software
Flash video has several advantages over other formats, especially the fact that the Flash plugin comes pre-installed on most browsers. For this reason I’ve been looking at using streaming Flash video in sites which must support a wide variety of browsers and platforms.
However, until recently, the cost of licensing the Flash Media Server software has been prohibitive. An article on Forbes.com notes that the cost for streaming Flash video is sometimes more expensive than it is worth. Fortunately, there is now an open source alternative to Flash Media Server: “Red5,“ which is not only free but does more than Adobe’s Flash Media Server Software. In fact it does more than several Adobe server products put together.
Red5 is an open source Flash Server written in Java that supports streaming audio and video, recording client video streams, remote shared objects (a flash feature that allows collaborative multi-user applications), live stream publishing (webcasting) and much more.
Starting out with simple streaming using the Red5 server:
- First go to Red5 Downloads Page and download the latest version for your server platform.
- A good tutorial on installing Red5 on Windows is available here. To get to the correct article, find the navigation bar at the bottom of the page, and click to page 2. Click on the button for Red5 Flash Media Server.
- Find the file “red5.properties”. On my server it is at:
/serverRoot/Red5/conf/red5.propertiesChange the http.host line to read:
http.host = your.server.com
# HTTP http.host = your.server.com http.port = 5080 # RTMP rtmp.host = your.server.com rtmp.port = 1935 rtmp.event_threads_core=16 rtmp.event_threads_max=32 # event threads queue: -1 unbounded, 0 direct (no queue), n bounded queue rtmp.event_threads_queue=-1 rtmp.event_threads_keepalive=60 rtmp.send_buffer_size=271360 rtmp.receive_buffer_size=65536 rtmp.ping_interval=5000 rtmp.max_inactivity=60000 # RTMPT rtmpt.host = your.server.com rtmpt.port = 8088 rtmpt.ping_interval=5000 rtmpt.max_inactivity=60000 # Debug proxy (needs to be activated in red5-core.xml) proxy.source_host=0.0.0.0 proxy.source_port=1936 proxy.destination_host=your.server.com proxy.destination_port=80
(note, these settings are for a server that is NOT also running a standard webserver side by side with red5. For an explanation of how to do that, see this article )
To stream a video, just put the FLV video file into any of the streams directories. For example:/Red5/webapps/oneOfTheApps/streams/yourVideo.flv
Access the stream by using a flash based video player. A simple example is available for download:
The relevant actionscript is in frame1 of the main timeline.
Additional Resources- General Flash Video information:
Best Practices for Delivery: Flash Video- Additional Information:
Subscribe to the Red5 mailing list- Another Red5 forum is located here
- Security:
To see all Red5 mailing list posts on the topic of security, paste the following query into a Google search box:
site:http://osflash.org/pipermail/red5_osflash.org/ security- Performance:
Stress test results of publishing a live stream to many clients (May 2007)- Firewall and Shared IIS server issues
How to run Red 5 on a shared IIS server on port 80 - General Flash Video information:
Monetize Videos by Pre and Post Rolls Ads on Video Player.
Hello there.
I Am going to do a DJ’ing gig latter this year and I plan on having it live on my website also. I Am hoping to use the “JW FLV Player” as the player for my users to view the gig live on-line at my website. But in order to make that happen I need a “red5” server. Now I have that sorted. But here is the bit I can’t work out. How do get the live content to the “red5” server for it to stream to “JW FLV Player”. I Will need some sort of capture software to take the feed from the camera to then send it to the “red5” server.
What software do I use? I Know if I was to use the “Adobe” software. I Would “Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder 3” to capture and “Adobe Flash Media Streaming Server” to do the streaming. But I am not going to use Adobe. So What would I use instead of “Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder 3”?
Hope to hear from somebody soon.
Oddsodz
Hi, you have a lot of questions – could I suggest you join the Red5 mailing list at
http://osflash.org/mailman/listinfo/red5_osflash.org
or post on the LongTailVideo.com forums?
There would be more people to help you there.
I wanted to stream my flash video for sharing with friends and your article help me at the moment.
Now I found this new free streaming media where you can stream flash video in few minutes : http://www.dacast.com. Hope That’ll help some people like your tutorial.
Whoever wrote this article does not have sufficient knowledge of Adobe Flash Media Encoder or Adobe Flash Media Server. Adobe BLOWS AWAY Red 5 any day of the week, and under any circumstances. Red 5 has light years of further development before they can pipe dream of touching Adobe’s mastery (they own it now, so it doesn’t matter who created it).
Peter Whyte: You CAN still use the FREE Adobe Flash Media Encoder as your broadcast platform, and send that through the Red5 server-side. There are a few things to consider-starting with your connection, and its speed. This will dictate your settings. If at all possible, use a business class cable internet or better-and hard wired at that. Anything weaker will give you poor settings and poor results.
If you ever have any questions about broadcasting live via the internet–please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d be happy to help and/or advise.
One Love,
Dirty South TV
DirtySouthTV.com
Well let’s see – I just checked the cheapest price I could find on the Adobe Interactive Media server (the Educational discount) and that costs 3600.00. Glad to hear about the Flash media encoder for live broadcast, though – I’ll have to try that.
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