On Wednesday, Google announced they will be no longer allowing uploads to their Google Video service.  Google invites you to use YouTube or Picasa, but the issue for churches is that sermons often exceed the 10 minute cap on video length.  There are several competitors on the market that allow free uploads of any length video (although they still have file size limits).  They all have “premium” accounts available as well.

• blip.tv – 1GB file size limit
• Viddler – 500mb file size limit
• Vimeo – 1GB file size limit

There are also several sites that specialize in servicing the church market such as GodTube, LightCastMedia and TruthCasting.

Who do you use for your video hosting?

JellyTelly, a new Christian online video channel from Phil Vischer, the creator of VeggieTales, has launched. For those who are curious, they seem to be using Ooyala to for their video distribution.

Our favorite card for video encoding is the ViewCast Osprey-100, we have been using it with Windows Media Encoder for years.  Recently, we began testing live streaming with Ustream.TV which uses Adobe’s Flash technology for streaming.  Their simple encoding client does not allow you to select which input on the Osprey-100 to use.  To get around this, fire up the free Windows Media Encoder  or the free Flash Media Encoder 2.5 and use it to select the input you want.  Once selected, Ustream’s app will see the same input.

With high speed Internet connections and relatively cheap webcams, multi user video conferencing is now a reality for almost any group or organization.  Several companies have hopped on to this bandwagon offering free or low cost software solutions that allow you to host online meetings or classes with ease.  We recently did a quick evaluation on  the following three options (thanks to #citrt for helping out with the initial eval):

• MeBeam Video Chat – Simple, Flash based site that supports up to 16 users.  No software to install.
• ooVoo – Up to 3 simultaneous users for free, 6 with the $10/month super option.  Capability to record conference in Flash.  Runs on Windows or Mac.
• SightSpeed – Up to 4 users for $9.95/month on a personal account or $20/seat/month on a business account.  Video call recording supported on business account.

Our initial testing showed ooVoo with the best video quality and interface (no hard data, just our opinion), plus video recording and six users for $10/month it is a pretty sweet deal.  We put ooVoo into production a week ago and began using it for a clergy seminar.  Results came back overwhelmingly positive from all those who attended.  The only issue is that 6 simultaneous users may not be enough, so we’ll have to make the jump to MeBeam or just go one way (for the larger meetings) with Ustream.TV.

We are testing out live streaming our church with Ustream.TV. If it goes well, we will offer it along with the windows media stream for our main feed from the sanctuary.

Testing out Neokast to push a 887 kbps live video stream (640×480 24 fps). Seems to be working pretty well, only downsides are that it is Windows only and requires a plugin. We had around 25 users on it earlier today with no major hiccups.

You can check it out during any one of our Holy Pascha services this week.

Further reading: Bob Cringley – The $7 TV Network: Neokast brings multicasting to the masses.

Our beta testing with Neokast is going well. We are now running a 640×480 29.97 fps stream at 732 Kbps. We will continue testing at this rate for the for another week and see how it goes. If you would like to check it out, tune in to the bible study tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7pm EST.

Update: We were having issues at 732 Kpbs so we are trying out a 548 Kbps 640×480 24 fps stream tonight.

Shortly after posting Serving up Live Streaming Video, I got an email from Neokast asking if I would like to experiment with their platform. I jumped at the opportunity and they got me setup in no time.

Neokast connected directly to my existing Windows Media publishing point and listed me on their site (still in beta). I tested out the stream this morning and it was up and running. Neokast then proceeded to send me the code that allows me to embed their player directly on our site. Embedding the code was pretty straight forward, and the player integrated cleanly. You can also double click on the player to go full screen.

I am running a limited access test this weekend before opening it up to the public. If you would like to be in on the test just comment below.

Neokast currently requires Windows XP and administrator rights to install the plugin. The plugin does install all the dependencies but it can be a little tricky for the novice to navigate. I had my mom install the plugin, it took about 20 minutes with me guiding her on the phone. Neokast said they will get me detailed instructions and FAQs soon.

If all goes well this weekend with the test, we will setup an in house Windows Media server that will service our internal clients and will also provide a higher quality stream for Neokast to pick up and share. Don’t worry, we will also keep our existing setup for those who can’t install the plugin.

On the Church IT Podcast last week Chris K mentioned that they were talking to 316 Networks and Akamai about streaming solutions. They are saturating a “75MB pipe … over 500 users @ 282Kbps.” I wanted to throw out a few details on other options that we are looking at (We hit about 180 users @ 340 Kbps).

Currently we are using Windows Media Services for live streaming, I’ve written a few posts on our setup:
Tech we Use: Part 2 – Streaming and Recording
Live Windows Media Streaming Mini-Howto
Second Streaming Server

For hosting Windows Media Services we are using a dedicated Windows server at Serverbeach, but there are several providers that specialize in streaming that friends have recommended:
ChurchQuest – Live streaming starting at $8.95 a month, recommended by David Morcos.
Christian Video Channel – These are the guys that Jason is currently using for their undercover live feed.
VitalStream – Karim Guirguis, a buddy of mine over at the American Bankruptcy Institute uses them extensively.

Light Cast Media is currently serving up video on demand (using Flash) and has a simulated live service in beta. A true live service is in the works.

Neokast is a brand new service that is currently in beta. Cringley says that they use “peer-to-peer technology to effectively emulate a multicast experience.” Advantages are high quality, little bandwidth requirements, unlimited users and almost no cost (If you aren’t charging your viewers, the service is free). There are a couple disadvantages though, there is a required client download and they only support Internet Explorer/Windows as of right now (Mac and Linux versions are in the works).

I’ve tried the Neokast client, they offer multiple quality streams, the video at 800k looks really good, and buffering only took a few seconds. They still haven’t enabled beta users to publish “videokasts” yet, I am looking forward to trying it out.

More on Neokast:
Neokast Blog
The $7 TV Network: Neokast brings multicasting to the masses.
Neokast, Emerging from the Shell

Microsoft has been creating quite a stir over the past few days with their announcement of upgrades to their Silverlight product, which will support live video streaming. Once again, this looks like it will require a download, and it doesn’t look like there will be support for Linux users any time soon. I haven’t had a chance to play with the beta yet. I am not sure if there are Silverlight live streaming service providers out there yet.

Live streaming is gaining popularity this year at St. Mark’s. On Palm Sunday, we had 145 simultaneous live viewers running a 340 Kbps (320×240) live stream.

Unfortunately, the bandwidth on our dedicated server began to choke and users were complaining that the service was a little choppy. We had already ordered a second server from 1&1 early last week to help offset the load, but it still isn’t ready. I called around a few buddies and thankfully Emad volunteered a box he has in a different data center.

Setting up additional Windows Media streaming servers is pretty straightforward:

1. Make sure that the publishing point on your first server is up and running, see my Live Windows Media Streaming Mini-Howto for more details on this.
2. Login or remote desktop into the second server and open up the Windows Media Services MMC – it should be located under Administrative Tools. (Windows Media Services and its MMC can be installed using Add/Remove Windows Components).
3. Right click on Publishing Points and choose Add Publishing Point (Advanced)…
4. Publishing point type: Broadcast
   Publishing point name: Use the same name that you are using on your first server
   Location of content: This is the publishing point on your first server.
   Content type: Remote Publishing Point
5. Click Play on the bottom of the Monitor page for the new publishing point.
6. Test out the stream from another computer by browsing to mms://server2/publishingpoint.

Once the second server is up and running, you can make it available to your end users in a couple different ways:

1. You can list links to both servers directly on your website and place limits in the properties section of your publishing point so that when one as at capacity they will be forced to use the other.
2. You can setup Round Robin DNS – create A records with the IP addresses of both servers using the same host name, users will be directed to the alternating IP addresses, should create an approximate 50/50 load on the servers. You must use the same name for the publishing point on both servers for this to work.

We actually wanted to place about 2/3 of the load on the first server so we created two A records for the first and one for the second.

This method can be used to add any number of additional Windows Media streaming servers.