PurplePaste

These notes are part of my presentation "PEG Access Centers and New Technology" at the Northeast Alliance for Community Media Conference on November 17.

Web Streaming for the Cash-Strapped Producer

A solution that will allow you to provide on-demand web streaming of video content at a minimal cost of time and dollars.

What you need:

A DreamHost account

(http://dreamhost.com/hosting.html) - For the money, Dreamhost comes out on top at around $10/month. You don't have to host your entire web site with them (but you can). The big advantage is access to a Darwin streaming server and a crapload of bandwidth and storage.

• Darwin Streaming Server
  • compatible with hinted Quicktime MOV files
• 200+ GB of storage
  • enough to put up 35 hours of new programming every week for a year!
• 2+ terabytes of bandwidth per month
  • you won't hit 2 TB per month
  • and if you do... your streaming experiment is a huge success and you should probably consider shelling out an extra five bucks/month for double the bandwidth

FTP software

• FTP is an easy way to upload files to a server on the Internet
• FTP is an acronym for File Transfer Protocol
• Free software
  • Windows
    • FileZilla (http://sourceforge.net/projects/filezilla/)
  • Mac OS
    • CyberDuck (http://cyberduck.ch/)

Quicktime Pro

(http://www.apple.com/quicktime/pro/)

• If you're running FCP, you probably already have a QTP license
• It's $30... and the best piece of $30 software around

Source video material

• DVD - rip with Handbrake
  • Handbrake (http://handbrake.m0k.org)
    • Converts an unencrypted DVD to MPEG-4 file
• Video file (MPEG-2, MOV, DV or other) - convert with Visual Hub or iSquint
  • Visual Hub (http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/)
    • Converts almost any video file format to MPEG-4
    • $23
  • iSquint (http://www.isquint.org)
    • Converts video to MPEG-4; fewer features than VH
    • Free (but not open source)
• MiniDV, VHS, 3/4", 16mm film, stone tablet
  • import into your NLE of choice... iMovie, FCP, Vegas, whatever...
  • edit as usual
  • export video
    • export to an MPEG, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MOV, etc.... then drag the file into iSquint
    • OR
    • burn a DVD, then convert it using Handbrake

Instructions

Set Up Your Account (one time only)

• Log into your DreamHost account (http://panel.dreamhost.com)
  • Create an FTP Account
    • Under the Users menu, select Manage Users
    • Click Add new user
    • Select type: FTP, and choose a username and password
  • Enable Streaming
    • Under the Goodies menu, select Media Straming
    • Click Add new QuickTime streaming service
    • Create a subdomain, such as streaming.yoursite.org

Prepare a File for Streaming

• File Creation / Encoding
  • Convert your source material to a QuickTime-compatible file (MPEG-4, DV, MOV)
  • Use the software tools listed above to create your video file

• QuickTime Export
  • Open the file with QuickTime
    • Test that it plays back properly
  • Select "File > Export"
    • Export using "Movie to QuickTime Movie" setting, using the "Streaming - Medium" option
    • Click "Save" and let the computer go to work
      • Note: This could take several hours, depending on the speed of the computer and the length of the file.

• File Upload
  • Using your FTP program, upload the file to your new DreamHost account
  • You'll need the username/password for the account that you created
  • You'll also need to upload the file to the streaming.yoursite.org folder

• Add it to Your Website
  • Use this HTML to Add Streaming Video to your site
  • See it in action

VIDEO COMPRESSION IS TIME CONSUMING!
But... it's not your time, it's the computer's time. Get a cheap Dell and put it to work for you.