The selection of a Content Distribution Network (CDN) for live streaming is not an easy choice. In the last couple of weeks we have been investigating several of the offerings and comparing packages, costs and the flexibility they offer.
Many live streaming podcasters are only able to have ad free streaming due to a subsidised (free) service from their provider in return for advertising. In this post we are looking at fee based, ad free services for video podcasters who either want to be independent and don’t have the benefit of a sponsoring CDN, or for those offering commercial business streams.
Scenarios:
Comparing the cost can be difficult so we have created three ‘use case’ scenarios which we will price against each CDN:
Doing some simple calculations on this we can work out the viewing hours and total data streaming requirements for estimating the cost of each CDN:
If you want to add something we missed, suggest another CDN etc then jump over to the forums we have created for discussions.
1 – Amazon Web Services Cloudformation
AWS Cloudformation streaming is not easy to setup. If you are happy to instruct your ISP to change DNS records, can run Perl scripts from the command line, and like a challenge then this service is for you. If not stay away or pay someone to do this for you.
We have been testing this service in the last week and had problems due to some server issues at Amazon and more importantly high latency on the stream. On one test the audio was around 2.5 seconds after the video, then on the next test it was perfectly in sync. This could be a fantastic service but the complexity and the stream delay of 20 seconds plus will rule it out for a lot of people.
Advantages:
- Best costs for all scenarios
- Very small monthly commitment ($6) effectively ‘pay as you go’
- HD Support
Disadvantages:
- Difficult to setup.
- You need to ‘build a stack’ before each stream which takes 1 minute to kickoff and around 15 minutes to complete.
- If you stop your stream, or it stops for some reason, you cannot restart streaming.
- In our tests delays on the stream ranged from 15 to 40 seconds. So not good for live feedback via IRC for example.
- Only encode option is Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder (FMLE)
- Poor / non-existent statistics
- Did we mention how difficult this is to setup?
Estimated Monthly Costs:
Note: These are our estimates of the cost, check the CDN’s website for pricing information.
BitGravity is part of Tata Communications and part of the Tata group. We have not had the opportunity to try out this service (high entry price for testing) but with the Tata Pedigree and the facilities offered we expect this will provide a quality service, but at a price that would rule it out for most video podcasters but not for businesses users.
The demos on the website are impressive and the 1500Kbps HD stream looks very good.
Advantages:
- Support for multiple encoders (including FMLE, Wirecast and Tricaster)
- Low latency 4 – 6 seconds
- Good statistics
- Quick to start
- HD Support
Disadvantages:
- Cost
- Monthly commitment
Estimated Monthly Costs:
Note: These are our estimates of the cost, check the CDN’s website for pricing information.
3 – Ustream Pro
Ustream has been a popular choice for many but if you want to remove the ads you need to move to one of the fee services they offer. But beware removing ads does not mean they remove their own logo from the stream (surely this is an ad?) Only the Enterprise package removes the annoying Ustream watermark in the top right corner.
Advantages:
- Many people have used Ustream free service
- Dashboard with statistics
- Apps for some mobile devices
- Quick to start
Disadvantages:
- Cost
- Ustream embedded logo except on Enterprise package
- Monthly commitment
Estimated Monthly Costs:
Note: These are our estimates of the cost, check the CDN’s website for pricing information.
Watershed is part of Ustream and appears to be targetting broadcasters who want to create a branded Ustream web type experience. To quote their website “Watershed is the private label version of Ustream’s™ proven and chosen Flash-based live, interactive webcasting platform”. This may be an attractive option for some users who want to use provided function such as chat but many just want to embed live video within their own web pages, which you can do.
This service does seem to provide a good balance between complexity and price. Not as cheap as AWS Cloudformation but simpler to setup up. Overall this balance will be attractive to many.
Advantages:
- Best balance between complexity and price
- 30 day / 5 viewer hour trial
- Can Web interface FMLE, Tricaster or Wirecast to stream.
- Dashboard with stats
Disadvantages:
- Some complexity for streaming setup
- High quality streams were problematic during our testing.
- Website was slow during testing.
Estimated Monthly Costs:
Note: These are our estimates of the cost, check the CDN’s website for pricing information.
Conclusions
The price of bandwidth is falling around the globe and it is likely we will see significant changes to streaming prices over the next year. There will also be a continued steady increase in advertising on the free services. Business users and serious video podcasters want ad free services so there will be a growing move to fee based services.
The costs of many of these services are of course increased by the free sponsorship deals they have with some video podcasters, there is nothing for free so this is being paid for by those who buy services from these CDN’s. As price pressure increases it is expected that these deals will significantly reduce or disappear completely. Savvy broadcasters are not going to be influenced by who xyz streams with, they will do the research and make their decisions on the service offering, price, quality and reliability.
One alternative for the video podcast community is that they get together and agree to only use one service where the viewer pays for an ad free stream (such as Justin TV pro account at $9.99 per month). But what is the chance of this happening? What body could organise this?
From the costs it is clear that AWS Cloudformation are already offering an extremely competitive service much closer to the real cost of bandwidth. They are let down by the complexity of configuring the service, the long delays in the streams, the need to build a ‘stack’ before broadcast and no statistics. When/if they fix these issues it could be game over for many of their competitors.
We have not tried BitGravity Live but the demo’s are very impressive and the feature set offered is extensive. If cost were no object we would be trying this service out.
UStream Pro seems to offer little competitive advantage anywhere. Embedding their logo on two of the three fee based services alone is enough for most people to give them a miss.
Watershed appears to offer a good balance between cost and complexity. For those in ‘Scenario 1’ this is the obvious choice.
For those in ‘Scenario 2’ the choice is really between AWS and Watershed. If you like a challenge and the stream delay is not a problem for you then AWS is the way to go.
If you are broadcasting in the ‘Scenario 3’ model then Bitgravity Live offers the best pricing assuming you do not want the challenge of AWS and you want good statistics.
The final choice comes down to a business decision, is the cost of a CDN covered by an income stream or is the investment, while you build a revenue stream, acceptable?
Monthly Cost summary:
Note: These are our estimates of the cost, check the CDN’s website for pricing information.
For discussion on this topic visit the TTFN Forums
