The Basics
N.B. If you’re looking for information about streaming the iPhone have a look here instead – the rest of the info on this page doesn’t apply to the iPhone.
In it’s simplest form we deliver live Adobe Flash Video to a player embedded in a webpage(s). We use Flash because it is uquitious. Every online video service (Youtube, Vimeo, etc) uses it. There are several other formats available but we consider them to be less accessible or problematic for a number of reasons… none of which we’ll discuss here. Flash is the best way to deliver live video – trust us.
Infrastructure
We deliver our webcasts using a combination of the world top rated content delivery networks.
Our live video delivery is handled by Edgecast Networks. We’re their UK partner. Ranked 3# Best CDN by Yankee Group, their global network presence means we can deliver video instantly, anywhere in the world with 100% reliablity.
All web applications and non video assets are delivered by Rackspace the worlds leading hosting provider.
Using these services we’ve developed a robust and proven workflow focusing on inclusion & reliablity.
Extra Clever Stuff
All live webcasts we provide are delivered using Adobe Flash serverside archiving. This means that users can watch a live stream (after a short delay) via HTTP. Essentially this means that as long as users have an internet connection, the required bandwith they can watch the webcast. In the past using the proprietaty RTMP protocol developed by Adode occassionally meant that some webcasts were blocked by firewalls, etc. Not anymore.
Formats
Out live webcasts are delivered in H.264 and provide a balance between the best quality currently available and the most manageable data rates.