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Ask HN: Recommend video streaming CDN service

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Ask HN: Recommend video streaming CDN service

#1

Post by hknmtt »

I would like to provide users with video streaming but would like to avoid the hustle of running the infrastructure.

Can you recommend a cheap CDN service for video streaming?

The way I imagine it is that a user will request a video stream instance, I will set it up via automated API calls and provide the user with access details for OBS(or similar software). The user then starts the video stream. Other users/audience will be able to watch it on my platform via embedded video player that will be streaming the video from this video cdn service. And I will be charged per use(although I would prefer something more predictable, rather than actual per-data pricing to not go bankrupt in case of sudden extreme interest in some video stream).

Re: Ask HN: Recommend video streaming CDN service

#2

Post by phillipseamore »

Don't know any service that would be considered cheap or even affordable that doesn't charge by the byte or watch time. But I'd certainly like to be proven wrong!

It would be hard to find anything that wouldn't be at least 2x more expensive than running your own, at least the origin/ingest and transcoding side (as well as origin for DVR/recording/VOD). Depending on the scale, running your own edge servers for delivery to viewers might also be a lot cheaper.

Re: Ask HN: Recommend video streaming CDN service

#3

Post by hknmtt »

phillipseamore wrote: post #2

Don't know any service that would be considered cheap or even affordable that doesn't charge by the byte or watch time. But I'd certainly like to be proven wrong! It would be hard to find anything that wouldn't be at least 2x more expensive than running your own, at least the origin/ingest and transcoding side (as well as origin for DVR/recording/VOD). Depending on the scale, running your own edge servers for deliver…

i am not afraid of handling the infra myself but the problem is that the tech is still outdated so you have to do h264 and multicast. in other words you have to use old codec(h264), not vp8, vp9 or av1 and you have to transcode the ingress into different resolutions to serve slow clients instead of doing Scalable Video Coding where you have one source and you simply drop some data out of it for slow clients on the egress per client while they still can consume the same source in lower quality. and i just don' want to be doing that entire transcoding and multiple egress streams.

Re: Ask HN: Recommend video streaming CDN service

#4

Post by phillipseamore »

hknmtt wrote: post #3
phillipseamore wrote: post #2

Don't know any service that would be considered cheap or even affordable that doesn't charge by the byte or watch time. But I'd certainly like to be proven wrong! It would be hard to find anything that wouldn't be at least 2x more expensive than running your own, at least the origin/ingest and transcoding side (as well as origin for DVR/recording/VOD). Depending on the scale, running your own edge servers for deliver…

i am not afraid of handling the infra myself but the problem is that the tech is still outdated so you have to do h264 and multicast. in other words you have to use old codec(h264), not vp8, vp9 or av1 and you have to transcode the ingress into different resolutions to serve slow clients instead of doing Scalable Video Coding where you have one source and you simply drop some data out of it for slow clients on the eg…

You are mixing things up now. In the OP you mentioned OBS, SVC isn't available there (or pretty much anywhere). It now sounds a lot more like you want to deploy a WebRTC solution, were CDNs play no role.

Re: Ask HN: Recommend video streaming CDN service

#5

Post by hknmtt »

phillipseamore wrote: post #4
hknmtt wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i am not afraid of handling the infra myself but the problem is that the tech is still outdated so you have to do h264 and multicast. in other words you have to use old codec(h264), not vp8, vp9 or av1 and you have to transcode the ingress into different resolutions to serve slow clients instead of doing Scalable Video Coding where you have one source and you simply drop some data out of it for slow clients on the eg…

You are mixing things up now. In the OP you mentioned OBS, SVC isn't available there (or pretty much anywhere). It now sounds a lot more like you want to deploy a WebRTC solution, were CDNs play no role.

I am not mixing anything. SVC is on the egress side, not on the ingress side. WebRTC is just a protocol. Seems you are the one mixing terms here ,)

Re: Ask HN: Recommend video streaming CDN service

#6

Post by phillipseamore »

hknmtt wrote: post #5
phillipseamore wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are mixing things up now. In the OP you mentioned OBS, SVC isn't available there (or pretty much anywhere). It now sounds a lot more like you want to deploy a WebRTC solution, were CDNs play no role.

I am not mixing anything. SVC is on the egress side, not on the ingress side. WebRTC is just a protocol. Seems you are the one mixing terms here ,)

I've been running streaming infrastructure for 14 years. The encoded incoming stream needs to be SVC with subset bitstreams for the server to selectively deliver bitstreams from it.

Re: Ask HN: Recommend video streaming CDN service

#7

Post by hknmtt »

hknmtt wrote: post #5
phillipseamore wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are mixing things up now. In the OP you mentioned OBS, SVC isn't available there (or pretty much anywhere). It now sounds a lot more like you want to deploy a WebRTC solution, were CDNs play no role.

I am not mixing anything. SVC is on the egress side, not on the ingress side. WebRTC is just a protocol. Seems you are the one mixing terms here ,)

obviously...

just for fun i checked cloudflare's streaming offer. 6h stream with 1000 viewers would cost 360$.

Re: Ask HN: Recommend video streaming CDN service

#8

Post by rozenmd »

hknmtt wrote: post #7
hknmtt wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not mixing anything. SVC is on the egress side, not on the ingress side. WebRTC is just a protocol. Seems you are the one mixing terms here ,)

obviously... just for fun i checked cloudflare's streaming offer. 6h stream with 1000 viewers would cost 360$.

streaming live is hell expensive
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