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Hosting Media in the Cloud

Boney Pandya
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Cloud hosting has quickly grown to become one of the most popular hosting solutions available. Cloud computing in general eliminates the need to rely on dedicated hardware to perform functions like hosting, storing data, and other functions we’ve grown accustomed to using physical devices for. Today, I want to talk about using the cloud for media hosting.

Using the Cloud to host your audio and video files comes with several benefits that you simply can’t get with dedicated hardware. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest advantages of media hosting on the Cloud.

Scalability

One reason webmasters choose to use Cloud hosting is because of the flexibility and scalability it offers. With traditional hosting packages, scaling up or down can sometimes be a hassle. Cloud hosting gives you the opportunity to add resources on the fly. When you’re hosting media this becomes extremely important.

Since media files are larger than other file types, the more audio and videos you add, the more resources you will need. With Cloud hosting you can easily add new resources on the fly without having to reduce the user experience on your site due to downtime. The process of adding resources on the Cloud is quick, convenient, and simple.

Video Streaming

Whether you’re streaming live or on demand video, using the Cloud to host your videos ensures high quality and stability. An issue that some companies run into when including videos on their site is a slowdown in web page loading times. This increases the bounce rate of your site (the amount of people who come to your site and exit) and affects the user experience as well.

When using the cloud to host your media, you get faster performance than you would get with dedicated hardware. Whether you’re streaming your videos in 320p or 1080p, you don’t have to sacrifice load time to showcase your videos. There are a few different options you have for streaming video with Cloud media hosting.

Wowza Media Server

You can install Wowza Media Server onto your VPS cloud hosting package. Wowza offers high quality live and on demand video streaming services for your website. Whether visitors are viewing your site from their 20” desktop monitor or their iPhone, the quality of your videos remains the same. You can stream videos with H.264/AVC so that HD videos stream fluidly right from your site.

FFMpeg

If you’re aiming to stream video across a variety of operating systems, FFMpeg hosting is a great option. Video Hosts install FFMpeg libraries and modules on your FFmepg hosting plan for you so you don’t have to deal with messy configurations. With FFMpeg, you also have the ability to convert the video type in real time utilizing scripts such as PHPMotion and Clip Bucket.  If you’re going to stream video, it’s an absolute necessity to stream in HD, and FFMpeg streams HD videos with no issues at all.

Red5

Red5 is a multi-use video streaming media server that allows you to get high quality video streaming in the Cloud. Whether you’re a small business just starting out or a global enterprise, Red5 media hosting in the Cloud is a great option. Red5 supports popular APIs such as

  • NetConnection
  • NetStream
  • ShareObjects

Because Red5 is so powerful, it really requires VPS cloud hosting or a dedicated server to run at full potential without sacrificing resources. Whether you want to stream video, hold video conferences, or other services, Red5 can get it done.

Audio Streaming

Media hosting is not just limited to video. You can also use Cloud media hosting account to stream audio as well. This opens the door to create live audio broadcast right on your website. Wowza media hosting and FFMpeg are capable of streaming audio, however you can look at these two specialized hosting services aimed at audio broadcasting too.

ICEcast

A way to get creative and add a new dimension to your site is by offering up live audio broadcasts similar to Podcasts. This essentially gives you the ability to set up your own radio station right on your site and have visitors listen in real time. You could also use ICEcast for on demand audio as well.

When streaming your audio from the Cloud, you get high quality bandwidth which translates into clear and crisp quality sound from your audio streams. This is a great feature for musicians who want to place a live playlist on their site and let visitors listen at their leisure. There are limitless possibilities when you stream audio from the Cloud.

SHOUTcast

Another great option you have for streaming audio on the cloud is SHOUTcast. Although it is primarily used to stream live radio stations on the internet, it can also be used for on demand audio. When you host your audio in the Cloud, the audio playback is immaculate due to the improved CPU performance of cloud hosting.

All too often, webmasters are faced with the dilemma of having to lose audio quality when they upload their audio to the internet. SHOUTcast hosting on our Cloud VPS helps eliminate that issue by providing the highest quality sound possible.

Create Your Own Video Sharing Site

Video sharing and Tube sites have become extremely popular because through sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Hulu, MetaCafe and others. Right now is the perfect time to capitalize on this popularity and start your own video sharing site. Various YouTube Clone scripts such as PHPMotion, Clip-bucket and many more can help you achieve this.

Both of these services allow you to set up your own video sharing site with ease. Using a VPS to create a video sharing site is cost effective and helps ensure that the videos you stream are displayed at the highest quality possible. Remember, a VPS gives you the flexibility to run multiple scripts and applications so that you don’t have to take up your own computer’s space. This makes video sharing on a media hosting account an ideal situation.

Other Benefits of Hosting Media in the Cloud

In addition to everything mentioned above, there are even more benefits to using the Cloud to host your media.

Backing up your media is extremely important. Just like with a blog, if you lose your video content for any reason, you’re going to want to recover it. The difference is that with a blog it’s much easier to replicate the content than with a video or radio broadcast. With Cloud hosting, you can easily create backups routinely and save them to the Cloud rather than a physical memory unit. This frees up space on your computer or external hard drive and gives you the peace of mind knowing that your media is secure.

A great advantage of streaming media on the Cloud is automatic encoding. This means that your videos will be able to play on any type of device. You don’t have to rely on separate software to transcode your audio and video. Media hosting services support all of the most common media types such as:

  • H.264
  • MP4
  • AAC
  • MPG
  • FLV
  • AVI
  • MP3
  • And more

Finally, if you’re interested in streaming media on your site, be sure to check out Cloud media hosting solutions.