Question

I would like to set up a live streaming video demonstration.

I have a webcam that I will be focusing on my mobile device. I will give a live demonstration on the mobile device. I do not need audio support because I will be using a conference bridge. I would like the demonstration to be viewable on a web url that people can access via IE or some other browser to watch. I need a service that requires little to no installation/setup on the client/viewers’ side.

My viewers belong to a strict organization that block ustream and gotomeeting.

We have an internal MS Lync server, but I believe that the web conference feature require Silverlight to be installed, is that correct?

Does anyone have any suggestions on services, methods, or other options of achieving this?

We would like to be live, however our last resort will be to create several videos and place them on a website. We will ask our viewers to play the videos in succession as we progress through the demonstration.

I really appreciate the help. Thanks.

Answer 1

Windows Media Encoder from Windows Media Encoder 9 Series SDK or Microsoft Expression Encoder can be used to set up live streaming from your webcam. The output can be pushed to a local TCP port or published on Windows Media Server, that may be more appropriate for internet. Encoder parameters can be edited to select appropriate resolution, frame and bit rates. Once the encoding started, the output stream URL (for example, http://yourserver.com:port) can be played in Windows Media Player on the client computer. The player may prompt to install additional codecs required to play the stream.

For browser support, the player can be embedded in HTML and point to the stream URL.

As a side note, streaming audio with the video may be preferable, as the player buffering will introduce delay. Also, live stream can be simultaneously saved to a file, that could be made available for later playback.

Other options here could be FFMPEG or VideoLAN.