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First time posting here-I was sent here from Stackoverflow for this question. :-D I'm setting up an online music-lessons site. I have very large video files-500-600Meg each that I want to play from my hosted server. I figured it was as simple as uploading the video and clicking to the url, but when I do that, the quicktime player comes up in my browser, but after two minutes I give up because it looks like it is trying to buffer the whole video before playing-or something?

What do I need to be able to embed my own videos on my own server and have them start playing quickly when a user clicks play?

A note: even thought he video files are really big, I don't expect to have very many people viewing the videos all at once. on a good day, I may have 10 people watching at once at the most.

Thanks! Joel

Joel
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You're right in what you're thinking, clicking on the link to the quicktime files will play the video on your client's machines, but only after it's fully downloaded.

If you just want to stream your existing quicktime files then I suggest you install the open-source version of Apple's 'quicktime streaming server' called 'darwin streaming server'. This runs on windows and linux boxes and can stream your quicktime files out to quicktime players.

HERE is a link to the site where the code and documentation is kept, have a look and if you're struggling come back to us ok.

Chopper3
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  • Let me be sure though-with this solution-the end user will have to have quicktime on their machine to view-correct? I can also upload these as flv files if that increases compatibility... – Joel Jan 30 '10 at 18:31
  • No, what I've mentioned is for streaming quicktime files only, if you want a multiprotocol streamer you're going to have to get a lot more indepth and let us have a lot more information. – Chopper3 Jan 30 '10 at 18:53
  • I understand. I'm just dipping my toes into this, so I think I am going to go with playing .flv files using a swf player. I guess then I can just use the swfobject to play that in the browser and user will be prompted to download flash if they don't have it. – Joel Jan 30 '10 at 18:56
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When you mention your own server, do you mean at your home/ work or a colo/ dedicated server at a datacenter? If the connection uplink speed is not that high then the video/s will naturally take a substantial amount of time to load.

djs596
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You might want to look at Amazon's S3 service.

They now allow you to stream FLV files and you only get charged for bandwidth used.

If a user were to watch a whole 500MB file it would cost you about 7.5c

Simon
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