bec, i've seen lots of feeds that just offer wmv or wmv and mpg and don't use or require a streaming server.
perhaps asking a host is the best idea as being able to accurately and quickly see how much monthly bandwidth each feed customer is using would be very important.
other than metering bandwidth use separately for each user, seems like the only real issue is security. .htacess is not going to do it - perhaps they could use a special license for a system like strongbox or proxypass.
The way I see it, you need a custom script that does accounting and integrates some sort of strongbox-style security to allow members coming from the referring site to get access. I do not know of any commercially available products that would do this.
cheers,
Luke
Hi Jacob....
I dont think bec is talking about cam feeds... rather about PPV / VOD feeds.
We have been looking into it as well, but information is scarce. We dont really want to do revshare on this... I have 10 years of films in the can and probably over 500 titles!
So - where would I even START to find out about doing this myself? Colt's done it... it must be doable!
Doing PPV means buying the X3 script that lets you bill by the minute, and being able to stream your material.Originally Posted by shaun
Setting up a site that you can then lease to other paysites is something different. Both have their place in a long term business plan for utilizing older content, and I'm trying to learn more about how the lease feed system is created, protected, billed and maintained without aligning with a 3rd party rev share or % situation.
Colt's done it? Really? Do you have a url of their feeds?
Btw Bec, why don't you try to get hooked up with someone like Pistol Media? They seem to know what they are doing and have branded feeds with some of the best in the business like Fratmen, Treasure Island, Hot Desert Knights and Raging Stallion.
and Brian a very nice guy!
I'm not for or against the idea of teaming up with a company that already has everything in place. This particular thread is to find out what it takes to do it on ones own.
Having figures in front of you that shows what it will cost to:
1. produce & maintain the site(s)
2. having hack and password trading security in place
3. costs for a server that can stream and handle the load
4. evaluate on whether to use flash movies, allow downloads, or do DRM
5. any special software and software license fees, etc
...and taking all the lease fees for yourself over the years vs taking a % and what the long term "payment" is via signing on under another feed company helps to make decisions about what will or won't be implemented down the road. It's about having the data to make an informed decision based on a lot of variables to determine at what point you'll see a return on your investment.
Bec, the pricey software is Windows Media Streaming Server or Helix Streaming Server (RealMedia). Helix is priced based on max # of simultaneous feeds it is supplying; I'm not sure how Microsoft does it but I think it's similar. When
It is obviously possible to serve video without a streaming server, but I don't think you can support Windows variable bit rates and many of the other things you need as a feed provider without an actual streaming server.
And... depending o what other services you are offering (pay-per-minute or pay-per download, etc), you may also need a billing solution. If you are only charging other webmasters for feeds based on bandwidth, then you can probably get by with something built to read logfiles and generate billing data from that, which should not be expensive.
We looked at it in detail almost 4 years ago and determined the financial outlay wasn't worth the potential return... but it's possible costs have come down since then, and/or more off-the-shelf scripting is available, so it might be worth another look.
Sure - here: http://www.coltstudio.com/ppv/ppv.aspx
That's not a "feed" site Shaun, but a pay per view site. It looks like they're doing DRM movies with a 72 hour license. Not sure how they've setup the billing and login per movie though.
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