Flash Media Live Encoder

Does SL have a flash media server we can connect to? I've had poor experiences with the Webcaster software.

I've been testing the Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder with dacast.com
The results have been great. However, the minimum bandwidth you can purchase is 1TB which expires in one year.

If SL doesn't have a media server has anyone found a good alternative to connect to?

Thanks

For meetings I've used http://www.meetingburner.com/ which works well and is free. What are you wanting to do with video exactly?

kevin.fairchild wrote:I've had poor experiences with the Webcaster software.

Not saying the Meetinghouse Webcast software doesn't have its flaws, but maybe if you explained what problems you were experiencing we could see if there was a solution.

It is for stake conference.
The receiving end of Meetinghouse Webcast will suddenly stop or a/v is out of sync. Thanks for your willingness to help diagnose the problem, but I'm sticking with Adobe Flash Live Encoder. I've intentionally made it fail and it recovers much quicker than Webcaster.

kevin.fairchild wrote:It is for stake conference.
The receiving end of Meetinghouse Webcast will suddenly stop or a/v is out of sync.

Doing a test stream before our last broadcast, I was having problems with the a/v dropping. I quickly realized that the webcast software was configured to send high definition content. Once I dropped the quality to an appropriate level, everything worked great! When you're in the software, click Settings along the top-left corner of the window and see which preset is selected.

All of the buildings in my stake are limited to 896k up, and one of the buildings we broadcast to only has a 1.5mb download connection, so we have to use "Medium 4x3 (Recommended Bandwidth: 896K up, 672K down)". Make sure you choose an option that will work for what your connections can handle. It's crazy that we can only get 896k up, even if we get the 20mb download plan for our stake center!

It's crazy that we can only get 896k up, even if we get the 20mb download plan for our stake center

That's the limitation of DSL technology. You could always inquire with your ISP into fiber options. I've noticed that when one phone company gets bought by another new tech also becomes available sometimes.

Your other option is cable, but the install fees usually make it difficult.

rbeede wrote:That's the limitation of DSL technology.

Maybe the technology used by that ISP. The DSL provider in my area is showing a 20 down/3 up plan. That's the next step after the 15/1.

The cable provider seems to max out at 5MB up unless you go dedicated. (1GB up/down, anyone? anyone?)

I checked with both Quest (Centurylink) and a fiber provider in the area. They both do a loop qual test and confirmed these are our only options. I guess it's possible to switch to another type like cable, but the FM group owns all of our lines and may not want to change. I'll keep digging in

Kevin.Fairchild, I would like to point out that while you might be perfectly able to produce something with flash, those called after you may not have all the same skills. The Webcast communicator and software 'equalize' all of us and provides the best opportunity for a larger number of people to be successful with the webcasts. Like earlier, its not perfect, but I am successful in my area with no more than 360ish K up for the broadcast and nobody with better than 1.5 M down... I did a webcast of Stake Conference yesterday from a 60 year old frankenstein building to 5 different locations hosting about 1000 people. That night, I did a webcast from my stake center next to the Kansas City Temple with the worst Cable Service in our stake.. for a Kansas City Temple Cultural Event fireside - the event went out to more than a hundred locations across 12 stakes (many people tuned in at home I heard this morning). The software works and is successful. Without going to dial-up, I'd challenge anyone in any stake for a side-by-side comparison of WORST Broadband connectivity for a stake you can find (in a major country with solid infrastructure). For the sake of all of us, please reconsider. It may be true that it'll never work for you, but, I think it's worth a shot (of course, I'm assuming you spent very little time tracking down issues, this is probably not the case either).

My media guy is a flash animator... he insisted on using flash for our fades and nameplate, hymn text... the power-point doc template worked just fine... when what you have is a hammer, sometimes everything looks like a nail... or so I've heard