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Peer to Peer Internet Video Broadcasting
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Unlike standard television broadcasting, there are a limited number of viewers
that an Internet television station can accommodate. These limitations are
determined by the amount of bandwidth the network media server has available. A
popular Internet television station would require large amounts of bandwidth to
provide the broadcast to a large viewing audience.
There are readily available software based broadcasting alternatives that do not
require large amounts of bandwidth for Internet television distribution.
Peer to Peer (Commonly referred to as P2P) broadcasting allows viewers using
specialized software to re-distribute the media broadcasts. This eliminates the
need to utilize costly centralized media servers to distribute the broadcast.
Any size business or group can establish an effective media broadcast presence
without the huge costs normally associated with Internet broadcasting. Using
this method, only a few data streams are required for a global Internet
broadcast distribution.
P2P Internet broadcasting provides extremely bandwidth friendly results and can
support a virtually unlimited number of users. This method also provides
effective security against Denial Of Service (DOS) attacks which can cripple a
centralized server network architecture.
There are both commercial and non commercial options that offer P2P broadcast
ability for Internet television.
This article will cover free open source software.
Open source is an initiative that allows people to have access to the source
code of software. This is the actual nuts and bolts that allow the software to
operate. This initiative also allows people the ability to redistribute and or
modify the source code thus allowing improvements and adaptations of the
software.
Peercast
Peercast is a P2P media broadcast application that is available for the Windows,
Unix and Mac operating systems. It is compatible with Shoutcast, Icecast and
Windows Media streaming protocols.
The software was originally designed to use Gnutella as a basis for broadcast
distribution. The software now uses a hierarchal topology for media broadcast
distribution. This new method provides greater scalability and more data
organization.
Broadcast station data is collected by the YP directory. This data is
continuously updated by individual broadcasters. Listeners / viewers (client
software) provide the connection points between themselves, the broadcasters and
others.
Each broadcaster has the option of including a digital signature to enable media
broadcast authentication. This will prevent their broadcasts from being hijacked
and replaced with alternative material.
The following video codecs are supported by Peercast: VP3, VP6, Theora and WMV.
It can also be used for audio broadcasting and can be configured to use several
audio codecs. The software can be used to broadcast individual static media
files as well.
Hardware network routers use Network Address Translation to provide internal IP
addresses for computers within that network. Traffic flowing through NAT must be
converted from internal IP addresses to external IP addresses. P2P traffic
routing through NAT usually requires software port forwarding to bypass NAT. Peercast is NAT friendly software and requires no special port forwarding.
A plug-in is available for the popular Winamp media player. (Winamp versions 2.x
and 5.x) This can be installed and used by clients to easily receive a Peercast
station.
The Peercast network provides a real time online station directory of current
broadcasters. (http://yp.peercast.org)
The main Peercast client must be installed to broadcast using this P2P network.
Additional resources
Peercast Plug-In Information : (http://www.scvi.net/stream/peerplug.htm)
How to broadcast video with Peercast : (http://www.scvi.net/stream/peervideo.htm)
Peercast Frequently Asked Questions : (http://www.peercast.org/wiki/wakka.php?wakka=FrequentlyAskedQuestions)
Peercast Help : (http://www.peercast.org/help.php)
Peercast Community Forum : (http://www.peercast.org/forum)
FreeCast
FreeCast is a Java P2P broadcast application. Users must install the
Java Runtime Environment, which is available for the Windows, Unix and Mac
operating systems. It is compatible with the Icecast streaming protocol.
The software has a internal audio and video player applet that can play both the
Ogg Vorbis open source audio codec, and the Theora open source video codec. It
can also be configured to use the Java Web Start feature for automatically
loading and launching. This enables a "one click" approach for web based end
users.
Each broadcaster has the option of including a digital signature to enable media
broadcast authentication. This will prevent their broadcasts from being hijacked
and replaced with alternative material.
FreeCast uses a hierarchal method of media broadcast distribution. Each
broadcaster acts as a central node with listeners / viewers receiving data from
them and relaying to other listeners / viewers.
Icecast and JRoar media streaming server software can be used with FreeCast. In
addition, Ezstream can be used with both JRoar and Icecast to source both Ogg
Vorbis and Theora files. This software is a command line utility and is
available for Windows and Unix operating systems.
FreeCast is continuing software development that will allow its deployment
across networks that interact with network routers that utilize Network Address
Translation (NAT). Port forwarding is currently required to accommodate NAT
routers.
A real time station directory is currently not available or supported.
Additional resources:
FreeCast : (http://www.freecast.org)
Theora : (http://www.theora.org)
Ogg Vorbis : (http://www.vorbis.com)
IceCast : (http://www.icecast.org)
JRoar : (http://www.jcraft.com/jroar)
Ezstream : (http://www.icecast.org/ezstream.php)
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