I'd like to try and get a discussion rolling regarding live video streaming.
I've done live Windows Media events and also live Flash Video events.
Currently, we are streaming the events via VitalStream. We stream around
300Kbps per second (240x180, 12fps). The quality is ok, but for 300k/sec I
would expect better. With Windows Media, it is possible to send a 240x180,
15fps stream with only 109Kbps. I can go to 320x240/15fps for only 148Kbps.
The one advantage to flash is the ability to embed the video directly into my
flash application that goes along with the video. Is anyone else using FVSS to
stream live video and why would you not go to Windows Media Services?

I completely agree with you, I have been using .flv files for video streaming
and it takes more space and more bandwidth.than windows media video (.wmv)
files. And also the quality of the video is much better in wmv files.

Holy crap there is a huge difference in both quality and size. I was in the
dark about what a dramatic difference there was I converted an VHS into video
for www.auctionturn.com and the client insisted I use .wmv. I told him no you
want to use .swf, since it was a progressive/linier download .flv and Flash
Comm had no value there was no reason to allow somone to jum to the middle of
the video without watching the first part of the commercial and the size would
have been the same. So I made several different version from the .avi file
created from Snappy Video to capture the VHS input. The use Flash MX
Professional, and Blaze Media pro to convert to the compressed video formats.
The results no matter how high I allowed the quality to go in Flash the audio
sounded like it was under water. The video was choppy. I've been a huge fan
of Flash and video that was platform independent. I have a busy chat site now
using Flash Com and wait for the day Microsoft releases a .wmv streaming
solution or imbeds the ability to capture a webcam into the next release of
Internet Explorer.