My client is just dipping their toe in the pool with streaming Flash video. Max
storage is 150 mbs and max usage is 3gb/ month. All of the MM recommended
companies start at plans with 80 - 100gb.

Anyone know of an entry-level flash video server provider that is lower cost
and has great reliability?

I deal with dedicated servers exclusively, but I've heard some good things
about influxis (http://www.influxis.com).

Storage is actually the least expensive part of the equation. The expensive
parts are concurrent connections and available bandwidth.

What you want to calculate is the bitrate of the videos you intend to stream,
and how many concurrent users you want to be able to serve. That will give you
the bandwidth figure you need.

The problem with shared hosting is that, unless you ony plan to serve a few
users at a time, it's very expensive and may well prove to be less cost
effective than buying an FMS license and running your own server.

Let's say, for example, that you plan to serve a 400kbps video (medium
quality). That means for each user, you need to have 400kbps of bandwidth. Now,
let's say you want to serve 10 concurrent users. That means you'll need about
3.9mbps of bandwidth. On a shared hosting plan, you'll be paying somewhere on
the order of $175-200 per month to serve 10 concurrent users.

With a 5gig data transfer allowance, you would be able to serve about of 29
hours of 400kbps video before you meet your monthly limit and start paying for
extra.

I just started using influxis but do not have enough of a track record with
them to rate them. But I did select them for their shared pricing plan,
pre-built tools although I hope to create my own, pre-sale support
assistance, no requirement to purchase web hosting from them, they are just
selling FMS versus a whole slew of hosting products, their web site and
admin is all build in Flash, and latency tests from my general broadcast
point to their servers.

As well I think their pricing packages are well named. Their black web site
background with almost neon text however is a real negative but tolerable if
they provide good service. But I do admit the web site design is cool.

It appears their dedicated servers are not an endless supply as I last
looked about two weeks back, they were like a shopping channel as some
configurations were "sold out" and others labeled "only 2 left".

If you did deep enough you will see they host out of RackSpace.

My other choice was UVault again for pricing options but also they have a
server bank near me.


--
Lon Hosford
www.lonhosford.com
May many happy bits flow your way!
[quoted text, click to view]
I deal with dedicated servers exclusively, but I've heard some good things
about influxis (http://www.influxis.com).

Storage is actually the least expensive part of the equation. The expensive
parts are concurrent connections and available bandwidth.

What you want to calculate is the bitrate of the videos you intend to
stream,
and how many concurrent users you want to be able to serve. That will give
you
the bandwidth figure you need.

The problem with shared hosting is that, unless you ony plan to serve a few
users at a time, it's very expensive and may well prove to be less cost
effective than buying an FMS license and running your own server.

Let's say, for example, that you plan to serve a 400kbps video (medium
quality). That means for each user, you need to have 400kbps of bandwidth.
Now,
let's say you want to serve 10 concurrent users. That means you'll need
about
3.9mbps of bandwidth. On a shared hosting plan, you'll be paying somewhere
on
the order of $175-200 per month to serve 10 concurrent users.

With a 5gig data transfer allowance, you would be able to serve about of 29
hours of 400kbps video before you meet your monthly limit and start paying
for
extra.

Yep... I think you'll find that many shared hosting providers have their
servers in a third party data center.

I use EV1 for one of my commercial FCS applications. I've been really happy
with the performance, and their prices are really good. They seem to have the
best deal on bandwidth and data transfer.

I would only recommend EV1 to people who are either Linux experts, or plan to
contract one, as EV1 doesn't provide any support beyond keeping the server
running.