Streaming Server Hosting Guide for Live Video Streams and VOD
Whether you’re an individual, business, or other organization, hosting online video content is a demanding process. Simply put, videos are resource hogs. Files are large and bandwidth requirements are bigger. If a video gets too popular, it can grind performance to a halt.
Hosting and delivering your video with a professional streaming server on a dedicated platform can help you overcome these difficulties. The best live streaming platforms provide powerful tools to manage, upload, and share your online video.
Better yet, they combine this functionality with the power and technical capacity to get your content where it needs to go and scale to any size audience. Without professional streaming hosting, content delivery and scalability can present significant technical challenges.
We understand how overwhelming it can be to choose the best streaming server hosting service since there are so many great options on the market. In this post, we are going to make this process a little easier for you by giving you the information you need to choose a streaming solution.
In this article, we will talk about what streaming server hosting is and what to look for in a streaming hosting service. From there, we compare six of the top streaming server hosting services. As a bonus, we’ll review Akamai, a freestanding streaming server.
Streaming server hosting is the technology that broadcasters use to host and deliver their online streams.
Let’s start by defining a couple of terms. A “server” is a computer designed to deliver content over the internet. In fact, every website that you visit is delivered by a server. Which “serves” the website to your computer, phone, or other devices.
Streaming, however, refers to playing video or audio online. Hosting refers to renting server usage from a company that specializes in storing and delivering online content.
Together, video streaming server hosting is a software as a service (SaaS) that allows users to upload, host, organize, and deliver live and video on demand (VOD) content over the internet.
Thanks to professional video platforms with built-in servers, this is all possible without having to buy and configure a video hosting server of your own. Instead, everything you need is already in one place.
Any of the options we explain in detail below bring together all the tools needed for hosting video online, whether you want to live stream, offer VOD content, or a mix of both. Using a professional platform, you don’t have to build your own live video streaming dedicated server.
What is the Purpose of Streaming Server Hosting?
The purpose of using streaming server hosting is to simplify your streaming experience.
Video hosting solutions on a SaaS platform that have a built-in video streaming server make storing, managing, and delivering your video content easy. The top streaming platforms offer user-friendly, customizable experiences.
Additionally, using a platform with streaming server hosting generally gives broadcasters access to powerful content delivery networks (CDNs). For example, Mslive gives users access to top-tier CDNs like Akamai and Limelight.
Accessing these CDNs can be difficult and expensive without using a streaming solution.
Who Uses Streaming Server Hosting?
Streaming server hosting is meant for broadcasting at the professional level. This could include businesses, schools, and organizations that use online video content for sales, marketing, or day-to-day operations.
Some other examples of organizations that would use streaming server hosting include businesses that specialize in media distribution, like television networks, radio stations, and OTT streaming platforms.
Independent content creators, “YouTubers,” and “vloggers” can typically get by with the B2C alternatives, like Twitch, YouTube, and Dailymotion because they don’t need the same professional-level tools and customizations that a streaming server hosting service offers.
Best Streaming Server Hosting
Mslive is a streaming server hosting platform that supports VOD hosting and live streaming. This unified streaming solution offers advanced broadcasting tools such as video monetization, robust security options, and native in-China video delivery.
Our platform includes various tools for marketing, including analytics tracking, and calls-to-action.
Basic Functionality:
Mslive’s live streaming solutions include support for 24/7 linear streaming, video monetization for live streaming, live video analytics, and more. API management tools and a simple management dashboard provide multiple options for launching multiple channels and embedding live streams on your website.
Key Features:
- Secure, global content delivery, including industry-best video hosting
- 24/7 tech support with all plans, including email and live chat
- Video security features, including password protection and encryption
- Live encoding support for the top video encoding software
- Low latency HTML5 channels for video streaming
- RTMP Encoder for ingesting HLS streaming
- Player API and Video API access for customization
- Multi-bitrate streaming
- Real-time analytics
- Ad-free streaming
Pros:
- Live streaming and VOD packages on all pricing plans
- Unlimited viewers and live channels
- Video marketing tools and branding control
- Embeddable HTML5 video player
- SVOD, AVOD, and TVOD monetization options
- Mobile device support
- Live stream recording
- China Video Hosting
- Plans for every budget
Cons:
Upload Guidelines and Specs:
- Minimum dimension: none (but 240p is the recommended minimum)
- Maximum dimension: 1080p or 4K (depends on the user’s hardware and internet)
- Aspect ratio: no restrictions (but 16:9 is the default)
- Max file size: none
- Max video length: none
- Total file storage: 10-1000GB (depends on plan)
- Compatible video formats: MP4 (preferred), MOV, M4V, M2V, AVI, MPG, FLV, WMV, MKV, WEBM, OGV, MXF, ASF, VOB, MT
Pricing:
Mslive offers a variety of pricing plans for broadcasters with different budgets, including:
- Starter Plan: $39/month (includes 1.2 TB of bandwidth & 50 GB of storage)
- Event Plan: $63/month (includes 6 TB of bandwidth upfront and 50 GB of storage)
- Scale Plan: $188/month (includes 24 TB of bandwidth per year and 1 TB of storage)
- Custom plan: Contact us for custom pricing plans
Please check out our bandwidth calculator to find the right plan for you.
Conclusion
Online video is becoming more important for modern businesses. Likewise, it’s exploding in other sectors, including education, government, nonprofits, and elsewhere. Success with online video requires the right technology with support for server steamer hosting and delivering your video.
Depending on your needs, it can be challenging to find the right online video platform for you. However, identifying your streaming goals and the features you’ll need to achieve these goals should help you get started.
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