{"id":3052,"date":"2011-02-09T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-09T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jwplayer.com\/live-streaming-using-wowza-ec2\/"},"modified":"2023-02-07T14:41:02","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T19:41:02","slug":"live-streaming-using-wowza-ec2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwplayer.com\/blog\/live-streaming-using-wowza-ec2\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Streaming Using Wowza EC2"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Publishing a few on-demand videos can be cheap and simple: just upload the videos to your site and use a tool like the JW Player<\/a> to embed them on your site. Historically, publishing a live stream has been challenging and a lot more expensive. Most publishers use dedicated upload and streaming software for live streams, which can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars and often require high cost server hardware. However, there are some cheap alternatives. This blog post explores a combination of tools that will allow you to get a live stream up and running for just a buck!<\/p>\n

Wowza Media Server for EC2<\/h2>\n

First the server. There are various streaming servers out there: some have a license fee (Flash Media Server, Wowza Media Server) and some are free (IIS Media Services, Flumotion). For each of them, you\u2019ll need to buy, install and run a webserver. This is a lot of work and costs a lot of money.<\/p>\n

Enter Amazon EC2. It’s a service from Amazon that allows you to rent webservers by the hour (you also pay per GB transferred, but that\u2019s just a few cents). The pre-built EC2 offerings include webservers that run Wowza Media Server 2.0. This means you can boot a webserver with Wowza, stream a live event, and terminate the webserver shortly afterwards. No monthly contracts, no server management.<\/p>\n

Setting up a Wowza server takes about an hour the first time around, since you have to sign up for EC2 and ‘Wowza for EC2’ before you\u2019re able to configure your server instance (which can be done using the ElasticFox Firefox plugin). When that’s done, booting your server for a live event takes a few clicks. See the Getting Started section at the Wowza Media Server for EC2 page<\/a> and make sure to follow all steps.<\/p>\n

Note you won\u2019t have to access the webserver itself. Instead, the default Wowza installation boots up ready to broadcast a live stream \u2013 you\u2019ll just need to connect to it. Also, be sure that you open TCP port 80 (HTTP) and 1935 (RTMP) to any IP (0.0.0.0\/0) when configuring the “security group” permissions. Finally, make sure you terminate a server after you\u2019ve finished your live event – the meter keeps ticking regardless of whether or not you\u2019re using the box.<\/p>\n

Boot a server instance and wait until ElasticFox says it is “Running”. You’re now ready to start the stream!<\/p>\n

Flash Media Live Encoder<\/h2>\n

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On to the tools for uploading the live stream. There are the expensive tools (Inlet, Telestream), there are the hard to use tools (VLC, FFmpeg), and then there\u2019s Flash Media Live Encoder<\/a> from Adobe. It is free and fairly easy to use. It is intended for use with the Flash Media Server, but works equally fine with the Wowza Media Server. Download the tool (available for Windows & Mac) to get started.<\/p>\n

Once inside the tool, you\u2019ll need to select a video capture device. This can be a built-in webcam, but you can also use a professional camera connected to your computer using USB or Firewire. On Windows, you can even stream your desktop after installing the VH Screen Capture driver. We recommend using the following settings:<\/p>\n