Streaming video from a family reunion

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Our family is talking about having a family reunion some time this year. Of course, not everyone in the family will be able to attend. I’d like to be able to stream at least a portion of our reunion online, so that those family members who can’t attend, may be able to at least watch some of the reunion.

I’ve come across various software/web site alternatives for streaming video, everything from http://www.viastreaming.com, to http://www.ustream.tv. All of the different ways of streaming such an event have their possibilities.

If we do have a reunion, and I do stream a portion of it online, I’ll likely be doing it over my Verizon Wireless mobile broadband connection. My concern is exceeding my 5GB monthly data cap on my mobile broadband account.

Is there some place I can go to find out how much data would be transmitted/transferred during a streaming session? I just don’t know how much data is transferred per minute or hour of online video.

That also begs the question of what bit rates in Windows Media Encoder would be the best to use for streaming video over such a mobile broadband connection?

What I figured I’d be doing is using my desktop computer (it has a video capture card) and using it as the video source. I’d then stream the video over the Verizon setup.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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You’re not going to be able to blow through your monthly allowance uploading on an EvDO Rev.A connection for an hour or two: VVZ claims “typical speeds of 500 to 800 Kbps.” A sustained rate of 800 Kbps would be about 360MB per hour, if I’ve calculated correctly.

Nor would you necessarily consume the maximum. Video resolution (e.g., 640×480) and frames per second, and audio quality also are factors in how much bandwidth would be used.

This article has some tips on tweaking bandwidth usage in the Ustream.tv broadcast console: Streaming Video: Creating a Professional uStream Show | Internet Marketing Strategy: Conversation Marketing (see #6).

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You’re not going to be able to blow through your monthly allowance uploading on an EvDO Rev.A connection for an hour or two: VVZ claims “typical speeds of 500 to 800 Kbps.” A sustained rate of 800 Kbps would be about 360MB per hour, if I’ve calculated correctly.

Nor would you necessarily consume the maximum. Video resolution (e.g., 640×480) and frames per second, and audio quality also are factors in how much bandwidth would be used.

This article has some tips on tweaking bandwidth usage in the Ustream.tv broadcast console: Streaming Video: Creating a Professional uStream Show | Internet Marketing Strategy: Conversation Marketing (see #6).

I tried to calculate the bandwidth and came up with the same number. Using the parameters above I did the following. 800,000 bps * 60 sec/min * 60 min/hr = 2,880,000,000 bits per hour. divide that by 1 million and we get 2880 Mb/hr divide this by 8 bits/byte = 360,000,000 or 360 MB / hr.

This concludes Geek Math for the week.

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You’re not going to be able to blow through your monthly allowance uploading on an EvDO Rev.A connection for an hour or two: VVZ claims “typical speeds of 500 to 800 Kbps.” A sustained rate of 800 Kbps would be about 360MB per hour, if I’ve calculated correctly.

Thanks. That gives me an idea of what to expect. It’s a bit of an eye opener, as well. I’ve purposely generally avoided watching any online videos over my Verizon account, because I didn’t want to run the risk of blowing my data cap. Your figures gives me an approximation of how much data a “typical” online video would consume. I still won’t do a lot of video watching, but it would take several hours of video to hit the cap, based on the figures you quoted.

And of course that “sustained” rate is iffy. Sometimes, I get great transfer speeds when using it at home, some times I don’t. And, it would depend on distance from the tower, too. One of the reasons I went with Verizon was the fact that they pretty much cover the state of Arkansas, thanks to their purchase of Alltel. AT&T’s 3g coverage stops about 15 miles south of where I live.

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This article has some tips on tweaking bandwidth usage in the Ustream.tv broadcast console: Streaming Video: Creating a Professional uStream Show | Internet Marketing Strategy: Conversation Marketing (see #6).

And thanks for the link to the article. I’ve signed up for an account on Ustream, but am still unsure if I’ll use it or go with one of the other streaming services. The one qualm I’ve got about Ustream is I didn’t see any way to restrict who can watch whatever you’re streaming. It may be possible. I just didn’t see any obvious way one could do that. I’m sure my family and relatives would be somewhat concerned about “just anybody” being able to watch the reunion.

Viastreaming appears to support such “private” streaming sessions.

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I just took a more in-depth look at Ustream, and it does appear to support restricting who can “watch your show.” I followed the steps in the article linked to above, and found where it does support that.

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