Live Video Streaming with PHP

Question

I have a PHP AJAX MYSQL chat application  I want to add video chatting to my application  How can I create live video streaming to be used for live video conferences chatting in a PHP application  What are the key-terms I need to know if I wanted to build such a system  Is it a good idea in the first place to use PHP  Is there something I m not thinking about  What other languages can I use  perhaps in conjunction with PHP

User · Answer

PHP will let you build the pages of your site that make up your video conferencing and chat applications, but it won't deliver or stream video for you - PHP runs on the server only and renders out HTML to a client browser.

For the video, the first thing you'll need is a live streaming account with someone like akamai or the numerous others in the field. Using this account gives you an ingress point for your video - ie: the server that you will stream your live video up to.

Next, you want to get your video out to the browsers - windows media player, flash or silverlight will let you achieve this - embedding the appropriate control for your chosen technology into your page (using PHP or whatever) and given the address of your live video feed.

PHP (or other scripting language) would be used to build the chat part of the application and bring the whole thing together (the chat and the embedded video player).

Hope this helps.

User · Answer

For live video conferencing you can t ignore the need of a streaming server    Yes  flash will let you display video from a webcam within the local flash control  but that won t let you then send that video over the network - for that you need a streaming server to send it to    If you re going to build something like this it s prudent to think about how you re going to host the video from a very early stage as it will influence how you build the application  Flash Flex Silverlight Windows Media    etc

User · Answer

PHP will let you build the pages of your site that make up your video conferencing and chat applications, but it won't deliver or stream video for you - PHP runs on the server only and renders out HTML to a client browser.

For the video, the first thing you'll need is a live streaming account with someone like akamai or the numerous others in the field. Using this account gives you an ingress point for your video - ie: the server that you will stream your live video up to.

Next, you want to get your video out to the browsers - windows media player, flash or silverlight will let you achieve this - embedding the appropriate control for your chosen technology into your page (using PHP or whatever) and given the address of your live video feed.

PHP (or other scripting language) would be used to build the chat part of the application and bring the whole thing together (the chat and the embedded video player).

Hope this helps.

User · Answer

Please note that the below described service is no longer available as   it was based on FLV media  Flash    This project which utilizes the Red5  Flex and PHP for Live Video Streaming and Recording has many features   Stream Live video to the viewers Record the streams from your cam or other video input devices to the server Preview the recorded streams and files and thumbnail the frame which you would like to display for the video  Upload the videos from your computer and convert them to FLV which can be streamed using Red5   Choose from any resolutions Can be plugged to any script Each website user can have a separate Directory for storing their videos and thumbnails use this link http   code google com p red5-flex-streamer

User · Answer

For live video conferencing you can t ignore the need of a streaming server    Yes  flash will let you display video from a webcam within the local flash control  but that won t let you then send that video over the network - for that you need a streaming server to send it to    If you re going to build something like this it s prudent to think about how you re going to host the video from a very early stage as it will influence how you build the application  Flash Flex Silverlight Windows Media    etc

User · Answer

Same problem answer here  quoted below     I m assuming you mean that you want to run your own private video   calls  not simply link to Skype calls or similar  You really have 2   options here  host it yourself  or use a hosted solution and integrate   it into your product             Self-Hosted   ----------------- This is messy  This can all be accomplished with PHP  but that is probably not the most advisable solution  as it is   not the best tool for the job on all sides  Flash is much more   efficient at a v capture and transport on the user end  You can try to   do this without flash  but you will have headaches  HTML5 may make   your life easier  but if you re shooting for maximum compatibility    flash is the simplest way to go for creating the client  Then  as far   as the actual server side that will relay the audio video  you could   write a chat server in php  but you re better off using an open source   project  like   janenz00 s mention   of red5  that s already built and   interfacing with it through your client  if it doesn t already have   one   Or you could homebrew a flash client as mentioned before and   hook it up to a flash streaming server on both sides   either way it   gets complicated fast  and is beyond my expertise to help you with at   all             Hosted Service   ----------------- All in  my recommendation  unless you want to administer a ridiculous setup of many complex servers and failure   points is to use a hosted service like   UserPlane or similar and offload all the   processing and technical work to people who are good at that  and then   worry about interfacing with their api and getting their client well   integrated into your site  You will be a happier developer if you do

User · Answer

I am not saying that you have to abandon PHP  but you need different technologies here   Let s start off simple  without Akamai  -   and think about the implications here  Video  chat  etc  - it s all client-side in the beginning  The user has a webcam  you want to grab the signal somehow and send it to the server  There is no PHP so far   I know that Flash supports this though  check this tutorial on webcams and flash  so you could use Flash to transport the content to the server  I think if you ll stay with Flash  then Flex  flex and webcam tutorial  is probably a good idea to look into   So those are just the basics  maybe it gives you an idea of where you need to research because obviously this won t give you a full video chat inside your app yet  For starters  you will need some sort of way to record the streams and re-publish them so others see other people from the chat  etc    I m also not sure how much traffic and bandwidth this is gonna consume though and generally  you will need way more than a Stackoverflow question to solve this issue  Best would be to do a full spec of your app and then hire some people to help you build it   HTH

User · Answer

You can easily build a website as per the requirements  PHP will be there to handle the website development part  All the hosting and normal website development will work just as it is  However  for the streaming part  you will have to choose a good streaming service  Whether it is Red5 or Adobe  you can choose from plenty of services   Choose a service that provides a dedicated storage to get something done right  If you do not know how to configure the server properly  you can just choose a streaming service  Good services often give a CDN that helps broadcast the stream efficiently  Simply launch your website in PHP and embed the YouTube player in the said web page to get it working

User · Answer

You can easily build a website as per the requirements  PHP will be there to handle the website development part  All the hosting and normal website development will work just as it is  However  for the streaming part  you will have to choose a good streaming service  Whether it is Red5 or Adobe  you can choose from plenty of services   Choose a service that provides a dedicated storage to get something done right  If you do not know how to configure the server properly  you can just choose a streaming service  Good services often give a CDN that helps broadcast the stream efficiently  Simply launch your website in PHP and embed the YouTube player in the said web page to get it working

User · Answer

Same problem answer here  quoted below     I m assuming you mean that you want to run your own private video   calls  not simply link to Skype calls or similar  You really have 2   options here  host it yourself  or use a hosted solution and integrate   it into your product             Self-Hosted   ----------------- This is messy  This can all be accomplished with PHP  but that is probably not the most advisable solution  as it is   not the best tool for the job on all sides  Flash is much more   efficient at a v capture and transport on the user end  You can try to   do this without flash  but you will have headaches  HTML5 may make   your life easier  but if you re shooting for maximum compatibility    flash is the simplest way to go for creating the client  Then  as far   as the actual server side that will relay the audio video  you could   write a chat server in php  but you re better off using an open source   project  like   janenz00 s mention   of red5  that s already built and   interfacing with it through your client  if it doesn t already have   one   Or you could homebrew a flash client as mentioned before and   hook it up to a flash streaming server on both sides   either way it   gets complicated fast  and is beyond my expertise to help you with at   all             Hosted Service   ----------------- All in  my recommendation  unless you want to administer a ridiculous setup of many complex servers and failure   points is to use a hosted service like   UserPlane or similar and offload all the   processing and technical work to people who are good at that  and then   worry about interfacing with their api and getting their client well   integrated into your site  You will be a happier developer if you do

User · Answer

PHP AJAX MySQL will not be enough for creating the live video streaming application There is a similar thread here  It primarily suggests using Flex or Silverlight

User · Answer

I am not saying that you have to abandon PHP  but you need different technologies here   Let s start off simple  without Akamai  -   and think about the implications here  Video  chat  etc  - it s all client-side in the beginning  The user has a webcam  you want to grab the signal somehow and send it to the server  There is no PHP so far   I know that Flash supports this though  check this tutorial on webcams and flash  so you could use Flash to transport the content to the server  I think if you ll stay with Flash  then Flex  flex and webcam tutorial  is probably a good idea to look into   So those are just the basics  maybe it gives you an idea of where you need to research because obviously this won t give you a full video chat inside your app yet  For starters  you will need some sort of way to record the streams and re-publish them so others see other people from the chat  etc    I m also not sure how much traffic and bandwidth this is gonna consume though and generally  you will need way more than a Stackoverflow question to solve this issue  Best would be to do a full spec of your app and then hire some people to help you build it   HTH

User · Answer

PHP will let you build the pages of your site that make up your video conferencing and chat applications, but it won't deliver or stream video for you - PHP runs on the server only and renders out HTML to a client browser.

For the video, the first thing you'll need is a live streaming account with someone like akamai or the numerous others in the field. Using this account gives you an ingress point for your video - ie: the server that you will stream your live video up to.

Next, you want to get your video out to the browsers - windows media player, flash or silverlight will let you achieve this - embedding the appropriate control for your chosen technology into your page (using PHP or whatever) and given the address of your live video feed.

PHP (or other scripting language) would be used to build the chat part of the application and bring the whole thing together (the chat and the embedded video player).

Hope this helps.

User · Answer

For live video conferencing you can t ignore the need of a streaming server    Yes  flash will let you display video from a webcam within the local flash control  but that won t let you then send that video over the network - for that you need a streaming server to send it to    If you re going to build something like this it s prudent to think about how you re going to host the video from a very early stage as it will influence how you build the application  Flash Flex Silverlight Windows Media    etc

User · Answer

PHP AJAX MySQL will not be enough for creating the live video streaming application There is a similar thread here  It primarily suggests using Flex or Silverlight

User · Answer

PHP AJAX MySQL will not be enough for creating the live video streaming application There is a similar thread here  It primarily suggests using Flex or Silverlight

User · Answer

There are a lot of  off-the-shelf   servers  that will run in your environment  Most of these utilize the aforementioned Flex or Silverlight to implement the actual video itself but I m pretty sure all will run under LAMP PHP   The challenges will picking the best software from everything that s available and getting your hosting-provider to let you stream video  it goes without saying that streaming is heavy on bandwidth

User · Answer

PHP will let you build the pages of your site that make up your video conferencing and chat applications, but it won't deliver or stream video for you - PHP runs on the server only and renders out HTML to a client browser.

For the video, the first thing you'll need is a live streaming account with someone like akamai or the numerous others in the field. Using this account gives you an ingress point for your video - ie: the server that you will stream your live video up to.

Next, you want to get your video out to the browsers - windows media player, flash or silverlight will let you achieve this - embedding the appropriate control for your chosen technology into your page (using PHP or whatever) and given the address of your live video feed.

PHP (or other scripting language) would be used to build the chat part of the application and bring the whole thing together (the chat and the embedded video player).

Hope this helps.

User · Answer

For live video conferencing you can t ignore the need of a streaming server    Yes  flash will let you display video from a webcam within the local flash control  but that won t let you then send that video over the network - for that you need a streaming server to send it to    If you re going to build something like this it s prudent to think about how you re going to host the video from a very early stage as it will influence how you build the application  Flash Flex Silverlight Windows Media    etc

User · Answer

Please note that the below described service is no longer available as   it was based on FLV media  Flash    This project which utilizes the Red5  Flex and PHP for Live Video Streaming and Recording has many features   Stream Live video to the viewers Record the streams from your cam or other video input devices to the server Preview the recorded streams and files and thumbnail the frame which you would like to display for the video  Upload the videos from your computer and convert them to FLV which can be streamed using Red5   Choose from any resolutions Can be plugged to any script Each website user can have a separate Directory for storing their videos and thumbnails use this link http   code google com p red5-flex-streamer

User · Answer

PHP AJAX MySQL will not be enough for creating the live video streaming application There is a similar thread here  It primarily suggests using Flex or Silverlight

User · Answer

I am not saying that you have to abandon PHP  but you need different technologies here   Let s start off simple  without Akamai  -   and think about the implications here  Video  chat  etc  - it s all client-side in the beginning  The user has a webcam  you want to grab the signal somehow and send it to the server  There is no PHP so far   I know that Flash supports this though  check this tutorial on webcams and flash  so you could use Flash to transport the content to the server  I think if you ll stay with Flash  then Flex  flex and webcam tutorial  is probably a good idea to look into   So those are just the basics  maybe it gives you an idea of where you need to research because obviously this won t give you a full video chat inside your app yet  For starters  you will need some sort of way to record the streams and re-publish them so others see other people from the chat  etc    I m also not sure how much traffic and bandwidth this is gonna consume though and generally  you will need way more than a Stackoverflow question to solve this issue  Best would be to do a full spec of your app and then hire some people to help you build it   HTH

User · Answer

I am not saying that you have to abandon PHP  but you need different technologies here   Let s start off simple  without Akamai  -   and think about the implications here  Video  chat  etc  - it s all client-side in the beginning  The user has a webcam  you want to grab the signal somehow and send it to the server  There is no PHP so far   I know that Flash supports this though  check this tutorial on webcams and flash  so you could use Flash to transport the content to the server  I think if you ll stay with Flash  then Flex  flex and webcam tutorial  is probably a good idea to look into   So those are just the basics  maybe it gives you an idea of where you need to research because obviously this won t give you a full video chat inside your app yet  For starters  you will need some sort of way to record the streams and re-publish them so others see other people from the chat  etc    I m also not sure how much traffic and bandwidth this is gonna consume though and generally  you will need way more than a Stackoverflow question to solve this issue  Best would be to do a full spec of your app and then hire some people to help you build it   HTH

User · Answer

There are a lot of  off-the-shelf   servers  that will run in your environment  Most of these utilize the aforementioned Flex or Silverlight to implement the actual video itself but I m pretty sure all will run under LAMP PHP   The challenges will picking the best software from everything that s available and getting your hosting-provider to let you stream video  it goes without saying that streaming is heavy on bandwidth

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