My Host does not support FFMPG: alternatives? solutions?

It's really hard to get ffmpeg on a shared server, if they don't install it for you, and I doubt 1and1 will, cause I haven't heard great things about them. Why not follow Travis advice and go with Cirtex Hosting: http://www.travistidwell.com/node/5 Here is another thread about ffmpeg hosting: http://drupal.org/node/204939

Aiosarem - my best advice, give up on shared hosting. You simply will not get FFMPEG installed properly on any shared hosting provider. There are a couple that will say they do it, but it will not provide the results you are hoping for. Video processing is by hosting standards, very CPU intensive. Sorry but I also would not recommend a shared provider that specializes in FFMPEG hosting such as others have recommended - all these outfits do is throw you on a giant shared box and allow you to access another machine for encoding in que. It's very slow and very inefficient. It may be okay if all you want to do is get a site up and running and convert the occasional small file, but if that is all you are doing than you might as well bypass the whole process and convert your files locally. For anything more you simply must move to a VPS or Dedicated Server. You can't expect to do much more than host a simple blog on a shared provider - such is the current state of web hosting. A quality VPS is not expensive.

To answer your question more simply - there is absolutely no way for you to install FFMPEG yourself on the type of shared hosting you are currently on.

I too am with a host that does not ffmpeg. I played with the idea of using cirtex as a subdomain just for hosting video but setting that up has been a headache. I have downloaded ffmpeg to my pc and am wondering if amazon s3 is my solution to this problem. i plan on transferring to a dedicated server in the future however I must build the site before i will receive additional funding. I hope I am making sense. Can someone clarify the capabilities of amazon s3...can i use it to host my videos since my host does not? will I need to use the ffmpeg that I have on my pc or does amazon s3 already have what I would need? thanks in advance.

buggedcom suggested in this dupe thread:

http://www.phpclasses.org/browse/package/3747.html

I am hosted with 1and1 and my best advice to you is to move on. I have emailed them to no avail. Yes they are good for starter projects but 1and1 is no good for more advanced projects. I been with them for 7 years but now it is time to move on. True they offer an easy way to install different addons but you can find these addons yourself and add them on any server so they really arent offering anything special.

What I do is convert videos to FLV format before uploading them. Then after uploading them, I simply run cron and it works.

@Zahor...

What about thumbnails? Are you able to get them working on the teasers and videos?

Unfortunately, no, thumbnails don't work. The other alternative would be to use Open Package Video and get an account with openpackage.biz but it doesn't work for 6 yet...

Or...I know none of us really want to get a dedicated hosting package (because of the price) unless we need 1 but, Bryght Hosting offers a VPS for $60 per month - if you know 4 or 5 other people with the same need you can get together and get a package like that. I myself can use FFMPEG, but I don't want it bad enough to get a package all by myself.

I'm considering Amazon Web Services at this moment. It seems much cheaper and you get lots more bang for the buck.

See this thread: http://drupal.org/node/281427

I would second the Amazon Web Services notion. Although, you will have to configure your server by yourself for FFMPEG. I actually just did this and it is what is hosting my www.tmtdigital.com website for the new Dash Media Player. I have been very happy with the service thus far. No downtime from what I can tell.

@travist,

Sweet site. Did you use Amazon EC2 or S3 service? I'm still doing by share of due diligence trying to figure out which service I need for streaming media.

That looks like the joomla-type theme eh? Did you create the Dash Media Player? It's great! I'd be happy to beta test it for you as soon as I get my Amazon buckets configured...

Thanks for the compliments. I actually did design and build the Dash Media Player (which is why I have been away for a while now). Now that I have it launched, I will be spending some more time working on FlashVideo (since the Dash Player works well with FlashVideo). Also, on my site, I am using Amazon EC2 for that site, and use Amazon S3 for the storage of the server instance. It is such a wonderful service. I would say that is the way to go for high traffic media sites since you can scale up your instances on the fly.

And I would LOVE some beta testing on the Dash Media Player. I have worked long and hard on that player and I want it to be perfect, so the more eyes the better.

Thanks,

Travis.

Travis,

I am running latest Drupal 6.4... so looks like the requirements for Dash Media Player still have some kinks in them. For instance, Voting Service in Service module is not compatible at this moment.

But in any case, did you set up a new project thread for your player on the Drupal site? Or do you plan to run all development and discussion on your own website? In any case, you got +1 subscriber.

Cheers,

Denis

Denis,

I plan on giving some attention to the 6.4 version very soon. I developed it on 5, so I am pretty sure it is solid on 5, but I will be spending some time on 6.

The project for the Dash Media Player on Drupal can be found at http://www.drupal.org/project/dashplayer. Also, you might try the module uploaded to that project page for Drupal 6 (since it is different than what was included in the ZIP file). I will also be using that project page to track issues with the modules, but not the player (although, you are more than welcome to post issues to that project page).

Thanks again for your interest in that project. I have worked long and hard on it.

Travis.

For those considering Amazon S3/EC2 as your host with FFMPEG support, check out the following links for info and tutorials:

http://drupal.org/node/281427
http://groups.drupal.org/node/11045

I have done extensive research into S3/EC2 this past week and have to conclude that it's definitely NOT user friendly. So do not go in expecting a nice clean shared hosting-type cPanel with all the tools laid out in front of you after you've set up a AWS account.

If price is your determining factor, refer to this:

At this time, a small instance costs $0.10/hour, around $72 per month, offering a 32-bit server with 1.7G of RAM, 1 virtual core, and 160G of disk space. A large instance costs $0.40/hour, around $288 per month, offering a 64-bit server with 7.5G of RAM, 2 virtual cores, and 850G of disk space. An extra large instance costs $0.80/hour, around $576 per month, offering a 64-bit server with 15G of RAM, 4 virtual cores, and 1,690G of disk space.

Source: http://tag1consulting.com/Drupal_and_Amazon_EC2_Quick_Start

While not, pricey, AWS may not be as cheap as other shared hosting alternatives such as CirtexHosting, Hostmonster, or Bluehost.

Personally, I've decided to do without FFMPEG support and do my FLV conversions on my computer with Adobe's wonderful FLV Enconder and simply import them into my server. Regarding thumbnail creation... I have yet to find a workaround, but with JW Player's ability for thumbnail image flashvars, I'm confident an efficient workaround will surface soon enough. FFMPEG just doesn't seem necessary unless you want to create your own YouTube (with multiple users).

My 2 cents.