Member Avatar for dominique7

Hi,

I am new to streaming media.
I mean, using them in the internet is simple, but I want to put some audio and video extracts on a web page.

I couldn't really find a beginner guide, does anyone have a link?

As far as I know, your web server has better to be prepared for it (and I think I've seen hosting firms excluding streaming content in their feature list).
I only got a standard linux web hosting with 500MB of space and php and mysql and still hope I could serve a few audio extracts and videos for a not that big number of visitors without problems.

Otherwise I think I'll have to serve it from another source like youtube or so - would you possibly rather recommend that?

But I'd not really like everyone to find the videos on youtube.
Not that they were bad or offending, I just don't want to take part in today's habit of sharing all these little uninteresting details with people who are even not related to my subject.

I'd be thankful for any input on that!
Cheers,
Dominique

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Dani AI

Generated

A short, practical path forward for : for a handful of short clips and low concurrent traffic, the simplest, most future‑proof approach is to treat media as static files served over HTTP and use HTML5 video / audio. That works in modern browsers without plugins and avoids the complexity of dedicated streaming servers. Flash is no longer supported (see Adobe’s end‑of‑life notice) and should be avoided. For large audiences or adaptive bitrate needs, HLS/DASH makes sense, but it is overkill for a few extracts.

Encoding and embedding checklist:

  • Produce an MP4 (H.264 video + AAC audio) as the primary file and an alternate WebM/OGG for broader compatibility.
  • For MP4 make it streamable/progressive by enabling faststart so playback can begin before the whole file downloads.
  • Example commands (using ffmpeg) and a minimal embed snippet:
ffmpeg -i input.mov -c:v libx264 -preset medium -crf 23 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -movflags +faststart output.mp4
ffmpeg -i input.mov -c:v libvpx-vp9 -b:v 1M -c:a libopus output.webm
<video controls preload="metadata" poster="thumb.jpg">
  <source src="output.mp4" type="video/mp4">
  <source src="output.webm" type="video/webm">
  Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>

References: HTML5 video element, FFmpeg, Adobe Flash end-of-life.

Bandwidth and privacy notes: estimate monthly transfer as (file size) × (plays per month). Example: a 5 MB clip played 200 times = ~1 GB transferred. With 500 MB of storage, be aware that storage and monthly transfer are separate limits; shared hosts often throttle or bill for excess transfer—check the host’s terms. To reduce transfer: lower bitrate, offer short previews, trim clips, or serve lower‑resolution versions. For privacy, password protect directories or use a service that provides signed URLs (S3+CDN or private hosting plans) rather than public YouTube uploads.

Context for earlier replies: @Elemen7s pointed to third‑party hosts (useful if bandwidth is a concern); @Member334542 suggested Flash (now deprecated). For the scenario described, HTML5 progressive delivery plus modest encoding and simple access control is the most practical solution.

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Member Avatar for dominique7

thanks for your reply, Elemen7s!

That Wikipedia site has lots of choices and I really don't know where to look at for a start. It's often like that nowadays when you're new to a subject.

After all, I'm unsure if it's really called streaming media what I want...
I'd like to host a few audio and video files on my server that every now and then, a few people may watch. No big bandwidth.

I'd like them better to be accessible to anyone without any plugins or problems.
Or... do I better just make a flash file from them?
Or is there a script in java or php that cares for my media to play smoothly at the visitor's browser?

Sorry for all the questions! :)
Cheers,
Dominique

Member Avatar for Member #334542

Then give a try with flash media player component, Its very simple to use and publish on your website.

Go to Flash
Press Ctrl+f7 and get the media play component
Look at the properties and parameters to set the file names
Thats it! Embed in your website.

Its Not tough, give a try! and tell if you need help!

Cheers for now

Member Avatar for Member #334542

To publish your created flash file:

The above link will give an idea to embed your flash published file in the web page

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