Ask HN: What is the “stack” for streaming/transcoding video?

7 points·sayurichick··6 comments

I am proficient in node.js. I have videos on my server that are .mkv and various other file extensions. I can stream .mp4 through node quite easily but when it comes to other file types, I have no clue what library or language would be best.

Is streaming/transcoding too big a task for a solo developer?

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Unless you are doing live video, there is no reason to transcode real-time. Do it all upfront. You need to decide on your requirements and transcode everything to your desired format.

I'd suggest https://aws.amazon.com/elastictranscoder/details/, its quite affordable and much easier than doing it yourself, assuming it does what you need.

From the research I've done, I'd suggest MPEG-DASH for reasonable cross-ish platform adaptive streaming without requiring fancy video servers. Your requirements and platforms might be different than mine though. Research is required.

I have done video streaming with this library for node: https://github.com/fluent-ffmpeg/node-fluent-ffmpeg. As some one else pointed out, do the transcoding up front.

ffmpeg/ffserver is the tool for you https://ffmpeg.org/

There are plenty of bindings for any language

Can I use it for audio streaming as well?

yes. easily

As a MSFT employee I feel obligated to pitch our media services: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/media-services/

I do not have any first hand experience with them though so I can't offer any insight to how well it all works.

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