NewTek TriCaster Studio User Manual
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If TriCaster is behind a router, your router must be configured to ‘port forward.’
Requires significant bandwidth -- for example, with TriCaster connected to the Internet
by a DSL or Cable Modem line, upload bandwidth is often less than 400kbits/second.
Allowing for network overhead, at best a 320kbit steam can be accommodated. This
bandwidth would be fully consumed by two viewers watching 160kbit streams, or a
single viewer pulling a 170-320kbit stream. (Even a T1 digital line can only handle four
simultaneous 300kbit streams.)
A variation on the Pull method involves using an external streaming provider. At one time the
only method for streaming using such a provider was to have the server ‘pull’ it from the
encoder.
Under this system the server did not receive the stream until the first user requested it. Then the
server would connect to the encoder, pull the stream to it, and finally begin re-distributing it to
everyone requesting it. This method worked passably until firewalls became more common.
Advantages:
Pull doesn’t waste bandwidth; no signal is being sent out to the server unless somebody
wants to view it.
If you lose your connection to the (provider side) server, the server will re-connect to
your encoder automatically when Internet connection resumes.
Providers typically have significant bandwidth, and are able to meet necessary
requirements to deliver stutter-free, high quality streams to large numbers of viewers.
Disadvantages:
Like the “Pull by End Users” method above, this requires a public IP address, preferably
a “static IP address” (which does not change dynamically if you need to reconnect) as
well as open ports for the connection to be established. These requirements are
becoming increasingly difficult to meet (given common security measures.)
PUSH TO PROVIDER
Windows 2003 Server introduced “Push” technology. With this method, the encoder sends the
stream to the servers. This allows the encoder to establish a connection to the server on a