P2p steaming is the latest generation of peer-to-peer technology,which
evolved as a way to delivery live audio and video streaming over
internet to huge users.Traditional solutions are client-server model
,all users get streaming content from central server,so many servers
and much bandwidth are used up,no scalability,no robustness,overhead
and too expensive.P2p live streaming solution solves these
questions,uses existing desktop computing power and networking
connectivity to transfer streaming contents to end users,very cheap,one
PC with a ADSL connection maybe broadcast DJ/VJ's voice/video to all
over the world,for million users.(please see fig1)
Evolution of live streaming technology
The road of p2p live streaming technology include three
kinds:Single-tree protocol,Multi-tree Delivery Protocols and
Data-Driven Overlay Protocol.
The first applicative scenario in which the peer-to-peer approach to
live media streaming was introduced is the large-scale broadcast
distribution of non-interactive content: the most significant research
papers date back to 2000, with the proposal of the Overcast and
Scattercast architectures, which both employ a two-tiered
infrastructure (the p2p part of the network is just the core, end-users
don't take an active role in the content distribution) to spread the
load from a single server to a large pool of supporting nodes.
The other field of interest, which was also explored around the year
2000, was small-scale, multiple source video distribution in
cooperative environments with a certain aim at intra-company
conferencing and media broadcasting: good results have been achieved by
the Narada and Yoid research projects - the first has also been
implemented as a commercial product for enterprise-wide brokering
systems - which use a mesh-based infrastructure for keeping the global
connectivity and managing the distribution trees which relay data
streams.
In the following years (2001 to 2004), the research started focusing on
completely distributed systems for media broadcast, and the three main
branches of this field are fundamentally different in the way they
approach the problem: many projects have studied methods which rely on
single applicative multicast trees, like SpreadIt , PeerCast ,ESM and
NICE , while others have explored approaches based on multiple trees -
to obtain a better resiliency to node failures - and appropriate data
encodings - to protect the playback quality in case of packet losses -
like Splitstream , CoopNet and P2PCast finally, improvements with
respect to the plain single-tree based solutions have been proposed
with Zigzag and Bullet .
June ,2004,a HongKong student Zhang xin-yan and his partners published
a paper "A Data-driven Overlay Network for Peer-to-Peer Live Media
Streaming" and released coolstreaming software.From this time,many p2p
live streaming system based this paper released ,such as
pplive,ppstream,vatata,etc.please see fig2,this is a evolution of live
streaming technology.
P2p live streaming system
Mostly p2p live streaming systems structure are like CDN,relay , proxy
and delivery streaming contents to users' desktop PC.Users will also
bear a responsibility as p2p streaming network node and make the grid
network more stable and fluid,but CND nodes must be a server with much
bandwidth,it's very expensive.
Now listing some p2p streaming systems,divide open source/freeware
systems into commercial systems.
Opensource/freeware p2p streaming systems
Peercast
Website - http://www.peercast.org
License - GPL (Open Source)
Language - C++
Operating systems - Windows, Linux and Mac OSX
Supported multimedia - Windows Media video, NullSoft video and Theora
video (Windows Media Video encoder is a free download from Microsoft.)
PeerCast.org was established in April 2002 as a non-profit site
providing free P2P radio software. The aim of the project is to create
an easy to use, simple and reliable software client that enables anyone
to broadcast streaming media on the Internet without the need for
expensive servers or bandwidth.Peercast maybe a oldest peer streaming
opensource software.Now peercast have many fans using it for themself
internet radio stations.If someone want to broadcast video
contents,please visit http://www.scvi.net/ for more information.
Freecast
Website - http://www.freecast.org/index.html.en
License - GPL (Open Source)
Language - Java
Operating systems - Any platform that supports the Java Runtime
Environment
Supported multimedia - Theora video
FreeCast is a Java application which allows peer-to-peer streaming. It
makes possible a stream broadcast to a large number of listeners from a
simple DSL connection.FreeCast allows you to listen a live stream over
Internet by using smartly resources. You can listen a webradio or share
an event by allowing other listeners to make the same thing in the best
conditions.Freecast is good start point for newbies studying peer
streaming with java.
ACTLab TV
Website - http://www.actlab.tv
License - GPL (Open Source)
Language - Java
Operating system - Windows and Macintosh
Supported multimedia - All video codecs supported by the VideoLan open
source player
ACTLab TV project is possible from University of Texas at Austin.It
must be promote from software ui,let's user friendly.
End System Multicast (ESM)
Website - http://esm.cs.cmu.edu/
License - Freesoftware
Language - C++
Operating system - Windows and Macintosh
Supported multimedia - All video codecs supported by the VideoLan open
source player
End System Multicast (ESM) was started in 1999 as an exploration into
using overlay networks for an IP multicast service. It has since
evolved into a system used for broadcasting high quality video streams
to large numbers of recipients.This project is from CMU,some ideas for
where ESM can be used include academic lectures, conferences, sporting
events, Internet radio, religious services, graduation ceremonies, and
music recitals.Now it is running very well in CMU school area network.
Vatata
Website - http://www.vatata.com/index-en.htm
License - Freesoftware
Language - C++
Operating system - Windows and linux
Supported multimedia - WMV/WMA/ASF
Vatata system is an end-to-end and large-scale solution for publishing
, delivery and reception of streaming contents. This platform is an
open system completely based on internet. Its grid and p2p technology
guarantees the low-cost and clear delivery of content to millions of
internet users. Any personal users or commercial users have full right
to use Vatata for free.Vatata have relaesed broadcast server,client and
tracker server,everyone can easily build their individual internet
radio stations or TV stations through Vatata and the dreams of DJ and
VJ will come true. Vatata maybe a most user-friendly software among
free p2p streaming systems.Vatata team called vatata --Poetic grid
network of next-generation streaming media.If vatata open its source
code from someday, it should be a next killer application like
BitTorrent.
P2P-Radio
Website - http://p2p-radio.sourceforge.net/
License - GPL (Open Source)
Language - Java
Operating systems - Any platform that supports the Java Runtime
Environment
Supported multimedia - NullSoft video
P2P-Radio is a program that can distribute audio and video streams
(MP3/Ogg Vorbis/NSV) over the Internet in a peer-to-peer manner. It's
possible to create your own internet radio station with P2P-Radio.
Stream 2 Stream
Website - http://s2s.sourceforge.net/
License - GPL (Open Source)
Language - Java
Operating systems - Any platform that supports the Java Runtime
Environment
Supported multimedia - MP3, NSV, Ogg Vorbis
S2s is like P2P-Radio,now available.
NodeZilla
Website - http://www.nodezilla.net/
License - GPL (Open Source)
Language - Java
Operating systems - Any platform that supports the Java Runtime
Environment
Supported multimedia - NullSoft video, Theora video, Windows Media
video and Real Video
Nodezilla is a secured, distributed and fault tolerant routing
system,not only a p2p streaming network.
CloneCast
Website - http://clonecast.free.fr
License - GPL (Open Source)
Language - Java
Operating systems - Any platform that supports the Java Runtime
Environment
Supported multimedia - mp3
CloneCast aims to distribute audio streams to a wide network of peers
and servers, to reduce bandwidth usage of shoutcast servers.
Trevbus
Website - http://www.trevbus.org/
License - GPL (Open Source)
Language - C++
Operating system - Linux
Supported multimedia - Various codecs and formats
Trevbus should be left one eye for it.
Coolstreaming mediacenter
Website - http://www.coolstreaming.us/
License - freesoftware?
Language - C++/?
Operating system - windows
Supported multimedia - ?
I have no way to learn this software background.Maybe some hacker do it
in underground,I guessed.
Commercial p2p streaming systems
Streamer P2P
Website - http://www.streamerp2p.com/
Language - C++
Operating system - Windows
Supported multimedia - NullSoft video, Theora video
Streamer is a p2p based Shoutcast/Icecast compatible streaming
client/server application.
Cybersky-TV Tornado
Website - http://www.cybertelly.com/
License - freesoftware
Language - C++/python
Operating system - windows
Supported multimedia - All video codecs supported by the VideoLan open
source player
Cybersky TV is a highspeed P2P technology of broadcasting and watching
TV over internet. Cybersky TV is a free alternative to Cable-TV or
Satellite-TV. Instead sat-dishes or paying for cable-tv, you can use
your broadband for signal transmission. Provider don`t need
transponders or nearly impossible cable-tv access.It provide free
client and brodacast server software.
Chaincast
Website - http://www.chaincast.com/
Language - C++
Operating system - Windows
Supported multimedia - WMV/WMA
Maybe merge with StreamAudio,I don't know what happened.
Allcast
Website - http://www.allcast.com/
Language - C++
Operating system - Windows
Supported multimedia - WMV/WMA
Have closed,now sale its Intellectual Property.
AbaCast
Website - http://www.abacast.com/
Language - C++
Operating system - Windows
Supported multimedia - WMV/WMA/mp3
Abacast technology greatly improves the delivery of one-to-many
real-time streaming media in any format. Abacast's Distributed
Streaming Network technology makes it possible to stream the highest
quality media to any size audiences with unparalleled scalability and
bandwidth efficiencies.
RawFlow
Website - http://www.rawflow.com/
Language - C++
Operating system - Windows
Supported multimedia - WMV/WMA/mp3/real media
RawFlow provide CDN solutions for rich media contents transmission.
Network Foundation Technologies
Website - www.nft-tv.com
Language - C++
Operating system - Windows
Supported multimedia - don't know
The NFT-TV system can utilize run-of-the-mill cable and DSL modem
connections to support broadcasts of compressed video encoded at 320 by
240, 15 frames per second, streamed at a variety of bandwidths.
ShareCast
Website - http://www.scast.tv/scast/
Language - C++
Operating system - Windows
Supported multimedia - Windows media
This is a company in Japan,I don't know Japanese,please visit its
website yourself.
SyncCast
Website - http://www.synccast.com/
Language - C++
Operating system - Windows
Supported multimedia - Windows media
SyncCast offers P2P streaming technologies as an option to our
streaming clients.
Roxbeam
Website - http://www.roxbeam.com
Language - C++
Operating system - Windows
Supported multimedia - Windows media,Real media
Roxbeam is founded by Zhang xin-yan in Beijing,provide p2p streaming
solutions.
PPlive
Website - http://www.pplive.com
Language - C++
Operating system - Windows
Supported multimedia - Windows media,Real media
PPlive is one of hottest p2p streaming company in China.Please visit
its website yourself.
Pcast
Website - http://itv.mop.com
Language - C++
Operating system - Windows
Supported multimedia - Windows media
Mop is one of hottest bandwidth entertainment company in China.
PPStream
Website - http://www.ppstream.com
Language - C++
Operating system - Windows
Supported multimedia - Windows media,Real media
PPStream is one of hottest p2p streaming company in China.
Mysee
Website - http://www.mysee.com
Language - C++
Operating system - Windows
Supported multimedia - Windows media,Real media
Mysee is from China.
SopCast
Website - http://www.sopcast.org/
Language - C++
Operating system - Windows
Supported multimedia - Windows media
SopCast is from FuDan university in China.
TVants
Website - http://www.tvants.com
Language - C++
Operating system - Windows
Supported multimedia - Windows media
TVants is from China.
Ok,these are p2p live streaming systems that I looked for the internet
world.Exclude p2p live streaming systems,I have collected many podcast
systems based p2p technology,such as Democracy
(http://participatoryculture.org/)
,Videora(http://www.videora.com/en-us/),Open Media Network
(http://www.omn.org/),Kaneva (http://www.kaneva.com/home.kaneva),this
maybe another article.
P2p live streaming business model
Using p2p live streaming technology will help two kinds companys'
business. One is traditional media company,such as
Cable-TV,satellite-TV,film company,Broadcast Radio,etc.These companys
can use this technology delivery its multimedia contents to PC users
through internet,develop a new market without much costs.Another
companys are more important,these company maybe create a new kind
entertainment market for billions internet user.This is really
internet-TV,it's more interaction,more entertainment,and more global.
These new players will grow fast,maybe take place of traditional media
company. Of course,personal users can use p2p live streaming technology
to setup yourself TV or Radio station,like own your blog space,this is
new way to show yourself on internet.
still a problem.Wall Street Journal said:"China has become the hotbed
of a new technology that distributes live television signals over the
Internet, exposing the world's pay-TV operators to the kind of online
piracy that has plagued the music and movie businesses.",this report
listed some Chinese p2p streaming
companys,Roxbeam,PPlive,Sop,PPstream,etc.A German P2P system called
Cybersky-TV, one of the first to use the technology, stopped
distributing its streaming software after being slapped with a court
injunction.
