H.264 vs others. Bandwidth

[Mike Scott]

Hi

I just compared streaming with yawcam's best, (javascript mode) and H.264 using a dedicated h/w box. The bandwidth measured (with same pic specs as I could get) at-

Yawcam (using js mode): 450-550 Kpps (5.4GB per day +-)
H.264: 180-200 Kpps (2.5GB per day +-)

That's a big difference. The yawcam's bandwidth is going to be a problem if streaming was on long term (like all day, every day)

I found just 3 posts over 5 yrs that mentioned H.265, but no solutions, so I thought I would raise it afreash as 'H.264 and bandwidth'.

Is there anyway to get yawcam to work with H.264 ?

[malun]

I agree that something like H.264 would be nice. But H.264 is not free, and I can't pay for every download of Yawcam when I give it away for free.
I've done some tests with Google's VP8 for WebM format, but the performance hasn't been good enough yet.

I'm keeping my eyes open, but haven't found any good solution yet...

/malun

[Mike Scott]

Suggestion: Do not know if this possible from a business perspective, but could users have the option of H.264 if they were willing to pay for the codec/s? Either via yawcam, or a 3rd party if yawcam did not want to be in the commercial loop ? I doubt any new compression system will come free, they only come free when they are slow compared to the new.
-------------------------------------------------addendum---------------
Wow! I just came across this- http://www.videolan.org/developers/x264.html

H.264 encoder, free under GPL (General public licence). This any good ?

[malun]

I'm afraid I can't make a commercial part of Yawcam. The work load for me would be more than I can manage right now.
Keep in mind that I live in Sweden where taxes are high, and the accounting requirements to the tax agency are extensive...

I've seen the library you linked to. But since Yawcam isn't GPL I can't use it.
It's possible that Yawcam will be released under GPL in the future, but we are not there yet.

/malun

[Mike Scott]

I found a great way to reduce the Kbps using yawcam. The HTTP with a refresh, rather than the streaming. With a refresh rate of 1FPS (slow but ok for keeping a general eye on thigs), the bandwidth used with 75% pic quality, and 640x480px pic, was under 1GB per day. That is less than half of what can be obtained with H.264 streaming

I did find a code problem in the /.yawcam/update.html which I have detailed under bugs

[malun]

That's good
You know, you could still use the stream output and change the stream to update at 1 FPS.
http://www.yawcam.com/menuinfo.php

(You can also alter the stream template file to start at 1 FPS when the page loads if you want to.)

/malun