Hey ... I got a question to all of you hosts. On a lot of your plans, I see you offer "Real Audio/Video." Does this mean that you have the RealServer installed, or does that mean you just let your customers stream audio/video over HTTP? Thanks :)

I can't speak for all hosts, but for us, we allow streaming Realmedia files.

Streaming over http is mostly what you will find. Its the way to go for a host as opposed to paying $25,000 for a real server.

if it's over http, its just a marketing trick... because even without specifying it, real media files can be sent over http.

Basically, but if you dont list it as being possible then you have to answer 10,000 emails about it being possible or just list it.

Just a side note, but even for RealMedia via http, I've had to ask a couple of hosts to set the MIME's for it in cases where they didn't allow you set your own. Some with limited connectivity aren't always pleased with the idea, either.

I would agree with them... Streaming files through HTTP sure sounds nice to the client, but it will cost him a fortune and use up all the bandwidth... thus give no money to the host itself :P

Good point, Felix.

Smaller hosts with limited connectivity -- maybe only a pair of T1's, say, which isn't all that unusual -- can get buried by bandwidth if a larger RealMedia feed is being heavily hit.

Most UNIX boxes, for instance, might typically be able to carry 100 such feeds at once in virtual hosting. Get a few sites in full roll in that scenario, and the numbers get awkward rather rapidly.

From the standpoint of the webmaster, RealMedia should be viewed cautionately, as well. You can very quickly run up a whopping bill for bandwidth with many or larger RealMedia feeds.

Thanks :)

We list it, but specify in our support documentation that it is http. Maybe we need to make that clearer without having to look for it.

I talk to a great many webmasters daily in support mail -- and it seems that most are unaware of the technical details of serving RealMedia.

Most are, I would guess, unfamiliar with the difference between http serving (with somewhat limited capability) and a full-blown RealMedia server (with the capacity to serve thousands of RealMedia files contemporaneously).

On the other hand, very few sites would really require much beyond what http serving can provide.