Transcoder pricing and defining a channel

[Bencredible]

I see that the transcoder option is billed per channel. Just wondering exactly how a channel is defined. For example, is one channel a single stream of video within an application? Is one channel any video sitting within a single application? Or other?

Thanks,

Benjamin

[rrlanham]

Benjamin,

I think channel is one stream in.

Richard

[streamingguy]

I was told that each incoming stream was a transcoder instance (1 incoming stream transcoded to as many output as you want)

[charlie]

Yes, it is incoming stream. So if you have a single streaming coming into Wowza Server and you transcode that stream to 4 new renditions. You are charged for one stream. The incoming stream that is being transcoded.

Charlie

[Speed666]

Hi,
Sorry but as i saw the new pricing model - i will not upgrade to ver. 3. How is that possible that from good partner in bussiness you started to act as "money extractor"?

First - Perpetual License stopped being sold for stream service companies - even the small one. Only subscription. How come?
Second - I was happy for seeing Transcoder Addon working. Now i see that You want to bill per channel. In perpetual i have only 2 channel in price. Next bad move.
Third - You try to recover all Perpetual Licenses to Subscription ones. Why? More money?

Remember, being good and having good software is one. Having clients who pays for it is more important. Sorry but You lost next one.

[Dobrushin]

Hi Speed666,

We apologize if our previous or the current licensing and use policy was not clearly explained. Let me clarify the misunderstanding:

First - Perpetual License stopped being sold for stream service companies - even the small one. Only subscription. How come?

This policy was the same with Wowza Media Server 2. It didn’t change. Service providers, such a CDN, hosting or streaming companies, were required to use a Wowza Subscription license (not called a Monthly license) with Wowza Media Server 2 as well. With Wowza Media Server 3 it is exactly the same as it was with the previous releases of our software.

We also now offer service providers more licensing options and lower prices:

- The Wowza Media Server 3 Monthly price for the first server instance is now reduced by 15% to $55/month (was $65/month previously under the Wowza Media Server 2 Subscription)
- A new cost-effective Daily Edition license is now available for users who need servers for occasional use

Second - I was happy for seeing Transcoder Addon working. Now i see that You want to bill per channel. In perpetual i have only 2 channel in price. Next bad move.

Wowza Transcoder AddOn is priced very competitively in comparison to other commercial transcoding solutions. Each Perpetual license for Wowza Transcoder AddOn is capable of transcoding 2 incoming channels. You can stack multiple Wowza Transcoder licenses on the same Wowza Media Server 3 instance to get more transcoding channels. It is not limited to only 2 channels. As before, volume discounts are given when multiple Perpetual licenses are purchased in the same transaction.

Third - You try to recover all Perpetual Licenses to Subscription ones. Why? More money?

We are not requiring Perpetual licensees to upgrade to a subscription type license. In fact, the Wowza Media Server 2 Perpetual licensees get a FREE upgrade to the Wowza Media Server 3 Perpetual licenses. There is no cost to upgrade and no requirement to switch to a subscription type license when used in compliance with the Wowza EULA.

We only require service providers who may have mistakenly used Wowza Media Server 2 Perpetual licenses previously to convert to the Wowza Media Server 3 Monthly Edition license when upgrading to be in compliance with the terms of the Wowza EULA.

All service providers who convert to the Monthly Edition license will receive a generous service credit equal to $995 for each Wowza Media Server 2 Perpetual Edition license they trade in. This service credit is an equivalent to about 18 months of free use of a server instance using the Wowza Media Server 3 Monthly license.
Please refer to the upgrade rules for complete details.

We strive to deliver excellent products at very competitive prices to our customers. If you have questions, concerns or feedback, we welcome you to email us to info@wowza.com. We value your feedback.

[ajhalls]

Yes, it is incoming stream. So if you have a single streaming coming into Wowza Server and you transcode that stream to 4 new renditions. You are charged for one stream. The incoming stream that is being transcoded.

Charlie

So to clarify, If I have Wowza installed and have 2 streams configured and each stream contains approximately 300 videos I would be charged for 2 streams?

Is this different than When I have the 600 videos from above on 2 separate streams supporting 500 users watching during peak and so am buying 500 active streams on a monthly basis?

I am trying to figure it out because the way I understand it I would be paying :
$30+27+24+18=$99 for each of the three servers I run raising my monthly overhead almost $300 just for the transcoder. Then if I wanted to add DRM it would be another $675 per month. While I am excited about the features, I can't justify an extra $1000 per month in subscription fees on my perpetual licensed servers but I could if it was on a per stream especially as I add more and more servers.

[rrlanham]

Are you sure you want to use Transcoder? Are you doing live or vod, or live with file source from external encoder, or live with file source using Wowza stream class?

Richard

[ajhalls]

I thought I was sure... We currently use VOD with each video available in 3 qualities allowing the user to select which quality and which server to pull from.

[rrlanham]

Then you don't need Transcoder which only supports live streams, and you already have the encodes you need.

Richard