New Basic Plan Limits

[jad_minhaj]

hello

We want to ask about the new (basic plan) , we are confused about this “Maximum 10 concurrent, transcoded channels per instance per month”, What does it mean ?
we know previously that our basic license includes:

• unlimited applications
• unlimited concurrent incoming and outgoing streams
• unlimited stream targets
• unlimited transcoding
• unlimited nDVR

We have some questions :
1- so how "“Maximum 10 concurrent, transcoded channels per instance per month” affects on these features ?
does it mean that we can only create 10 application ? or we have only 10 concurrent incoming streams per instance ?
Would you please explain the new limits on every feature?
2- Does this affect our current valid subscription?
3- will these limits apply on renew or just on new subscriptions ?

thanks

[Rose_Power-Wowza_Com]

Hello and welcome to the community! This has been asked and answered in other posts that can be found using the search bar. We try to keep the accepted answer for repeat questions in just one post.

Here is the post and your bet best for any account or billing questions is to email customerservice@wowza.com if you are renewing and not a brand new customer and they can help discuss your options based on your needs.

Channel Limits -- New Wowza Pricing

Hi! I’m currently subscribed to legacy $65/month Wowza Streaming Engine subscription plan. I was advised that my subscription plan will be $75/month starting on June 1, 2021 and “the plan will be limited to a maximum of 10 simultaneous TRANSCODER CHANNELS (inbound) per instance, measured within each billing cycle.” On the FAQ section of Wowza website, there’s an entry which is a bit confusing for me: "Is there a limit on the number of CONCURRENT CHANNELS per instance per month? Yes, you are…

[jad_minhaj]

hello

So if we don’t use transcoder (live and vod) the new limits will not apply.
and if we we ingest stream using rtmp (h264,aac) and clients access it using (HLS, rtmp, webrtc, MPEGdash, etc.) this is not transcoding and it has no limits.

Note:
we have valid basic plan with standard support, and we opened ticket with [customerservice@wowza.com] a week age , but no response from them although
standard support should be within 48 hours response.
So We forced to post here in community which is faster than standard support

Wowza support is the worst in the world

thanks

[Rose_Power-Wowza_Com]

Happy to help.

That is correct, If you do not use the transcoder, there are no limits. But, to be honest with you, I feel confident that if you need more than 10 channels WITH a transcoder, customer support would work with you when you renew.

A channel in this case is: a transcoded stream.

So yes your second description was correct: “only 10 concurrent incoming streams per instance.”

Let me check and see what happened to your support ticket. Be back in a minute.

[Rose_Power-Wowza_Com]

Passthrough is when you ingest a stream as one particular protocol and then deliver it to viewers as the same exact protocol. That would require zero transcoding.

The transcoder can be used to change the protocol (WebRTC only requires transcoding), the codec, the bitrate and the resolution so if any of that happens for your RTMP stream being ingested by Wowza, it will require the transcoder.

What I would like to point out to you for the 10 channel limit is that means 10 incoming streams- coming into wowza all at one time and all being transcoded. Most hardware systems don’t have enough resources to handle more than 10 incoming transcoded streams ( transcoding uses a lot of CPU and bandwidth) but it is possible with advanced server components.

I hope this has helped a bit and there were changes made to the unlimited offering that you mentioned from the past due to more advanced technologies for streaming and the amount of resources Wowza has to use to support unlimited channels.

I have also made a note in your ticket to have someone contact you right away and my apologies you have not gotten a response. I do see two people from Wowza responded in the ticket and said someone from sales would reach out to answer your questions. I will be sure that happens and I’m glad you reached out in the forums.

[jad_minhaj]

hello

thanks for your response , so the following is correct :
“if we have only one live application (mylive) with transcoder is disabled and we ingest 20 concurrent streams using rtmp (h264,aac) , so viewers can access all of them using (HLS or rtmp or webrtc, MPEGdash, etc.) at the same time. this is not transcoding , this is repackaging (Transmuxing) and transcoding counter still 0”
is that correct ?

note:
Transmux (transcode-multiplexing) is converting to a different container format, but keeping the file contents the same. This is important for supporting a variety of different playback types.

thanks

[Rose_Power-Wowza_Com]

@jad_minhaj

“if we have only one live application (mylive) with transcoder is disabled and we ingest 20 concurrent streams using rtmp (h264,aac) , so viewers can access all of them using (HLS or rtmp or webrtc, MPEGdash, etc.) at the same time. this is not transcoding , this is repackaging (Transmuxing) and transcoding counter still 0”
is that correct

Yes that is correct and this does get so confusing because the word “transcoding” can be used in the industry for so many things but you are 100% correct.

Transcoding does not equal Transmuxing.

So you can have all those RTMP streams come into Engine for delivery as HLS or any other protocol like MPEG-DASH and that 10 channel limit will not apply.

[Rose_Power-Wowza_Com]

BUT! Keep in mind should you ever need to ingest RTMP and deliver it as WebRTC, that would count as transcoding,

Reason: The audio codec has to be transcoded from AAC to WebRTC.

So just a reminder that RTMP or any non-WebRTC ingest will have to be transcoded for WebRTC playback.

[Rose_Power-Wowza_Com]

I suppose one last thing to keep in mind is that transcoding does create multiple versions of your stream for playback on various devices that require different bitrates and resolutions and that is very common approach in streaming. If you are not familiar, that is called adaptive bitrate steaming (ABR).

Today’s viewers are out and about, accessing streams from a variety of devices. Different screens and varying internet speeds make video transcoding and processing essential. But, you may not HAVE to for your use case, I don’t know.

For example. viewers on mobile devices would need a lower bitrate and resolution. So carefully consider whether or not you can get away with no transcoding as far as your viewers.

Adaptive Bitrate Streaming: How It Works and Why It Matters

Did that help?

[jad_minhaj]

hello

thanks for your response, it is was so useful…
But the last question to close the case, about 10 concurrent transcoding : we have 10 audio-only concurrent transcoding (Audio Live only) and 10 (video + audio ) concurrent transcoding, or we have only 10 concurrent transcoding whatever was the transcoding profile we use.

thanks

[Rose_Power-Wowza_Com]

@jad_minhaj

thanks for your response, it is was so useful…
But the last question to close the case, about 10 concurrent transcoding : we have 10 audio-only concurrent transcoding (Audio Live only) and 10 (video + audio ) concurrent transcoding, or we have only 10 concurrent transcoding whatever was the transcoding profile we use.

10 concurrent streams being transcoded includes audio-only or both audio and video.

I encourage you to discuss your needs with customer support and sales and they can make sure you get the license you need for your use case. Good luck @jad_minhaj