Hi
Am trying to set up a VOD system using WOWZA, EC2, S3, etc.
I have just received my first bill which is for 442 hours (which is not even a full month) as my EC2 instance has been ‘open’ constantly. I haven’t actually managed to create my website yet or stream even one video as I can’t seem to get my head around the set up - (I have put out a consultant request for assistance for this now).
My question is this - if I want to stream VOD to (hopefully) many customers I assume I have to have a constantly running EC2 instance - and as such pay the cost. Which I now realise adds up!
I am wondering if this is all worth it - Its going to cost a fortune just to have a constantly open EC2 instance, let alone the cost of any streaming, encoding, Wowza licence, player licence, etc, etc. It will only be a small site and although I plan to charge for access I cannot see how it will work using this set up.
Have I got things wrong or should I give up on this set up and just look to use an existing streaming video hosting site and pay their monthly fee - which appears would be cheaper much to my surprise.
Looking forward to your thoughts, comments and suggestion