To run AVChat 3 you will need:
- Some hosting space,
- A media server or media server hosting (Red5 , FMS, Wowza)
- Your web site users need Flash Player 10
1. A website or some hosting space:
Some hosting space with PHP or ASP.NET support is needed. This is where the video chat software will be installed and most probably where your web site is already located.
2. A media server:
AVChat (and all flash video chat apps) needs a media server to transport data (audio, video and text chat) between the clients. There are 3 big media servers out there: Red5 (free open source), Wowza and FMS (from Adobe).
You have 2 big options:
- Shared media server hosting:
You'll have a separate shared media server hosting account that will only handle data (audio video chat) transfer between your users. You do not have to move your website.
influxis.com provides FMS hosting plans starting with $19.95/month ($16/month for a 1 year period). They have data centers all over the world and they also have dedicated servers with FMIS and Wowza. You can also get 15% off with this discount code: MINUS15 :D.- uvault.com provides FMS hosting starting with $15/month ($10/month for a 1 year period).
- Your own media server:
You'll have your own VPS or dedicated server with root access to it on which you need to install a media server (we can do it for you). You can install any media server you want but most choose Red5 because it is free* while the others (FMS and Wowza) cost money. FMS and Wowza also have free versions but they are limited to 10 simultaneous connections.
Any VPS/dedicated server will do but we recommend:
There are a few more exotic options too like FMS on Amazon Web Services (starting at $300/month), Wowza on Amazon Ec2 (starting at $108/month) and Wowza has a whole range of editions you can use like a 5$/day or 55$/month leased licenses.
AVChat is compatible with
- FMS 2, 3, 3.5, 4 and 4.5 (Flash Media Streaming Server is not supported)
- Red5 0.8 and 1.0RC1
- Wowza 1.7.x, 2.xand 3.x
3. End user requirements:
A modern Internet browser with Flash Player 10.3 or above installed. Nothing else! And it looks like at least 95% of the Internet users already have Flash Player 10 installed.
The need for Flash Player 10.3 starts with build 1462 of AVChat whiich ads Audio Echo Cancellation.
Here's a quick scheme showing how it all works out:
