Why Wowza Server is a Nightmare for developers? Here is the reason behind it!

WRITTEN BY

Hiren Mansuriya

Director & CTO

What is Wowza?

Wowza is a streaming engine which will process the video and publish it. It is supported by any digital devices where users want to enjoy live streaming. Founded in 2005 by David Stubenvoll and Charlie Good, Wowza has many other products developed in Java based platform. User can use Wowza streaming server as it is an excellent solution for your streaming requirements and can be integrated easily to a website.

However, when it comes to support and license management, you may find its services a little costly. Even their paid support plans does not match professional SLA , which everyone normally expects, (sometime they reply after 48 hours!), ticket replies are mostly useless and you feel like you are on your own when you are in deep live server troubleshooting.

Usage:

We can use it for live streaming, eg. if user would like to broad cast any event.

One to Many (one event go on live and many viewer can view it): If any event is going live and owner of the website would like to broad cast that event on the website and on front end user would like to view that event, then we can use Wowza streaming engine to make live event.

Many to Many (many events are going on live and many viewer can view on same time): If we have to provide a functionality to enable user-specific live streaming, just like if user would like to provide a seminar on a topic and other end user would like to view that topic, then they have to get registered for the seminar and they can view it when seminar is going on. So at a time there are many seminars going live on a site and viewer can view that from the other end.

Video on Demand : There is functionality called On-demand video also provided by Wowza server using which users can record the video and put it on the site. If end user would like to view that video then they have to pay to view that vide, thus it acts like pay per video facility.

Advantages:

• Easily integrated with web site, where you can do live streaming one to many.
• This is working with low bandwidth.
• They are using encryption with WebRTC
  Play with flash player in web site, where user can’t modify it anything and it is secure for live streaming.
• Transfer video which support in all type of devices eg. Computer, Tablet and Mobile devices.
• You have full control on your Wowza streaming server.
• No third-party plug-ins is used by Wowza server.
• License management to ensure no one can use unauthorized Wowza.
• SDK integration for Wowza server for mobile app.

Disadvantages :

• It is too costly and offers yearly packages.
• Price of the Wowza is too high and there is no monthly subscription. Should there be any such monthly subscription, developers or owners of the website can subscribe to check its functioning, and upon being satisfied with the service they can opt for full subscription packages.
• Support is available only with paid packages, which may mean cost concerns for the developer.
• Even if developers subscribed for good package of support, they can’t receive quick response from support assistants.
• Every time developer has to generate support ticket and make request via email. This process in some cases may take long time to process and deliver the desirable solution.
• Free support is not available in order to integrate Wowza easily with our system and use it on the site / project. Developer has to explore the community forum, where they can discover the issue which is relevant their own. This is not as easy as it looks when the problem arrives.
• It will not run without flash player on the web browser.
• If developer faces any issue after purchasing the package of SDK for mobile app and don’t purchase support from Wowza, then they are on their own to resolve the issues in the event of sudden problems.
• If your server contains low configuration and has low bandwidth internet, then it experience delay in its operation, which means it will not stream in a seamless fashion.

Conclusion:

Wowza has got impressive functionalities that work best with both mobile application and website using web cam and are viewable at any location across different devices (computer, mobile, tablet).

At Spaculus, we have a proficient team of developers who are diligent and deliver desirable solutions for Android, iOS and other web applications using Wowza. If you are looking forward to use Wowza streaming server, get in touch with us at info@spaculus.com or call us at +1-210-209-8360!

Author

Hiren Mansuriya

Director & CTO

Hiren, a visionary CTO, drives innovation, delivering 300+ successful web/mobile apps. Leading a 70+ tech team, Hiren excels in DevOps, cloud solutions, and more. With a top-performing IT Engineering background, Hiren ensures on-time, cost-effective projects, transforming businesses with strategic expertise.