YouTube Technology

[ItsOrreeeco]

Hey Guys. I'm not too sure how to ask this question but here goes.

You know how on YouTube they have software built in to record a video and save it? Well I was just curious if anyone knows anything about that technology. I'm more interested in just capturing sound. On my website, I want users to be able to record audio and save it/upload it to the server.

If anyone can just point me to a link or recommend a book to get me started, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan

[Eye for Video]

Not exactly clear what you mean.
On my website, I want users to be able to record audio and save it/upload it to the server.
Are you wanting to simply upload and play back audio that viewers have recorded on there own machine and then "upload it to the server"? or are you looking for server side software to record directly on the server and not on the viewers machine?
Best wishes,
EfV

[ItsOrreeeco]

Thanks for replying.

I'm talking about the latter; server side software to record directly on the server and not on the viewers machine.

[ItsOrreeeco]

it looks like a lot of people are interested in this topic but don't know how it works. lol

[chazzy]

Thanks for replying.

I'm talking about the latter; server side software to record directly on the server and not on the viewers machine.

one of my favorite quotes:


If you pick how it's supposed to work before understanding how it works, you'll never get to the correct solution.


Unfortunately, that's not how it works at all. The first thing they do is tap into your existing microphone and webcam using some drivers to activate them. Then (I believe they use flash for this) build a fancy gui for recording the user's actions, having input, etc. This stores it on the client until done, then pushes it out to the server.

The actual technology they use is irrelevant for 2 reasons:

1. It's not open source, so even if you knew what they were writing it in, you can't see the code.
2. You should be able to equivalently do this using java, silverlight, flash, c++, etc. it mostly requires a browser plugin.

here's a tutorial i found on newgrounds, for controlling a webcam from flash:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/326194

[ItsOrreeeco]

thanks a lot man. I'll have to read up on actionscript now!

Dan

[Eye for Video]

Beside controlling the cam/microphone on the viewers end you still need to build/buy server side software to handle the video recording, storage, file conversion, and serving out to the Web (no simple ActionScript here). This is not an easy process but there are a number of people who can help take you through the process. Here’s a few link to get you started.

Build your own YouTube…better brush up on your Linux command line:
http://www.noboxmedia.com/the-secret-source-build-your-own-youtube/
Open source Flash server, Red5
http://osflash.org/red5
Free video sharing script
http://www.phpmotion.com/
pay for recorder but you can compare features, etc.
http://www.avchat.net/avchat-video-recorder.php

Best of luck to you on the project!
EfV