Webcam video recording bandwidth

Question

hi all,
When capturing a webcam feed using FMS - is there any loss of
information during the upload process?
If my client has a limited uplink (for instance a poor DSL
uplink bandwidth) - does the resulting FLV file will suffer from
lost frames etc.? (is RTMP reliable or lossy)
If not lossy- how does it works?? does Flash client buffer
the recorded webcam feed on the client (because of the upload
limitations)?
where can I find more formal information about this (searched
FMS docs with no luck),
thx,
Chen.

Answer 1

Yes... the Flashplayer will drop frames if the client's
connection to the server isn't fast enough. You can set the amount
of data that is bufferred on the client (see the FMS docs about the
client side netstream buffer), but if the buffer fills and can't
empty out to the server, you'll start losing frames.
As I understand things, audio takes precidence over video, so
video frames will drop before audio data is dropped.
What you might want to do is test your client's connection
speeds (you can do that with FMS), and then employ a little dynamic
bitrate/framerate control in your client side AS. That way, you can
ensure that the client doesn't try to transmit more data than their
internet pipe can handle, and you won't lose and data.