H.264

H.264 is a video format which allows for higher quality video at lower bitrates, this means that you can have a more crisp and clear stream with a smaller bitrate so that you can with less bandwidth make a broadcast that has great quality!

Flash Media Encoder

For PC users, Flash Media Encoder is the best option to use h.264. You will have to download Flash Media Encoder 2.5 in order to have this option. The steps to use FME 2.5 are the same as in this tutorial , except now under the device menu you have you "Format" from which you can choose either VP6 or h264. Start out by using the Medium bandwidth settings under the preset and tweak these as you like until you get the quality that you are satisfied with.

Quicktime Broadcaster

For Mac users, Qucktime Broadcaster is the primary choice. The steps to use QuickTime broadcaster are the same as in this tutorial. You can check out this screen capture:

• Make sure that the keyframes are no further than 600 frames apart
• The delay in the live stream increases with the RTSP option vs using the flash plugin by several seconds
• Setting a buffertime in QTB to '0' helps with the delay, but does not get rid of it
• Limit datarate to 1000Kbps else you may get stuck in a 'prerolling' screen forever
• Even if the datarate is set to 1000Kbps, it is VBR so it will only use the bandwidth required (we average out to 500Kbps)
• If a OS X user is running CamTwist, they will need a beta version (not available to public yet) to make it work with QTB
• The QTB framerate option seems to have no impact on anything. Set it to 5 and it will encode at 30. Set it to 60 and it will encode at 30.

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