Streaming uses minimal bandwidth? Seeking clarification please...

[sdsumike619]

I have a bunch of long play, 1 to 8 hour in length DVDs that I want to offer in an online viewing format for purchase. I'm on the fence about download to own, or streaming. I just read about a new service that offers unlimited storage and bandwidth using AWS for $15 per month.

When I told the rep that my concern about streaming was the fact that these are advanced educational products that customers will be watching more than one time and I was worried that bandwidth cost from many viewings of this long play content would be prohibitive. He responded:

"We only handle the upload once. The file is never downloaded to your viewers. The streaming keeps viewing usage about 1% of download usage.... Viewing the file in streaming takes up very minimal bandwidth. Bandwidth is not the issue....Comparing a file download to streaming is like comparing sipping coffee from a giant coffee urn. The entire 60 cups of coffee is available to you but you only need a sip at a time."

I responded to the coffee analogy with, "Being that the coffee is a sip at a time,, say you have a 200mb video file. If you stream it, don't all 200mb's of that file eventually get streamed?" and he said Yes.

So my question is how is streaming 1% of download usage if eventually, the entire file gets streamed? I explained to him many times that my videos are lengthy and that I wouldn't know how many times someone might view the video, or how many people would view it at the same time and he said it's fine, no big deal...

Have I misunderstood something about streaming?

[aedipuss]

if it's "unlimited bandwidth" then it doesn't matter how many times anyone downloads anything.

you are correct, the entire file get downloaded, just more slowly than a file transfer. the sales dude isn't very knowledgeable about hes product.

what's the hosting site? unlimited at 15 sounds cheap.

[sdsumike619]

http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/EZWebPlayer-Takes-A...st.-79483.aspx