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What would it take to build a site like chatroulette.com?

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  • 28-03-2010 4:16pm
    #1
    Cianos
    Registered Users Posts: 4,850 ✭✭✭


    Hi folks,
    I was thinking of an idea for a site that is kind of similar in functionality to chatroulette.com. I was wondering what kind of undertaking it would be to build something like it? I presume the server requirements would be high enough if there was video and audio between members?

    Any input would be appreciated.


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    #2
    mossy464
    Registered Users Posts: 1,127 ✭✭✭mossy464


    I was thinking the same thing myself. If only i had thought of it for my FYP this year in college.

    Im not sure but i dont think it would be that difficult. I could be wrong though.

    Basically it would just be like picking a random user from a list of logged on users. That would be my understanding of the logic of it. Then that users video feed would be placed on the page


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    #3
    p
    Registered Users Posts: 2,119 ✭✭✭p


    It's not that hard, chat roulette was made by a 15 year old!

    Main thing is going to be getting flash media server or something to handle the video.


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    #4
    Cianos
    Registered Users Posts: 4,850 ✭✭✭Cianos


    p wrote: »
    It's not that hard, chat roulette was made by a 15 year old!

    Main thing is going to be getting flash media server or something to handle the video.

    Yeah I read the guy was a Russian teenager who just built it for him and his friends :pac:

    So what would that involve, a flash media server? What kinda costs are we talkin about, any idea?


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    #5
    lostprophetsie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 112 ✭✭lostprophetsie


    Hi Cianos,

    I'd probably go with building an application like this in flash or flex. Also a media server could prove to be pretty expensive if the site gained a lot of users. Recently saw something from Adobe called RTMFP (Real Time Media Flow Protocol) which would definately be worth looking into for a project like this. I haven't looked into the area enough myself to be sure but have a read about it here and see Wikipedia -Real_Time_Media_Flow_Protocol

    I think it would mean you could avoid all the bandwidth overheads of streaming the users webcams.


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    #6
    p
    Registered Users Posts: 2,119 ✭✭✭p


    Cianos wrote: »
    Yeah I read the guy was a Russian teenager who just built it for him and his friends :pac:
    So what would that involve, a flash media server? What kinda costs are we talkin about, any idea?
    For development, you could probably hire a student to do a bad job for under 2k. For something more professional 5k, not including bandwidth etc...


    Mind you, google chat roulette clone and seems there's some out there already.


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    #7
    Cianos
    Registered Users Posts: 4,850 ✭✭✭Cianos


    p wrote: »
    Mind you, google chat roulette clone and seems there's some out there already.

    I did just this and found a couple of sites that seem to sell an out of the box package.

    One site sells a package that says users connect directly to each other rather than via the sites servers, meaning there are no crazy bandwidth costs;
    How about the bandwidth?
    Chatroulette Clone leverages the latest Flash peer-to-peer technology.
    The audio and video data, which makes for the major part of the data exchanged, is transmitted directly between the two Flash Player instances involved in a chat session.
    The data is not routed through either your servers, nor through Adobe’s servers. It is a straight, direct connection between the two chat partners. Consequently, it does not consume any of your servers uplink/downlink bandwidth.
    Only the Flash application itself and the lightweight PHP scripts are served from your own web server. As the Flash application is a one-time download that gets cached by your users’ browsers, it does not consume any of your bandwidth while it is running and on subsequent loads.

    Another site is more expensive and doesn't seem to mention the same stuff about minimal bandwidth requirements;
    This advanced software requires 2 types of hosting:

    a HTTP Web Server hosting plan for the regular website features and
    a RTMP Flash Media Server hosting plan (usually on a different special server) for video streaming and other instant communication required between chat clients
    Resources on a streaming server are more expensive and that's a reason why the software was designed to use a standard web server for the rest of the features (like file sharing) making it more affordable to run and easier to integrate with most sites already built.

    I've emailed off some questions to both, but I'm not sure what I should be asking to determine which one is the best, or even if either of them are any use at all. Any ideas?

    Thanks


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    #8
    lostprophetsie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 112 ✭✭lostprophetsie


    Hi Cianos,

    The first site you mention is actually using the technology I mentioned RTMFP. It would be worth having a look at a demo if they have one to see how well it works. Going to have a look out of curiosity myself actually.


    Have just realised also that this technology may be blocked my firewalls so you would need a media server for those users, just another thought for you.


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