Not all web hosting services offer FFMPEG streaming on their servers, primarily because of the load placed on their servers, bandwidth and storage.  Which is why if you are looking to setup web hosting for a video sharing / streaming website then you really need to find a web hosting company that supports FFMPEG and has some other particular applications installed on their servers.  More on this later.

Most video sharing sites are built these days using the PHP web language, usually based on a readily available Youtube style ‘clone’ script of which you can find paid versions and open-source versions.  Unfortunately not all of them are perfect, but even the open source versions have a decent support base and forums for troubleshooting.  Most perform pretty well however on a Shared Web Hosting service that supports FFMPEG, dependent on traffic loads of course.

Which brings us to the next point.  It is essential that you find a Web Host that is reliable and offers high bandwidth and high storage plans.  You usually will not be able to setup web hosting for video sharing with an unlimited bandwidth plan, though you can begin to imagine how the bandwidth and storage adds up very quickly when visitors are streaming multiple videos every hour!

Setup Web Hosting.com has done the research for you and recommends the following as the most reputable of these Youtube Clone scripts available

PHPmotion

-    free, open-source
-    well – supported (via forums)
-    feature rich
-    been around for some time so many bugs have been fixed – quite stable and reliable now
-    strong user community and ever growing fanbase
-    easy to setup and configure

Ostube

-    free, open-source
-    supported (via forums), but perhaps not as good or extensive as PHPmotion
-    feature rich
-    German language version available
-    Offers a service to setup the script for you – relatively cheap
-    New features/upgrades released quite often
-    More professional look, more custom themes/templates available

You can also find many professional companies offering a similar Youtube clone PHP script for a reasonable amount of money, some including setup costs if you would like them to install it all for you.  Of course these companies offer better support and insist their scripts have no bugs like the open-source varieties, though we have found that this is not always the case.  In all of our research and experimenting we believe the open source versions are a much better option, provided you don’t mind getting your hands a little bit dirty.

The most common Web Hosting Requirements for FFMPEG video streaming setup are:

-    FFMPEG streaming
-    Usually require PHP 5 or greater
-    Some scripts require .htaccess file customizations – make sure the host allows this BEFORE signing up!
-    Mencoder encoding utility
-    High bandwidth / high storage requirements
-    Mplayer application

Top Recommended Video Sharing FFMPEG Web Hosting Services

CirtexHosting

-    Most reliable and cheapest Shared Hosting service for Video streaming
-    Good feature list
-    Good, responsive support through forums and helpdesk
-    Experienced host
-    Full FFMPEG streaming support with all the server requirements

AptHost (now owned by RSDV)

-    recently taken over by RSDV company – means man y more resources at their disposal and solid parent backing
-    Well priced
-    Variety of plans
-    Full FFMPEG streaming support with all the server requirements

HostV

-    High end VPS hosting service
-    More expensive than the shared hosting counterparts, but more security, privacy and reliability
-    More flexibility in customizations
-    Full FFMPEG streaming support with all the server requirements
-    Reasonably priced and feature rich
-    Offers full setup of FFMPEG streaming scripts etc.
 

Formed in 2001, this US based Web Hosting Company is much more than a standard (shared) web host.  They offer immense scalability in the form of shared hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated server hosting all under the one umbrella.

They boast true Dell server hardware and true 24/7 round the clock customer support along with 99.9% uptime guaranteed.  While most companies offer 99.9% uptime we know that from experience it never really turns out that way in reality, though i believe there are a couple that do come close such as InMotion Hosting and Bluehost.

Their support staff are said to average 5 years stay at the company with much more senior staff on hand for emergency escalations, which is nice to know if you need things back up instantly after a critical failure.

They backup their claims with a pro-rata’d money back guarantee - for the first 90 days - if you are not satisfied with the service, which is pretty neat.  The fact that they have also won many industry awards over the years also enforces their claims of being a ‘cut above the rest’.

We found, however, that they most interesting thing about InMotion Hosting is the vast array of plans that they offer, which can be daunting at first though is fantastic if you are looking for very specific plan features at a certain budget.  It also means you can easily upgrade should your business / site needs change over time.  So let’s try and break it down into the base features and list what really counts.

They have two classes of shared hosting plans - "Value" and "Business" class.

The "Value" plans have three sub-packages which are "Starter" ($3 per month), "Basic" ($4 per month) and "Max" ($5 per month), all of which are pretty darn cheap for what they offer, but these plans are limited and the limits imposed on them don’t really allow them to compete with our other top recommended web hosts, so we’re going to skip over the "Value" class plans.

The "Business" plans are where things do start to get competitive, with unlimited bandwidth, storage, higher performing servers and many more features, probably more than you would ever need.  The technology is the latest and greatest, with the highest package being the "Business" class package - but the "Pro" package will cost you a whopping $18.95 per month, not really justified in our opinion.  You’re much better off going for the Business "Launch" plan which is $6.95 per month. 

The only real difference between the "Launch" and "Pro" plans being the amount of mySQL databases, FTP accounts and allowed parked domains.  If none of those are a concern for you then without a doubt choose the best value "Launch" package.

We would recommend InMotion Hosting for blog sites, small business websites (including those with a view to growing very large in the future), forum sites and media sites bar FFMPEG streaming which is not catered for.

Click here to setup web hosting with InMotion Hosting.

If you use InMotion Hosting or have used them in the past, let us know about your experience by leaving us a comment below.  All feedback is welcomed.

JustHost is a Web Hosting company based in the United Statesm with offices in the UK and Australia and was founded in 2007, making them our youngest recommended web host.  The reason they made our list is because they are a great ‘allrounder’ hosting company.  They also happen to be the cheapest, without any major shortcomings, which is a big deal as usually the cheapest hosts have some fatal flaws such as poor customer service, limited features, etc.

They are also pretty confident, offering an ‘Anytime’ money back guarantee, promising to refund your remaining fees should you decide to cancel at any time.  We were unable to find any hidden ‘fine print’ so it seems legitimate.

They currently have slashed their sign-up price to $3.95 per month in a special promo to attract more customers, which really is a fantastic deal, considering you will get a free domain name included, unlimited storage, bandwidth, mySQL databases, add-on domains, advertising credits and more.

Suitable for all kinds of web hosting barring video streaming with server FFMPEG, they should definately make the web host shortlist when you are making a decision on who to setup web hosting with.

Customer support is 24/7 which is almost expected these days and they offer live chat support, which is usually pretty responsive and helpful.  They offer Fantastico applications for free via their control panel and boast a very quick and easy setup process, which we can verify as being a nice interface and pretty simple to follow, particularly if you are not very familiar with the whole setup web hosting process.

Overall, we can highly recommend this newcomer as a great new host that offers customers exceptional value and quality.

Click here to setup web hosting with JustHost.

Please feel free to leave any comments regarding JustHost Web Hosting below.  All feedback is welcomed.

Everyone knows Yahoo from their search engine and their other famous ventures such as Ebay and Yahoo Messenger to name a couple.  Well, of course they also do ‘small business’ web hosting, but how good is their web hosting product and how well does it compare to the other big players in the field?

Short answer? Pretty darn well.  As with everything they do, their web hosting is pretty easy to setup, with a nice simple interface and plenty of FAQs and user guides to help you get started.  The service is definitely an entry level package for beginners, but should not be underestimated. 

Whether you plan to create a recreational or professional blog website, or a fully fledged small business site with built-in e-commerce, Yahoo has a nice, simple solution for you.  Probably the most outstanding feature is their myriad of website builder helpers which allow a novice to web development to get started pretty quickly in setting up their new website.

Another positive is that because of the mighty Yahoo empire backing their hosting service they have the money to spend on infrastructure, meaning your data is safe and sound.  In the event of a disaster (touch wood) their geographically dispersed backup strategy will ensure there is no single point of failure and you will not lose a thing.  Some of the smaller web hosting companies simply don’t have the money or resources to compete with Yahoo in disaster recovery.  It also means they can have more servers, with more grunt and can keep their hardware and software technology at the bleeding edge.

The main sore point it seems is the price.  They currently have the following web hosting plans available:

1 month term - $12.95 (per month)

3 months term - $8.96 per month (*for first 3 months, then price rises to $11.95 per month)

12 months term - $7.46 per month (*for first 3 months, then price rises to $9.95 per month)

They also have Merchant plans which are very nice for small businesses requiring ecommerce merchant accounts, but you do pay for it – between $39.95 per month for starter package up to $129.95 for their premium merchant hosting package.

All plans include a free domain registration also (worth approximately $10) and a nice selection of advertising credits.

Click here to setup web hosting with Yahoo.

If you have used or currently use Yahoo web hosting please let us know your experiences by leaving a comment below.

Founded in 2005 and based in the United States, this relative newcomer to the Web Hosting scene has managed to establish itself firmly near the top of the crowd.  With so many web hosts to choose from this was no easy task.

They have managed to prove their quality and claims are in fact all they propose to be.

With some of the cheapest hosting plan options around, the value for money is simply undeniable, offering everything you could ever need in a web host.

The only thing they don’t currently offer is Video sharing capability, such that Youtube clone sites require, with the use of server FFMPEG streaming.  But their shared hosting market position does not try to overlap into that space at all so that is not even part of the equation.
 
Into the nitty gritty, they currently offer 3 different plans, which are cheaper the longer you lock into:

(prices in USD)

1 year = $4.95 per month

2 years = $2.75 per month (limited offer on at the moment)

3 years = $1.99 per month (limited offer on at the moment)

Who could argue that $1.99 per month ($23.88 per year) is not phenomenal value for money!  However, 3 years is a long time to lock into one host.  If you need to change or cancel for whatever reason down the track you’ll need to pay out the contract.

Webhostingpad are recommended for blogs, image hosting sites, mini-sites, standard company informational sites.  Due to the unlimited bandwidth and storage features you can freely upload/download as much content as you need.

If you plan on maintaining multiple websites then you can host unlimited domains with them and bandwidth/storage is not an issue, which is a massive plus.  They also allow you to register a domain name with them when you sign up.  Another big plus is unlimited mySQL databases which are required for each blog site you create, for instance.  Most open source scripts will utilize mySQL databases so this is a great thing to have.

They use cpanel with a Linux based OS for speed and reliability.  They also give these guarantees on their website:

• We guarantee 99.9% server uptime *.
• We provide 24/7 customer support.
• 7 day 24 hour e-mail support.
• 7 day live 24 hour telephone support.
• We help you to get started on the net and are beyond just a web hosting provider. We’ll give you a free website builder and marketing tools to promote it.
• If you are transferring from another web hosting provider, then we will help you to make sure the process is easy and fast.

Overall, Webhostingpad gets our seal of approval for "Best Value" in a Web Hosting Company.

Click here to setup web hosting with Webhostingpad

If you have used or are currently using Webhostingpad please let us know your experiences (good or bad) in the comments below.

Bluehost is a US based Web Hosting Company that has been providing ultra reliable hosting services since 1996, giving them a reputation in the industry as one of the most stable, reliable and trusted Web Hosting companies around.  It would be easy for them to have rested on their laurels though and slacked off, but instead they have continued to improve and can truly boast of the 99.9% uptime. 

As previously mentioned, if you need your website to be up round the clock and to fixed immediately if something does happen to go wrong, then these guys are the ones to be with.

Bluehost offers a flat plan of $6.95 per month (1 year rolling contract) with no coupon codes available.  They promote quality and performance for that price, which is slightly higher than other hosts, but that is precisely what you get, making that extra amount pay itself back in no time.

They run cpanel Control Panel and were using Fantastico, but have recently switched to SimpleScripts, which is the recommended way now for installing applications.  It can do all the scripts that Fantastico used to be able to do plus they are all updated more frequently.  Trust me, they really are simple, it’s usually a matter of just a couple of clicks and the application is installed.  Applications include Wordpress (latest version), bbPress, Coppermine, ZenCart, Joomla, Noah’s Classifieds, etc.

Hosting a blog, forum, or a company web 2.0 site with java, flash, the works, is no problem.  The only thing you won’t be able to host with them is a video site (youtube clone) that requires FFMPEG server streaming.  Given that they offer unlimited add-on domains, unlimited storage and unlimited bandwidth, you can feel comfortable knowing that your many websites are in comfortable hands. 

If your traffic does get too high and your site experiences a lot of uploading/downloading then eventually you will have to consider Dedicated Server Hosting, which is another beast altogether, but your traffic would have to be pretty darn high before you would notice any performance degradation.

They offer live chat customer support 24/7, which we have found to be extremely responsive and helpful.  Some hosts that offer this service only operate between business hours and you feel like you are chatting with a computer, but we can confirm Bluehost uses real people!  Offline Support tickets are also responded to very quickly, even the less urgent queries.

Overall, if you are after reliability and the slight extra cost per month is not an issue, choose Bluehost, our Setup Web Hosting.com certified ‘Most Reliable’ Web Hosting provider.

Click here to setup web hosting with Bluehost.

If you have used or currently use Bluehost as your web hosting service provider please leave us a comment below to let us know about your experience.  All feedback is welcomed.