A common misconception out there is that any old host will suffice when it comes to creating a video sharing site such as a ‘Youtube Clone’ or a site that streams video using the FFMPEG codec.  FFMPEG is basically an open-source codec that is used for extremely compressed video and audio and is the defacto standard for video streaming over the web. 

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.