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1. Peer to Peer Internet Video
Broadcasting
Unlike standard television broadcasting, there are a limited number of viewers that
an Internet television station can accommodate. These limitations are determined
by the amount of bandwidth the network media server has available. A popular
Internet television station would require large amounts of bandwidth to provide the
broadcast to a large viewing audience.
Peer to Peer (Commonly referred to as P2P) broadcasting allows viewers using
specialized software to re-distribute the media broadcasts. This eliminates the need
to utilize costly centralized media servers to distribute the broadcast and results in
cost savings for bandwidth consumption.
Any size business or group can establish an effective media broadcast presence
without the huge costs normally associated with Internet broadcasting. Using this
method, only a few data streams are required for a global Internet broadcast
distribution.
P2P Internet broadcasting provides extremely bandwidth friendly results and can
support a virtually unlimited number of users. This method also provides effective
security against Denial of Service (DOS) attacks which can cripple centralized
server network architecture.

2. There are both commercial and non commercial options that offer P2P broadcast
ability for Internet television.
This article will cover free open source software.
Open source is an initiative that allows people to have access to the source code of
software. This is the actual nuts and bolts that allow the software to operate. This
initiative also allows people the ability to redistribute and or modify the source code
thus allowing improvements and adaptations of the software.
Peercast
Peercast is a P2P media broadcast application that is available for the Windows,
Unix and Mac operating systems. It is compatible with Shoutcast, Icecast and
Windows Media streaming protocols.
The software was originally designed to use Gnutella as a basis for broadcast
distribution. The software now uses a hierarchal topology for media broadcast
distribution. This new method provides greater scalability and more data
organization.
Broadcast station data is collected by the YP directory. This data is continuously
updated by individual broadcasters. Listeners / viewers (client software) provide the
connection points between themselves, the broadcasters and others.

3. Each broadcaster has the option of including a digital signature to enable media
broadcast authentication. This will prevent their broadcasts from being hijacked
and replaced with alternative material.
FreeCast
FreeCast is a Java P2P broadcast application. Users must install the Java Runtime
Environment, which is available for the Windows, Unix and Mac operating systems.
It is compatible with the Icecast streaming protocol.
The software has a internal audio and video player applet that can play both the
Ogg Vorbis open source audio codec, and the Theora open source video codec. It can
also be configured to use the Java Web Start feature for automatically loading and
launching. This enables a "one click" approach for web based end users.
Each broadcaster has the option of including a digital signature to enable media
broadcast authentication. This will prevent their broadcasts from being hijacked
and replaced with alternative material.
FreeCast uses a hierarchal method of media broadcast distribution. Each
broadcaster acts as a central node with listeners / viewers receiving data from them
and relaying to other listeners / viewers.
Icecast and JRoar media streaming server software can be used with FreeCast. In
addition, Ezstream can be used with both JRoar and Icecast to source both Ogg
Vorbis and Theora files. This software is a command line utility and is available for
Windows and Unix operating systems.
FreeCast is continuing software development that will allow its deployment across
networks that interact with network routers that utilize Network Address
Translation (NAT). Port forwarding is currently required to accommodate NAT
routers.
A real time station directory is currently not available or supported.
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