Most paid web hosts allow any kind of content that is legal. If you are pirating movies, that is illegal regardless of whether it is against your host's TOS or not. When you max out your bandwidth, there are two possibilities depending on your host and your TOS:
You can build yourself a computer for $150, install an OS for which you paid $0, install a streaming server for $0, and set up your server. Assuming you can get 1.5Mbps (symmetric) T1 service in your area for $350/mo (a very low price), you get 450GB/mo - 4608 full 100MB downloads - which may or may not be sufficient, depending on your needs. You can get "500GB"/mo (probably actually 465GB) from Yahoo! Small Business hosting for $39.95/mo, plus there is no question of whether your zoning allows it. Most people would choose the $39.95 over the $350.
There are many streaming servers that support many formats. Mentioning specifics is irrelevent for this discussion.
If you make a habit of not reading applicable terms of usage and service, you are stupid. That is not an opinion. "Stupid" is defined as
understanding; heavy; sluggish; in a state of stupor; --
said of persons.
i.e., you, if you don't pay attention to the legally binding documents you agree to be bound under.
A good reason to prefer Ogg Theora over MPEG-4 is because MPEG-4 is covered by multiple patents. Theora is not covered by any patents and is a truly open format. To quote Jimbo Whales, creator of Wikipedia, "free knowledge requires [..] free file formats". If you use MPEG-4, for example, you may be required to pay patent licensing fees, in addition to the makers of the software that supports that format.
You are free not to pay those fees just as you are free not to pay taxes or to rob a bank - it is illegal.
- You will be charged money for the extra bandwidth used; or
- A "contact the billing department" page will be displayed instead of the preferred content
You can build yourself a computer for $150, install an OS for which you paid $0, install a streaming server for $0, and set up your server. Assuming you can get 1.5Mbps (symmetric) T1 service in your area for $350/mo (a very low price), you get 450GB/mo - 4608 full 100MB downloads - which may or may not be sufficient, depending on your needs. You can get "500GB"/mo (probably actually 465GB) from Yahoo! Small Business hosting for $39.95/mo, plus there is no question of whether your zoning allows it. Most people would choose the $39.95 over the $350.
There are many streaming servers that support many formats. Mentioning specifics is irrelevent for this discussion.
If you make a habit of not reading applicable terms of usage and service, you are stupid. That is not an opinion. "Stupid" is defined as
Quote:
Very dull; insensible; senseless; wanting in understanding; heavy; sluggish; in a state of stupor; --
said of persons.
i.e., you, if you don't pay attention to the legally binding documents you agree to be bound under.
A good reason to prefer Ogg Theora over MPEG-4 is because MPEG-4 is covered by multiple patents. Theora is not covered by any patents and is a truly open format. To quote Jimbo Whales, creator of Wikipedia, "free knowledge requires [..] free file formats". If you use MPEG-4, for example, you may be required to pay patent licensing fees, in addition to the makers of the software that supports that format.
You are free not to pay those fees just as you are free not to pay taxes or to rob a bank - it is illegal.