Distributed transcoding of a video based on insufficient computing resources

A non-transitory, computer accessible memory medium storing program instructions for providing a recording, wherein the program instructions are executable by a processor of a first computer system to:

• receive a request from a first client to provide a first recording in a first streaming format;
• determine whether there are sufficient computing resources of the first computer system to transcode the first recording to the first streaming format, wherein in response to determining that there are sufficient computing resources, the first computer system is configured to perform the transcoding of the first recording to the first streaming format;
• in response to determining that there are not sufficient computing resources:
• send a request to a second computer system to transcode the first recording to the first streaming format;
• receive the first recording in the first streaming format from the second computer system;
• and
• provide the first recording in the first streaming format to the first client.

A federated media server system, comprising:

• a first media server, wherein the first media server stores at least one recording, and wherein the first media server is coupled to one or more clients;
• a second media server coupled to the first media server;
• wherein the first media server is configured to:
• receive a request from a first client to provide a first recording of the at least one recording in a first streaming format;
• determine whether there are sufficient computing resources for the first media server to transcode the first recording to the first streaming format, wherein in response to determining that there are sufficient computing resources, the first computer system is configured to perform the transcoding of the first recording to the first streaming format;
• in response to determining that there are not sufficient computing resources:
• send a request to the second media server to transcode the first recording to the first streaming format;
• receive the first recording in the first streaming format from the second media server;
• and
• provide the first recording in the first streaming format to the first client.