It's been a while since I first started looking into this and I still haven't found any feasible solutions, here's to hoping someone might have some suggestions/ideas...
The situation: We currently have a couple of live streams streaming mixed source content (some of the streams are being streamed as file playlists that are modified to change the files in the playlist, while others are streamed as live video directly from input). For each new live stream we usually just end up setting up a new streamer... it's feels rather counterproductive and wasteful.
The question: Does there exist a hardware or software solution (LINUX or Windows) that would allow to live stream multiple, for example, two (independent of each other) file playlists and optionally one or two live A/V inputs, from the same encoder?
According to my findings, with the help of FFMPEG library, it is possible to stream multiple live A/V inputs and even stream file playlists ... but it requires too much hacking to get it working and playlists have to be redone by hand and restarted every time changes have been made. This might work for me personally, but this won't do for a less tech-sawy people...
I'm basically looking for a way to reduce the computer hardware instead of allowing it to exponentially grow with each addition of a new live streaming source/destination.
Thank you for all your input and all the posted solutions. By sheer luck I found the solution I was originally looking for.
For anyone else looking for this or similar solution, the combo of systems that can combat our unusual requirements (and that can be integrated into our existing workflow by adjusting the hardware/software to meet our needs instead of us adjusting to hardware/software requirements/limitations) are: Sorenson Squeeze Server 3.0, MediaExcel Hero Live and MediaExcel File