Search
Related Links

 

 

Informative Articles

How to create your own streaming audio with a few simple clicks.
Discover right now how to quickly and easily create "streaming audio" like a pro and make your web site stand out from the crowd ... for just cents on the dollar! Streaming Audio has always been available to the large corporate sites and...

Integrating Streaming Media into Marketing Programs. An Interview with Ronni Rhodes.
Streaming Media - audio, video, and multimedia clips played over the Internet - seems to be everywhere lately. Few of us, however, know how to effectively use it on our small business sites. I recently spoke with Ronni Rhodes of WBC Imaging,...

Streamline Your Training Costs with Streaming Media
STREAMLINE YOUR TRAINING COSTS WITH STREAMING MEDIA By…Ronni Rhodes Streaming Media…now a well accepted Internet technology. Yet streaming is still not being widely utilized by members of corporate training staffs. Why is this? I would venture to...

The Wonders of Audio Streaming
The Wonders of Audio Streaming Are you currently living in a cave? and have limited access to airwaves? Have no fear. Streaming audio is here. Streaming audio delivers audio signal straight into your internet without having to download...

Who Else Wants To Explode Their Sales With Streaming Audio?
Audio is not new to the Internet. Several marketers have been using it for years and have successfully proven that audio does increase sales. I have read that audio can increase your sales by as much as 300% and some report up to 426% increase in...

 
How to add streaming video to your web site

If adding streaming audio to a web site is a black art, what about video? Moving images are really the final step in the evolution of the web. Streaming video completes the loop, giving a communication tool that offers all the advantages of video tape without the problems of distributing hundreds of cassettes.

So why has video taken so long to catch on? The answer is simple - bandwidth. Reasonable quality video in an eight-centimetre window needs broadband speeds if it is to work. In reality this means between 200-400kbps (kilo bits per second).

That's 25-50 kilobytes of information for every second you wish to stream, or 1.5 - 3Mbytes for every minute. As you can see, the file sizes get very big very quickly. My evaluations have shown that a stream rate of about 225kbps is required for reasonable, watchable video in a small-ish window. That's five times faster that a dial-up modem can deliver and about half the speed of a typical broadband or office LAN (Local Area Network).

In comparison, you can stream reasonable quality audio at around 32kbps - low enough for even dial-up modems. In reality, things are not so simple. The trick with streaming video and audio is to pick a streaming rate that is SLOWER than your typical connection speed. That way, the end user's PC buffers the incoming signal so that you have something "in reserve" if the connection falters a little.

If the connection doesn't play ball you run the risk of a buffer overrun, which leads to that annoying stuttering and freezing that you so often see on the net.

But before you all rush out to put the latest corporate video on your intranet I suggest you speak to your techies first. While most corporate intranets are more than capable of streaming a file at 200-300kbps we have overlooked one problem.

What happens if 5,000 people all want to view it at once? Can your server handle that many people? Can the infrastructure cope with that much data? Will you stop other people from carrying on their essential work if you take up that much bandwidth?

Assuming that your office network is robust enough to cope what exactly can you stream and how? You can take any MPEG, WMV or Quicktime movie and stream it over the web. You can even convert DVD material into a suitable format and stream that too, although the level of complexity goes up accordingly.

DVDs are actually very clever devices made up of a host of different computer files. The trick if you wish to stream them is to extract the video and audio files from the DVD using a process called ripping.

Once extracted you can then convert the resultant .VOB files to smaller, faster MPEG or WMV files. Unfortunately, there are a lot of industry standards out there and one-size fits


all approach is virtually doomed to failure.

PCs running MS Windows are generally happy receiving Window Media Files (.WMV), whereas Macintosh users are going to be happier with Quicktime movies. But if you host all your videos as Quicktime, the chances are that Window users won't be able to view them. MPEG files are great, but again, older versions of Windows Media Player won't like them.

A solution is to offer users a choice of file formats on the same page and let your users choose. Or, given that Macintosh users are in the minority anyway, just ignore them and settle for .WMV - I know it's harsh, but if they are really keen they will download and install the Windows Media Player anyway.

Another solution involves using Macromedia Flash, the plug-in for which can be found on more than 90-95% of all machines in the world apparently. Flash is truly cross-platform, but your end user must have the plug-in Installed otherwise all they will see is a blank box.

The other advantage of using Flash is that you can build the video player right into the page, complete with stop, play, pause and rewind buttons.

Learning to stream video takes time. Get the stream rate wrong and your videos will stutter like Norman Collier. Get the CODEC wrong and half your users will hear the audio, but not see the video. Rip your DVD incorrectly and you will have video and audio that don't actually synch up.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is streaming video? A. It is video delivered to your computer that can be watched while it is still downloading.

Q. What do viewers need to have on their computer? A. A soundcard and speaker(s) or headphones, their normal browser software and a so-called plug-in - a small piece of software that converts the data into sound. If you opt for .WMV streaming they will also need the Windows Media Player.

Q. This all sounds expensive - is it? A. Not really. The programs needed to convert video into a streaming format are very reasonable. I recommend MSIVideo (http://hop.clickbank.net/?snichols/msincome) Its great, very easy to use and only costs $39.95. Another alternative is Webmaster media maker (http://www.webmastermediamaker.com/?hop=snichols)

Q. What is the quality like? A. Judge for yourself - visit http://www.infotechcomms.co.uk/info10.htm and watch the demonstration programme. The trick is to get the quality as high as you can, but still make it playable on an average modem-equipped home computer.

About the author:

Steve Nichols is a freelance journalist who runs InfoTech Communications (http://www.infotechcomms.co.uk). A background in radio means that Steve was ideally placed to take advantage of the arrival of streaming media via the web.

 

united streaming video
Enter your Passcode to register for an account. -. What is a passcode? Sign-up for a Free 30-day trial! International Visitors ...
www.unitedstreaming.com
 
VideoLAN - Free Software and Open Source video streaming solution ...
VideoLAN - Free Software and Open Source video streaming solution for every OS!
www.videolan.org
 
How to Make Streaming Video
This tutorial covers the different types of video streaming on the internet ... Note: This is not technically "true" video streaming — the best it can do is ...
www.mediacollege.com
 
Macromedia - Flash Video Streaming Service
Macromedia has partnered with VitalStream to offer the Flash Video Streaming Service on VitalStream's Content Delivery Network. ...
www.adobe.com
 
Macromedia - Developer Center : Delivering High-Quality Video with ...
Flash Video Streaming Service (FVSS) is a hosted service by VitalStream that ... On-demand audio and video streaming by simply uploading Flash audio or ...
www.adobe.com
 
Video Streaming
'Video Streaming: A Guide for Educational Development' is available as a free download (in an Adobe PDF file). It can be downloaded either as a whole or ...
www2.umist.ac.uk
 
Nature Online Video Streaming Archive
Nature podcast · Video streaming · Google earth · Blogs · About the journal · Contact the journal · About the editors · Nature family of journals ...
www.nature.com
 
Click & Go Video
Click and Go Video Logo Fast Forward to Video Streaming ... Download your copy of Video Streaming: A Guide for Educational Development ...
www.clickandgovideo.ac.uk
 
Audio and Video Streaming
Audio and Video Streaming. Streaming & Instruction .. Streaming Services. How can I use streaming in a course? What type of materials can be Streamed? ...
www.cit.cornell.edu
 
webcam video streaming live views : 123cam - earth netcam - world cam
webcam, streaming and live video from all the world.
www.123cam.com
 
Video Streaming Services Media Productions Encoding Formatting DVD ...
Video Streaming Services video productions, video services, webinar s, editing, worldwide conversions, videocd, duplications, ontario, canada, ...
www.videostreamingservices.com
 
Video Streaming Forum | Questions & Answers About Codec, Video ...
Video Streaming and Production Topics, Video Streaming with high quality output.
www.videostreaming.org
 
DayPort - Streaming, Workflow & Convergence Technologies
Recent News. DayPort, Inc. implements its Carbon Content Management System for content delivery, at UK based British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) . ...
www.dayport.com
 
Flash Video Streaming - VitalStream
We work closely with Macromedia to develop the Flash video streaming platform, VitalStream is the first and most experienced service provider to offer live ...
www.vitalstream.com
 
Streaming Media - Live Streaming Audio & Video
The World Leader In Audio and Video Streaming ... VitalStream Showcases Carmel-by-the-Sea with Flash Video Streaming ...
www.vitalstream.com
 
Apple - Education - Apple Video Streaming Solutions
The Apple Video Streaming solution is eligible for federal funding under eRate and the No Child Left Behind Act. Consult your Apple representative to learn ...
www.apple.com
 
Internet-and-Businesses-Online - Video-Streaming Ezine Articles
EzineArticles.com allows ezine or email list publishers to upload or download free expert content that can be used within email newsletters or websites.
ezinearticles.com
 
Wireless Video Streaming from OS X to your TV? - O'Reilly Mac ...
The short story is that I bought a house and, with it, a new wireless router (the D-Link DGL-4300, quite nice) to penetrate the walls my previous apartment ...
www.oreillynet.com
 
Video Streaming: Concepts, Algorithms, and Systems
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Your browser may not have a PDF reader available. Google recommends visiting our text version of this document.
 
Oxygen TV
The OxygenTV project is developing an implementation of the adaptive video streaming framework that uses CM to adapt to variable bandwidth and delay and ...
nms.csail.mit.edu
 
 

 

Content Menu
  • add streaming audio to your website

  • boost your web sales with streaming audio

  • create stickiness with streaming media

  • creating value with streaming video content

  • how streaming media is similar to both a phone and a tv

  • how to add streaming video to your web site

  • how to capture streaming audio

  • how to create your own streaming audio with a few simple clicks

  • increasing sales by adding streaming audio to your site for free

  • index

  • integrating streaming media into marketing programs an interview with ronni rhodes

  • mainstreaming dalits

  • make your website talk how to install streaming audio on your site

  • real audio and real video streaming media for your web site

  • rotator

  • stellar streaming video can drive sales

  • streaming audio made easy

  • streaming media leveling the playing field for small business

  • streaming media leveling the playing field for small business part ii

  • streaming media leveling the playing field for small business part iii

  • streaming media why it works

  • streaming radio archives

  • streaming real audio from your website

  • streaming video and audio in the internet

  • streaming video is the future of the internet

  • streamitlive com finds streaming solution in livecamnetwork 1 9

  • streamline your training costs with streaming media

  • the ten commandments of using streaming audio on your website

  • the wonders of audio streaming

  • turn benefits into sales with streaming media

  • using streaming media to benefit the music industry

  • what are the latest online advertising trends check out these one2one streaming media channels

  • who else wants to explode their sales with streaming audio