Re: Video Streaming
From: Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media] (neil_at_nospam.com)
Date: 07/20/04
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Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 14:31:56 GMT
Well, anything coming off a web server is really a long-term file
download rather than 'streaming' : to do real time streaming (with the
ability to random-access within a video stream) you'll need to have
access to a streaming server such as Helix, Darwin or Windows media
server (all 3 can serve up WM files)
In terms of quick start, these settings are not really under your
control, they depend on the data rate of the video / audio, and the
user's settings in windows media player for 'Buffering time'. Since
the optimal setting for buffer time depends on the end users
bandwidth, its not helpful to try to set this anywhere except on the
users machine !
OK now that's cleared up, lets think : You want to put some video on
your website. I guess it depends how much space you have to store the
files and what your audience might be. Lets say, a 150kbps file
(enough for 32k stereo audio and 320x240 video at 5-10 frames per
second) might consume 54 meg on your web server for an hours worth of
content.
What you'd do is get hold of Windows Media encoder, or Quicktime Pro,
or helix producer from their respective download sites. Do you have
one of these ?
Next, get your content, try to start with something like AVI or MPEG -
high quality video sources that can be resized, with good audio
quality. You'll need to play with the settings in each of the encoders
above. Make an output file that you're happy with the quality of and
remember some users will never see it, if you encode for broadband,
dialup users are shut out.
Finally. mount the video in your webspace somewhere accessible. You
can either create a link to the video, or use a player directly in the
web page. It depends how your site is laid out which you choose.
In terms of using a link to the video, in some cases it's better to
create an ASX file (a text - xml file containing a playlist) and link
to that, so you're sure windows media player gets the link and not
some other program.
Also make sure your web server is set up to send the correct MIME type
(the browser is told by the web server what media type it is, so the
server needs to be set correctly or it will send the video file as
text/plain , which will be an error !). The browser then hands the
media player the URL to the actual file to be played.
Info on MIME types for files handled by IE :
http://www.w3schools.com/media/media_mimeref.asp
It could well be that your web host already set up the mime type
handling for a variety of media players, check with them which they
support, before posting agai.n
The mime types you need to check for are listed here
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q189/4/04.asp&NoWebContent=1
with instructions on setting them for various web servers
And here in more detail
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwmt/html/mime.asp
Cheers - Neil
On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 00:08:02 -0700, "Samwaruk"
<Samwaruk@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>Could anyone please tell me how i create a video strem or a quick start movie for my website. I have various movies that I have creaqted on my website, and rather than people having to wait for the entire thing to download, I would like the ability to stream them.
>
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