Streaming Video Simplified
Streaming video, or audio, is media that is being continuously received by, and displayed to, the end-user while it is being delivered by the provider. These, grouped together are known as streaming media. The name refers to the delivery method of the media rather than to the actual media itself. Television and radio are streaming media but here we are talking about streaming video on the internet.
With the internet came attempts to display video but little progress was made due to the lack of technology and bandwidth. Technology has overcome these problems with more powerful computers, standard protocols and formats. More homes and computers with faster CPUs can now access broadband and we now see the expansion of video on the internet.
Businesses and websites are steadily taking advantage of this booming sector. Some sites have had video on them since the technology was available, more sites are turning to video and its advantages daily while some sites may not understand the technology and prefer to remain with the written word. Having said that it is now so easy to incorporate video into websites that there is no real reason not to.
With true streaming video the end user can start watching the file almost as soon as it begins downloading. The file is sent to the user in a, more or less, constant stream, and the user watches it as it arrives. The obvious advantage with this method is that no waiting is involved. Streaming media has additional advantages such as being able to broadcast live events and sometimes referred to as a webcast or netcast. True streaming video must be delivered from a specialized streaming server. This type of streaming video is not used by most websites.
Progressive downloading, pretty much the same as HTTP streaming, enables the video to be viewed as soon as a portion of the file has been received. This simulates true streaming video but is not of the same quality but has the advantage of being able to be hosted on a normal server. This is the simplest and cheapest way to stream video from a website. Small to medium-sized websites are more likely to use this method than the more expensive streaming servers. For this method you don’t need any special type of website or host, just a host server which recognises common video file types.
Progressive download video is downloaded from start to finish, typically delivering the entire video file to a temporary file area of the viewer’s computer. After a few seconds of downloading, the video starts playing. For this reason, most viewers can’t tell whether they’re seeing progressive or streaming video. Most of the time, the download will go faster than the playback, so the media player will easily be able to keep up. If the internet connection is slow or suffers traffic congestion, then the player pauses until it once again has a few seconds of video ready to play.
To create a progressive or HTTP streaming video all you do is the following.
1. Create a video file in a common streaming media format
2. Upload the file to your web server
3. Make a simple hyperlink to the video file, or use special HTML tags to embed the video in a web page or blog post.
When the day comes that your videos are popular then you might have bandwidth issues with your hosting provider and you may need to upgrade or move to a different host and server. Hopefully that day will soon be here.
Bruce Walls writes about using video on your website to increase traffic. You can read more at http://websitevideoguide.com
News At Your Fingertips – Online News Video
In days past, finding out what was going on in the world meant picking up the morning edition of the Globe and Mail, or watching the six o’clock news. For the news savvy today, however, it is no longer necessary to sit through an hour of news to get to the two stories you really wanted to watch. In today’s, technologically advancing, society many people are turning to online video to get their daily fix of world events.
Online news not only allows for another way to get the latest happenings, but it allows you to watch what you want, when you want. If your only interested in today stories dealing with the daily markets, you are only a few clicks away on most major news sites. Whatever your preference, the online video allows you choices. The days of sitting through the morning and evening news are quickly going by the wayside.
When it comes to broadband internet and online media, many of the industries that deal with traditional media have had issues and even been unable to cope with the changes. Many copyright infringement suits have arisen from the advent of easily available means to share media online.
When it comes to news it is slightly different. The news world has embraced the concept of online media; finding new ways to earn advertising dollars through their web pages and strategically placed ads in their online videos. Many major news networks now make their entire news series available online. Head over to Fox news and check out the lastest Fox Report, a mainstay of their television news series for years. Or maybe you prefer the television series 60 minutes; take a look at the CBS website. The entire show is split into short, easy to download sections. The advertising on their websites actually tends to be less than that in traditional television format, making for an easier viewing experience.
It is the news industries constant search for new ways to make money that has fueled much innovation in some areas of internet video. Tools like flash video and many other online formats were specifically targeted at high profile clients such as those found in the news world. New designs in content delivery that were originally designed by news sites can be found on high profile sites like YouTube or Dailymotion. Along with innovations in online video technology, some of the larger news sites have lead the development of new types of online advertising. It is hard to deny the impact that the news world has had on the delivery of media online.
It may not be too far in the future that all news is delivered in the format of online video. Live feeds from the latest newsworthy events are already being seen online first a lot of the time.
The next time your sitting through that hour of nightly news, waiting on one story, why not just jump on your pc and find what you are looking for now?
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Download The Movie Of Your Choice
There are people who would still watch movies in the theater or purchase movie rentals. In today’s world there are many advances in technology which have made it possible to watch movies on your computer by downloading them with a click of mouse.
A trailer not only gives you a sneak preview of the movie, but also lets you decide whether the movie is worth downloading or if the better option would be to watch it in a theatre or rent a DVD. Beginning as a virtual storehouse of all information, it progressed to provide other services like downloading free songs, music videos and movies. The internet is changing and if you thought it was only for looking up information or downloading music, it is not, you now can download TV shows or movies.
Movie players are a form of software for the computer that allows movies to be played. As technology continues to get more advanced movie download are becoming as popular as music downloads. Technology is moving very fast, most software can be downloaded from the internet and now media like music and movies can be downloaded instead of going to physical stores.
If you use any type of peer to peer (file-swapping applications) like Kazaa be careful not leave your compute on with the application running, if you do your system is open to millions of other systems and they have ability to connect to your system.
The question is which movie sites are legal. Now that almost every home has the ability to receive high speed internet access, movie downloads are faster and easier, with this there are more sites popping up every day. Other smaller internet download movies sites include Guba and Unbox.
Having the ability to download movies and watch them to on your computer or make them into a DVD is great, but the important question are these videos have the clarity of HD videos. We’ll soon start watching movies in all kinds of likely and unlikely places.
Today with so many video sites appearing many people are able to create their own videos with the use of affordable software which can add sound effects, animation and serial titles. Amazon announced the launch of their new video download service, Amazon Unbox.
Using these new download sites like Amazon, you will be able to download movies and TV shows with a click of a button. Technology changes so quickly, just a couple of years ago we were watching movies on tape, the DVD now HD-DVD and we are now moving into downloading the digital format.
Unlimited movie downloads usually takes the form of paying a monthly fee. If you are considering one, there are several important tips you may want to pick up here on selecting a rock-solid membership site for unlimited movie downloads. Plus, you get lifetime access to unlimited movie downloads.
More people rent or buy DVD movies today and they are still king. Even with the ease of downloads the new HD-DVD and blue ray DVD are capturing the market, one of the reasons for this is because of the high picture quality you get.
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Choosing A Camcorder
It can be quite bewildering when choosing a camcorder, especially with so many available in the different formats combined with the array of different model numbers and opinions from different sources. If your prime consideration is to produce short video clips for publishing on your web site then there is no need to go overboard and buy the most expensive model. A lower priced model offering the desirable features mention towards the end of this article will be perfectly adequate.
Here’s a quick overview of each of the main digital camcorder formats that you should consider for producing videos for your website. There are other formats not mentioned here but our advice is to choose from one of the following three formats.
Mini-DV
Launched by Sony in 1995, DV (or Mini-DV) is the most popular consumer digital video format. DV camcorders provide what is arguably the best quality of all of the home video formats, with all models possessing the capability to transfer video signals out to another device (such as a Windows or Apple Mac computer) via FireWire, also known as i.Link. An increasing number of DV camcorders also make it possible to copy edited recordings back to the DV tape in the camcorder using what is known as DV-in. This format offers the most choice and is the standard by which all other formats are judged.
DVD
Hitachi first launched camcorders that record to 8cm DVD disks back in 2001, and several other major manufacturers soon followed suit. DVD camcorders use MPEG-2 compression prior to writing the signals to disk. One of the major problems of DVD camcorders has been the compatibility issue between DVD camcorders and home DVD players, though these are quickly being resolved. If you’re planning to import your DVD footage into a computer for editing, you should note that editing DVD (MPEG2) compressed files is much more difficult than it is when working with a format like DV or Digital-8. Editing applications (as bundled with camcorders) aren’t that good and it is advisable to purchase third party editing suites. However, the format is now very popular, despite the difficulties with editing.
HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
JVC is one company that is forging ahead with its drive to make Hard Disk recording camcorders more popular and push tape and disk based formats aside altogether. The Everio G camcorder range is a good example of camcorders which uses tiny internal hard disk drives very similar to the larger HDs used in all computers. The company’s GZ-MG50 model, just one of many, enables recording of up to 7 hours at best quality. Apple’s iPod MP3 players use very similar technology and provide a similar level of interactivity with the files saved onto them. HDD camcorders save files which can then be deleted, moved and transferred just like those on your computer or iPod. They also much more flexible in your ability to access different clips on the hard drive before editing takes place. All the major manufacturers make models of various specifications to suit every pocket. One major drawback is the fact that once the hard disk is full you need to download to a computer or stop shooting.
Which ever format you choose, and at this site we are using miniDV, bear in mind the following four desirable requirements for producing good quality videos for your website.
Firewire compatible
External microphone jack for connecting an external microphone for enhanced audio quality.
Remote control, essential if shooting a video on your own.
Quality lens.
As the mainstream consumer market favors ease of use, portability, and price, consumer camcorders emphasize these features more than raw technical performance. For example, good low light capabilities require large capturing chips, which affects price and size. Thus, consumer camcorders are often unable to shoot useful footage in dim light. Manual controls need space, either in menus or as buttons and make the use more complicated, which goes against the requirement of ease of use. Consumer units lack many manual settings, often excluding video exposure, gain control, or sound level management. For the beginner, entry level camcorders offer basic recording and playback capability.
For the more advanced user, high end units offer improved optical and video performance through multi-CCD components and name brand optics, manual control of camera exposure, and more, but even consumer camcorders which are sold for $1000 are not well suited for recording in dim light. When dimly lit areas are brightened in camera or in post production, considerable noise distracts the viewer. We recommend setting up a basic home studio with lights to make best use of your camcorders abilities and to produce good quality videos.
Ten years ago, consumer video editing was a difficult task requiring a minimum of two recorders. Now, however, a standard PC of even modest power can perform digital video editing with low cost editing software. Many consumer camcorders bundle a light (feature limited) version of such software, as do some computers, and more advanced software is highly recommended and is widely available at a variety of price points.
Bruce Walls writes about using video on your website to increase traffic. You can read more at http://websitevideoguide.com