The three most popular streaming-video products are Apple’s QuickTime 4 (which has been integrated into the MacOS but which can also be downloaded separately), Microsoft Windows Media 7 (which has been integrated into Windows but which can also be downloaded separately), and RealNetworks’ RealVideo 8 (which runs on the company’s RealPlayer). The basic clients are free, although Apple and RealNetworks also sell enhanced clients. Microsoft also sells NetShow Theater Server, a high-end product that delivers full-screen, broadcast-quality video over high-bandwidth networks. NetShow is primarily designed for use over high-speed LANs and intranets, and its content can be run on a standard Windows Media player. Users can access small-screen, lower quality video from all three streaming-video products, with 56-Kbps and even slower modems. However, users who want high-quality video must be able to access the Internet at 500 Kbps for RealVideo 8,700 Kbps for QuickTime, 720 Kbps for Windows Media 7, and up to 8 Mbps for NetShow. The difference in access requirements is based on the products’ different codec algorithms.

Platform Support

The QuickTime streaming server supports the FreeBSD, Linux, MacOS, Solaris, and Windows operating systems. The RealVideo server supports the Linux, Solaris, and Windows operating systems. Both technologies’ clients support all major platforms. The Windows Media server runs only on Windows, while the client supports only the Macintosh and Windows platforms.

Advantage - QuickTime

QuickTime is the oldest of the online video technologies. According to Frank Casanova, Apple’s director of QuickTime product marketing, the product is supported by more applications, including Microsoft World and Excel, than competing technologies.

Advantage - Windows Media

One advantage of Windows Media is that it is integrated with other Windows based technologies. This makes it simpler to implement and utilize for some Windows users, especially those without significant technical experience. Windows Media also includes digital-rights management technology, which protects the content providers’ intellectual property. The technology lets content owners prevent recipients from distributing material without the author’s permission.

Content producers are concerned about unauthorized distribution of their material. Therefore, streaming media companies want to convince producers that it’s safe to provide quality content for Windows Media.

Advantage - Real Video

An advantage of RealVideo is that content providers can encode files so that clients can access them at different speeds.

The client can then select the best access rate based on the available bandwidth.

Streaming Media with Windows 2000 Server

A new component in Win 2000 Server Windows Media Services allows you to stream media files on your Network.

Setting up a streaming server

Streaming can be done either as Unicast or Multicast. The difference lies in how the streaming data is sent to clients. In Unicast streaming, data is sent through a point-to-point connection between the client and the server. Each client receives a separate, distinct stream from the streaming server. Thus, the stream is demand-based, that is, it is sent out only if requested by a client.

On the other hand, in multicast streaming, a single stream of data is transmitted over the network, and all clients connect to this single stream. The benefit of this is that it saves network bandwidth.

Streamable Data

Windows Media Services can stream all popular data formats. However, some formats like AVI and WAV need to be encoded into another format called Advanced Streaming Format (ASF) before they can be streamed. Consider ASF as a "ready-to-be-streamed" format. You can either convert files to ASF format using an encoding software like Microsoft Netshow, or encode them on the fly with Windows Media Services and stream them. MP3 files don’t need to be encoded before streaming.