Benefits of Video Streaming for Consumers

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What is Video Streaming?

What is progressive download? How is video streamed live over the internet? All these questions and more are answered in this article.

Corporate websites are now embedding helpful 'how to' and 'introductory' video files in their website pages, and are becoming increasingly aware that their visitors are far more likely to watch a 3 minute video than to read pages of text.

With video streaming over the internet now being taken for granted, we have to ask; how does it work?

Firstly, we have to break video streaming down into its 3 most commonly used forms.

1) On demand video streaming

2) Progressive downloads

3) Live video streaming

On demand video streaming this is where a video content is streamed over the internet when a website visitor demands it. An example of this is when you click a play button for a video you want to watch and the video plays. This is very similar to the 'Progressive download' that we have mentioned except for one main difference. When a video is streamed it is using streaming server technology. Steaming servers are a great way to make sure the video is delivered as it should be. Streaming video with the various streaming server technologies also allows us to do more than just stream our video. We can actually have 'user interaction' with our streaming server allowing us to take a video watcher to a shop to buy something they have seen and 'clicked on' in the video they are watching for example.

Progressive download: This is where your video player downloads the whole video into your computer’s memory while the video is playing.

Live video streaming: Live video streaming requires a capture device, like a video camera, encoding software that transcodes or converts the video signal from the camera into a web compliant video format and a streaming server.

The video camera will pass on the video information to the encoder, which will send the transcoded video up to the streaming server (usually over the internet) using One of the various streaming protocols. The streaming server will then broadcast the encoded video over the internet to your viewers who will see your video live, generally with a short delay, commonly about 7 to 20 seconds of what is happening in real time.

What is MPEG4? MPEG4 has been designed to allow video playback on a wide variety of platforms. It can be used on computers, HD TV, PDA's and mobile phones.

Although there are many different video formats on the internet, the basis for all streaming, whether live, on demand or progressive download, all work using similar coding schemes derived from work done for MPEG2, the prior format to MPEG4.

MPEG4 is made up of 'data channels' used to send the video stream and the audio stream. The number of data channels is not explicit. Generally we have a video transport channel that is used to stream the video data, we have up to 8 channels for audio, usually MP3 or AAC (Advance Audio Codec), we have a channel for subtitles and we have a data channel that allows information to be passed to and from the streaming server.

The reason video can be streamed successfully over the web is the delivery method. Video, especially in films, is delivered frame by frame. This is carried over from traditional filming methods where each frame contains the full picture presented to the viewer. These frames are played back one after the other so quickly that, to the human eye, creates the effect of continuous movement.

Compressed MPEG4 video is made up of 'I-Frames' and 'P-Frames. I-Frames are effectively frames that contain all the information needed to display a frame, where a P-Frame is an update of an I-Frame. So what the decoder does is show an I-frame and then show a series of P-Frames that update changes in movement etc. Because of this, the video size is massively reduced. This explains why, when watching a video over the internet you sometimes see blank squares in the picture. This is because the P-Frames were not received in time and the decoder cannot update those areas in the video.

What is a Codec A Codec is a way of coding and decoding information. So all the various video formats on the internet work in a similar way, using an encoder to reduce video and audio data whilst preserving as much quality as possible. This video is then transmitted over the internet and when it reaches the clients player it gets decoded into, or as near to, its original format.

The Codec for video that is gaining popularity is H264. The reason being it works equally well for TV or mobiles.

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The Benefits of Online Video Streaming

Video streaming has quickly gained popularity in the online world and is now the most sought after type of online content. There are many ways in which webmasters have chosen to distribute video content on their websites and the method that has shown the best results is Video on Demand (or VoD). This technology works by allowing users to access streaming videos via their web browsers. There are also many other ways in which you can make use of the streaming video technology. Once you find out exactly how it works, you will be able to come up with your own ideas for implementation.

Video on Demand is currently the most popular use of the video streaming technology. You can host video files on any server and they will become available to anyone who has a computer connected to the internet. This does not only benefit people who are looking to entertain themselves by searching for media online but it is also a very useful tool for schools and universities that give teachers and opportunity to present their courses with rich media materials. Better yet, students are able to access the media files anytime. This is great especially for universities practicing distance learning.

When it comes to distance learning, video on demand is a very good tool because it allows the user to pause and rewind the video in case he or she missed something. This is also the reason why video streaming is in some cases making the learning process more effective.

Video streaming can also be done live. This technology can be very useful for broadcasting live events such as premieres, live concerts, political speeches, etc. Live video streaming is also great as a security tool because it allows monitoring of remote locations in real time. This way anyone on the planet who has an internet connection will be able to watch a live broadcasting with this technology.

Video streaming is also doing great in the world of internet marketing. When it comes to marketing online, video streaming is one of the most powerful tools available, provided you know how to take advantage of this media. Just the way that television commercials are the best advertising media, the internet streaming videos can also be used to capture a large number of audiences.

However, users need to take on a different approach with their videos in order to capture online audiences. While on the television people only need to see flashy videos and catchy music to stop what they were doing and watch a commercial. In the online world things are rarely that simple. Here you need to get a little more creative. What you need is to create a viral effect with your videos. The so-called viral videos benefit from the best exposure in the online world. Videos need to be funny, creative and interesting in order to get people to watch them. However, even if you can't manage to put together a video that has any of these things, your internet marketing efforts will surely get a lot more attention from prospective buyers when you are making use of video streaming.

It is not enough to have a technical knowledge of how video streaming works if you want to be successful with video streaming online. You also need to get more creative and able to give your potential customers a better view of what you are selling. Good commercials are the ones that keep visitors curious and wanting to come back for more.

Whether you are looking to stream videos for teaching purposes or you are trying to advertise your product online then you will need to find a video streaming service. Although there are plenty companies out there that offer such services, the important thing is to make sure that they are reliable. It really can't be good for your business if the service is crashing frequently. Before actually investing in such a service you should first test out the company's services and see how responsive their support is. If you are pleased with them then make your purchase and begin streaming videos online.

You should also take into consideration that there are several platforms for online video streaming. The most popular choices today are Flash Media, Windows Media and Wowza Media, which is a newly developed technology for online video streaming.

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