Firest Some of the information that will clearify what exactly streaming is
What is streaming ?
Streaming delivers media from a server over a network to a client in real time
No file is ever downloaded to a viewer’s hard drive.
What are the things that are achieved using Streaming ?
Privacy of the content is maintained(Not nowadays as real 11 player can download even the streaming media)
Broadcast of live events in realtime
Playlist broadcast of the prerecorded content
Video on demand
Streaming vs. downloading content
Downloading
-- When we choose for downloading it consumes all the bandwidth available so that it can download the data as early as possible
-- Network function may slow down or disrupted
-- It consumes the client machine disk space
Streaming
-- Streaming uses the bandwidth more efficiently because it send the data only at the speed at which client can render it properly
-- Thus prevents the network from getting overloaded and thus it helps to maintain the system reliability
Streaming media system overview
( Broadcast of prerecorded event/ Video-on demand )
( Broadcast of Live/ prerecorded )
Streaming from a Dedicated Streaming server vs. a Web server
Web Server
-- It is designed to send as much data as it can ,as quickly as possible
-- preferred method for sending static images, text, and Web page scripts
-- When a file streams from a Web server, the quality of the delivery is not monitored and the bit rate cannot be adjusted
-- Web servers do not support live streaming or multicast streams.
Streaming Server
-- Best method for streaming digital media
-- Server regulates the delivery of packets according to feedback information it receives while sending a stream to a player
-- Bandwidth use is controlled, more users can connect at the same time and still receive streams that are free of interruptions.
Streaming Server Features
**Please note the information mentioned below is from some online resources anf from my personal experience , so before referring this document I suggest to please do some base work yourself
References
Resources and links
**Prices that are written in the report are from
http://www.networkcomputing.com/showitem.jhtml?docid=1702f3
Streaming media Servers
http://www.networkcomputing.com/showitem.jhtml?docid=1702f3
Helix Server
http://www.realnetworks.com/products/media_delivery.html
Flash Interactive Media Server 3
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaserver/flashmediaencoder/
Darwins open source streaming server
http://developer.apple.com/opensource/server/streaming/index.html
Windows Media Services 9
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/howto/articles/introhosting.aspx
