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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q What is streaming media?
A Streaming media is the title used to describe
the transfer of sound and video between computers
positioned around the world over the Internet. What
is moved is in electronic form ie data. The data
is transmitted from a single point and travels over
the Internet until it eventually arrives, generally
at your request, on your computer. Your computer
takes in the digital information and translates
it into sound or video.
Q Why is the Internet the delivery system of choice
for audio and video?
A The Internet is the ideal delivery system as it
was designed specifically to transfer data between
users on a global basis. Originally text alone was
transferred. This was called email. In the early
nineties the World Wide Web was invented and later
featured illustrations and graphics. In the mid
nineties technology made a further leap and allowed
both sound and video to be passed over the Internet.
This is what we now call streaming media. This advance
has allowed truly global broadcasting to become
accessible to an entirely new market. There is an
additional advantage in using the Internet in that
the programs used allow you to gather information
on the viewing habits of your audience, so that
you can learn what they like and so offer them more
of related or similar material. The audience can
feed back to you and let you know what they think
of the service, which should mean an improvement
in standards. The Internet also allows you to create
interactive broadcasts. Here viewers can join in
and ask questions or vote in polls, even during
live events. These systems also allow you to create
pay per view or protected areas, so that only registered
or paying viewers can gain access to your premium
content. In short it is only Streaming Media and
the Internet that allows you full freedom to exploit
your content and to meet your customers needs in
the manner that today's businesses and projects
demand.
Q What is the difference between streaming and download?
A Streaming plays the video/audio clip on your computer
as a real time data transfer so you do not have
to have downloaded the whole clip onto your computer
before you view it. Streaming provides the ability
for live Internet broadcasting. A download means
that the data has to actually be taken onto your
computer thereby occupying disc space. If you want
to reuse that space you need to erase the download.
Q What is the difference between streaming and video
conferencing?
A Streaming is an expansive mode. It allows many
people, wherever they are on Internet, the ability
to access the stream at the same time. Video conferencing
is a restrictive mode allowing a limited number
of people, usually no more than nine, to access
an agreed group of pre-arranged participants.
Q Does Broadband offer me better video quality?
A The quality of the connection over which you are
receiving your signal is directly proportional to
the quality of the video. Watching video over a
28kbps phone line is approximately half as good
as the quality over an 56k ISDN connection. Broadband
offers the ability to watch near VHS video quality
over the Internet. Although the usage of broadband
to the home is still limited within the UK many
businesses are broadband enabled.
Q Can I watch Internet video over my home phone
line?
A Yes you can but visual material takes higher bandwidth
than voice and so unless you have an ISDN line (56K)
the video quality will be poor. For low band-width
users (less than 56K) audio is a very effective
use of streaming either by itself or with slide
presentations.
Q What is a Content Delivery Network or CDN?
A A CDN provides the network needed to deliver streaming
media reliably and cost effectively. Generally the
bandwidth used is much higher than for other applications.
The expertise needed to run such a network is costly
even when compared to the network required for serving
web pages.
Q How will I know my content is always available
to my viewers and listeners?
A To do this you will need access to real-time statistics.
This service can be provided via the web using the
Virtue Broadcasting Inktomi Broadcast Management software.
Q Can you view video through firewalls?
A Firewalls may cause problems if they are configured
not to allow streamed video. Equally, if your systems
administrator has disabled the Windows Media or
Real Player software on you computer you will be
unable to watch video on demand. A firewall can
be easily configured to allow video through without
causing security risks. If there is some over-riding
problem with external security then Virtue Broadcasting
is able to broadcast the video using HTTP streaming.
This overcomes many of the firewall issues.
Q Will there be any broadcasting issues when streaming
over my company's Intranet? What are they and how
do we deal with them?
A If there is a live broadcast being streamed to
many employees within a company there may be several
bandwidth issues to contend with. In the first place
a stream may overload the Intranet as the bandwidth
required is equal to the multiple of bandwidth used
by the number of users. This means that an executive
decision must be taken on the priorities for use
of the bandwidth within the company at that time.
The second problem may be the overload between
the Intranet and the broadcast server which will
be sitting on the Internet. This is less of a
problem as the company can either rent an additional
server or servers from Virtue Broadcasting plc
for the duration of the broadcast or alternatively
cache some of the broadcast. Finally, there is
a solution called multi-cast which allows a two
tier delivery of the broadcast for a very large
audience. Here the main stream is split inside
the Intranet and by using remote management and
smart network protocols, the users find the nearest
sub-station from which to pick up the broadcast.
Q Is the video going to be secure?
A Virtue Broadcasting is able to provide a number of
applications that enable video to be distributed
securely to one person or many people through a
sophisticated digital rights management system.
Q How do I know if this streaming media system is
making me money?
A Access to timely and accurate log analysis is
vital. Without this you will never know who is watching
and when. Only a global automated log analysis system
can provide this service. Since a CDN has servers
across the globe a system is needed to compile the
statistics from all these servers and then to present
the information in a usable and easily digested
format.
Q Is a CDN all I need?
A Sometimes it is, but if you are new to streaming
or regard streaming as outside your core competencies
then maybe you need to outsource everything including
filming and web design to another company.
Q Can anyone film content for streaming?
A To ensure high quality results you need a production
team that understands the techniques needed for
high quality streaming. The methodologies used by
streaming production teams differ considerably from
those employed by traditional broadcasters and in
some cases content produced using these older methodologies
is unusable. You need to ensure that the team understands
what is required for streaming media.
Q How do I integrate this streaming content into
my website?
A All websites with a little alteration can benefit
from streaming media. Since the CDN looks after
the infrastructure, all that is needed is for a
simple HTML link to be placed onto your site. The
video is broadcast seamlessly with no knowledge
that there is a 3rd party CDN existence.
Q What is encoding?
A To stream content it needs to be in a digital
format recognised by a media player. Encoding converts
content from broadcast and consumer grade media
into this recognisable digital format. Quality is
of paramount importance in encoding and only through
encoding via contribution grade MPEG2 format can
a high quality result be obtained in a timely manner
and a high quality master retained. To ensure that
both quality and responsiveness are maintained a
high level of investment is needed.
Q Why does the picture look better in my office
than it does at home?
A There are many different ways of connecting to
the Internet and watching streaming content. Each
method supplies a different amount of bandwidth.
Generally, the more bandwidth you have, the better.
Office users share large bandwidth connections to
the Internet, these allow large amounts of information
to flow to your PC, therefore the picture quality
is better. At home you may use a telephone line
this has a lower bandwidth and therefore the quality
is not as good. People with ADSL or Cable based
broadband access can see TV quality images even
when at home.
Q I try to view the content, but it just won't work.
It mentions something about and unknown file type.
What's the problem?
A To view any streaming media you need a media player.
There are many types out there, but the main two
are RealPlayer and Windows Media Player. If you
do not have either of these you will need to download
them for free from the worldwide web. The address
from which you can download is http://www.real.com
or http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia.
Q I have RealPlayer, but there is still some content
I cannot view. What's wrong now?
A Windows Media content will not play back in RealPlayer
and RealMedia content will not play back in Windows
Media Player. To view both types you need both players.
Q I can see the video, but there's no sound. Why's
that?
A You need to have the correct hardware to view
and listen to clips. Are you sure you have a soundcard
and speakers? Many older PCs do not have these.
Also are you sure that your PC has the correct amount
of memory or a powerful enough processor? If not
then visit the two sites above and check out the
Support section for the technical specification
of the recommended systems?
Q I have a Mac. Can I watch all of this content?
A Both Windows Media Player and RealPlayer are available
for Apple machines.
Q Why is the picture small?
A Streaming Media is very different from television.
Traditional TV uses delivery systems that can supply
huge amounts of information in a short amount of
time. Telephone wires and the Internet were not
designed to do this, but through clever software
and compression it is possible to deliver high quality,
interactive content with even a home telephone line.
"Broadband" content supplies a quality
which is similar to that on your TV.
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