In recent years, streaming media has developed from a technical gimmick to the innovation engine of the Internet. Businesses are starting to use streaming technology to make their websites more attractive and innovative and so depend on the quality of multimedia communication to deliver the best sites. Whether the goal is video conferencing, distance learning, telemedicine or real-time entertainment broadcasts, demand for expertise in the underlying technologies is growing rapidly.

In Streaming Media, system engineers, network administrators and product developers will find a straightforward and technical introduction to key technologies. The book is written at a suitable level and style for students on multimedia communication courses. A complete overview of the current technical possibilities and standards is given, focussing on the current leading systems, namely:

• RealMedia from RealNetworks
• Windows Media from Microsoft and
• Quicktime from Apple.

There is also coverage of a number of other approaches, tools and hardware components. Using real-world examples you will see in full detail how to handle the compression, coding, storage and communication of the full range of digital media types, in order to quickly deliver streaming media of the highest possible quality.

The accompanying website features a variety of tools to get you started immediately. www.streaming-media.info

Table of Contents

Preface.

1. The basics of streaming technology.

Streaming.

On-demand content and live broadcasts.

Bandwidth.

SureStream/Multiple Bit Rate.  

Streaming media protocols.

Splitting and Load balancing.

Unicasting and Multicasting.

Embedding.

SMIL.

Data compression.

2. Streaming video production.

Source material.

Capturing.

Encoding.

Provision.

Requesting.

A sample live broadcast.

3. RealSystem.

Audio and video codecs.

SureStreaming.

Creating RealMedia content.

Delivering RealMedia content.

Playing back RealMedia content.

4. Microsoft Windows Media.

Audio and video codecs.

Multiple bit rate video.

Creating Windows Media content.

Providing Windows Media content.

Playing back Windows Media content.

5. QuickTime.

Multitalent QuickTime.

Audio and video codecs.

Creating QuickTime content - On Demand.

Creating QuickTime co ntent - Livestreams.

Providing QuickTime content.

Playing back QuickTime content.

Further solutions.

Further solutions for audio streaming.

Further solutions for video streaming.

Further streaming technologies?

Further tools for generating content.

Hardware.

6. Concluding Remarks.

Comparing systems.

The future...

Index.