Video on the
Internet comes in a variety of different forms:
1. Downloadable movies are video files that are transmitted over the
Internet just like any other kind of static text, graphic, or sound
file. These downloaded movies arrive at the desktop, are stored and
then available to be played. This is simplest form of video on the
Internet and requires no special Internet tools to either server or
view. Files of this sort are often Qucktime or MPEG, and have been
the most popular form of video on the Internet in recent history.
2. By contrast,
Streaming movies on the Internet play while they are being
downloaded to the desktop. This is more similar to the traditional
broadcast model of television distribution than are Downloaded
movies that more closely resemble the video rental approach.
However, the notion of 'video on-demand' makes streaming video very
attractive to the consumer by offering a menu of choices that can be
watched at anytime from anywhere. Streaming video requires both
special video streaming software on the Internet server as well as
video streaming client software to receive and playback streams on
the desktop. Various Web Video streaming technologies include:
RealVideo from Real Networks,
Quicktime 4.0 from Apple,
Streamworks from Xing Technology,
and NetShow from Microsoft
Despite the current technical limitations wide area network digital
video delivery, where available bandwidth greatly reduces the speed
and quality of video content, there are still a great many
advantages to delivering digital video to a global audience on the
Internet.
1. Connections - information on the Internet can potentially
be shared with anyone, anytime, and anywhere.
2. Asynchronous communication - digital video can be
delivered to a signal individual ore to many recipients
simultaneously. Additionally, because video content is archived and
stored digitally it can be made available for at any time, without
regard for programming schedules, timezones, and other constraints
of traditional video broadcast delivery.
3. Isochronous communication - a relatively new model of
video communication on the Internet, sometimes also referred to as
webcasting or multicasting, this approach very much resembles
traditional 'one-to-many' broadcast model of video delivery, but
utilizes digital networks rather than airwaves as a medium of
distribution. The advantages of this technology are much the same as
that of asynchronous products, in that content can be delivered to a
wide audience at a relatively low cost; however, isochronous
communication does not allow for content to be available on-demand
to many sites simultaneously. Rather as single stream is sent across
the Internet and needs to be 'tuned' into for viewing, again much
like traditional television. The advantage to this approach is that
much less network bandwidth is consumed by the video server, which
increases the quality and speed with which video can be delivered.
