Streaming video

[Michiel]

Hi,

a client of mine has requested that a include bits of streaming video in a website I'm currently building. We're talking about mpeg's with a lenght of approximately 5 minutes. I've promissed that I would take a look into the possibilities, but I've not become much wiser through searching the internet.

Therefore I was wondering whether someone can give me some insights on this topic? What do I need to have streaming video on a website? Is specific software needed to broadcast the media (and does this have to be installed on a server)? And does the mpeg need to be converted in any way, before it can be streamed? In general: what are the options??

Thanx in advance! Cheers, Michiel

[Oakendin]

You can make it a flash file with play, pause, etc controls.

I've been seeing more movie trailers within flash and Sum 41 (http://www.sum41.com/) have there songs in Flash.

[Roy Sinclair]

Not having done this myself you'll need to salt what I way but...

Is specific software needed to broadcast the media (and does this have to be installed on a server)?

Yes and yes.

In general: what are the options??

RealPlayer, Quicktime and Windows Media Player.

Each of those offers streaming video software that can provide the streaming feed but that software has to be loaded into your web server. If your server isn't IIS you can throw out the WMP option.

[Roy Sinclair]

You can make it a flash file with play, pause, etc controls.

I've been seeing more movie trailers within flash and Sum 41 had there songs in Flash.

To the best of my knowledge (admittedly limited regarding Flash) Flash doesn't do "streaming". Streaming is where the video is played as it's received instead of waiting until the whole file is received, if it weren't for that requirement there'd be no additional software required.

[Oakendin]

Roy, you're right. I don't recall flash being able to stream.