Audio/video files streaming
Web masters often want to make audio or video files available to their customers. Not long ago, if the visitor wanted to listen audio file or watch a video clip from a web site, the file first had to be downloaded in its entirety to user's computer and than played. Web masters would offer this solution by uploading the audio or video file to their web hosting account and putting a download link on their site. Visitor would click the link and download the file which then was ready to be played. Often such files took a long time to download and it was a time-consuming process.
For this reason a new technology was introduced: audio/video files streaming technology. Streaming media files begin playing almost immediately, while the data is being sent, without having to wait for the whole file to download. This way, after only a few seconds of delay you start watching the file no matter if the file lasts 20 seconds or 20 minutes.
As for the web hosting companies, there are two main methods for streaming content:
standard Web server approach and streaming media server approach.
Standard Web server
Audio and video is first compressed into a single "media file" for delivery over a specific network bandwidth such as a 28.8 kilobits per second (Kbps) modem. This media file is then placed on a standard Web server. Next, a Web page containing the media file's URL is created and placed on the same Web server. This Web page, when activated, launches the client-side player and downloads the media file. Web server streaming uses the Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP), the standard Web protocol used by all Web servers. HTTP operates on top of the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which handles all the data transfers.
Streaming media server
The compressed media file is produced and copied to a specialized streaming media server (such as Microsoft Windows Media Services or RealAudio server) instead of a Web server. Then a Web page with a reference to the media file is placed on a Web server. Windows Media Services and the Web server may run on the same computer. Streaming media servers can use the HTTP/TCP just as standard web server but they can also use specialized protocols such as the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) to greatly improve the streaming experience. Unlike TCP, UDP is a fast, lightweight protocol which provides more stable and efficient connection with the clients.
Streaming media server requires the systems administration staff to install and manage additional server software.This along with the staff training may result in increased costs. For this reason web hosting companies usually use standard Web server streaming technology.
On the other hand streaming media server technology has some important advantages:
- More efficient use of the network bandwidth
- Advanced features like detailed reporting and multi-stream multimedia content
- Content copyright protection
- Supports large number of users
- Better audio and video quality to the user
In order for web site owners to offer audio or video streaming on their sites the web hosting provider their site is hosted by must support streaming technology. HostRocket.Com supports HTTP streaming of RealMedia content which means they use standard web server technology. To setup your RealMedia files via HTTP streaming take following steps:
- Upload your RealMedia audio/video files (.ra, .ram, .rm or .rpm files) to your web hosting account
- Create a metafile (*.ram file) by opening a plan text editor such as Windows Notepad and typing the URL to one of your RealMedia files.
Example:
http://mydomain.com/examplefolder/examplefile.ra
- Save the file using the file type extension .ram
Example:
examplefile.ram
- Upload your .ram file to the same directory on your account to which you plan on uploading your HTML document(s) from which you plan on linking your RealMedia files.
- Within your HTML document reference the metafile in a hyperlink.
Examples:
<A HREF="http://mydomain.com/examplefolder/examplefile.ram">
- When a user clicks on the link, the streaming file begins to download. After few seconds of buffering RealPlayer should begin playing the file almost immediately.
