How do i stream video?

[TheBlueRaja]

Hi All,
I have an Avi that i want to stream from my website - its on there at the moment but you can only click to download - what i would like to do is to have it so that when somebody click on it - it lauches the default player and starts to stream it up - like all these video sites you get everywhere?

But how do i do it?

Ta

[Stuart]

Have a look at Windows Media Encoder and Real Producer. These will both let you stream video/audio from your site, and both are free.

You can also use Quicktime to stream movies, but, TBH, while I am generally a big fan of Quicktime, it does not do a good job of streaming. I have also never found any freeware encoding tools (in fact, the only tools I know of that can encode QT streaming video are Discreet's Media Cleaner and Sorenson Broadcaster - neither of which are cheap).

Anyway, with either of those, you will be able to stream data from your website. It might also be worth asking if your webhost has a dedicated streaming server, If you use one of these, and tell WM Encoder or RealProducer to encode multiple bitrates, the server will automatically send the appropriate bitrate for the current network connections.

Of course, another option (if you have Flash MX Pro 2004) is to import the video into Flash and export it as a Flash movie (this actually works well).

[TheBlueRaja]

Originally Posted by Stuart C

Have a look at Windows Media Encoder and Real Producer. These will both let you stream video/audio from your site, and both are free.

You can also use Quicktime to stream movies, but, TBH, while I am generally a big fan of Quicktime, it does not do a good job of streaming. I have also never found any freeware encoding tools (in fact, the only tools I know of that can encode QT streaming video are Discreet's Media Cleaner and Sorenson Broadcaster - neither of which are cheap).

Anyway, with either of those, you will be able to stream data from your website. It might also be worth asking if your webhost has a dedicated streaming server, If you use one of these, and tell WM Encoder or RealProducer to encode multiple bitrates, the server will automatically send the appropriate bitrate for the current network connections.

Cooo! Ta

[Richard M]

The AVI format requires the start and the end of the file before you can play it, that's why the browser will download it.
I'd look at WMV for streaming.

[Gareth]

TBR, is this for the site you host with Dreamhost? If so, they offer both Real and QuickTime streaming as standard with their hosting plans.

All DreamHost plans include support for "http-streaming" real audio and video. This basically means you can link to .rm files and they will stream to customers who have RealPlayer installed on their computer. It's not quite that simple, but it is pretty close. If you don't want to get into the nitty-gritty of Quicktime Streaming this is a pretty easy way to still over streaming media from your web site. You will of course need to encode your stuff as real media first before you can do this.. so you should probably read more about it at our knowledge base!

[markmarkymark]

Hi ...

I'm no big expert but do you mean progressive download or streaming? I have an example on my site but I got bollacks for posting the link here so I want.

Anyway, progressive download is easier to do and looks like streaming but is not. You basically can embed a player into your website using various code that can be found from the links above. Its then best to make a little .asx file which really only contains the link to your video clip and then upload both this file and the video file. The embeded player then looks for the .asx file and from there plays the video. The player can be set up to load so many seconds before starting to play. you will know its progressive download rather than streaming because you will not be able to seach within the video or go backwards or forwards until the complete video has been downloaded.....

Or ... if you really want to stream that your hosts needs a proper streaming server. That can sometimes be expensive and unlike your normal progressive download which is http based, your streaming server is likely to cost you by the kbits...some hosts also simply provide you with a limit like ...500kbits stream or something like that. That might be ok for one person, but if you get three people all sharing then they share that bandwidth. In streaming mode the player will do its best but will only play the quality that it can achieve.......

In my views its better to go with progressive download unless you can be sure of the quality and connectivity of the host.

Hope this drivil helps in someway.

MArk

Edit: oh and as Richard was saying - don't use avi - re code to WMV (version 8 or 9) for progressive or streaming. If you use the windows media encoder it gives the choice of how to save the file ..

[TheBlueRaja]

Hi All,
I managed to get this working and i *think* markmarkymark is describing what i am doing - i.e. progressively downloading - but tell me if im wrong... I have embedded the following code into a the web page which does play the video when the page is loaded now which is superb (after it was re-encoded into .wmv )

<OBJECT CLASSID=" CLSID:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95" TYPE=" application/x-oleobject" WIDTH="490" HEIGHT="379" align="absmiddle" ID=" MediaPlayer" >
<PARAM NAME=" FileName" VALUE=" http://http://www.mywebsite.co.uk/videos/RJ-1.wmv" >
<PARAM NAME=" autostart" VALUE=" 1" >
<PARAM NAME=" showcontrols" VALUE=" 1" >
<EMBED
SRC="http://www.mywebsite.co.uk/videos/RJ-1.wmv"
WIDTH="490"
HEIGHT="379"
AUTOSTART=" 1" align="absmiddle" TYPE=" application/x-mplayer2"
SHOWCONTROLS=" 0" > </EMBED> </OBJECT>

So thats how i did it.

Funny thing to note though, Windows media player control bar appeared on screen in Firefox but NOT in IE, mucking around with the showcontrols value in the middle of this code had no effect on IE or Explorer either. However changing the SHOWCONTROLS value at the END of the code to " 1" did show the control bar in IE. Sho why does firefox always show it.

Anyhoo, it works now - and thanks guys.
__________________

Originally Posted by Gareth

TBR, is this for the site you host with Dreamhost? If so, they offer both Real and QuickTime streaming as standard with their hosting plans.

I hate websites that use Real stuff so i wouldnt inflict that on anyone myself. Quicktime is OK, but WMV is what i wanted to use and to be honest, it was more of a learning excersise than anything else.

I knew it could be done but how?

[markmarkymark]

Originally Posted by TheBlueRaja

Hi All,
I managed to get this working and i *think* markmarkymark is describing what i am doing - i.e. progressively downloading - but tell me if im wrong... )

Hey glad it worked out. It progressive download to..

Your file name link would start something like mms:// etc etc if it were streaming.

cheers

Mark