Streaming Media on the Internet

In recent years, the use of video streaming technology to relay information on the Internet has been on the increase. Domestic broadband Internet connections are becoming increasingly affordable, and more people are now able to view good-quality real-time streaming video.

There are a variety of useful applications of this technology, such as music videos and news reports.

Three major applications are capable of receiving streaming video (and audio): Windows Media, RealOne and QuickTime. Most web sites that provide steaming video feeds will offer you a choice of which player you want to use. These three players use different compression formats and standards - all of which will usually supply the video stream at a range of bit rates so you can choose a stream that is suitable for your Internet connection.

The bit rate is a measure of the amount of information that is transferred each second. More detailed, high quality images and sounds require more data to describe them. This means that a higher bit rate allows greater quality of the streamed video. If you select a bit rate that is greater the rate your connection can deal with, you will receive pictures that are jerky.

Some of the options you may presented with typically are:

33.6kbit / 56kbit (Modem) : This is what you would choose if you were connected to the Internet by a modem. This will give a jerky, poor-quality feed, due to the low bandwidth of modems.
64kbit / 128kbit (ISDN) : You can get a better quality feed if you have access to an ISDN dial-up connection.
256kbit / 512kbit (DSL / Cable) : If you have a broadband DSL or Cable Internet connection, you will be able to view high-quality video feeds in much higher resolution than with a modem or ISDN connection.
1Mbit+ (T1 / T3) : Large corporations are usually connected to the Internet by one or more very high-bandwidth leased lines. If you have access to such a connection, you can watch very high-quality high-resolution video streams in real time.

Click here for some links to media streams on the Internet.