night707 - 9:11 am on Sep 20, 2007 (gmt 0)

Samizdata,

good idea to start such a thread. We have loads of streams on the air and the whole operation was started in 1999.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Plugins, Players and Formats

I use all of the following to deliver video on the web:

Flash
As seen on YouTube, currently the most popular format with the widest computer support,

... personal experience ... a bit messy to use on your own server, ok for small amounts of videos.

using the youtube or livevideo services and embedding these streams into websites is not too bad at all. The audience gets widened and it reduces the traffic load.

QuickTime
As used for Hollywood movie trailers. Historically poor Windows support has improved with the popularity of iTunes (which includes the basic free QuickTime player). Made by Apple.

... still exotic in terms of reach. Not very comfortable for programers.

Real Media
Once a popular option due to excellent compression and cross-platform capability, now apparently in decline, though it is supported on some mobile devices. Made by Real, free player available.

... BBC and many other big shots still use real videos because of decent quality, fast streaming connection and very comfortable for programers.

Windows Media
An obvious choice on Windows, but not recommended for web use due to cross-platform and codec issues. Made by Microsoft, no longer available on Macs (though Safari can use the free Flip4Mac plugin).

... will hopefuly die away soon. Takes ages before the stream starts. Many technical issues on servers, codecs and so on.
Awful!

---

MIME-Types

Depending on the video format you choose and your server setup, you may need to set the appropriate MIME-Type using .htaccess - Mp4, 3gp and WMV all need explicit settings on the shared servers I use.

---

Embedding

real and youtube flash offer the best solutions.

---

Streaming Video

You will need a streaming media server and some knowledge of firewalls and ports to do it, and a lot of bandwidth for each viewer, but embedding the stream in your website is no problem at all.

..... real videos can run on almost every server via http. No server requested.

Never had any FWQ issues and bandwidth is cheap now.

Video is coming up strong, but only few people know how to produce good videos and video sites as yet.