thecoalman - 5:53 pm on Oct 28, 2008 (gmt 0)

You don't need a streaming host. If it's not a streaming server the video file is treated as any other file and downloaded, the playback is handled by the player client side. When the user loads the player then clicks play the player will begin to download the file, once enough of the file has been downloaded for smooth playback (buffered) it will start to play the file from the start.

The benefit of having a streaming host is the user can FF though the video without having to download parts in between.