Talk:Streaming media
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[edit] Opening
All these Dutch links, are these really relevant for this page? I would propose to move these to a Dutch page about streaming. User:jvdstoel 12:05, 2005 Aug 18
I'm going to make a pass at copyediting this page. Swmcd 15:07, 2005 Mar 4 (UTC)
I did a cleanup and removed the cleanup notice. It still needs more references, and will doubtless benefit from some more eyes. Swmcd 06:42, 2005 Mar 7 (UTC)
[edit] BBC
How is the BBC not a major broadcaster? surely that needs to be added - they live stream all of their radio stations, the news channel and they archive all their news stories and past radio programmes. All of these archives can be played too. --Hamdev Guru 19:10, 7 February 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Oh wait
I was a bit over-assertive in my edit summary ("There were no CD-ROMs in the 1980s"). Yes, there were CD-ROMs in the 1980s, but they weren't used for most of it. CD-ROM "multimedia" really took off in the early 90s. RSpeer 17:10, Mar 21, 2005 (UTC)
[edit] media is/are
Plainsong went through and changed all the verbs on media from singular to plural, e.g. media is -> media are. I'd like to change them all back. I use media as a mass noun with singular construction. Here is the current state of the word according to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
Main Entry: 2 media Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural me·di·as Usage: often attributive Etymology: plural of medium 1 : a medium of cultivation, conveyance, or expression; especially : MEDIUM 2b 2 a singular or plural in construction : MASS MEDIA b plural : members of the mass media
Usage
The singular media and its plural medias seem to have originated in the field of advertising over 50 years ago; they are apparently still so used without stigma in that specialized field. In most other applications media is used as a plural of medium. The great popularity of the word in references to the agencies of mass communication is leading to the formation of a mass noun, construed as a singular <there's no basis for it. You know, the news media gets on to something -- Edwin Meese 3d> <the media is less interested in the party's policies -- James Lewis, Guardian Weekly>. This use is not as well established as the mass-noun use of data and is likely to incur criticism especially in writing.
(emphasis added)
They are right that singular construction in writing incurs criticism :)
- Hm, a sticky one - the more I think about it, the less sure I am. My instinct is that the plural is more appropriate - at several points in the article individual media are in fact discussed ("the medium of audio", "the medium of video"; or, more specifically, "the medium of TV", etc). As such the word "media", as in that last sentence, is explicitly plural, rather than collective; on the other hand, the very first sentence of the article could be said to be talking about the "phenomenon" of "streaming media", rather than about more than one "streaming medium". I can thus think of two "compromise" approaches:
- one is to consider "streaming media" a mass noun, but use "medium/media" when referring to invidual content types or delivery mechanisms (since "a streaming medium" doesn't sound quite right, somehow)
- another - much vaguer - is to use whichever seems more appropriate in the context; for instance, the first two sentences of the article are intimately linked, and certain wordings of the second sound completely wrong if "media" is used collectively.
- But like I say, the more I try and reason it out, the more uncertain I become, so maybe an arbitrary convention to stick with one or the other would be best after all! - IMSoP 22:24, 21 August 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Streaming is an old logging term...
Streaming media is circa 1995... I know this as fact, cause I coined the term.
"Streaming" is the process of cutting a log into smaller pieces, so that it may travel a smaller stream to the saw mill.
As I worked on an online Real Player presentation for "Branson World Radio" -now defunct- the audio would not synch with the video. I contacted Real about this and they were still working this bug out. As I experimented I found a solution myself.
I emailed the solution back to Real, along with the idea of calling the technology streaming media. Because it seemed they were "streaming" the data along.
A few minutes later the phone rang, with a very excited crew from Real on the other end. They not only solved a major bug that was holding the technology back, but were able to "sell" it with a simple explanation of what was happening.
--Docree 21:49, 7 May 2005 (UTC)
- consider adding a section to the article giving the orgin of the term.
- Swmcd 21:01, 2005 May 8 (UTC)
- That's really interesting considering that RealVideo wasn't launched until 1997. Also, streaming has long been a term used in computer applications. -- RobLa 05:55, May 9, 2005 (UTC)
______________________________________________
Sorry, RobLa Real Player was launched in 95...
From the Real Networks Company website...
- "Who We Are
In 1995, RealNetworks, Inc. pioneered the entire Internet media industry, and continues to fuel its exponential growth.
Because the Internet was built to handle text-based information, not audio and video and other rich media, RealNetworks, Inc. foresaw the need for specific solutions that could handle the creation, delivery and consumption of media via the Internet. That led RealNetworks, Inc. to invent and release the RealPlayer and RealAudio in 1995." Real Networks Company
- I read the articles you suggested... Data stream has been used to refer to the stream of data between computer components. However, it is not streaming as to respect of compressed data from server to computer and vice versa.
- In order for something to be "streamed" there is a predetermined amount of data that is sent to the receiving machine. [At buffer time.] Then as this data is unloaded and played the next amount of data is downloaded / recieved. In theory the data "slices" can be played seamlessly with very little buffer time afterward. Similar to "daisy chaining" in Flash.
- Streaming has been a logging term since prior to the 1800s.
--Docree 18:23, 28 September 2005 (UTC)
[edit] USB vs. Firewire
Kevin Marks changed the paragraph on USB to refer to Firewire, commenting
USB is not widely used for video; FireWire is.
However, my camcorder has a USB jack, not a Fire jack, and the "system of time-based reservations" sounds exactly like USB. Can anyone cite authority on this question?
Swmcd 06:10, 2005 May 9 (UTC)
I wrote the video capture for OS X. Every DV camera has Firewire out. A few have USB. Kevin Marks 07:05, 23 August 2005 (UTC)
[edit] p2p live video communications
I am curious why no one has implemented live video communications over p2p? What I mean by this is i can see hear and talk back in the same fashion....can someone explain it, is there a problem, there is Voip why not video conferencing like technology.....?let me know greghilz@broadcastitv.com Gphilz 20:56, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
[edit] See Also - Stream and Transport Protocols cleanup
I cleaned up the See Also - Stream and Transport Protocols sub-head. There was some fragmentary text discussing a few specific protocols, but it didn't have enought content to make a good paragraph. Swmcd 19:49, 25 February 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Java
Java is an important class of streaming media technologies for the following reasons:
- It runs cross platform - PC, Mac, Linux
- It has higher reach than many listed in this section
- It runs without requiring installation, so is easier to use than those listed
- It allows the latest player version to be run on locked down machines (particularly useful in the corporate world)
- It can be easily extended to include other useful video features
- Live and pre-recorded players are available
I propose someone adding a Live Java entry to the Streaming Media technologies, such as my own company's FORlive to illustrate these points.
What do people think about this? Stephen B Streater 09:10, 15 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Add new Streaming Site
Hey, I wanted to add this site, but I am not purely sure if it is applicable due to the ads. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by [[User:{{{1}}}|{{{1}}}]] ([[User talk:{{{1}}}|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/{{{1}}}|contribs]]).
- To keep the size of the article down, this Wikipedia entry has technology suppliers rather than users. You may find List of Internet stations more suitable. Web sites without an article are probably not notable enough for listing, but as you can see, some are there which have not been deleted because they may get articles some time. Stephen B Streater 09:54, 12 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Social and legal issues
Some streaming broadcasters use streaming systems that interfere with the ability to record streams for later playback, either inadvertently, through poor choice of streaming protocol, or deliberately, because they believe it is to their advantage to do so. Broadcasters may be concerned that copies will result in lost sales or that consumers may skip commercials...
I've read through this article a few times now on different occasions & I always come away feeling that this section is biased against broadcasters. Speaking as broadcaster, the way it works for me is that I license media from a content provider and am authorized (i.e. I pay money for a license) to broadcast that material via cable, TV, and satellite. With the recent explosion in broadband Internet connections, now I'm also allowed to stream the media. However, my licenses (from the content providers) specifically state that I am not authorized to make copies of the media & distribute those copies (that's what publishers & retailers do, not broadcasters).
Basically, there is no sinister broadcaster plot to dupe the public into using streaming media, as this section seems to imply (or maybe I missed that session at NAB). Its a matter of as a broadcaster, not being able to legally distribute copies of media via progressive download, ftp, VHS, DVD, etc. As a broadcaster, I don't particularly care if people want to record a program and I don't go out of my way to keep people from recording a program. What I do care about is that only authorized (paying) customers are allowed to view the streams (got to pay for that server storage & bandwidth somehow). Otherwise, I just use the best (or most appropriate) technology available to reach my target audience.
I would recommend that this nonsense about broadcasters encrypting streams to prevent copying be removed. The only time I've seen something like that happen is in cases of downloads (i.e. mp3 download services - or 3GPP cell phone media) where a complete copy of the media is distributed to a consumer for offline playback. At least from an industry perspective, file downloading is not the same as streaming (broadcasting).
Kwolf22 20:33, 25 July 2006 (UTC)kwolf22
What you are saying sounds perfectly reasonable and you should edit the article to reflect this. Streaming and downloading aren't the same thing at all. TV Genius 23:50, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Bandwidth skimming
What is bandwidth skimming ? --65.70.89.241 16:42, 6 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Peercasting: Real-time P2P Streaming?
I removed my own line stating "Also no such strategy currently distributes streams to all recipients in realtime." at the end of the P2P paragraph, as I am not completely sure about that. Are there any P2P solutions that manage to distribute a stream from a sender to an arbitrary amount of recipients with an acceptable latency and synchronization for all recipients? If none exists the line should probably go back into the article, as it is a serious limitation in the field of streaming not to be real-time. Oh look, I just have to dig a little deeper to find the Peercasting document. Looks like there is research going on in that field, albeit problems persist. Should we mention Peercasting in this document? --SymlynX 16:39, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Multicast Strategy Details?
The article mentions that some technologies use multicast-like approaches to data distribution, but does not mention names nor details. Have looked around on various pages but haven't found details. Can anyone fill this in? I know several technologies use mirrors or reflectors and thus create a spanning tree distribution, but I would like to know if there are any automations in that or the tree is hand-knit. --SymlynX 16:56, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Streaming Sucks
why are people dumb, with this streaming crap, sure you can start the video right away, but i would rather download it and watch the whole thing later or in one piece, not take 30 minutes to watch a 5 minute video, plus streaming has to buffer which takes time and sometimes it buffers and then erases everything and you have to start all over again.--Superchad 04:25, 1 December 2006 (UTC)superchad
- I'm glad you have an opinion on this, but have you ever tried watching a football game two hours later? --lynX
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- im not watching football i hate football, im watching the trailer for 24 season 6 and jeicho countdown, which is only avaible on the internet--Superchad 14:40, 10 December 2006 (UTC)superchad
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- I also prefer downloading the file and then watching it to watching streaming video. I like to keep a local copy on my hard drive (after all, I deserve it) and be sure that I'm getting the maximum video quality, not just quality that depends on how fast my connection is. --WikiSlasher 12:45, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
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