Streaming

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What is Streaming?

Delivery of an electronic transmission through a Local Area Network or across the Internet so that video and/or audio from a source can be seen and heard on personal computers, Smart Phones and mobile devices is called Streaming. The term Streaming is used to define computer network based broadcasting which is to mean that a network is used as the medium to transmit signals from source to destination.

In general, the process of using the Internet to transmit content by encoding it into a number of decodable formats is called Streaming. Software players decode the Streaming content when it is received by and end user's device (PC, Mac or phone). Apple QuickTime, Adobe Flash Player and Microsoft Windows Media Player are examples of decoders that present Streamed content in a window for listener or viewer. Each player type has its own features and benefits.

Advantages of Streaming

Streaming audio or video can be a low cost way to distribute a message to a wide audience of PC, Mac and Smart Phone listeners or viewers. The ability to stream live material is called Live Streaming while the ability to archive it for later playback is called On-Demand Streaming. Both Live and On-Demand Streaming enable extremely economical distribution of content to a wide, and possibly global, audience.

Disadvantages of Streaming

Player capabilities on PC's, Mac's and Smart Phones are all different and this complicates the ease of creating streams of content that are presented identically on multiple user devices. Some viewing platforms cannot receive or decode a streamed video format and therefore users cannot always view or hear content as expected.

How do I get started with Streaming?

For commercial streaming support and to learn how to stream video and/or audio, we recommend contacting a service provider with experience creating and serving Streams. In order to create a successful commercial stream, the capture and encoding of source material should be an integral part of the planning and execution of an event. TKO VideoConferencing can assist you with this planning for and execution of a successful streaming event.

Streaming for personal use is supported very well by Google's YouTube. In addition through the creation of Apple "Podcasts" individuals can experiment with and use streaming tools for themselves and their communities. We recommend searching the Internet for blogs related to live personal streaming, YouTube and Podcasting. There are a number of communities that can help you learn how to stream your personal video and audio content.

What does a Streaming cost?

Streaming services, including Live Video Streaming for commercial business use is priced per hour. One hour of video streaming for commercial use costs $2,500 USD to $5,000 USD. Additional hours of video streaming cost $500 to $1,500 USD per hour.

Important factors that affect Streaming costs include:

• Whether the Stream is Audio only or Video and Audio
• Length of program
• The Number of encoding formats
• User/Viewer registration and conditional password access
• Starting page special requirements or layout
• Number of expected viewers or listeners
• Event management assistance that may be needed
• Presentation of slides with the live video and audio