The Status of Multimedia on the Web
No one can argue that images make the Web explode - a big change from the text-based clime of yore. Sound and motion? Even better! Real life has moving pictures with full stereo sound and it's only human nature to push the Web to include these elements. As the Web features more and more multimedia, we want you to be a part of it.
This tutorial will take you through the entire process of multimedia-izing the Web. We'll start with the basics, showing you how to pack your toolbox so you can actually experience everything. Then we'll move on to capturing, preparing, and publishing multimedia using RealNetwork's RealMedia. We'll conclude with a look at how to stream media files using the RealServer.
Why so much focus on RealPlayer? First and foremost, it's the most ubiquitous player around (which, as you'll see, is very important). The second reason for getting Real in this tutorial is because we know their products, ahem, really well. The Webmonkeys have been using RealMedia in its various forms since RealAudio 1.0 was released way back in 1995. Certainly RealMedia is far from perfect, but we're comfortable with the Real interface and have seen great improvement in their product suite over the years.
Today, before we get our hands dirty and our feet wet, we'll look at the history of multimedia on the Web, paying particular attention to the problems you'll face when you put audio and video on your site.
The answer to the small-pipe/impatient-user problem is to shrink your files down to a manageable size. When a typical digitized movie can eat up a megabyte per second, you HAVE to squash your files. However, file compression means taking away refinement, so the end product is always much worse for the wear. But you can limit the extent of the degradation by being smart about how you compress your files.
Psycho-acoustical research has taught us a great deal about how to remove certain frequencies of "useless bandwidth" that human ears can't detect anyway, thereby reducing file size without affecting the auditory experience (much). Smart multimedia on the Web starts with superior compression algorithms that take advantage of this research.
Alas, purity of the algorithm is not the only thing to consider when picking a compression method; we also have to think about who owns the player. When compressing a multimedia file for the Web you often have to use proprietary software (especially if you are interested in having your file stream onto the page). Once the file is compressed and up on your server, it is usually only accessible to users who have the player created by the same company that developed your compression or encoding tool.
So as a site developer, your goal is to pick a tool and an associated player that you think most of your users already have (à la the browser war). Though you can never be certain who is coming to your site or what tools they have, you just have to make an educated guess and hope for the best.
A few years ago, the field was wide open with no standard at all for multimedia compression on the Web. Seeing a potential need within the developing Web industry, a host of small companies sought to establish the kind of market share Netscape enjoyed at that time. They all tried to be the best (and the cheapest, considering Netscape was free) product on the market. It was a heady time for a number of start-ups, but sadly, due to the hyper-Darwinistic world of Web capitalism, few of them survived.
This tutorial will take you through the entire process of multimedia-izing the Web. We'll start with the basics, showing you how to pack your toolbox so you can actually experience everything. Then we'll move on to capturing, preparing, and publishing multimedia using RealNetwork's RealMedia. We'll conclude with a look at how to stream media files using the RealServer.
Why so much focus on RealPlayer? First and foremost, it's the most ubiquitous player around (which, as you'll see, is very important). The second reason for getting Real in this tutorial is because we know their products, ahem, really well. The Webmonkeys have been using RealMedia in its various forms since RealAudio 1.0 was released way back in 1995. Certainly RealMedia is far from perfect, but we're comfortable with the Real interface and have seen great improvement in their product suite over the years.
Today, before we get our hands dirty and our feet wet, we'll look at the history of multimedia on the Web, paying particular attention to the problems you'll face when you put audio and video on your site.
The answer to the small-pipe/impatient-user problem is to shrink your files down to a manageable size. When a typical digitized movie can eat up a megabyte per second, you HAVE to squash your files. However, file compression means taking away refinement, so the end product is always much worse for the wear. But you can limit the extent of the degradation by being smart about how you compress your files.
Psycho-acoustical research has taught us a great deal about how to remove certain frequencies of "useless bandwidth" that human ears can't detect anyway, thereby reducing file size without affecting the auditory experience (much). Smart multimedia on the Web starts with superior compression algorithms that take advantage of this research.
Alas, purity of the algorithm is not the only thing to consider when picking a compression method; we also have to think about who owns the player. When compressing a multimedia file for the Web you often have to use proprietary software (especially if you are interested in having your file stream onto the page). Once the file is compressed and up on your server, it is usually only accessible to users who have the player created by the same company that developed your compression or encoding tool.
So as a site developer, your goal is to pick a tool and an associated player that you think most of your users already have (à la the browser war). Though you can never be certain who is coming to your site or what tools they have, you just have to make an educated guess and hope for the best.
A few years ago, the field was wide open with no standard at all for multimedia compression on the Web. Seeing a potential need within the developing Web industry, a host of small companies sought to establish the kind of market share Netscape enjoyed at that time. They all tried to be the best (and the cheapest, considering Netscape was free) product on the market. It was a heady time for a number of start-ups, but sadly, due to the hyper-Darwinistic world of Web capitalism, few of them survived.
posted by sr at
7:46 AM
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