Streaming Media: Technologies, Standards, Applications (Paperback)

In recent years, streaming media has developed from a technical gimmick to the innovation engine of the Internet. Businesses are starting to use streaming technology to make their websites more attractive and innovative and so depend on the quality of multimedia communication to deliver the best sites. Whether the goal is video conferencing, distance learning, telemedicine or real-time entertainment broadcasts, demand for expertise in the underlying technologies is growing rapidly.

In Streaming Media, system engineers, network administrators and product developers will find a straightforward and technical introduction to key technologies. The book is written at a suitable level and style for students on multimedia communication courses. A complete overview of the current technical possibilities and standards is given, focussing on the current leading systems, namely:

• RealMedia from RealNetworks
• Windows Media from Microsoft and
• Quicktime from Apple.

There is also coverage of a number of other approaches, tools and hardware components. Using real-world examples you will see in full detail how to handle the compression, coding, storage and communication of the full range of digital media types, in order to quickly deliver streaming media of the highest possible quality.

The accompanying website features a variety of tools to get you started immediately. www.streaming-media.info

Table of Contents

Preface.

1. The basics of streaming technology.

Streaming.

On-demand content and live broadcasts.

Bandwidth.

SureStream/Multiple Bit Rate.  

Streaming media protocols.

Splitting and Load balancing.

Unicasting and Multicasting.

Embedding.

SMIL.

Data compression.

2. Streaming video production.

Source material.

Capturing.

Encoding.

Provision.

Requesting.

A sample live broadcast.

3. RealSystem.

Audio and video codecs.

SureStreaming.

Creating RealMedia content.

Delivering RealMedia content.

Playing back RealMedia content.

4. Microsoft Windows Media.

Audio and video codecs.

Multiple bit rate video.

Creating Windows Media content.

Providing Windows Media content.

Playing back Windows Media content.

5. QuickTime.

Multitalent QuickTime.

Audio and video codecs.

Creating QuickTime content - On Demand.

Creating QuickTime co ntent - Livestreams.

Providing QuickTime content.

Playing back QuickTime content.

Further solutions.

Further solutions for audio streaming.

Further solutions for video streaming.

Further streaming technologies?

Further tools for generating content.

Hardware.

6. Concluding Remarks.

Comparing systems.

The future...

Index.

近年來，流媒體從一種技術噱頭發展成為互聯網創新引擎。企業開始使用流媒體技術使其網站更具吸引力和創新性，因此對多媒體通信質量的依賴性也越來越高，以提供最佳的網站體驗。無論目標是視頻會議、遠程學習、遠程醫療還是實時娛樂廣播，對底層技術的專業知識需求正在迅速增長。

在《流媒體》一書中，系統工程師、網絡管理員和產品開發人員將找到一個簡單而技術性的介紹關鍵技術的入門指南。本書以適合多媒體通信課程的學生的水平和風格撰寫。全面概述了當前技術可能性和標準，重點關注當前主要的系統，即：

- RealNetworks 的 RealMedia
- 微軟的 Windows Media
- 蘋果的 Quicktime

還介紹了其他一些方法、工具和硬件組件。通過真實世界的例子，您將詳細了解如何處理全範圍的數字媒體類型的壓縮、編碼、存儲和通信，以便快速提供最高質量的流媒體。

附帶的網站提供了各種工具，讓您立即開始使用。網址：www.streaming-media.info

目錄：

前言

1. 流媒體技術基礎

- 流媒體
- 按需內容和實時廣播
- 帶寬
- SureStream/Multiple Bit Rate
- 流媒體協議
- 分割和負載平衡
- 單播和多播
- 嵌入
- SMIL
- 數據壓縮

2. 流媒體視頻製作

- 源材料
- 捕獲
- 編碼
- 提供
- 請求
- 一個實時廣播示例

3. RealSystem

- 音頻和視頻編解碼器
- SureStreaming
- 創建 RealMedia 內容
- 提供 RealMedia 內容
- 播放 RealMedia 內容

4. 微軟 Windows Media

- 音頻和視頻編解碼器
- 多比特率視頻
- 創建 Windows Media 內容
- 提供 Windows Media 內容
- 播放 Windows Media 內容

5. QuickTime

- 多功能 QuickTime
- 音頻和視頻編解碼器
- 創建 QuickTime 內容 - 按需
- 創建 QuickTime 內容 - 實時流
- 提供 QuickTime 內容
- 播放 QuickTime 內容

- 其他解決方案
- 音頻流媒體的其他解決方案
- 視頻流媒體的其他解決方案
- 其他流媒體技術？
- 生成內容的其他工具
- 硬件

6. 總結

- 系統比較
- 未來展望

索引