The foundation of streaming media server erection

First, the preface

As more and more friends start to choose ADSL, Cable modem or fttb+ LAN as the primary way to access the Internet, the broadband era is coming, which makes us "broadband KTV, av chat room, online cinema, distance education" dream will become a reality, and its closely related to the "streaming media ( Streaming media) "has also become a hot topic for many people to talk about, because" streaming media "is the technical impetus to achieve these broadband applications.

The advent of the broadband era has also enabled netizens to stop being content with a service-only audience, which needs to communicate on a larger scale to reflect individual values, so many friends start using their own computers to build webcasts and video-on-demand sites. They are filled with enthusiasm, but there is no denying that the Chinese netizens are technically deficient, so that they are in the construction of such a site encountered a lot of dangers, so that give up. How to make this enthusiasm under the guidance of technology to become the driving force, which is what our home computer to do, so, today, here, I will show you how to build their own streaming media server.

However, before starting a formal streaming server Setup, let's take a look at the basics of streaming media servers.

Ii. basic knowledge of streaming media

What is streaming media?

At present, there are two kinds of solutions for multimedia information such as audio/video transmission on the network, namely HTTP or FTP downloading and streaming transmission.

HTTP or FTP downloads use standard HTTP and FTP protocols, but because of the size of multimedia information, downloading a multimedia file typically takes a few minutes or a few hours, creating a video that doesn't know what the content is, it may take longer than the entire video to complete the download. These downloaded files must also be completed before downloading, put on the network server, the direct result is that: the network bandwidth continues to improve, people download the waiting time less and more, but ultimately can not watch live live online.

Streaming, audio, video or animation, such as multimedia information from the streaming media server to the user's computer continuous, real-time transmission, it first in the consumer computer to create a buffer, in front of the broadcast to download a piece of information as a buffer, the user does not have to wait for the entire file to download complete, It takes only a few seconds or a dozen seconds of startup delay to watch. When multimedia information is played on the client computer, the remainder of the file will continue downloading from the server in the background. If the network connection speed is less than the speed required for the playback of the multimedia information, the playback program will take the data from the previously established small buffer to avoid the interruption of playback, so that the playback quality can be maintained.

In addition to being able to send the finished file, streaming transmission can also collect the live audio and video from the collection server, push it to the streaming media server, and provide it to the users in real time. Therefore, besides being able to bear the same multimedia VOD service as the following, streaming media can be applied in many fields, such as live broadcast, TV relay, emergency report and so on, which require high real-time transmission.

Manufacturers of streaming media

Streaming media market is huge, the world's many excellent manufacturers have joined this ranks, at this stage is the system integrators competition in the geomantic treasure. In the general market, there are three competing companies: Microsoft, RealNetworks, Apple, and the corresponding products are: Windows media, Real Media, QuickTime. and recently, to develop Winamp famous Nullsoft company also in its own MP3 server added video support, in the streaming media market.

Because Apple's server and editing software are generally operating on the Mac platform, Nullsoft streaming media server is a new immature business, so today I would mainly introduce Microsoft and RealNetworks products.