Web Host Question

[Charles]

I have had a website since 2000 and have used the same web host provider.
Even though I am happy I have found better plans with other companies.

I want to start hosting and streaming more video so more space would be
needed. I have been successful with using the Windows Media Player plugin for
embedding video files inside Frontpage. Also I plan on using Real Video or
Quicktime as several MAC users seem to have trouble with the Windows player.

ReadySetConnect.com seems to offer what I am looking for however they are
vague about streaming video. Here is what their support site says:

Can I stream media over my website?
No. Although you can upload media to your site that can be downloaded by
others, we do not support streaming services.


If I embed the media player into the webpage is that consider a "streaming
service." I am confused about the wording not how to do it as I have done it
before but on my current host. What does "streaming services" mean?

I have an email out to this host but this forum has always been helpful for
me in the past. Thanks.
Charles

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

True streaming requires a streaming media server, which both MS and Real have available. Suggest you
visit http://www.Real.com and http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia to learn more about media
distribution and available options.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, WebCircle, MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================

 

[Charles]

Thanks for the link. I have done some reading. I am a bit confused about web
hosting providers. I followed several links to companies but know of them
show hosting plans. Any recommended web hosts? Thanks.

 

[Charles]

I look both Microsoft and Real websites. They are both very informative. I
watched the video that was posted on the Microsoft regarding streaming. My
current host and the host I was looking at does not provide what I would then
need. Is there a list of host providers available? Any help would be greatlt
appreciated.

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

In many cases you will not find a web host that does streaming in a shared hosting environment, in
which case you will need a second host that only does media streaming and support Windows Media or
Real.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, WebCircle, MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================

 

[Windsun]

Things may have changed, but about a year ago we checked out a streaming
media host for some training videos we have.

They wanted TONS of money, so we went back to the "download this" button.

 

[Andrew Murray]

I have had a website since 2000 and have used the same web host provider.
Even though I am happy I have found better plans with other companies.

I want to start hosting and streaming more video so more space would be
needed. I have been successful with using the Windows Media Player plugin
for
embedding video files inside Frontpage. Also I plan on using Real Video or
Quicktime as several MAC users seem to have trouble with the Windows
player.

ReadySetConnect.com seems to offer what I am looking for however they are
vague about streaming video. Here is what their support site says:

Can I stream media over my website?
No. Although you can upload media to your site that can be downloaded by
others, we do not support streaming services.


If I embed the media player into the webpage is that consider a "streaming
service." I am confused about the wording not how to do it as I have done
it
before but on my current host. What does "streaming services" mean?

I have an email out to this host but this forum has always been helpful
for
me in the past. Thanks.
Charles


"streaming" in this context means "play as it downloads" rather than
"download whole file then play"

Like listening to radio broadcast on the net that is "Streaming Audio"
because you're hearing it as you would over a radio receiver (but broadband
connection is better since the bandwidth required is pretty high).

Cable TV in effect, is "Streaming Media" (very high quality compared to
video/audio over the internet, although this is improving, broadband over
phone lines is still limited) because it is broadcast and you receive it
through your set top box/decoder via a coax or fibre-optic cable (just as
you do with a DSL modem/cat 5/ISDN cable, rather than "airwaves"
transmission.

 

[windy]

In the end streaming on the web is about quality, if you want proper
quality streaming then you need to use a content delivery network that
has distributed servers. Historically this has been really expensive
as it has been a business market and this have been costed
accordingly. Most ISP's dont offer this, some allow you to put video
files on an HTTP server, some have a streaming server but no network
and hence the quality can be terrible.

There are now a couple of good sites that offer affordable streaming
services using proper global content delivery networks - try
http://www.mydeo.com - you can use the site to upload and view stats,
and it'll generate the code for your site as well. What do you think?