Streaming Media Services

ALSO CALLED: Digital Media, Streaming Sound, Video Streaming Services, Streaming Audio Services, Streaming Video Services, Audio Streaming Services, Media Streaming
DEFINITION: Streaming video is content sent in compressed form over the Internet and displayed by the viewer in real time. With streaming video or streaming media, a Web user does not have to wait to download a file to play it. Instead, the media is sent in a continuous stream of data and is played as it arrives. The user needs a player, which is a special program that uncompresses and sends video data to the  … 
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STREAMING MEDIA SERVICES DEFINITION (continued): …  display and audio data to speakers. A player can be either an integral part of a browser or downloaded from the software maker's Web site.Major streaming video and streaming media technologies include RealSystem G2 from RealNetwork, Microsoft Windows Media Technologies (including its NetShow Services and Theater Server), and VDO. Microsoft's approach uses the standard MPEG compression algorithm for video. The other approaches use proprietary algorithms. (The program that does the compression and decompression is sometimes called the codec.) Microsoft's technology offers streaming audio at … 
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