Streaming Media FAQs

What is streaming media?

Streaming media technology allows you to watch or listen to multimedia video or audio clips, on your computer. This allows your computer to operate like a radio, television, or even a movie theater.

What are the benefits of streaming media?

Before the advent of streaming media technology, multimedia video and audio clips were downloaded as files (usually .AVI or .MPG) to your hard disk before you could view them. Then the file had to be opened using separate software applications like Apple's Quicktime or Microsoft's Windows Media Player. This created two inconveniences for the user: 1) you had to wait for the media clip to download before you could open it. In theory a ten minute clip could be 10-MB (Megabytes) or more, which on slower connections (56 kbps or less) could take hours to download; 2) you had to have room to store the file on your hard disk.

Streaming media technology solves both of these problems. You are able to view the media clip as-it-is-downloaded, thus there is no waiting for an entire file to download. After a few seconds of buffering the media clip begins playing. In addition, there is no hard disk space required: you view the clip directly from the remote machine it is stored on. With more and more people accessing the internet through high-speed connections like DSL and Cable, users are looking for a more dynamic and hassle-free internet experience. Streaming media is one of many new internet technologies that makes this possible.

How do I view streaming media on my computer?

You have to download and install a streaming media "player" that decompresses the files when they get to your computer. The player sends the file's video elements to your computer's screen, and the audio elements to the speakers. These players can be downloaded for free onto your hard drive from a few different vendors.

What are the most common streaming video players?

RealNetwork's RealPlayer ...basic version is free.
Microsoft's Windows Media Player ...free download, plays streaming and downloadable media files.
Apple's QuickTime ...free download, plays streaming and downloadable media files.

All three players are viable options for viewing streaming media, but RealPlayer has silently begun to dominate the industry as it is the most widely used player on the market.

What's the difference between players and their technologies?

Each player's technologies are very similar, but they use different file formats to encode and decompress files. To be fully prepared for an online streaming experience you might want to download all three players so you are prepared for whatever format is being used by the site you are surfing. At NHPTV our streaming video clips are currently only available as RealMedia files, so in order to view them you would need to have the RealPlayer installed.