The following applications all provide their brand of players and encoders for viewing and creating streaming media on the Web.

QuickTime

(www.apple.com/quicktime/)

Quicktime technology was originally only available for the Mac being part of Apple's commitment to multimedia. Up to version 4 it was possible to download files using Quicktime but version 4.1 also supports HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) and SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language).

There are a variety of Codecs that can be used with Quicktime, Sorenson and Cinepak being two of the most popular. Premiere provides a choice of Codecs for making your movie. It is always worth bearing in mind the final use for your film and remember that all Codecs will affect the movie in terms of image quality. Experiment with a few different ones to find out which one suits your purpose the best.

Real

(www.real.com)

Real has also been around for a few years with RealAudio coming out in 1994 and RealVideo in 1997. RealNetworks have always enabled streaming as well as downloadable files. The G2 Real Producer has a really clear wizard that takes you through the entire encoding process giving control over the level of compression ranging from a 28K modem to a 512K Cable modem enabling streaming over really low bandwidth. It also enables control over the type of compression, for example if your film has a lot of movement, music etc.

One thing that should be born in mind with the G2 is that it isn't a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) Codec and to see what the video will look like on older machines you really need to test it on the other platforms.

You can pay for Real Producer Plus which includes a Bandwidth Simulator, a utility that integrates into your RealPlayer allowing you to preview content under a variety of network conditions and an .rm editor which allows you to trim, cut and paste your existing RealMedia assets. The Real Producer G2 creates files with the extension .rm and .ram.

Windows Media

(www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/en/default.asp)

Windows Media is Microsoft's answer for the Internet video market. It can play audio and video in most popular formats. It can read and perform commands scripted in an .asx (ASF Stream Redirector) file and receive script commands, markers, and metadata, such as clip title, author, and copyright. The file format is the Advanced Streaming Format .asf.

The main Codec for Windows Media is the MPEG-4 v3 Codec, which is Microsoft's implementation of the MPEG-4 Codec for streaming Web videos. Microsoft have made a real concerted effort to break into the moving image market recently. They have produced their own version of encoding software etc. but it is far less intuitive than the particularly user-friendly Real with far less reliability than Quicktime. If its any consolation though, you get a range of different 'skins' for your Windows Media Player as well as some really groovy graphics to accompany your own tunes.

DSL

The official description of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is a service that offers a faster Internet connection than a standard dial-up connection. DSL technology uses existing 2-wire copper telephone wiring to deliver high-speed data. DSL uses the existing phone line and in most cases does not require an additional phone line. Its various forms include ADSL, HDSL, IDSL, R-ADSL, SDSL, and VDSL--DSL.

Although barely four years old, streaming has become one of the major battlegrounds of the Internet. Aware that they need to get a foot in the door, traditional broadcasters e.g. the BBC, Sky etc. are vying alongside newcomers such as dfilm (www.dfilm.com) and countless others. Despite the current poor quality of film clips on the Net, compared to the cinema and television, movie clips and short films are still some of the most sought after content on the Internet. This has led to a large scale search for independent filmmakers and their work. Many of these sites will quite willingly display these films. However, a word of warning, they also often ask for the filmmaker to sign away any future exhibition rights!

This behaviour will be familiar to many independent filmmakers who are often asked to provide their work free of charge, in exchange for a foothold into television production etc. The main difference is that the Internet is not limited to four channels with an established viewing audience. Rather than appearing 'centre stage' on 'the' film website it is more likely to act as additional content and appear in a list amongst hundreds of other short films. Explore the benefits to you as a filmmaker before you give someone else your hard earned 'content'. You could contact sites like www.plugincinema.com who specialize in creating and exhibiting films specifically for the Internet, or, you could create your own website and exhibit it yourself!

Next we will show you how to create a film for your site using footage captured from DV and then how to stream it using Real Producer.