Media Player - Multicast
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Media Player:
Software used for the display and play back of audio and video.
Megabit (Mb):
1048576 bits (2 Raised to the power 20) equivalent to 1024 Kilobits.
Megabits per second (Mbps):
Unit of data transfer over a network. 1 Mbps equates to 1,000,000
bits being transfered every second.
Megabyte (MB):
1048576 bytes / 1024Kilobytes
Metafile:
A text file containing URL's
of media file locations, and proprietory information about the stream.
Sometimes called a reference
or pointer
file, the most common ones have file extention .asx for Windows
Media .ram for Real
Media and .qtl for QuickTime.
MMS:
Microsofts multimedia streaming protocol.
Mount Point:
A designated partition on the streaming server dedicated to a specific
client or application.
MP3:
An audio compression algorithm more formally known as MPEG1-Layer3.
MPEG 1 (ISO/IEC-11172):
Video standard created by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG).
MPEG 2 (ISO/IEC-13818 ):
An advanced standard created by MPEG widely used for DVD recordings.
MPEG 4 (ISO/IEC-14496. ):
A streaming standard created by MPEG.
Multi bitrate:
A file encoded with several different bitrates,
generally at modem and broadband
streams for intelligent streaming playback.
Multicast:
A network broadcast allowing multiple clients to "tune in"
to single output stream as opposed to multiple concurrent connections.
Currently this is only suited to closed netowrks as generally internet
routers, and peering agreements prohibit widespread usage.
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Multicasting
Multicast technology enables networked users to tune into the same
stream from a common node.
For example if two people live in houses next door to each other in
Coventry and they tune into a stream coming from London, instead of
two seperate streams being delivered all the way from London, one
stream is sent from London to Coventry, and it splits for the last
portion of the trip to the individual houses.
This significantly reduces the required bandwidth for a live broadcast.
Unfortunately despite the multicast technology being available, only
a small portion of the internet has the necessary equipment for this
to work.
Furthermore with so many different operators who share bandwidth via
peering agreements, multicasting effects the business rules and revenu
streams that are currently in place.
Consequently it is probably going to be some time before multicasting
is available outside of closed networks such as company intranets.
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