I have been using the software Windows Media Encoder lately and thought the information I have learned about streaming video would make a good article, especially since I have been mainly using this software to help answer streaming video questions that have come our way.
I have been using the ViewCast Osprey 210 card as my video capture card. This is a simple card which allows the capture of full NTSC Resolution Video via Composite Video/Audio or BNC Video connections. For those who need different connections ViewCast offers a wide range of captures cards that work great with Windows Media Encoder.
Windows Media Encoder can be used for three different kinds of streaming video. The first being creating a file to upload to your website, CDN or YouTube/MySpace site and have it viewed on demand. The next two are live streaming: inside your internal network or office and the other over the internet.
Let's say you have been out biking all day with the ATC2000 Action Camera strapped to your helmet. You get home and want to put your newly captured video footage on a streaming video website like YouTube.com. But what do you do? How do you stream your video on the internet? You can simply plug it in to the Osprey 210 and using the simple capture wizard inside of Windows Media Encoder you can capture you footage and it is saved as a wmv file. The wizard gives you multiple options to save your video file for different types of content distribution (i.e. Windows Media Server, Web Server, Pocket PC or File Archive).
Another great feature of Windows Media Encoder is that you can choose your bitrate and resolution size. The higher the bitrate, the better the quality. But also the more bandwidth and server speed need to be view online. The file you create can now be placed on your website as well. Remember, if you feel you will have a lot of people visiting your website and viewing your video, you will want to use a CDN so you server doesn't get over loaded. CDN stands for Content Delivery Network, which is a system of computers networked together across the Internet that cooperate transparently to deliver content (especially large media content) to end users.
However one of the great features of using the Osprey 210 with Windows Media Encoder is being about to stream live. This is great for when you want to do a conference at your office and the need for video comes up but you can't all get together in the same room.
You simply plug you camera info you capture device and set up the capture for live streaming. When using the Wizard choose the "Broadcast a live event" option.
For live events over the internet where you will have multiple people logging into to view you session you will want to use a CDN so your server will not get over loaded. When using a CDN you will have your live stream "pushed to a server". Your CDN will give you the information needed to upload and also the URL your viewers will use to view the stream.
However for those doing internal network streaming (all in the same office and not over the internet) or one on one streaming over the internet you will choose the "pull from the encoder" option. This allows you to set up the stream and then your viewers enter a URL WME provides into their Window Media Player so they can view the file. The screen right after you select "pull from the encoder" you will be provided you "HTTP port" - and the URL for the viewers to use.
You will be provided a URL for over the internet streaming and also for you local network. First for local networks you might be provided a port number of 1198 and then a URL like: http://cavalier28:1198/. Your view then would open Windows Media Player and once you start streaming and can enter in that URL in the "open URL" window. However when I used the above URL in our office it did not work due to the viewers computers not seeing a computer by the name of "cavalier28" I needed the assigned IP address my local network assigned the computer that was sending the stream. To get the IP address you run Command Prompt and type in "ipconfig".
This provided me with my IP address and I just replace the computer name with it to give me - http://192.168.254.5:1198/. Then when I typed this into Windows Media Player I was viewing the streaming video with our problem. Be aware there is a slight delay.
You do have to start the streaming before a user can log into the ULR and as with the creating a file you do have the option of bitrate and also archive the file for viewing later. You can also add a already recorded intro or end to you live stream if you would like.
Now when if comes to streaming over the internet it works the same way as above. WME will provide a URL for you viewer to enter into their player. This only works if you computer detects that you firewall will allow an outside source to access the stream. If it can't you will get the message in the ULR space "(could not detect). So you might need to play with you firewall setting on your router or set up the streaming system outside the router and directly to the internet. When you have it set up you will provide a URL and all you have to do it start the stream and the viewer type it in to their player and now Grandma in CT is viewing Johnny blow out his candles in TX on his first birthday.
I hope this helps and lets you start streaming today.
