|
Small Business Can Get Real with Internet Video –
or the basics of using Real Video for your small biz Internet needs
Some
people use Internet video to send out pictures of their parties and
family events. Many corporations use streaming media to distribute
messages to thousands of employees worldwide. Other companies are using
the Internet to host and distribute full- length feature films and
productions.
Small
businesses can also use Internet video to promote themselves and make
money. For example, lets say you are a real estate agent or an up and
coming moviemaker who wants to use the Internet to promote your business
and capabilities. You may
have about ten or so video clips you would like to stream out to your
potential web visitors. Each is about five minutes long. What do you
need to do and what kind of gear do you require?
The
first requirement is bandwidth. At the most, how many people may be
accessing your web site at one time? Five, ten, hundred, a thousand?
Let’s assume that as a small business, that at first, you will
get maybe ten at once.
Depending
on what bit-rate your files have been compressed at will indicate what
you need to connect out to the web.
For example, most Internet video producers compress at three
rates, 56 Kbps for dial up, 100 Kbps for DSL or ISDN and 300Kbps for
good DSL and cable modem. Let’s assume that your web visitors average
100K streams. Simply multiply the 10 streams by 100 Kbps each and you
get 1,000 Kbps or 1 Mbps. Now
multiply that by an added 20 to 30 per cent for network overhead and you
will have a good approximation of your broadband connection needs.
You
also need to store the files. A five-minute long, 100 Kbps file takes up
about 4 MB of space or so. Simply multiply the length of the video in
seconds by the bit rate. Then divide by 8 to convert it from bits to
bytes. 300 seconds times 100K equals 30,000K divided by 8 equals 3750 K
or about 3.75 MB of space.
Voila.
Now do it again at 20 Kbps for the 56K dial-up connections and by 300
Kbps for the high-speed folk. Multiply the total by ten for each of the
ten videos and you should get a rough ballpark estimate of how much
storage space you need. Luckily, storage space is cheap.
If
you use a more advanced Real System server, you can create what are
known as SureStream files. Real’s SureStream enables you to encode
just once for all the Internet transmission variables. The Real System
Server then can interact with your viewer’s web connection to provide
the best possible viewing experience depending on how wide their
broadband pipe is. In addition, SureStream can vary the broadcast
bit-rate as the Internet network gets too busy and congested. In other
words, if the net is wide open, a viewer may be getting 300 Kbps video
delivered to their computer screen.
If there is Internet congestion, instead of freezing the video or
dropping frames, SureStream will automatically throttle down the speed
and hopefully the viewer won’t notice the change in broadcast quality.
The negative is that SureStream files are much larger than typical Real
Video files and take up more space on your hard drive.
How
to prepare your video for the Internet – using Real System Producer
If
you are starting with edited DV, MPEG or AVI files, you need to compress
and convert them to Real Media files before posting them to the
Internet. Many commercial video editing programs enable you to do this
as part of the output stage of the production. Depending on what editing
program you are using, you will get different set of options and
capabilities for your final Real Media conversion. Some entry-level
programs only provide a single RM option and quality/bit rate
compression choice. More expensive, fully featured programs will provide
many more.
If
you are not satisfied with your video editing tool’s compression
options and features, if your program does not output to Real, or if you
are working from finished AVI video files, you can choose to use either
the free RealSystem Producer Basic or RealSystem Producer Pro for $199.
The
free RealSystem Producer Basic enables you to create content at two
connection speeds while RealSystem Producer Pro gives you eight
selections. In addition, Basic is only compatible with the new
RealPlayer 8 and RealOne while videos created using Pro can be viewed by
all the older RealPlayers. In addition, the pro version includes the
RealMedia editor which lets you trim the start and stop times of your
video files, paste several clips together into one, and synchronize HTML
pages with video and audio content. The Pro versions Broadcast simulator
lets you preview your clips at various bandwidth levels so that you can
experience exactly what your web visitors will be seeing.
By
the way, if you don’t have video capture hardware or video editing
software, you should consider the special Real Video Creation Kits.
There are two versions – Standard
version for those capturing, editing and webcasting analog footage and
Digital for capturing, editing and broadcasting digital video footage.
Real Video Creation Standard version ($349) includes an Osprey210 analog
video and audio capture card, VideoFramer editing software and
RealSystem Producer plus for creating the streaming video files. The
Digital version ($249) includes Studio Solution for RealVideo that is
composed of a DV capture card and cables, as well as DV capture and
editing software. It also includes the Real System Producer Plus for
creating your streaming files.
By
connecting a live video camera and audio source to your computer running
Real System Producer, you can create a live web cast. Of course, once
the live RealMedia file is being encoded in real time, it needs to be
fed into another system running Real Systems server in order to feed it
out over the Internet. You also need a video server to distribute your
encoded RealVideo files created by Real Producer.
You
can have your Real Producer software and RealSystem software all running
on a single machine. However, if you are planning to do live web casts,
it is recommended that you have one computer do the encoding and another
computer do the serving. Your live camera and audio feed run into the
RealProducer box, get encoded and then transferred out via Ethernet to
the Real Server box that then connects out via your broadband supplier
and serves the streaming videos out to the world.
How
to Serve – using Real Systems Server
Once
you have your files encoded into a Real Media format, you are ready to
serve them out as demanded over the Internet. Some Internet broadcasters
just provide a single streaming video format – either Real Video, or
QuickTime, or Windows Media. Others try to accommodate them all. It
really is your call. As all of these players are free, and are rapidly
and easily accessible via downloads from the manufacturers web sites, it
is doubtful that any web surfers will be unable to view your movies even
if you decide to use only a single file type.
If
you decide to support all three formats, you should use a dedicated
machine running Real Media server software. According to Dave Cotter,
Group Products Manager at Real, even though it is possible to run both
RealSystem Server and Windows Media Server on the same machine, it makes
more sense to run them on separate boxes. As RealSystem Server also
supports the streaming of QuickTime files, you would only need two boxes
– one for Real Video and QuickTime, and a separate server box for
serving Windows media files.
However,
in the real world, it makes much more sense to just pick one format and
stay with it. It is a lot simpler and a lot less expensive.
Most people who are using the Internet already have RealVideo
player installed on their computer. You might want to be careful though
and add a direct link to the RealPlayer download site just in case.
According
to Cotter, many small businesses prefer to use RealSystem Video server
versus Microsoft server because of this ability of Real Networks to
serve both Real Media and QuickTime on a variety of operating machines
and systems. And, he said, “RealSystem Servers are much easier to set
up and administer. Setting
up a Windows Media server can be very complicated and requires more
steps.”
Which
RealSystem Server Should You Pick?
There
are several different flavors of RealSystem Servers to choose from. You
can use the free RealSystem Server Basic version that provides up to 25
simultaneous connections, the $1995
RealSystem Server Plus which can support up to 60 streams, or the
top of the line $5995 RealSystem Server Professional that can support a
hundred streams and enables the user to easily add more streaming
capabilities as needed. In addition, the advanced products also include
support for additional interactivity and programming options.
For
just starting out, the free Real System Server may work just fine. Real
Networks will be happy to sell you a bigger and better system as your
needs increase.
What
kind of hardware do you need?
If
you are running Windows the minimum specifications for RealSystem
Producer is 200 MHz Pentium but a P3 is recommended. RealProducer will
run on Windows 95, 98 or ME but Windows NT, 2000 or XP is recommended.
The Real Networks website says you can get away with only 32 MB of RAM
but at least 64 MB is recommended. However, as with most computer
applications, the more power and RAM you throw at it, the happier you
will be. If you are using a Mac, you’ll need at least a Power PC but a
400 GHz or better G4 is recommended. You need at least 64 MB of RAM but
of course, the more the better, especially if plan on doing live
encoding for web casting.
Here
are the details for Encoder System Requirements
http://www.realnetworks.com/products/producer/specifications.html
For
RealSystem Server, minimum is an Intel Pentium running Windows NT,
Windows 2000 or XP Workstation. You’ll need at least 256 MB of RAM and
512 MB is recommended. The more RAM, the more users that can be served
at one time. RealSystem Server will work with most common web server
programs including Apache, Microsoft IIS, Netscape Netsite and
Enterprise Server. You can also run RealSystem Server on a Mac Power PC
or better. For more info about technical requirements for
RealSystem Servers, check
http://www.realnetworks.com/products/servers/plus/specifications.html
For
your Internet connection, it is much preferable to have a Static IP
address rather than the dynamic address used by most consumer and
business broadband accounts. A dynamic address means that every time you
connect to the Internet, you get an assigned IP address. It changes each
time you connect. Obviously, that makes it a bit difficult for web
surfers to find you. Contact your service provider. You usually get
charged a bit extra for a static address but it is well worth it. You
CAN set up a server using dynamic but you will need extra equipment and
a bit complex.
Bigger
and Better
What
if you want to serve more video streams at a single time?
We have extrapolated a server that would provide 10 100 Kbps
streams simultaneously. This requires a one Mbps upload connection.
Unfortunately, most business and personal broadband accounts
provide very fast download connections, but a much slower upload. For
example, my cable download is a screaming 1.5 Mbps or so but my upload
is only 300 to 400 Kbps at the best. With this connection, plus an extra
20 to 30 per cent for network overhead, I could only serve out three or
so 100 K connections before my bandwidth limit was exceeded.
What
are your options? You could decide only to stream at 56K or slower, you
could purchase a bigger Internet pipe to your home or business, or, as
many ISPs would recommend, you collocate your server with your ISP.
By
co-locating your server, you have direct access to your ISP's backbone
connection and your webcasts are not limited by the size of Internet
connection running to your location.
In addition, according to Rob Ayer, Network Operations Manager of
RedWire, a growing ISP in Southern California, by subscribing to a
managed co-location service, you can also reduce your start-up and
capital costs because you can use equipment provided by the ISP. In
addition, you don't have to maintain it. Your collocation fee can
include maintenance and monitoring by the ISP's staff. For example, if
in the middle of the night, or while you are on vacation, your web
server crashes, you don't have to fly back to fix it. The IS staff can
handle it and that can save you some headaches. It is your choice. You
can host your videos yourself or you can have some help. Of course, help
is not free….
So
what should you do when planning your online video business? Start small
and work your way up. Get what you need for your anticipated server
load. Real Video products
are scalable and can always be upgraded to add additional functionality,
bandwidth and subscribers numbers as your business and your streaming
needs grow. Their tech support is friendly and helpful. Spend some time
on the Real Networks web site studying the various how-to manuals and
online documentation regarding how to set up and use RealSystem Producer
and RealSystem servers.
The
hard to find, one year free evaluation version of RealSystem Server
Basic
http://licensekey.realnetworks.com/rnforms/products/servers/eval/index.html?ulf=bas
The
even harder to find download page for Real’s various free and trial
versions of its products.
http://www.realnetworks.com/products/free_trial.html
Information
about all the RealVideo products – from players to servers
http://www.realnetworks.com/products/index.html
|
