Streaming Video Hosting
You've got a nice video that you want to share with the world (or a few friends). The easiest way to make it available is to use a streaming video hosting service. Streaming hosting can be done with a service like Google Video or YouTube, or, if you have your own website, you host your own streaming video.
Your website, however, is hosted on an HTTP Web server and this type of server may not be the best solution for streaming video hosting. Most HTTP servers are not suitable for streaming hosting of popular videos.
That's because the technical requirements of streaming video are different from the static content found on most web pages. These requirements are best met with specialized streaming video hosting. An HTTP server, however, will do fine as long as there are not too many requests to view your video.
Streaming Server?
If you expect your video to be popular, the choice is clear - you need a dedicated streaming video hosting service. The problem is, video servers are expensive, but the cost is justified if you are serious about streaming video.
If streaming video is more of a hobby than any profession, you can use a service like Google Video or YouTube for streaming video hosting. You give up some of the control over your video, but in return, you get free streaming video hosting.
If your streaming video requirements demand more than you can get from a free service, you can sign up with a company that specializes in streaming hosting. For the extra expense, you can have total control over the dimensions and length of your streaming video.
The Advantages of Streaming Hosting
Compared to an HTTP server, a streaming video server can handle much higher bandwidths. These servers also have special features which make them ideal for streaming media.
Streaming servers are faster than HTTP servers because they do not require data verification. Every packet of data that is sent by an HTTP server must be acknowledged by the receiving computer. This is to ensure that no part of a webpage is lost during transmission.
Streaming video servers can also verify data transmission, but lost packets of data are not as critical to the video stream. Usually, the worst that can happen is a slight glitch in the video image. This means that streaming video servers are much faster than HTTP servers.
Another advantage of streaming video servers is that they can detect the connection speed. This allows them to automatically deliver an appropriate streaming video for the current connection speed. Streaming servers can even downshift to a lower bit rate in the case of network congestion, so that the video stream continues uninterrupted.
Finally, streaming servers are designed to handle multiple incoming requests for the same video. This feature is essential for streaming popular videos.
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