Just a few years ago, it would have been almost unthinkable to use streaming video service for something as mundane as personal videos. Today, however, this is not only possible, but also a very convenient way to use the media.

Q: Why should I use streaming video for my personal films?

A: As you know, pictures and videos demand very large files. Instead of sending those files with email, it’s much smarter to put them online in flash players, and then invite your family and friends to watch them in their browser.

If you use software that can create streaming video, your visitors don’t even have to wait for the film to download. They can start watching after a few seconds.

Q: What kinds of videos could I use?

A: Family reunions would be a nice choice. People love to watch themselves on video time and time again. So record those family reunions, and put the output online afterwards. Your family will love you for it.

Another option would be birthday cards or salutations. Instead of sending a card, you can record a video with a Flip cam or web cam. Send off your happy birthday wishes by video. Alternatively, show the newborn to your friends and family in a video.

Obviously, if you have kids or pets in the house, you can record movies with them, and set them online. Even strangers like to watch funny or cute situations.

Q: Could I use it to create a special gift for somebody?

A: Yes, that would be an excellent idea. Let’s say that you want to offer a friend an Amazon gift card. You should start by creating a video, greeting your friend, and then to set up this video on a secret page. Create another page with the number from the Amazon gift card, and let the film redirect your friend to this page, when he’s seen the video.

This would make for a great surprise. First to watch a personalized greeting, and then to receive the gift in such an original way.

Q: Any other ideas about how to use streaming video with personal videos?

A: Plenty. You can record yourself on the fishing trip with little Timmy, and set the video online on your blog. Conversely, get somebody to record you, while you’re cooking your special dinner. In fact, you can use video in any way you like, and it’s easy to both record it today, and to set it online, thanks to streaming video software.

By: Britt Malka

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One of the primary obstacles for video content distribution over the Internet is the cost of specialized software required to encode video. Video encoding consists of converting video content into compressed digital data that can be easily distributed electronically.

There are several software development companies that sell closed source software for video encoding and content distribution. The cost and available features of the different software packages vary. Some software companies require additional royalty payments for use of their encoding software.

Thanks to the efforts of several software developers, there is free software that does not require royalty payments. This software can be used for both commercial and non commercial projects.

NullSoft

Justin Frankel, the creator of the Winamp media software player, also developed NullSoft video. This format was specifically designed for distributing video media through the Internet and is based on the Shoutcast Internet protocol.

Both open source and closed source video codecs are supported by NullSoft. Codecs are software programs that allow media to be digitally encoded or decoded using a specific compression architecture. These video codecs include the VP3 open source and the VP6.1 / VP6.2 closed source. The MP3 and AAC audio codecs are supported as well. The VP3 video and MP3 audio codecs are included with the NullSoft tools download.

A free set of tools for encoding and streaming video through the Internet using NullSoft was also created. You can download the NullSoft video tools package direct from the NullSoft web site.

NullSoft content can be streamed through the Internet with the following free media server software:

- Shoutcast DNAS
- Icecast
- Steamcast

scvi.net is the unofficial information resource website for NullSoft video. You can find many tutorials, guides and third party software tools to download here.

There are several media software players that can view the NullSoft format.

These include:

- Winamp
- Video Lan Client
- Mplayer
- Xine
- X box

Theora Video

The Theora project is being developed as a complete open source video solution. The group behind this project is ( http://www.xiph.org.) This format uses the Theora video codec and the Ogg Vorbis audio codec.

The Theora project uses the Theora video codec which is based upon the VP3 codec developed by ON2. The Theora codec offers core architectural improvements to provide better video encoding and playback performance.

Both live and pre recorded multimedia can be distributed via the Internet using Theora.

Theora content can be streamed through the Internet with the following free media server software:

- Icecast
- JRoar
- Flumotion
- Steamcast

There are several media software applications that can play the Theora format.

These include:

- Video Lan Client
- Mplayer
- Xine
- Xbox Media Center
- Real (Player) Alternative

Theora can also be deployed with Java components for web site use. This will allow people to watch Theora multiemdia without the need for installing additional player software.

Tim Gnatek of the New York Times wrote a article entitled “Internet TV: Don’t Touch That Mouse!”.

This article highlights some of the problems associated with content delivery via the Internet. These problems include how independent broadcasters will be able to “keep up with viewer demand, given the cost of the servers and Internet connections required” in addition to “How do you get it (video content) from your garage to the Web?”

These barriers on the information superhighway are being removed by Internet video stations using alternative media distribution methods.

Some of these alternative methods include:

P2P video streaming

P2P streaming does not require a centralized server architecture for content distribution. Each client that views the video content automatically relays it to the next person requesting access to the video. This greatly reduces the need for large amounts of bandwidth for content delivery.

Unlike P2P file trading, P2P streaming can be used to broadcast live multiemdia content using several encoding formats and is supported on various computer operating systems.

Video podcasting

Video podcasting allows people to publish content via a web host with no specialized server software. A specialized data client using Really Simple Syndication provides users access to the most current video content. The multiemdia content can be downloaded on a computer or hand held media device for viewing at a later time.

You can use both NullSoft and Theora for multimedia podcasting.

By: David Childers

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For every great tool the internet has given us like live video streaming services, the internet has also given us wonderful distractions like live panda webcams. Before we decry them, these distractions also show us how far we’ve come and how much we have stayed the same.

To see how much the internet has changed life as we know it you have to look at the simple things. Sure, we have stuff like live video streaming services, and you can listen to radio live from just about anywhere in the world, but that stuff is the stuff you tend to think about everyday. Instead, just take a look at all the stupid little distractions that live streaming video has given us in the last decade. You can check out just about anything online. As we speak I am watching a live webcam of a baby panda from the San Diego Zoo. Cute? Yes. Unnecessary? Absolutely. But if there is anything that is indicative of the “age of the internet”, this is it. You now have literally millions of ways of waste your time, and you can access them anytime you want. And frankly, there is nothing wrong with this.

Don’t get me wrong, distraction did not just begin with the internet. Let me tell you a little story I heard when I was on a family vacation back in the late 90′s. On a cruise to Alaska we had an excursion day in Juneau. During our excursion we hired a cab to take us around and see the sights. During one of our stops our cabbie told us a story about how the local cable supplier had an open channel which they decided to fill with a live camera of a fish tank while they tried to negotiate a real network to fill that slot. About six months later they finally filled the channel with a real entertainment network, hence taking the fish tank off the air. To the cable suppliers surprise they were bombarded with calls and letters from locals demanding that they bring the fish tank back. Apparently they became so attached to the fish tank that they watched the channel religiously.

To me, stories like this prove that there is always a market for these live animal webcams online. Webcams showing everything from pandas to buildings to trees to, yes, even fish tanks gets thousands of viewers daily. Do they make money? Who knows, but they show where technology has taken us. But this is just the way it goes with technology: each medium starts out as a way to get information out and then as it advances in comes other sources and, eventually, distractions. When television was created it was three channels. Now, there are 500-1000 channels and no lack of “distractions” on the airwaves. Heck, even the news channels are “entertainment” based.

This is what happened with the internet. Once people got use to webcams and e-mail, then came web based entertainment and around the clock web coverage. Where will the internet in the future? Who knows, but I know that I’ll be there watching it.

By: Kimberly Green

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Need help with Netgear wireless router setup? This must be your next search after having purchased a Netgear wireless router, which you are quite upbeat about connecting it to your laptop and PS3 to stream live video or play favorite media files. You may also not be interested in going through the entire installation process yourself and understanding each and every step as it is arduous and time consuming. Or, in another case, you may have already setup your Netgear wireless router, but you are stuck as its not responding or showing error messages.

Netgear wireless router being one of the most popular wireless networking devices allows you to interconnect your computers, laptops, peripheral devices, and non-computer devices etc. It means you can share media files or documents, do live streaming, browse internet, send/receive emails, or print documents etc. simultaneously. Easy it sounds, but highly cumbersome the procedure is for setting up a Netgear wireless router.

Therefore, we have decided to help you out by bringing this comprehensive and easy-to-understand guide to you. The purpose of this guide is to provide you step-by-step information on Netgear router setup support in the most user-friendly way and save you from doing rounds of vendor’s shop and exploring different websites for right Netgear technical support and spending a great deal of time.

A Netgear Wireless router package ideally contains:

A wireless router A blue Ethernet cable A power adapter (varies region-wise) A resource (installation) compact disc (CD) including the Smart Wizard Installation Assistant and the manual Warranty card Support information card

Methods of Netgear Wireless Router Setup:

Smart Wizard Installation Assistant Setup Manual Setup

What is required before you start?

An active internet connection Configuration information, provided by your ISP (internet service provider) when you subscribed to their service. You may require one or more than one of the below mentioned information for your Netgear router setup:

Host & domain names

Domain name server (DNS) addresses

Fixed or static IP addresses

Internet login user name and password (could be an email address & password)

Smart Wizard Installation Assistant Setup Method

Insert the ‘resource CD’ into your PC and wait for the response. The CD will start itself automatically and recognize your PC’s language viz. English or French etc. click on ‘yes’ or ‘ok’ to continue in the same language or change it if you want to. Click on ‘next’ to proceed Click on ‘setup’ to launch the Smart Installation Assistant Follow rest of the instructions and the wizard would check your internet connection, configure wireless network settings, and choose the optimum security level for your network.

Manual Setup Method

Below are the easy steps that will help you access Netgear router setup:

Open up your browser viz. internet explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome etc., whichever you are using Type 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 in the address bar of your browser and then hit ‘enter’ on the keyboard or ‘go’ tab on the browser. You will see a login screen, which will prompt you to enter your login information viz. username and password. Enter your user name and password in the window. If it’s a new router, then the login information would the default one came along with the router. Or, if it’s a router you have been using previously, then the information would be the configuration information that you entered while setting it up for the first time. After logging in, you will see a setup utility window Once you have setup your router, you can use it for wireless networking

So, you see how easy it was to setup a Netgear wireless router. However, the process may seem lengthy and cumbersome to you. In this case, you can always approach us via toll-free phone service or internet chat. We provide online technical support services for a broad range of products including Netgear routers, other wireless routers, Microsoft products, and non-computer devices etc.

By: Kumar Gandharva Jha

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For those unfamiliar with webinars, they are live streaming video presentations viewed with the Internet. Learning how to host successful webinars can seem like a tough task, but it can actually be very simple when a few easy tips are followed. Anyone who is preparing to host a webinar should practice before going live. You will want to be sure that nothing important is left out of the PowerPoint slides, and that every aspect of the feature will run smoothly. The most important thing is to sound professional. You want to convince all of your viewers that you know what you are doing. It is strongly advised, therefore, that before hosting a webinar, you have some practice sessions with friends well ahead of time. Try pretending that you are live. Have some self-recording sessions and compare the results to your friend’s notes.

When rehearsing for your upcoming webinars, it may be very tempting to gloss over the seemingly less important areas. However, when practicing, it is actually vital to pretend that you are live, on the air. This will help you in your ability to deliver a pristine presentation when it is time for the real thing. If you make any errors in your practice, you will be able to work them out in time for your real performance to be flawless. By doing this, you will nip accidents in the bud before they can ever have the chance to happen to you.

It is vital to have a practice audience for asking questions during your trial runs. When you are practicing alone, it is easy to forget about leaving plenty of space for any question the viewers might ask. Perhaps some of your viewers will even impart something very important to you during the webinar which will slow it down for up to fifteen minutes. Leaving plenty of time for such interruptions can help you to be completely prepared, even if there are no questions asked during the webinar. Try asking your practice audience to ask you a few questions about the presentation for added realism in practice.

Another crucial aspect of practice is to take recordings of yourself. While it is wonderful to practice with friends watching you, recording yourself takes the preparation to an even higher level. You will be able to see and hear yourself as others will see and hear you, giving you the opportunity to make any last-minute improvements in your delivery of the presentation. Try letting someone else watch the video so that they can give you a detailed critique.

One of the special promotions you can try to keep the viewers hooked is to offer the webinar session as a bonus along with whatever is being sold in the presentation. You can also note that if your viewers would like to watch the webinar again or replay any areas of it, they can access it in a members only section. This kind of instant gratification is very attractive to most people and will keep them coming back. Be sure to include such information in your practice runs so that you will not forget to mention it when you are live.

You should always practice as if you are live on the air. Record yourself, have your practicing partner ask questions and leave a fair amount of open space.

By: Robert Plank

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While uploading recorded videos can help get you noticed and gain a lot of fans, another great way to get you famous is to broadcast your own live web shows.

You Tube has been experimenting with live video streaming in the past year; with things like a U2 concert and an Indian Premier League match. The site has also streamed webcasts of US President Barack Obama’s press conference as well as San Francisco’s “Outside Lands” concert, and recently a Bon Jovi concert live from NYC. Google, who owns YouTube, previously said it didn’t want to go into the realm of live video because of the cost, but that doesn’t seem to be the case now since YouTube recently held a two-day trial of its live video streaming platform allowing four users to feed live broadcasts to their You Tube channels. It’s now generally expected that YouTube will provide live streaming to everyone (or at least all Partners) within the near future.

This development is a breath of fresh air for YouTube partners and millions of subscribers. Nothing beats going on air live and it keeps viewers tuned in for more of your show. There’s also something more exciting about live video as the viewers know that you’re right there, right as they’re watching. They get a sense of actually being there and experiencing something with you, as opposed to afterwards when you’re more removed from it. You get to speak to your audience directly through chat, and vice versa. There’s also more room for fun and spontaneity in it, almost like being in a reality TV show. No editing is required and it can be as simple as you just talking to a single camera.

From my experience with live video (I used to a variety of things including a cooking segment in my webshow on BlogTV ), I had regulars who would tune in to watch my show every week. These regulars hardly miss my webcast, but missed a lot of my YouTube videos. It only goes to show how live videos have great potential to be profitable and to interest your followers and prospects.

Live video streaming also has the ability to form a sense of community among your viewers (again with the chat area beside the videos where the audience members can get to know each other). I was able to appoint moderators for the chat room from the regulars, which they were excited about, and helped to control the user experience at the same time while keeping the power in the hands of the viewers essentially.

Social media tools still play an important part in getting exposure online, but it is always wise to consider doing as many different things as possible to attract all kinds of different people. Think about it: some people like tweeting, some prefer Facebook interactions, some like watching polished videos, and some like watching raw, live video. The more you can do to cater to the different types of people that you’re trying to attract with video, the more success you’ll have in reaching all of them!

By: Josh Rimer

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I love wireless microphones!

Wireless microphones not only help the videographer get great sound, but they also help you get great video. Not having to mess with that mess of tangled black spaghetti known as audio cables is more than just convenient, it also allows you to put the cameras in positions you couldn’t if you were restricted by cables. Using a wireless keeps people from tripping over cables too!

Here is a brief description of how a wireless mic works. First, they usually have half a dozen pieces, but essentially, there are two basic parts.

* Transmitter
* Receiver

The actual microphone is plugged into the transmitter. The person speaking usually wears the transmitter by clipping it to their belt or shoving it into their pocket. Pay close attention when you are watching some TV shows and you can see a little black box about the size of a deck of cards on people’s back tucked into their belt. This is the wireless transmitter. They put it on their back to hide it as much as possible.

Then, the receiver is plugged into the camera, or where ever your sound is being recorded.

The transmitter takes the microphone signal and transmits it to the receiver via a radio signal. The receiver picks up the signal much like a radio picks up a radio station signal.

Instead of having your audio travel from the microphone to the recording device through a cable, it travels through the air. So it is this cable that is eliminated. This is the only cable that is eliminated, but it is your most limiting cable so dealing with the other cables is no big deal. Other cables are used to plug the mic into the transmitter and the receiver into the recording device, so a wireless microphone system is not COMPLETELY wireless, which can confuse people.

You can buy wireless microphone in sets, like the one pictured above. This way, you can easily use multiple mics together. Each mic needs to have its own radio signal. Problems arise when these radio signals conflict or get crossed. Sets eliminate that problem. You can also eliminate the problem by setting your mics to different frequencies, but that takes both a microphone that allows you that kind of control and the know-how to do it. It’s usually not too complicated though.

A good wireless microphone will cost quite a bit more than a comparable wired mic. Anything cheaper than $300 is probably not very good. A crummy wireless is a total pain in the butt because the signal will cut out and have tons of interference and static.

If there is no advantage to using a wireless, go with a wired. The advantages of using a wireless usually boil down to being able to let the camera move more freely and be further away from the people speaking. So if you’re recording something while everyone is seated, using a wireless microphone is not going to help you much.

You can buy wireless microphone systems that do not actually include a microphone, it is just the transmitter and receiver. These work with multiple microphones. You can get a hand held mic, a lavaliere and a shot gun microphone all to work with the same transmitter and receiver system.

If you are shooting video where the camera needs to move about freely, having a wireless microphone is very helpful.

B&H photo has a great selection of wireless mics. I just went to their site and 94 pages worth of results came up for the keywords wireless microphone.

Thanks for reading Video Production Tips
Lorraine Grula
Internet Video Gal

By: Lorraine Grula

About the Author:

Streaming video software makes it possible for you to put all kinds of movies online on your site or blog – also the ones you’ve captured with a Flip cam. This article will give you a few tips to getting the most out of your personal videos.

If you’ve ever been on a bad connection to the Internet, you’ll know that pictures take a huge time to load. Videos consist of lots of pictures, so downloading a full film could take hours.

However, if the video is streamed, it means that you can watch it before it’s fully downloaded. You save a lot of time here. And so do your visitors, if you add streaming video to your site.

Instead of sending your videos to friends or family through email, which is, by the way, only possible with smaller videos, you could add them to your site as streaming video. You can do that easily with streaming video software.

Family Reunions

Did you videotape uncle Bob’s 70 year birthday? Or Britney’s and Paul’s wedding? Share those valuable clips by setting them online in a FLV player, so everybody can watch time and time again.

Family reunions are something we all value highly, and we can enjoy watching those old videos even years after.

Birthday Cards or Salutations

Use a Flip cam or video camera to record a birthday message to Grand-daddy, or send your best wishes to Aunt Audrey, who finally found a new house.

Newborn in the family? Show him or her to the world in a video on your home page.

Animals and Children

You don’t really need a special occasion to create a video with your children or pets. These always make fine subjects for a movie, and people — even strangers — love to watch funny or cute situations.

Gifts On a Secret Page

If you want to offer a special gift to somebody, but you don’t live near that person, you can create a very special gift with the help of streaming video.

Create your video with your own salutations on it. Find your gift online, or prepare a gift card from Amazon or another online store. You’ll get a number that should be used by the receiver of the gift card. Create a secret page with that number on, and another secret page to your video.

Setup your video with streaming video software, and make sure that the visitor is redirected to your special, secret gift page. Send the link to the person, you’re offering the gift to. He’ll watch the video, and afterwards, he’ll see his present.

By: Britt Malka

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Video capture is the process of transferring video from your camera to your computer. Not so long ago, moving video from camera to computer was not a cheap or easy process and required some very expensive equipment. Now, it’s almost automatic, plug and play connections and new software have made this process quite simple.

There are several video capture and editing software suites on the market, in different price ranges. Computers running Windows XP come with a basic video capture and editing program called Windows Movie Maker, which works just fine for capturing video.

I have two suites on my computer and they are Ulead VideoStudio10 Plus and Sony Vegas Plus V6.0. Which ever one you are using then open the program and plug in the camcorder using the firewire cable. Plugging in the camcorder will normally launch the appropriate video capture program on your computer certainly if you are running XP. Make sure your camera is set to ‘plaback’ mode.

Learn how to use you video capture and editing software and be familiar with it.Of course there is nothing like learning as you go and capturing video is really easy anyway. The software will control your camera so you can locate and copy the best of the video you shot into your computer. It’s really that easy. Give your video an appropriate project or file name and you’re ready to start editing.

One thing that you must decide at this stage is the file format to save the files in. DV-AVI will be the format of choice as it is the native format of the camcorder and there will be no loss of quality in the transfer. The downside is that the saved files will be large. Another decision to make is if you want the video and audio on the channel (DV1) or on seperate channels (DV2)when the video clip is being edited on the time line of the editing software.

Once captured then we will be able to edit the video, as already mentioned, but that is another step for another day.

Depending on your digital camera, computer, and video editing software combination you may be able to capture your video footage directly into your video editing software as you’re shooting.

That’s a great idea for your first video or two because you can quickly replay and review the take on your computers large screen. Most XP computers with Windows Movie Maker will allow you to capture live video from a digital camera with a fire wire connection. Logitech webcams do this using a USB connection. Make sure that your firewire cable is long enough for ease of use.

By: Bruce Walls

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What is progressive download? How is video streamed live over the internet? All these questions and more are answered in this article.

Corporate websites are now embedding helpful ‘how to’ and ‘introductory’ video files in their website pages, and are becoming increasingly aware that their visitors are far more likely to watch a 3 minute video than to read pages of text.

With video streaming over the internet now being taken for granted, we have to ask; How does it work?

Firstly, we have to break video streaming down into its 3 most commonly used forms.

1) On demand video streaming
2) Progressive download
3) Live video streaming

On demand video streaming This is where a video content is streamed over the internet when a website visitor demands it. An example of this is when you click a play button for a video you want to watch and the video plays. This is very similar to the ‘Progressive download’ that we have mentioned except for one main difference. When a video is streamed it is using streaming server technology. Steaming servers are a great way to make sure the video is delivered as it should be. Streaming video with the various streaming server technologies also allows us to do more than just stream our video. We can actually have ‘user interaction’ with our streaming server allowing us to take a video watcher to a shop to buy something they have seen and ‘clicked on’ in the video they are watching for example.

Progressive download: This is where your video player downloads the whole video into your computers memory while the video is playing.

Live video streaming: Live video streaming requires a capture device, like a video camera, encoding software that transcodes or converts the video signal from the camera into a web compliant video format and a streaming server.

The video camera will pass on the video information to the encoder, which will send the transcoded video up to the streaming server (usually over the internet) using One of the various streaming protocols. The streaming server will then broadcast the encoded video over the internet to your viewers who will see your video live, generally with a short delay, commonly about 7 to 20 seconds of what is happening in real time.

What is MPEG4? MPEG4 has been designed to allow video playpack on a wide variety of platforms. It can be used on computers, HD TV, PDA’s and mobile phones.

Although there are many different video formats on the internet, the basis for all streaming, whether live, on demand or progressive download, all work using similar coding schemes derived from work done for MPEG2, the prior format to MPEG4.

MPEG4 is made up of ‘data channels’ used to send the video stream and the audio stream. The number of data channels is not explicit. Generally we have a video transport channel that is used to stream the video data, we have up to 8 channels for audio, usually MP3 or AAC (Advance Audio Codec), we have a channel for subtitles and we have a data channel that allows information to be passed to and from the streaming server.

The reason video can be streamed successfully over the web is the delivery method. Video, especially in films, is delivered frame by frame. This is carried over from traditional filming methods where each frame contains the full picture presented to the viewer. These frames are played back one after the other so quickly that, to the human eye, creates the effect of continuous movement.

Compressed MPEG4 video is made up of ‘I-Frames’ and ‘P-Frames. I-Frames are effectively frames that contain all the information needed to display a frame, where a P-Frame is an update of an I-Frame. So what the decoder does is show an I-frame and then show a series of P-Frames that update changes in movement etc. Because of this, the video size is massively reduced. This explains why, when watching a video over the internet you sometimes see blank squares in the picture. This is because the P-Frames were not received in time and the decoder cannot update those areas in the video.

What is a Codec A Codec is a way of coding and decoding information. So all the various video formats on the internet work in a similar way, using an encoder to reduce video and audio data whilst preserving as much quality as possible. This video is then transmitted over the internet and when it reaches the clients player it gets decoded into, or as near to, its original format.

The Codec for video that is gaining popularity is H264. The reason being it works equally well for TV or mobiles.

By: Anadi Taylor

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