Image Processing Reference
In-Depth Information
26
Putting Video on the Web
26.1
Web Delivery
Web-based video delivery presents the digital video in a compressed form as a stream that
you can join at any time. This is like jumping on a train as it passes through the station
without stopping.
There may be multiple streams, as with a broadcast TV multiplex, but in this case the
streams are synchronous and only relate to a single program.
26.2
Adding Video to Your Web Pages
Over the last few years, it has become popular for broadcasters to augment their TV serv-
ices by providing web-based services. This has been particularly true of news broadcast-
ers. Having come from the TV world, they naturally have a large body of video content
available for repurposing. Many broadcasters' web sites provide links on the relevant
story pages so that the clips can be viewed on a PC screen.
The BBC News Online web site uses a very complex content-management system
with a database-driven model of the web site and all the video assets. This allows up to 200
clips of video to be embedded every day, although the site doesn't always deploy that many.
Often, just placing a link on a page will be sufficient to call up a player application
and display the video. More sophisticated approaches involve embedding the video con-
tent in a web page. Usability studies indicate that the best way to approach this is to cre-
ate a separate console in which the video is played. The console is designed to take up only
the space required for the video and some helpful supporting graphics or text. This is
much smaller than a normal web page. The console can be parked in the corner of the
screen and you can carry on with other work while it is on display.
Embedding the video directly into the body of the main web site can be problematic
because the user is then unable to continue browsing. With a separate console, the user is
free to browse while the video is buffering or loading, and the whole experience generally
runs more smoothly.
Real Networks video embedding: http://www.realnetworks.com/resources/samples/embedded.html
RealOne player: http://www.realnetworks.com/resources/samples/realone.html
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