Media Players


To view video on the web, you must have a media player. Regardless of whether you are allowing your users to download, progressively downloading, or streaming media files, users must have a media player that supports the media type you're offering on your web pages. Many sites offer media content in three formatsWindows Media Player, Real Media, and QuickTimeand a fourth, Flash video, is slowly gaining steam and making its mark on the web.

The world of media players is constantly changing. As of this writing, Apple has announced QuickTime 7, Microsoft is shipping Media Player 10, Real is allowing free downloads of its RealPlayer 10.5, and Macromedia has introduced Flash Player 8. Today's media players play much more than video. Microsoft's Media Player and Real's RealPlayer allow direct purchases and subsequent downloads of music and movies directly from their players. Even better, these players are now directly integrating mobile devices such as Apple's iPod, Creative's Nomad series, and even Windows Media Player for Pocket PC. Beyond that, most media players are interoperable, meaning that they'll all play each others media types with few to no problems and little quality degradation.

RealMedia

RealNetworks (Real) was the first to offer a streaming server and is considered the grandfather of streaming video. As of this writing, it has the largest part of the market share with more than 55% of users using the RealPlayer product in some form or fashion. RealPlayer supports video, images, text, Flash movies, and audio.

The three primary software components of RealMedia are listed here:

  • RealPlayer: By far one of the most versatile media players on the market, Real's RealPlayer can play various media types. RealPlayer can be downloaded for free at http://www.real.com. Additionally, services such as RealRhapsody (an online music store), RadioPass (offers online radio station access), and SuperPass (provides video on demand) can be purchased for prices ranging from $9.99/month$12.99/month or RadioPass for $49.99/year.

  • Helix Producer: You can use this encoding software as a way to convert audio and video (MPEG, QuickTime, Windows Media, and so on) into Real's native RealMedia (RM) format. You can download Helix Producer Basic for free or get the full-featured Helix Producer Plus for about $200 at http://www.realnetworks.com/products/producer.

  • Helix Server and Helix Proxy: Whether you are getting started or have been streaming for some time, the Helix Server and Helix Proxy product lines from Real have been designed to help you deliver the highest quality digital media experience to the largest audience at the lowest cost. The Helix product line is the most powerful server software available for streaming media files across an intranet, the Internet, or over a mobile network. More information can be found at http://www.realnetworks.com/products/media_delivery.html.

Real is undoubtedly the pioneer in streaming video and by far offers the most versatile media player in that its RealPlayer product is supported by more platforms than any other media player on the market today. The RealPlayer is available for Windows, Macintosh, Unix, Linux, and OS/2. Beyond compatibility, the RealPlayer offers subscription-based plans to view certain content from CNN, ABCNEWS, E!, and FoxSports, to name a few.

QuickTime

Apple was ahead of its time back in the early 1990s when it introduced an application called QuickTime. QuickTime was the first application that enabled you to play digital video on a computer. Today, QuickTime sets the standard in multimedia playback, offering a clean, brushed-aluminum interface for viewing video on the web.

Often, people confuse QuickTime with the QuickTime Video format. The QuickTime Player is a separate application dedicated to viewing different content including QuickTime Video, Flash movies, Windows Media, 3D objects (QuickTime Virtual RealityQTVR), MP3, MPEG, and much more. Like Real, QuickTime has three main software components:

  • QuickTime Player: Like the RealPlayer which plays native RM files, the QuickTime Player plays native MOV files and can play many more formats. You can download the QuickTime player for free at http://www.apple.com/quicktime.

  • QuickTime Player Pro: For $29.99, you can purchase a key code that unlocks all the content-creation features built into QuickTime. Using the key code turns the QuickTime Player into QuickTime Player Pro, which essentially allows you to convert media files into QuickTime MOV files, enables video compositing capabilities, and so on. For more information on upgrading to QuickTime Player Pro, visit http://www.apple.com/quicktime/buy.

  • QuickTime Streaming Server: Like Real's Helix Server, the QuickTime Streaming Server allows video to be streamed over the web. Unlike Real's Helix Server however, the QuickTime Streaming Server can be downloaded for free at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/qtss.

QuickTime enjoys roughly 62% of the market (http://www.macromedia.com/software/player_census/flashplayer) for rich media and is the top choice for graphics professionals. QuickTime offers the highest-quality video playback, and because of its support for MPEG-4, QuickTime is quickly becoming a standard for quality-conscious developers. Currently, QuickTime Player is available for Mac OS and Windows. For more information on MPEG-4 and Apple's contributions to the standard, visit Apple's Web site at http://www.apple.com/mpeg4.

Windows Media

Enjoying a large share of the market and installed on all Windows operating systems, Windows Media Player has become an extremely viable platform for viewing video both on your desktop and directly through the web browser. Like Real's RealPlayer, the Windows Media Player has the capability to play numerous video formats such as ASF, ASX, AVI, MPG, MOV, and WMV; it can also play audio formats such as MP3, AIF, and AU. Software involved with Windows Media includes the following:

  • Windows Media Player: As mentioned, Windows Media Player comes pre-installed on all Windows operating systems and comes ready to play numerous video and audio formats. For more information and the latest updates for Windows Media, visit the website at http://www.windowsmedia.com. Beyond the simplicities of standard video and audio formats, Windows Media Player supports numerous third-party components including InterVideo's XPack (which allows DVDs to be played directly through Windows Media Player, MP3's to be burned and ripped directly through the player, and more). For more information on InterVideo's XPack, visit their website at http://www.intervideo.com/products/custom/ms/windowsxp/media_pack.jsp. For a complete list of third-party plug-ins supported by Windows Media Player, visit http://www.wmplugins.com.

  • Windows Media Server: Like Real's Helix Server and QuickTime's Streaming Server, Microsoft provides server software in its Windows Media Server product that allows you to stream live or on-demand content to Windows Media Players both on desktops and wireless devices such as Pocket PCs. More information can be found at the Windows Media Server website at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/server.aspx.

Flash Video

As I've already mentioned, the slow evolution of video on the web is caused in large part by the variety of media players, platforms, and user configurations. Viewing a high-quality video clip over the web just seems out of reach at this time. Flash Video (represented by the FLV extension), aims to obliterate that stigma. Supported by Flash Player 7 and above, Flash Video offers technological and creative benefits that allow designers to create immersive, rich experiences that fuse video with data, graphics, sound, and dynamic interactive control.

Because it enjoys roughly 98% of the market share, the benefits to using Flash Video are extensive. First, no additional plug-ins are required of the user. As long as the user has the Flash Player plug-in version 7 or higher, viewing Flash Video isn't a problem. Second, and possibly more important, Flash Video files load quickly and provide a rich and immersive experience for the end user. Because Flash Player treats Flash Video as just another media type, you can layer, script, and control video just like any other object in a SWF file. As it relates to Dreamweaver, Flash Video can be embedded directly in a Web page. What this means is that the file plays directly in the page as opposed to launching a pop-up window that can interrupt the user experience. As you'll see later in the chapter, creating Flash Video is a snap and generally involves encoding a video file to the Flash Video format. After the file has been encoded, the resulting FLV file can be embedded directly into a Web page using Dreamweaver.




Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 Unleashed
Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 Unleashed
ISBN: 0672327600
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 237
Authors: Zak Ruvalcaba

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