Streaming provides a mechanism that allows you to watch the movie or to listen music without downloading the whole file. Above we explain what streaming does, but not exactly what it is. At least, not what it is for RealPlayer. Each stream carries specific types of information. When you watch a video the visual part, what you watch, comes to you in one stream while the sound comes in another.
What is life streaming?
Life streaming means continuous data delivery. To guarantee a smooth playback, each data packet must be delivered with a strict deadline. [2]
Figure: Creating an Audio Stream [1]
As shown in figure, there are four steps to create an audio stream. Each step is described below: [1]
Step 1: Capture Audio
This step records or creates an audio which is going to change into audio stream later.
Step 2: Edit the Capture Data
Content provider adds or removes some contents on the recorded audio from step1.
Step 3: Encoding
Encoding is the process of getting file ready to be streamed. It takes a file as input and breaks it up into readable packets so that it can be sent and read. Every clip or every stream in a clip is encoded for a specific bit rate. The higher the resolution (the more information) a stream has, the higher the bandwidth it needs to get the information through to you at a useable speed.
The edited file in step2 is encoded into a stream. It means that the file is prepared to be streamed.
Step 4: Deliver the clip
The encoded file is placed on a Server to serve so that the streaming client can play it for you.
Figure: How a Real Player plays the streamed audioSteps:
Step1: Open webpage say http://www.bbc.co.uk/nepali
Step 2: Click Listen Online (Chose to Daily News)
Step 3: Browser knows that the media is streamed and handovers to
RealPlayer/Windows Media Player according to your setting.
Step 4: RealPlayer plays the streamed audio.
References:
[1]. http://service.real.com/help/player/plus_manual.8/htmfiles/whatisrpp.htm#20306
[2]. http://www.cs.iastate.edu/~tobyxu/research-PLP-ROA.htm
