QuickTime for the Web: For Windows and Macintosh, Second Edition
A comprehensive explanation of QuickTime for every multimedia author.
TABLE OF CONTENTS QuickTime for the Web: For Windows and Macintosh, Second Edition
Chapter 7: What about Streaming?
Overview
By now, you should have a pretty good handle on delivering QuickTime movies from a disk or a typical Web server. With that understanding in hand, let's take a closer look at a different delivery method: streaming.
We'll begin with a brief recap of some streaming information that was covered in the introduction. Then we'll look at some of the pros and cons of using streaming to deliver your QuickTime movies. Finally, we'll look under the hood at how streaming works.
What It Is
Streaming is what happens when you send movies across a network and display them in real time.
You aren't downloading a file when you stream a movie. For one thing, a stream can originate from a live video camera; there may be no file to download. For another, the user doesn't get a copy of the movie; QuickTime displays the streams as they come in, then discards them. Finally, you can stream just part of a movie; you don't have to send the whole thing.
What It's Not
For most multimedia technologies, the alternative to streaming is waiting; you either stream the data, playing it as it arrives, or you download a file and play it afterwards. QuickTime offers a third alternative: Fast Start for the Internet. It's not streaming, but it isn't download-and-wait either.
Fast Start movies are designed so they can start playing when only part of the file is present. The information QuickTime needs to start playing the movie is stored at...
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