: Streaming Media

• Windows 2000 Hosting Plans Only
• RealPlayer7 and RealProducer 7 Software
• File Formats
• Getting Started with Audio and Video Files
• Converting Existing Files into RealMedia Files
• Updating and creating .ram files
• Uploading RealMedia Files
• Streaming Media
• Web Page Features
• RealSystem G2 Server Accessibility
• Additional Support for RealSystem G2

Windows 2000 Hosting Plans Only

Real System G2 is not supported on Windows 2000 NT plans. We are running Windows Media Services. Windows 2000 NT supports the streaming of Windows media files such as .asf files.

Modifying Files

You will need to modify your .asx and .asf files as follows:

mms://www.domainname.com/userid/filename.asf

.asf files

.ASF files can be streamed from the users website by linking them inside of an .asx or .wax metafile. When a browser downloads a file with one of these extensions from a website, it opens Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player then locates and plays the content specified in the file.

A Windows Media metafile contains a type of Extensible Markup Language (XML) scripting that can only be interpreted by Windows Media Player. A metafile script can be as simple or complex as you need it to be. The most basic metafile contains simply the URL of some multimedia content on a server.

.asx files

.asx files can be created in notepad and the saved with a .asx extension. For example, a simple .asx file would be as follows:

<ASX version="3.0">
    <Entry>
        <ref HREF="mms://www.DomainName.com/userid/Path/FileName.asf">
    </Entry>
</ASX>

Users must insert their userid in the URL of the .asf file, if the file resides on our servers. If the User ID is not entered in the URL the MMS format will rollover to HTTP streaming format.

Streaming with Real Audio and Real Video Files

Real Audio/Video streaming
rstp://www.domainname.com/userid/subdirectory/filename.rm is not supported under the Windows 2000 platform. However, .rm files may still be played using standard HTTP streaming methods. For example:

http://www.DomainName.com/subdirectory/filename.rm

Additional Information

For More information on Windows Media Metafiles:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/imedia/windowsmedia/crcontent/asx.asp

Content Creation:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/imedia/windowsmedia/contcreation.asp

Converting other media types:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/imedia/windowsmedia/tools/encoder_for_avis.asp

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Streaming Media

What is streaming media?

Streaming media allows you to send small packets of information over a network connection. The user receives the information packets and plays your clip little by little. The process is transparent to the user, except for a small amount of buffering at the start of the clip.

Before the concept of streaming media, users had to wait for a file to download from the Internet or a network server in order to play it. When you create streaming media, users can view it almost instantly.

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