Video Production
5.1 How Can I make My Video Files Available On The Internet?
There are a variety of options available if you want people to see your work. The Internet has become one of the most powerful media tools available in the world today and an excellent place to showcase your work. We will take you through the necessary steps to get your video available for viewing on the Internet. Alternative options will also be looked at including both mainstream and community channels.
The Internet is a global network connecting millions of computers across over 100 countries. It is referred to in a number of ways; the web, the net and very aptly the information superhighway. Think of it as a library on your computer. Information on the Internet is stored on websites, which is like a shop front full of information in different formats including text, images and video. You can have your video available for mass exposure or a select important few. Who do you want to view your video? How do you want them to view it? Do you want to stream, download or progressive download? What’s the difference? Lets have a look in closer details at what these distribution options mean and which is best for you.
Figure 5.1: The world awaits
your next movie!
Understand how people play videos
The video on your site is accessed through a hyperlink (this is usually a graphic or text in a Web page that, when clicked with a mouse, opens a file, this could be another webpage or another type of file such as a video file on your website).
The user will need to have the correct software to be able to play the video. Just like you need a DVD player to play a DVD video you will need Windows Media Player to play Windows Media Video and Quicktime Player to play Quicktime video.
Understand streaming videos
Streaming is the word used to describe any method of delivering video over a network, in this instance the network is the Internet. Streaming is the transfer of video over the Internet allowing the user to play it as it arrives.
Streaming can be used with both live and pre-recorded material, we are not looking at live streaming in this toolkit.
Streaming is useful if you wanted to stop people copying your work, as the viewer cannot store the video because the computer deletes the video as it plays.
If you intend to stream your media then you may need to contact a streaming media company.
Understand downloading videos
Downloading is the process of copying the entire video file from the source website to the viewers computer. These type of files are housed on a standard webserver just like other files on the website such as images. Once the file has been downloaded it can be viewed at any time. The file can be duplicated and re-used on other computers providing the correct software is installed.
Downloading is not dependent on your Internet connection speed as you are downloading the whole video before viewing, although the speed of the connection will effect the time it takes to download.