Don’t miss Stephen Tonna, Apple QuickTime product manager, as he guides you through hosting and posting choices. He provides insight into when to deliver via RTSP or HTTP, how to post your project on a web or streaming server, and how to use advanced techniques to deliver your content to a variety of audiences.
The QuickTime family of products offers the ideal solution for delivering your content over the web-whether you are looking to deliver live broadcasts or provide video on-demand for your audience. QuickTime 7 Pro makes it a snap to create content for delivery via progressive download—also known as Fast Start - (HTTP) using a web server or real-time streaming (RTSP) using a streaming server like QuickTime Streaming Server. Regardless of the type of delivery you choose, Mac OS X Server includes everything you need to publish and deliver your content to the world.
“All the right tools are included in Mac OS X Server, whether delivering your media via progressive downloads using a standard web server, or streaming content in real-time using QuickTime Streaming Server or Darwin Streaming Server”
—
Stephen Tonna
QuickTime product manager,
Apple Computer, Inc.
Progressive download or real-time streaming?
When making a decision between progressive download and real-time streaming, it is important to understand how each one works. Progressive download allows users to watch or listen to media as it is downloaded from a standard web server such as Apache, built into Mac OS X Server. This method works best for short-form media and ensures that all users will have the same experience regardless of their connection speed. However, this means that a copy of the media will reside on the user's hard drive and those with slower connection speeds will have to wait longer to experience the entire piece of content. However, all customers will receive the same experience when playing back the content.
Delivering your media using the real-time streaming protocol (RTSP) requires the use of streaming server software such as QuickTime Streaming Server, built into Mac OS X Server. This method allows you to deliver long-form content because no file is ever downloaded to the user's hard drive: the media is played but never stored. Additionally, real-time streaming is the only option for delivering live broadcasts over the web. With the amazing Instant-On feature provided by QuickTime Streaming Server, viewers can experience your content immediately without having to wait for anything to be downloaded. They can even jump to the end of the clip as if the content was on their hard drive.
Using the latest version of Mac OS X Server, v10.5, providing real-time streaming or progressive downloads has never been easier. Included with Mac OS X Server is QTSS Publisher, an easy-to-use tool for managing your server-side media securely and remotely from any Macintosh computer. Taking the guesswork out of publishing digital media, QTSS Publisher automatically prepares your content for delivery via progressive download or real-time streaming, generates the necessary HTML for publishing your content to a web page and even allows you to create server-side playlists. Essentially, QTSS Publisher turns your server into a virtual radio or TV station. Not only is it easy-to-use, but also it is powerful. Leveraging the high-performance architecture of the Xserve and the scalability of QuickTime Streaming Server, you will be able to reach audiences of virtually any size.
Scalable storage and servers Once you start serving or posting your media projects, you’ll need plenty of storage space, and a server that can handle a demanding media environment. Apple offers both server and storage products that stretch your budget and your resources by providing data access and services without compromise. Xserve, Apple’s 1U rackmount server, and the Promise VTrak E-Class RAID Subsystem, high-capacity storage from Promise Technology, Inc., are designed to scale easily. They provide a standards-based UNIX platform for media storage and sharing with unmatched price-performance.
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