• Downloading

This traditional method is the one in which the user will have to wait for the file to download in his local machine and then play the file in a player. The user will not be able to view the video unless the file is downloaded completely. He must also choose the right player to play the file. Right player, in the sense: the one which understands the codec used by the video file.

Accomplishing this method in a webpage is pretty simple for a developer. He has to upload the file in the web server and provide a link to the file in the webpage. An alternate method is to embed the file in the webpage with a player using a HTML code. When the user clicks the link, the download begins. This method is commonly referred to as HTTP Streaming. This method is still used by a number of sites. And yes the point is it does not cause any trouble if the site traffic is low. One notable inability of this traditional method is that no live streaming can be done since there can never be a complete file during live transmission.

• Streaming

In the case of a streamed video, the file is sent to the end user in a continuous stream which allows him to watch the video as and when it reaches the local system. Streaming has gained so much popularity with live telecasts. When you browse through the web you will find podcasts and webcasts delivering video. Both of these use streaming method to deliver video. A webcast is mostly a single file that is played live or on demand whereas a podcast comes as a series and is delivered on demand. Another widely used streamed application in countries like US and UK is the internet television. Let’s break down streaming and get into the next level.

o   Progressive streaming

o   True streaming

Progressive streaming is used for on demand videos. If the video is delivered progressively, then the video file gets saved in the local system and plays from the local. Once the video is done playing, it will still be available for replay. This is not the case with true streaming which plays the file without saving it in the local. So once the player has completed playing once, it will not be further available for replay. A perfect example would be a live match that is telecasted through the internet.

Streaming is complex which could be understood only when tried. Protocol selection is one which could add to the complexity. Unicast protocols may be a feasible one for modest websites but more number of concurrent users could upset the system unless there is sufficient storage provided. Multicast protocols compel to forgo on demand function which might not be possible for all. UDP (datagram) may not be efficient as the others.

The data (video files) may be stored in-house or outsourced. Most of the companies outsource the complete process in order to avoid complexities. A few major products available to service video on web are FMS (Flash Media Server), Wowza, QTSS (Quick Time Streaming Server). This is another area which I will cover in my next article. Now we’ll move on to the next method.

• Progressive Downloading

The method of progressive download is similar to Streaming. However, this method uses a HTTP protocol. Also there is difference in how data is interpreted at the user’s end. YouTube.com uses progressive download for its video service. Gaining access to the video is also simple as the file is mostly saved in the temp folder. The file could be stolen by anyone and this has given rise to piracy and security problems. In the streaming method, a similar situation will not arise because at no time will the entire file be downloaded locally.

I hope to have put these video concepts in simple terms. Do contact me if you like to know more about video on web.

A video format used in the web should be compatible with major browsers and Operating Systems. Major browsers include Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome and Safari. Major Operating Systems include Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. When it comes to size, the smaller, the better. And when it comes to quality, the higher, the better. The cost factor also plays an important role. I have summarized below, few recognized and used formats in the web with their pros and cons. Proper analysis of our requirement with the capability of the video format will help us to identify the best format for the requirement. These formats are developed and backed up by giants who continuously update and keep them to standards.

• WMV:

Windows Media Video (wmv) is developed and controlled by Microsoft. The video file is based on Microsoft Advanced Systems Format (ASF) container format and is compressed with Windows Media compression. The quality of the video is good and the file is also of low size. One major drawback is that the file runs only on Windows. Neither does it support Flash nor Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) standard.

• Quick Time:

Quick time (.mov) is developed by Apple Inc. The latest released version is 10.0. QuickTime is particularly suited for editing. It contains one or more tracks, each of which contains abstract data references for the media data. QuickTime also supports key standards for web streaming, including HTTP, RTP, and RTSP. Also, QuickTime supports every major file format for images, including JPEG, BMP, PICT, PNG, and GIF. QuickTime also features built-in support for digital video, including MiniDV, DVCPro, and DVCam camcorder formats, as well as support for AVI, AVR, MPEG-1, and OpenDML.

• Real Media:

Real media was the first streaming technology on the market. However, Real media still trails Flash when it comes to smooth playback of high-impact interactive multimedia. Web developers have begun to use the Real System G2 and SMIL to stream synchronized multimedia presentations over the Web. This in turn is promoting a wider usage of real media by the developers in the web.

• Macromedia Flash:

Flash is often referred to as the best solution to web media. However, its unfriendliness with search engines has always left it behind. Flash generates high-impact web multimedia with short sound effects and loops. Formerly called as Future Splash, the Flash company was later acquired by Macromedia in 1997. With Flash, users can also draw their own animations or import other vector-based images.

• MPEG-4:

Developed in 1998, MPEG-4 was specially designed to play streaming media file with high quality in the web. MPEG stands for Moving Picture Experts Group and is managed by ISO (International Organization for Standardization). MPEG-4 is a proprietary technology; it requires licensing in order to be used. AT&T claims to have the patent rights for MPEG. But Apple and a number of other video content providers are continuously working on MPEG along with their technologies.

Stay tuned for my next blog in which, I plan to explain the different methods that are available to deliver these formats on the web.

The giant has already made promises of a pure web based OS. Yes, I am talking about Google Chrome OS which is in development now. By studying the latest products from Google, it won’t be anything bigger than an Android in better shape. Android which is a purely web oriented OS for mobile phones may be tweaked to an extent where it can be used in low power portable computers, or precisely – Netbooks. But the key point to be noted here is that, Chrome will be a web ‘based’ OS, not an OS in the web. So what will be a pure web OS? And why should one need it?

Mobility is the first advantage of having a pure web OS. Resource sharing and low cost end user hardware is another one. Consider having an entire OS in web, which will handle all the heavy tasks for you and all you need is a cheap, low end, web enabled notebook or netbook which is powerful enough to just run a browser. In short, you can encode an HD video even with a mobile phone! Interesting, isn’t it? Of course it is but the concept is very old and yet to become a reality. A few attempts have been made towards this end and the result was web applications like Google docs and Adobe’s online Photoshop. The interoperability of these online applications is essential for a web OS. No one will like to process a file in one application, download it and upload it to another application. It will be a fair job if these applications can send files/data to each other. It will be much better if both applications have access to a common online storage just like we have hard disks in our PC. And finally, it has to be free and open source! Before someone creates a perfect web OS, let’s take a look at something close to it. The eyeOS – an OS in a browser window, which is the Project of the Month in Sourceforge.

eyeOS is an attempt towards the perfect Web OS. “Open Source Cloud Desktop” is what they call it. You will have all your essential applications, a storage system and a desktop to integrate it all. eyeOS doesn’t look like a web page even though it’s inside the browser window. eyeOS package can be installed in your own server and you can allow other users to sign up and use it. The process is straightforward and simple as installing a WordPress blog. The wizard driven installation won’t take much time and soon you will be provided with a login window as in normal OS. Once you pass this screen, you will take a couple of seconds to realize that what you are looking at is actually a web page inside a browser window. I was confused whether it was my Linux desktop; it has everything that a normal desktop should have. A task pane, notification area, desktop with changeable wallpapers and themes, games, application menu and everything that you won’t expect in a web page. It even has a browser and a task manager which lists the running processes like Windows Task Manager. The default installation comes with a handful of applications which can be further extended using a package manager like in most Linux distros. There is already a large pool of applications available for eyeOS. And all this is written in PHP and XML! Yes, eyeOS is a PHP application which runs on Apache server and doesn’t need a database. Instead of a database it relies on XML files. This is primarily for making the installation simple for the end user as all they would need to set up an eyeOS server is to enter account information for the first user. Flat files are used to avoid bottlenecks on data fetching. Core parts of eyeOS runs as independent applications and uses Javascript to send server commands. The UI is fast even on a 512kbps connection.

eyeOS is being developed by a company based in Barcelona and it’s currently in the 4th year of development. They also provide a tool kit with which we can develop cloud applications easily. A reasonably good wiki page, including a “Hello World application” is present to provide a walk-through towards eyeOS application development. Anyone fluent with PHP and Javascript can start writing applications for eyeOS without any further learning curve. You can try it out at their demo server : eyeos.info or get your copy of eyeOS package from here.

eyeOS may not be mature enough to host anything serious, but it is proof on how far a web application can go!

In its official blog, Google explains more about Chrome OS, which aims the Netbook market initially. Google Chrome OS is expected to hit the market by the second half of 2010.

SPNBabbble solves all that for you. With an SPNBabble account, all you need to do is enter a single posting and voila! It gets published simultaneously in Twitter, Facebook, Plurk, Tumbrl, and Friendfeed. You will of course need to be a member in all these communities.

Well, doesn’t that make social media networking a lot easier for you? What’s more, many of SPNBabble’s features are similar to Twitter. So Twitter users are going to find it quite easy to operate this plugin.

SPNBabble also has other features, which are:

• SMS messaging
• Direct messaging
• IM message
• Hash tag usage
• Search
• Groups

SPNBabble is specially developed for website owners, web masters, web developers, web designers and business professionals. An offshoot of SiteProNews, this site is in the Jayde Online Network and deployed using Laconica software.

More features are planned in the future to give connectivity to other micro blogs. With this, SPNBabble is surely on its way to becoming a hot favorite among web publishers!