QuickTime Streaming extends the QuickTime software architecture to support the creation, transmission, and playback of multimedia streams. This allows QuickTime programmers to create applications that send and receive multimedia in real time, and to create authoring and editing tools that work with streaming content.
DISCUSSION
QuickTime Streaming is a capability supported by QuickTime 4 to view live and video-on-demand QuickTime movies using industry standard RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol) and RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol). Support is provided to view streaming live content, previously-recorded movies, or a mixture of both. Broadcasts can be one-to-one (unicast) or one-to-many (multicast). Existing applications that play QuickTime movies can play streaming movies with little or no code change. QuickTime Streaming also extends the QuickTime file format to support streaming. Local movies can contain streaming tracks, which call up live content or video-on-demand when the movie is played.
The new QuickTime streaming capabilities are perfect for:
Viewing and listening to long files
Providing random access to any moment in a long program
Viewing live events
QuickTime Streaming FAQ
1. Where can I find QuickTime Streaming content?
2. How do I view streaming content?
3. Why is QuickTime Streaming useful?
4. What are the advantages of using QuickTime Streaming?
5. What is the difference between live and video-on-demand streaming?
6. What is the difference between HTTP "fast-start" streaming and RTSP "live" streaming?
7. How can I broadcast my own streaming multimedia content?
Question 1
: Where can I find QuickTime Streaming content?
Answer: There are audio and video samples available on the Apple QuickTime Web Site at
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/
. We expect third-party sites to also begin offering QuickTime Streaming content.
Question 2
: How do I view streaming content?
Answer: Viewing QuickTime Streaming is as easy to view as QuickTime has always been. You have the ability of viewing a streaming movie using your web browser with the QuickTime Plug-In or by using QuickTime Player. In fact, any application which currently supports QuickTime 3 or later is capable of viewing QuickTime Streaming content.
Question 3
: Why is QuickTime Streaming useful?
Answer: Streaming allows you to view live events such as concerts and video-on-demand movies. Streaming also allows many users to tune in to one stream, decreasing the amount of bandwidth which would otherwise be consumed by http streaming.
Question 4
: What are the advantages of using QuickTime Streaming?
Answer: Using QuickTime Streaming as a solution allows you to utilize the QuickTime 4 features such as effects, chapter tracks, MIDI, alternate language tracks, poster effects, overlays, client-side transforms, and alternate data rate selections.
Question 5
: What is the difference between live and video-on-demand streaming?
Answer: Live Streaming is a live broadcast which allows users to join a session in which real time media is being sent over a network. Because these streams are live, users are not allowed to jump around to any point in time. Video-on-demand represents content stored on a streaming server which can be viewed at any time. Unlike live streaming, video-on-demand allows users to jump to any point in time in the media.
Question 6
: What is the difference between HTTP "fast-start" streaming and RTSP "live" streaming?
Answer: The new live streaming capabilities of QuickTime 4 are complementary to the QuickTime HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) streaming that is currently built into QuickTime 3. QuickTime HTTP, otherwise known as "fast-start", downloads the entire QuickTime file to your computer. As soon as enough of the content has been downloaded, it will begin to playback the movie while downloading the rest of the file. QuickTime RTSP Streaming does not download the movie to the computer, but loads and plays the movie in real time as the data is received.
You must have QuickTime 4 software installed on your computer in order to view QuickTime Streaming content.
Question 7
: How can I broadcast my own streaming multimedia content?
Answer: QuickTime 4 software allows you to only view streaming content, but does not provide the ability to broadcast. For this capability, a QuickTime-compatible streaming server solution such as Mac OS X Server with QuickTime Streaming Server Software is required.