Video Streaming Technology
There
are a number of video stream Industry leaders.
- Real Networks with Real player and
Helix servers
- Microsoft with Windows Media Player and Windows Media Server
- Apple with Quick Time and Darwin
.
For the user to experience a smooth and unbroken video stream
it is advisable to proxy the content. As RealNetworks higher
quality streaming video uses the RTSP protocol over UDP or
TCPwhich will not cache on a normal HTTP server. (Although
Real can stream in HTTP you get a much better stream with
UDP/TCP).
This is where the Helix Proxy server comes into play. It is
relatively easy to install and even works well on a virtual
system such as VMware. This provides a significant improvement
in quality, once a stream has been played locally.
It is important to note, video streams do not like Network
address translation (NAT). If you're having problems streaming
UDP there are issues with either NAT or your firewall settings.
RTSP requires both inbound and bound out ports open on UDP/TCP
(554,770,6670-6999). |
