Streaming Media

Streaming Media

Stream media is a phase that described a certain type of multimedia. It means that the viewer is able to receive, and view, the media whilst it is still being produced. We are usually talking about telecommunications media when this term is used as radio and television media are 'streaming' by nature.

Academic progression in the 1970's meant that streaming media was able to be used on computers for the first time, after the basic concepts and feasibility of this had been discovered. Before this, attempts to use streaming media on computers dates back pretty much to the start of computers in the mid 20th century. For decades, progress was very slow and this was mainly due to the cost and and very limited capability of computer hardware.

Computers that were available to ordinary comsumers first became capable of supporting streaming media in the late 1980's, though there were still a lot of technical issues with these, such as bandwidth.

Since this time there have been a lot of advances in computer networking which, together with much more powerful home computers, means that streaming media is now practical and affordable for many PC owners.

Streaming media is available in two main forms. On demand or live. 'On demand' means that the streams are stored for a long time on the server and are available for transmission at the request of the user. Live streams will only be available at an allocated specific time and could be a video stream of a sporting event for example. To take advantage of Live Streaming you will need a high speed internet connection as slower connections will cause intermittent cut outs of the streaming and poor sound quality. Almost all Internet Service providers now offer high speed broadband connections to the internet. To find the best options for your internet browsing needs take a look at this broadband comparison website, and compare all they have to offer from bandwidth speeds to the cost of your contract.

Streaming media is something that is being reseached and improved upon all the time.