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Apple's solution doesn't offer a media-capturing component. Mac users can use iMovie, an application included with the Mac OS, to capture from Firewire cameras. It's also possible to convert any file QuickTime can read. We used iMovie on a Mac PowerBook to capture and save the DV stream from our camera. We then uploaded the DV stream from the PowerBook to the encoding PC and converted it to compare encoding times. Encoding required QuickTime Pro, a $30 add-on. Apple recommended the H.264 codec, which takes almost twice as long as RealNetworks' RealVideo 10 codec to encode. Several preset encoding options are available, but you can also configure your own. For streamed data, as opposed to progressive download, we added a "hints track" to the QuickTime file. The streaming server uses this information for better playback while streaming, but it does increase the file size. Our encoded 256-Kbps file went from 4.9 MBto 8.96 MB when adding server-optimized hints.
We used Apple's MakeRefMovie utility to create a reference movie and to link multiple encodings or versions of a movie, depending on the client's network and system settings. Unlike Real Networks' Helix Server or Microsoft's Windows Media Server 9, QuickTime's files are encoded at a specific bit rate. Every vendor offers player version and line speed, but QuickTime also let us transmit a different movie based on system language (such as a Spanish dub of a movie) or by CPU speed. The CPU speed feature is poorly documented but appears to be calculated based on QuickTime playback performance, not CPU gigahertz, based upon Apple's developer documentation.
Darwin Streaming Media Server 5.5.1. Apple Computer, (800) MY-APPLE, (408) 996-1010. www.apple.com
While Darwin Streaming Server is best for Mac and Unix environments, Microsoft's Windows Media Server 9 makes the most sense if you have a Win2003 Server. The software is free with Windows Server, is simple to deploy and provides good quality in its native environment.
To install Windows Media Server, we simply added it as a Windows component. A Web GUI is available in addition to the standard Windows MMC plug-in. The GUI is missing a few features, such as playlist creation, but most of the configuration options are there.
Microsoft also includes a free encoder with a wizard that walked us through the encoding process and helped us choose the appropriate quality levels. When capturing from our DV source, we could specify cut points on the timeline and perform two-pass encoding. Multiple-pass encoding took longer to perform, but produced higher-quality output. In multipass encoding, the video file is run through the compressor twice. Similar to text file compression, this lets the encoder work more effectively than it would with on-the-fly compression. RealNetworks' product could do two-pass encoding when working file to file but not during live capture. Apple and MacroMedia didn't have capturing products in our review, but the products we did test could perform multipass encoding. Windows Media Server let us store multiple bit rate encodings in the same file, whereas Darwin Streaming Server required separate files for each bit rate.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
