The differences between HTTP downloading and true streaming

April 15th, 2008

Downloading
When a user wishes to view video on your site, there are several possible methods that can allow said user to see the video. The easiest method is the create a hyperlink to the video file. This method is useful if you want the viewer to save the movie to their computer before viewing. This is fine for small files, but the bigger the file size, the longer the wait time and the less likely your viewers will want to wait for the entire movie to download before they can watch it. Delivering video files this way is known as HTTP streaming or HTTP delivery. HTTP means Hyper Text Transfer Protocol, and is the same protocol used to deliver web pages. For this reason it is easy to set up and use on almost any website, without requiring additional software or special hosting plans.

Where can I test out sample videos?

April 1st, 2008

GravityLab Multimedia provides hosting services for several types of streaming media. View a selection of sample files below:

Quicktime Mov
http://helix.gravlab.com:554/sample_100kbit.mov
http://helix.gravlab.com:554/sample_300kbit.mov

Quicktime Mp4
http://helix.gravlab.com:554/sample_100kbit.mp4
http://helix.gravlab.com:554/sample_300kbit.mp4

Quicktime H.264
http://helix.gravlab.com:554/sample_h264_100kbit.mp4
http://helix.gravlab.com:554/sample_h264_1mbit.mp4

Mobile 3GP
http://helix.gravlab.com:554/sample.3gp
http://helix.gravlab.com:554/sample_50kbit.3gp

Windows Media
http://media.gravlab.com/powered.wmv
http://media.gravlab.com/racecar.wmv