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

From the Microsoft Expression Encoder download site:

“Microsoft^® Expression^® Encoder, a feature of Expression Media, offers encoding, enhancement, and publishing of rich media experiences to Microsoft Silverlight. “

Features Include:

Better Encoding

VC-1 advanced authoring SDK integration: by adopting the new VC-1 authoring SDK, Expression Encoder 2 is able to author better quality video faster. We’ve exposed a set of presets for tuning the encoder as well as detailed settings with comprehensive tooltips for the advanced compressionist.

New profiles, and video codecs for streaming media: Encoder 2 supports a number of new modes and codecs including Quality VBR, WMA Pro (stereo), WMA Lossless, 24 bit audio and audio/video encoding stream selection.

• Improved MPEG source support: We now include an MPEG 2 decoder in the product to give a consistent story across platforms. The decoder we ship supports transport streams (so you are able to work with sources that originated from HDV cameras. Seeking performance and accuracy has been greatly improved.

Yes, we have live video webcast plans. In addition to our archived on demand video hosting services, we have live video broadcasting with Windows Media. You can take a look at the live video plans here: http://www.gravlab.com/live.html

Here’s how to use Windows Media Encoder 9 to convert your AVI file into Windows Media video.

1. Double click the download, and install Windows Media Encoder on your system
2. After install, launch it.
3. Select “Convert a File” - Click “OK”
4. Browse and find your AVI in the “Source File” box
5. The “Output File” will automatically fill in with your file name, don’t change it
6. Click “NEXT”
7. Select “Windows Media server (streaming)”
8. Click Next
9. Select “Video - VHS Quality Video” and  “Audio - CD Quality Audio”
10. Select “400 kbps” uncheck 300kbps if it is checked
11. Type in your descriptions - Click next
12. Select “Begin converting when I click “Finish” - then click finish

When Windows Media Encoder is finished, go to your folder where your files are (you should have an AVI and WMV)

You can then upload the Windows Media Video file to your Gravlab account

Link to your video with mms://media.gravlab.com/your-account-name/your_file_name.wmv

You’ll probably want to convert your AVI file to Windows Media. It’s a much better streaming video than AVI when delivered over the web. Windows Media Encoder is a free utility from Microsoft that you can download here - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/encoder/default.aspx
However, I don’t see any AVI file in your account. I don’t think you could have uploaded it last night while the account was locked. Remember, since you’re uploading video to our delivery network, it can take quite awhile for your file to finish uploading (it starts uploading when you drag it to the folder, but can take awhile). If you do use your AVI file on myspace, the link would look like this:

mms://media.gravlab.com/your-account-name/filename.avi

or

http://media.gravlab.com/your-account-name/filename.avi

The GravityLab Multimedia content delivery network is comprised of best-of-breed streaming media servers located directly on the fiber optic North American internet backbone. What that means, basically, is that your media content is delivered on demand very quickly to a global audience using the best Internet path directly into their homes.

You are able to deliver all the major streaming media formats from one account. You simply FTP your video to your account, and then link to your video or audio assets from your web site. We try to make it as easy as possible for you to deliver streaming media to your audience.

Once you open your account, within 24 hours you can begin uploading your video. If you need your video encoded to streaming media formats, we can do that as well from your source media.

Preparing Your Content

Windows Media Player renders audio and video content in the same way, whether a file is on a Windows Media server, a Web server, a network server, or a local hard disk. The server does not affect the quality of the media. What the server does affect is how the packets of data that contain the media are delivered to Windows Media Player.

A Windows Media server is designed to handle busy, congested networks and low-bandwidth connections to client computers that are running Windows Media Player. This section describes what you should consider before you encode content that will be hosted on a Web server, and then shows you how to configure Windows Media Encoder 9 Series.

Encoding Content for a Web Server
If you stream by using a Web server instead of a Windows Media server, keep these things in mind:

• A Web server is not designed for streaming media, so playback is more likely to be interrupted by periods of buffering. Buffering occurs when Windows Media Player is not receiving audio and video data packets fast enough. Windows Media Player has to stop to refill its memory buffer before it can proceed with playback. To help correct for this, you may have to encode files at a lower bit rate than you would if they were being streamed from a Windows Media server.

How do you choose whether to deliver a movie using progressive download, streaming, or broadcasting? It’s an important question for you, and since GravityLab’s business is delivering your content to your audience with the best possible user experience in mind, it’s an important question for us, too.
All all of the major streaming media codecs, both audio and video, can be delivered as progressive downloads. Streaming is limited to sound, video, and text. Broadcasting is further limited to compression schemes and quality settings compatible with real-time capture and compression.

Progressive download works even when the bandwidth is not sufficient for real-time playback; it simply buffers incoming data and delivers delayed playback. However, since it is simply a web server delivering your content through the HTTP protocol, many simultaneous demands for that media can result in a poor audience experience with significant buffering while the player waits for the content from the server. The back end infrastructure of the GravityLab content delivery network provides client / server negotiation for delivering the content in a timely, efficient manner for the best possible audience experience. This is important, since your online user’s patience, speaking in statistical averages, is about 4 seconds before they move on.
Streaming movies do not store a copy of the movie on the client computer, making them inherently more difficult to copy without the consent of the movie’s owner. This can be an important consideration, and is one reason why people choose streaming over progressive download.

Streams take up a specified amount of bandwidth, whereas HTTP file downloads proceed as quickly as the connection allows. It is therefore easier to manage the bandwidth usage of a streaming server than of a web server delivering progressive-download movies. With the proliferation of high speed internet connections at home, and because the vast majority of the US workforce has high speed access at work, delivering video content at predefined multiple bit rates (streaming) makes sense.
Broadcasting allows you to deliver coverage of live events as they happen, or to provide real time “chat” between computers. GravityLab provides live video broadcasts that can scale up as your audience grows.
To sum up, if your movie includes live coverage, you must use broadcasting. If bandwidth management and copy discouragement are paramount considerations, streaming may be your best choice for stored content. If bandwidth is not a concern, you want users to be able to receive you media regardless of connection speed, and you don’t mind if users obtain the actual copies of your audio and video content on their computers and portable devices, progressive download may be viable.

Using a Windows Media Server vs. a Web Server :

A Windows Media server is often the best way to stream media because Windows Media Services is designed specifically for that purpose, and all Windows Media components work together to enhance the end-user experience. Intelligent streaming, for example, involves Windows Media Encoder, Windows Media Services, and Windows Media Player.

This section compares the features of a Windows Media server and a Web server and describes the best way to determine which option is right for you.

Comparing server features
The features of each type of server are compared in the following table.

If you want to stream Quicktime files, you will need to encode the videos correctly so they can be played on a streaming server. GravityLab provides this encoding service for affordable prices. We make the process simple for you so that you don’t have to acquire a new skillset just to get your videos online. However, if you are technically inclined, check out the following utilities for Quicktime files.

Microsoft Internet Information Server 3.0

If you are running Windows NT Server and IIS 3.0 and want to configure the MIME types, create a registration entry file with a .reg file name extension:

1. Open Microsoft Notepad or another text editor.
2. Type in the following text. (Do not cut and paste the text from the Web page.)

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet
/Services/InetInfo/Parameters/MimeMap]

“video/x-ms-asf,asf,,5″=”"
“video/x-ms-asf,asx,,5″=”"
“audio/x-ms-wma,wma,,5″=”"
“audio/x-ms-wax,wax,,5″=”"
“video/x-ms-wmv,wmv,,5″=”"
“video/x-ms-wvx,wvx,,5″=”"
“video/x-ms-wm,wm,,5″=”"
“video/x-ms-wmx,wmx,,5″=”"
“application/x-ms-wmz,wmz,,5″=”"
“application/x-ms-wmd,wmd,,5″=”"
3. Save the file with a .reg file name extension.
4. Double-click on the file to add the entries to your registry.
5. After creating this file, stop and then restart all IIS services.

Apache

1. Ensure that you have server administration privileges. If you do not have these privileges, ask your server administrator to update these MIME type extensions.
2. Change directories to /httpd/conf.
3. Edit the file srm.conf.
4. Add the following lines to the end of the file, or to where the other AddType video/* entries are found:

AddType video/x-ms-asf asf asx
AddType audio/x-ms-wma wma
AddType audio/x-ms-wax wax
AddType video/x-ms-wmv wmv
AddType video/x-ms-wvx wvx
AddType video/x-ms-wm wm
AddType video/x-ms-wmx wmx
AddType application/x-ms-wmz wmz
AddType application/x-ms-wmd wmd

If you add these to the end of the file, make sure that the file ends with a blank line.
5. Save changes and quit the editor.
6. Restart the Web server.