It 'Video Streaming the Future For Corporate Video?

Things have changed a bit 'since I started in film and video in 1988. So, many corporate programs were still shot and edited on film. Video shooting was "plain Jane", non-SP, analogue Betacam. Video editing was on Low Band U-Matic - a process that required copious notes to be taken and a day or two of writing all the timecode numbers down for the (linear) on-line editing. Mastering was cumbersome one-inch reel video, that was so sensitive to magnetic fields, could not be taken on a London tube train. The distribution was, on both low band U-Matic, Betamax (remember?) OR VHS.

Today, almost twenty years later, the much trumpeted The digital age is upon us. You can shoot on DV, edit on Avid, and burn the result onto DVD without a moment's reflection, or any loss of quality. The only stage of the process that has remained more or less the same is the final delivery of the program to the viewer. Whether by mail, Fed-Ex, or courier bike, someone has to pick up a copy of the finished program, transport it to the point where the viewer is going to see, and then play on specialized equipment. If your program has to cross the border into another country, it is likely that you will have the special copies made to conform to TV standards of that country, and the customer will pay a hefty customs fee.

The Internet provides a solution to this problem and is, in my opinion, the perfect medium for video distribution business, for businesses large and small. Access to broadband Internet / ADSL is fast becoming the norm. About 80% of the UK now has the ability to access broadband (source: The Guardian) and the percentage is higher for some other countries. Here are some examples of ways this technology can be used:

Let's say you run a small or medium sized company and have created a promotional video to show to potential customers. You can easily listen to this from your site. If you do not want the competition to watch the video (and you can not guarantee a DVD will not fall into the "wrong hands"), you can password protect the website and access by invitation only. You may also send an advertisement on your website for the whole world to see - not just the people in your local area TV. You could also tie it to your print advertising, so that people would visit your site and see your business. This makes sure they get up to go to the bathroom when the commercial is showing on TV, or fast forward if they have videoed the program is shown in her! There is so much video content of this type is shown on the web now, Yahoo! has dedicated a large part of their search engine to it. Visit Yahoo!, click the "video" and type "sales" to see what I mean.

If you run a large company or have staff in more than one place, then video streaming becomes a godsend. In addition to the options available to small businesses, you can use in your business communications. You can view the same video to employees in different locations, cities, time zones, or even countries. Besides converting your video in the correct format (more on this later), and having your webmaster upload it to your web space, actual costs are practically nothing - and there's certainly nothing to the tax man for have your teeth! Your video can cross borders without incurring customs charges, and the standard conversion becomes a thing of the past.

Getting your message through training becomes much easier. Employees can see the video from their computer screens. Add a little '"interactivity" to the mix, and you can build a training session tailored to each employee. If you are on a network, you can do so via the company intranet, as well as through the web.

With streaming, a trainer can train more people at once, even if they are in different parts of the world. This is particularly useful for medical education. A surgeon can demonstrate a particular technique from a sterile environment, the operating room without having to be filled with students. The entire process can also be recorded on video for later viewing.

There are many available formats for digital video, and a careful search is necessary to select the most appropriate. The most common formats are:

Macromedia Flash (swf)

Microsoft Video (avi)

Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG)

Quick Time (mov)

Real Media (rm)

Windows Media (wmv)

Streaming video is not entirely comparable to what viewers are used to seeing the TV program or DVD. The most obvious difference is the optimum screen size is much smaller. Under ideal conditions, streaming video can be clear and continuous, but the latest technology should be used to create, send and receive video or the result may be unsatisfactory, but, having said that, the type of image you would see when you are seated directly in front of the computer monitor is not unlike that seen on a 14 "portable TV viewed from 10 feet or so away.

Due to the smaller screen size, it is best to avoid any graphics or complicated DVE moves in a video stream, even though the graphics frame may be visible on the site next to the video.

There are a lot of myths and misconceptions about streaming video. Some of the most common questions I get asked are the following:

"I do not need a special website for streaming video?" No, you do not. Because the files are large, most of the free sites do not host them, but the ordinary sites. I have more than five hours of streaming video on my site, and it's just an ordinary day. Some web hosting companies do you pay extra if you live streaming video on a continuous basis, but this is usually to cover the width of banda.

"Ah, the width of banda. Bet it uses a lot. Not that cost a fortune?" This is a kind of true. Video files are big, but they are only the binaries. Download large files - be they video or software - uses a lot of banda. However, the formats of streaming video are specially designed to keep file sizes as small as possible. Width of band is not all that expensive these days, however, and many packages of Web hosting services are allocated a monthly of 50 - 100 gigabytes, which is more than sufficient for most applications.

"Some people want to see my videos have Windows PCs, while others have Macs. Not that be a problem?" No. Most streaming formats are compatible with multiple operating systems and also manufacturer specific formats, like Microsoft Windows Media and Quick Time by Apple, have versions that can be used by the "competition".

"It is good for streaming video on a dial-up?" It 'true that streaming video works best on broadband. The best option is to offer the alternative of downloading the video file and the streaming is: in this way, someone on a dial-up can download the file and watch it from his / her hard drive.

Streaming video can add a new dimension to your corporate video, both for training, communications, or marketing. It 's just like having your own cable television channel - considerably cheaper....