Dare To Stream

Mike Hogan

Thanks to streaming video, your directorial debut is closer than you think.

It's not exactly just like being there. But streaming video is closer to it than anything we've experienced so far. Dare we say it? Streaming video will change the way you interact with the Internet and all your digital devices.

So often, technology is oversold--and this one is getting the usual hype. Nortel Networks has a TV commercial in which a guy giving a speech is prompted by his assistant, who's streaming in over his PDA. The image on the PDA looks like something off a 27inch TV. Sure, it'll happen--but it won't be for a year or two still.

Streaming video (of which live audio is a part) still remains a relatively new file compression/ decompression technology that enables images with sound to be streamed from a video camera or other digital device to a Web site and then, in turn, to one or more PCs--even over narrowband phone lines. Eventually, receiving devices will include PDAs and cell phones.

Viewers need only authorized access to the broadcast Web site and, depending on the software used to create the images, Real Networks' RealPlayer, Windows Media Player or Apple's QuickTime to view broadcast images as they're being filmed. This software usually comes standard on Windows and Mac PCs.

Without streaming technology, the only way to view these usually jumbo multimedia files is to download them to your PC'S hard drive first. Multimedia has been distributed as e-mail attachments for some time but to mixed reviews. "A friend often becomes an enemy if you attach a video clip to his e-mail," says Gad Liwerant, president and CEO of VideoShare, a video application service provider (ASP) in Watertown, Massachusetts. "You tie up his PC until the file attachment is downloaded."

Streaming video, on the other hand, can be delivered as a clickable Web link in an e-mail message that doesn't need to be viewed until the recipient is ready. Also, instead of first downloading an entire multimedia file, you start viewing a streaming video as it's being decompressed and before the entire file reaches your computer. Finally, you don't have to store large streaming video files on your hard drive unless you want to.

While image quality can vary by a lot of factors--such as the quality of the webcam used, the size of the viewing frame and the amount of cache memory on the receiving PC--the really limiting factor is the bandwidth of the communications medium, says Matt Parks, senior product manager at Keynote Systems, a company that monitors Web site performance for companies.

People on 56Kbps dial-up modems can receive, at best, a jerky 15 frames per second (fps) in a small window-- usually less as connection quality varies, says Parks. The smoothness of the moving images can improve to a satisfactory 16 to 20 fps in a larger window for users of DSL, cable, T1, T3 and other high-speed Internet connections, which Parks says is comparable to a VCR cassette. The long-term goal is the full broadcast quality of 30 fps-- equivalent to what you see on cable or broadcast TV, or using a DVD player.

DOWN TO BUSINESS

Streaming video is used for consumer applications, such as letting people videoconference with faraway loved ones over ordinary phone lines. Video clips can be posted for later download on free personal Web sites run by manufacturers of production software, like VideoShare (www.videoshare.com), UstreamIt (www.ustreamit.com) and Inetcam (www.inetcam.com). VideoShare provides the server space, software and other services to the customers of Excite's BlueMountain.com, which subscribers can use to send free video greeting cards. Other sites let you create videos for resumes, auction items and more.

URLs of video clips are easily embedded in instant messaging services for cell phones, PDAs and other Internet-enabled devices. Companies like TeVeo and PacketVideo expect to introduce solutions to the obvious problems of viewing videos on such small screens early this year. But while there's no question video broadcasts look better on TV; you don't always have a TV where you have an Internet device, so analysts are generally positive about the growth prospects of this medium.

Streaming video is yet another technology being jump-started by consumers--not unlike free e-mail and instant messaging before it. But what does streaming video mean for business? For one thing, you may find a way to make a few bucks off this new technology. VideoShare, for one, provides turnkey video services for larger corporations. Then there's Inetcam, which is focused on selling its iVista software. The company recently reached a deal to bundle its software with eMachines' computers.

If you're not quite ready to make a business of it, streaming video still offers a low-cost solution for one-to-one videoconferencing among workgroup members in different offices and for management broadcasts. Large companies are beginning to send out financial reports and analyst briefings over streaming video. If you can't visit a customer or other important contact, a live streaming videoconference is the next best thing--followed by downloading a sales or training presentation. But the biggest payoff could be in customer support, via downloadable videos in which service personnel walk customers through product problems.

"Businesses are finding video-hosting services to be a valuable tool for video-on-demand education, training, corporate communications, product demonstrations and installation/customer support," says Kathleen Maher, editor in chief at research firm Jon Peddie Associates. "Video training files and live-action trouble-shooting are only two examples of applications we're going to see that will drive desktop video production from a niche market to a widely used means of personal, family and business communications."

Net Video Resources has good examples of business presentations in the "Screening Room" located on its Web site, www.netvideoresources.com. Companies like UstreamIt offer turnkey solutions to businesses that want to offer video messaging to Web site visitors. ASPs will also offer an array of other video services. Superior-Medical.com, an online medical equipment supplies company, uses Ustreamlt videos for online product demonstrations. While no one wants a technology-heavy, slowloading e-commerce site, videos of your products and services can be effective when used in moderation.

Another largely untapped application is security. IVista software lets up to four surveillance video cameras stream heir images to a single Web page. To see examples, log on to Inetcam's site.

Although almost any PC can handle streaming video today, growth in the market will depend on how fast videomaking spreads, says Parks. No great hurdle there: The webcam, software and hosted Web site needed for creating and broadcasting streaming videos can be had for well under $100 (see "What You Need," below) and can be mastered by even nontechnical users, says Maher.

There are already at least a dozen different digital videocams available from a half-dozen manufacturers--and more get introduced every day. Most cost less than $50; for example, you can find Intel's Easy PC Camera Pack for as little as $48. But you also might pay up to $400 for a combination video/still-photo camera or a multiple videocam/software bundle, like Ineteam's VTS8500 package. Most webcams use a plug-and-go, high-bandwidth USB connection.

In addition to the large number of analog camcorders, InfoTrends Research Group counts 7 million digital webcams sold in 2000. The market research firm expects the total number of cameras in use to grow to 38 million units annually by 2003, at which point, half the United States' PCs will have webcams plugged in to their USB ports. In fact, says Infotrends market research analyst Michelle Lampmann, cameras are getting so cheap that "it's likely households will own multiple PC cameras."

Over the next two years, InfoTrends believes it will become more common for PC-makers to bundle webcams with their PCs, like Compaq is already doing with its Presario desktops. For one of the world's highest-volume PC shippers to absorb additional costs in such a price-sensitive market represents a tremendous vote of confidence in video technology

DOWNSTREAM IMPROVEMENTS

Granted, you're not likely to be satisfied with the blocky videos going out over today's dial-up connections. But broadband lines are fast proliferating in homes and businesses, and wireless networks of up to 2.5 Gbps should be online by 2002 or 2003.

Compared with the Internet, streaming video works even better in a controlled environment like a corporate LAN, WAN or intranet. Today's 1Mbps-to-100Mbps networks more than suffice, but Cahners In-Stat Group expects 1Gbps and 10Gbps Ethernet installations for LANs to grow 55 percent per year through 2004.

Joint research by research firms Arbitron and Coleman shows that people are twice as likely to use streaming video from the Internet when they have a broadband connection, almost doubling their time online. "Broadband catapults the Internet to a position on par with television and radio in terms of media time spent," says Pierre Bouvard of Arbitron. "[Fifty percent] of Americans with broadband report they're making more online purchases now that they have it."

While streaming video and audio get all the attention now, a much broader set of applications will be streamed eventually, predicts Parks. Streaming is an important enabling technology for the ASP-style services that Microsoft.NET is all about. In the future, many different kinds of software and services are likely to be streamed to your desktop while you work.

Says Lampmann, "This whole revolution will take a couple of years before its widespread, but it has begun."

Mike Hogan, Entrepreneur's technology editor.

WHAT YOU NEED

To view streaming videos from a Web page, you need:

* A Net-connected Windows 9x or Macintosh PC

* An Internet Explorer 4.0 or Netscape 4.0 Web browser

* RealPlayer, Windows Media Player or QuickTime

* At least one regular phone line, but preferably a broadband connection

To create streaming videos, you also need:

* At least a 133MHz processor, 64MB RAM and a 28.8Kbps modem

* A video camera

* Video compression/production software, such as iVista or VideoShare

* A Web page to host your videos

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