HOWTO: Real Audio/Video Streaming

[bdh]

So many people have asked in the past: "How do I get real Audio/Video files to stream instead of wanting to download?"

Here's how you do it:

Creating a Real Media Streaming file
Create a folder called realaudio/ in your public_html/ directory. So, if your domain name is your.com , then your real folder will be www.your.com/realaudio/ (http://www.your.com/realaudio/). This is where you will put your .rm (the actual real audio/video file) and .ram (a text file that simply points to the .rm file, this is also the file that you link to in your website) files This is an example: You must have a .rm file. This is your actual audio file. Call it firstaudio.rm for now. Now, upload it in BINARY to your folder called realaudio/. Next, create a text file, and call it firstaudio.ram. Now, place the following line of text in the text http://www.your.com/realaudio/firstaudio.rm (Remember, the actual path must be your domain name in place of your.com) Now, upload this file in ASCII to your folder called realaudio. Go to your web page, where you are going to create a link to the test file, and CREATE A HYPERLINK to: http://your.com/realaudio/firstaudio.ram (the TEXT file) (Again remember, the ACTUAL path must be your domain name in place of your.com). Now save the page, and view it via the net. CLICK on the link, and it should play the file.

[Follower]

BDH,

Do you have any recommendations for tools to create the .rm files? Thanks.

With Jesus' love,

Follower (http://www.parkbc.org/follower)

“You shall not murder.”

[bdh]

It's available from RealNetwork (http://www.realnetworks.com/products/media_creation.html) ... but at a [steep] price. One of the reasons I prefer using MP3 and or MPEG :)

[Gods Creation]

Well, I have heard of a tool that allows you to convert video and audio files to the real audio format. The program can be found here (http://download.com.com/3000-2167-10276648.html?tag=lst-0-25) and is absolutely free. I can't be totally sure about it, but it seems to do its job. ;) :)

[ikester7579]

Here's one. I have not worked with it yet because I bought the real program to convert files then ran into this one. It got high rankings on several pc sites and the paid for version does more than the free one.
http://www.jetaudio.com/

[FPG]

Why would you use the .rm format to stream video? I've found that the .wmv format is much better for streaming if for nothing else other that the player for it is almost a standard for everyone out there. Plus converting to wmv is as simple as putting your video into Movie Maker. Real Player is also full of adware :hmm:. For audio I'd also suggest .mp3 or if you want background music, it'd be best to go with .mid or .xm files.

[bdh]

Agree 100% ... Real is just a money making racket as far as I'm concerend :)

[Rebecca_gmw]

While we're on the topic of audio files, could someone tell me what they think would be the best way to record the following:

Audio lessons available for download on my ministry's website. These would be Biblical passages and related lessons for English language learners.

I don't know a thing about audio files and related software. I'd need to record these from my home computer and also receive files from other teachers.

Also, is there a way that I could put together a conversation file from two different files (ex. Person A records two or three lines of dialogue Person B records the responses - I put them together into a "conversation")

Sorry that my questions are illustrating how truly lacking my knowledge is. :)

Any input would be great. Thanks!

[FPG]

Audio lessons available for download on my ministry's website. These would be Biblical passages and related lessons for English language learners.


I don't know a thing about audio files and related software. I'd need to record these from my home computer and also receive files from other teachers.

Hook a microphone into your sound imput on the back of your audio card (It should be right by a speaker port). After that start up Sound Recorder or another sound recording program (you'll probably want another :D ), and set your audio controls to the proper settings and record away. I'm almost positive that the audio file will turn out to be a .wav, but it's always possible it'll come out as something else. In any case, you'll probably want a compressed format like .mp3. So convert your audio file to that.


Also, is there a way that I could put together a conversation file from two different files (ex. Person A records two or three lines of dialogue Person B records the responses - I put them together into a "conversation")

Sorry that my questions are illustrating how truly lacking my knowledge is. :)

Any input would be great. Thanks!

Yea that's very possible, and very simple to do, just use a program to cut your conversation from both people into small sound bits, and put them all together in the order they should go.

I probably sound kind of confusing, so you should probably search google for a tutorial of some sort. Hope that helps.

[Gods Creation]

If you have some cash to spare, I would suggest Authorware from Adobe. If not, then you can use a free tool that should get the job done and that can be download here (http://www.download.com/Audacity/3000-2170-10288566.html?tag=lst-0-14)

[Rebecca_gmw]

Thanks guys!

I really appreciate the input. :)

[sallymander]

So then how do you steam .wmv files??

[bdh]

The same way as you would an mp3 file: with a link or as a background sound in the <head> section of the HTML like so:


<head>
.
.
.
.
.
<bgsound src="Document.wav" loop="1">
</head>

[Kahtar]

For those of us who know nothing, how do you stream an MP3 of WMV video?
Here's what I've got so far, and it does not work yet.
<a href="video/tokoi1.wmv"><font color=blue>Tokoi-1</font></a>

Later.........
Oh. Never mind, I figured it out. I capitolized the actual file. Duh...................
This downloads, then plays, the video. Not sure if there is some other way to do it.

[bdh]

For those of us who know nothing, how do you stream an MP3 of WMV video?
Here's what I've got so far, and it does not work yet.
<a href="video/tokoi1.wmv"><font color=blue>Tokoi-1</font></a>

Later.........
Oh. Never mind, I figured it out. I capitolized the actual file. Duh...................
Yeah, always remember, file names are Case Sensitive ;)

This downloads, then plays, the video. Not sure if there is some other way to do it.

In the <head> section, you can add this:

<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<title>Page bla bla</title>
<bgsound src="video/tokoi1.wmv" loop="1">
</head>
The loop="1" is for how many times you want the sound to play. "-1" means forever.

[Kahtar]

Here's what I ended up with. Seems to work well. It imbeds a 'player' in the page, autoloads the video, then waits for you to click the start button.
<OBJECT ID="MediaPlayer" WIDTH="192" HEIGHT="190" CLASSID="CLSID:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95"
STANDBY="Loading Windows Media Player components..." TYPE="application/x-oleobject">
<PARAM NAME="FileName" VALUE="video/herman.wmv">
<PARAM name="ShowControls" VALUE="true">
<param name="ShowStatusBar" value="false">
<PARAM name="ShowDisplay" VALUE="false">
<PARAM name="autostart" VALUE="false">
<EMBED TYPE="application/x-mplayer2" SRC="video/herman.wmv" NAME="MediaPlayer"
WIDTH="192" HEIGHT="190" ShowControls="1" ShowStatusBar="0" ShowDisplay="0" autostart="0"> </EMBED>
</OBJECT> You can check out the result at www.manywatersmission.org (http://www.manywatersmission.org) (this is not an ad for the website :)), at the bottom of the main page. There's a real short little clip there.
Nice thing is, you can put it anywhere on your page, and adjust the size of the screen.

[mike_soljc]

I tried what was on the previous posts, but that did not do exactly what I was hoping for. I then found http://cit.ucsf.edu/embedmedia/step1.php and it did exactly what I needed - maybe it will work for you. A sample of the end product can be seen at the Bible study presentation found at http://www.soljc.com/ftg.htm

[Kahtar]

How do you get .wma audio to play? The bgsound doesn't seem to work with that.
Or perhaps someone can tell me how to convert it to wav?

[B-Twien Bytes]

Hi all, I am new on this forum...

I read through all the suggestions made about this topic. Here is my situation. I am working and living in West-Afrika, Mali...

I am at the point of building a website for the missionaries working there, putting short video clips (approx. 2 min) on the web, introducing themselves...

I guess our main supporters are in the West/America...

I made a 'try-out' videoclip, both in .rm and .wmv format. I am now at the point of choosing what video-type to put on the website. I would like to use "streaming", which I understand from all been said earlier, would go best while using .wmv files, is that correct?!

.wmv is bigger in size than .rm, but better in quality right?

@ mike_soljc (http://bibleforums.org/forum/member.php?u=11829)
Is the code being produced by the webpage you mention, that you know, W3C valide?

I am not sure what is best (both West-Africa and the US) to use, streaming or simply downloading...

Maybe some of you might have some suggestion on all I said / asked?!
Thanks, God bless!!

[bdh]

One comment I do have is that support for .rm files is something that needs to be downloaded and installed. Support for Windows media files is built in on most machines as part of Windows. I think especialy in a case like West Africa (if that is your target audience), doing the site with Windows media files may have greater appeal than "Real" media since not everyone has a "Real" player installed.

[Gods Creation]

I agree with Brent. I would definitely use .wmv as it is accessible by many more people. I would also suggest having a link to a seperate page with a streaming video and a link to download the video. Watching streaming video on a slow connection is close to impossible, while one can always download the video and play it later in its entirety.

[B-Twien Bytes]

@ bdh / Gods creation,

Thanks for responding...

To use a .wmv streaming file and a downloadable file was my idea too, but I just wanted to check with the more experienced guys, like you :idea:

Thanks!!

For the downloadable part I could use a phrase as 'mike_soljc's example uses right? http://www.soljc.com/ftg.htm

[Gods Creation]

Yep. Just use: <a href="http://www.urlname.com/video.wav">visible phrase</a>

[B-Twien Bytes]

Great, I am going to try if this all really works for me...

My first WMV is ready, it is 8 MB big...Is there anyway, without cutting in the clip I have now, to make downloading / streaming a video clip this size easier / faster / less bandwith?

Thanks for any advice on this matter.

[B-Twien Bytes]

Hello all,

I am very happy today: it worked!!!

Thanks Gods Creation, mike_soljc and others...

I only have one question to ask...I valided my website (as awhole) HTML 4.01 strict and there was no problem.

If I take my video-page though separately, it will give 19 errors (at least ;-) HTML 4.01 strict does not except the embedded-code if I understood right.

What can you guys say on that??

Here is my code as it is in my page:


<p class="video">
<OBJECT id="mediaPlayer" width="320" height="285"
classid="CLSID:22d6f312-b0f6-11d0-94ab-0080c74c7e95"
codebase="http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/mplayer/en/nsmp2inf.cab#Version=5,1,52,701"
standby="Loading Microsoft Windows Media Player components..." type="application/x-oleobject">
<param name="fileName" value="http://www.cmamali.org/video/jessica_s.wmv">
<param name="animationatStart" value="true">
<param name="transparentatStart" value="true">
<param name="autoStart" value="true">
<param name="showControls" value="true">
<param name="loop" value="true">
<EMBED type="application/x-mplayer2"
pluginspage="http://microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer/en/download/"
id="mediaPlayer" name="mediaPlayer" displaysize="4" autosize="-1"
bgcolor="darkblue" showcontrols="true" showtracker="-1"
showdisplay="0" showstatusbar="-1" videoborder3d="-1" width="320" height="285"
src="http://www.cmamali.org/video/jessica_s.wmv" autostart="true" designtimesp="5311" loop="true">
</EMBED>
</OBJECT>
</p>

<p class="video">
<!-- ...end embedded WindowsMedia file -->
<!-- begin link to launch external media player... -->
<a href="http://www.cmamali.org/video/jessica_s.wmv"><b>Launch in external player</b></a><br>
<!-- ...end link to launch external media player... -->
<br>
This size of this video is <b>8.663 MB</b>. Please allow approximately a couple of minutes to download via high-speed broadband internet connection. This video
will begin playing directly in this window automatically once the download is complete.<br>
<br>
or<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.cmamali.org/video/jessica_s.wmv">right click on this text and select Save Target As to download the video and view later...</a>
</p>


Hope some of you guys repond this weekend!!

NB
Found an article on the internet about this subject, but for Flash....Maybe that will help?
http://alistapart.com/articles/flashsatay

[B-Twien Bytes]

Any one any suggestions for me, concerning my question above?

Would be higly appreciated!!

[mianlica]

Hi,
I followed your suggestion to stream audio files but I am using an mp3 and m3u file in place of the real audio files. I used a converter to change the wma to mp3. When I play the mp3 on my desktop it works fine in windows media player and realplayer but after I've loaded it onto the website when I try to open it I get the error message:
Windows Media Player cannot play the file. The Player might not support the file type or might not support the codec that was used to compress the file.

Both files are in a file named /audio (instead of realaudio) in the public_html folder. I feel like it might have to do with what may happen when I upload it since it plays beforehand. Do you have any ideas?

[bdh]

My guess is that you uploaded the files in the wrong format. Make sure that you upload the files from your PC to your Web server in binary format and not ASCII.

Usually FTP clients have a setting under the "advanced" settings where you can set the file upload mode for different file extensions. Make sure mp3 is set to upload as binary or manually upload it as binary.

One more tip - if it is this, do not simply replace the file(s). Remove them then upload in binary.

[mianlica]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. It's still not working. I've uploaded the actual file in binary and the m3u in ascii using Smartftp. (I tried binary for the m3u file but your original instructions said ascii so I changed it back) When I link to the m3u file from my website it will not play the file but if I try to link directly to my mp3 file it plays fine. So I'm thinking there's a problem with my m3u file. I created it with notepad and saved it as test.m3u, type: text document and didn't change the encoding option which says ANSI.
This page has the mp3 file link and the m3u link: www.stmarkglastonbury.org/test.html

Can you think of anything else?

[bdh]

Take a look at post #14 (http://bibleforums.org/forum/showpost.php?p=732452&postcount=14) in this thread.

[Jacktech]

I am a pro audio engineer and former Media Director at a large church in Texas. I am a certified Pro Tools user.
I have found that you can functionally do with "Adobe Audition" everything you can with the super expensive Pro Tools program.

For larger tasks like fullstage live multitrack recording you may need to implement upgrades, plugins,or outboard gear... but for vocal audio books and teaching files Adobe Audition is perfect.

Hear the seminar recordings I did for Sampson Resources here:
http://teach.learnoutloud.com/Resources/Publishers-and-Retailers/Sampson-Resources/609#Sampson-Resources

There are "listen to a sample" links on the product pages.

Email me if you need help with audio in the future.
[Edit - email addresses are not advised. Email address removed]
(jacktech2007@yahoo.com)

[LittlePenguin]

There are really a lot of streaming servers out there that are in fact both free and of high quality. Some of the better ones that I know of are as follows:

1. VLC Player (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/)
- Plays and streams many formats on Windows, OS X, Linux

2. Darwin Streaming Server (http://developer.apple.com/opensource/server/streaming/index.html)
- Leans more toward Apple and Linux servers but is great
3. MPEG4IP (http://mpeg4ip.sourceforge.net/)
- Just for Linux but is also great

I highly recommend to anyone to use Linux for streaming this kind of content online. Not only is it very dependable but is also very affordable (like, free :spin:). Hope this helps someone.

[undelay]

Hi, I bumped into this and wonder if this might help? I figured if anyone knew about Windows Media Encoder (they would have mentioned it and since nobody did... ) which can be obtained @ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5691ba02-e496-465a-bba9-b2f1182cdf24&DisplayLang=en. It works for me quite well on my LAN as a pull from server. I have not tried push to server (and have clients pull from the true server on the internet - or at least that is how I understand it). Hope this helps someone! WINDOWS ONLY

[Jack Lavictoire]

To stream a video in WinPlayer try the following:

<object id="MediaPlayer1" width=320 height=280
classid="CLSID:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95"
codebase="http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/mplayer/en/nsmp2inf.cab#Version=5,1,52,701"
standby="Loading Microsoft® Windows® Media Player components..."
type="application/x-oleobject" align="middle">
<param name="FileName" value="movie.wmv">
<param name="ShowStatusBar" value="false">
<param name="DefaultFrame" value="mainFrame">
<embed type="application/x-mplayer2"
pluginspage = "http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/MediaPlayer/"
src="movie.wmv" align="middle"
width=320
height=280
defaultframe="rightFrame"
showstatusbar=false>
</embed>
</object>

Remember to change the "movie.wmv" to whatever you call your video.

[sleepgone]

I found this and it worked wonderfully. Just go to http://cit.ucsf.edu/embedmedia/step3.php and put in the information it asks for and it produces the html to place in your web pages. It does exactly what I wanted it to do.

[sallymander]

So I was looking at the cit site....very cool

Brent-are you a streaming server? If so, do I need to anything special when uploading video? I've got a large MP4 file (64M) that the folks I'm working with want up on the site.
On-the-job training, always......

Thanks
Sally

[bdh]

Sally, let me try to clarify this once and for all --

People keep asking if our servers can stream audio/video. I don't know where this all comes from -- probably from web hosts that plaster information like:

"We allow streaming.."
"free streaming server.."
"we don't charge for streaming.."

etc etc all over their websites in a ploy to attract unknowing customers.

The truth is any server can can stream video and audio or do podcasting.

Technically:

A "stream" -- video, audio or podcast or whatever -- is just a binary file as far as the server is concerned. The server simply spits it out like any other file when asked for it. Nothing more, nothing less. The server cannot distinguish between a zip file, a PDF document, a GIF/JEPG or a video/audio stream file for that matter. All it knows is to send these in binary mode instead of ASCII (plain text).

So what is streaming?

"Streaming" is caused and happens in two places:On your website: You need specially constructed HTML links to your media file(s) in your HTML pages. These links don't tell the server anything but are specially constructed instructions to the Web Browser on the other side.
In your Browser: You need a Web Browser capable of understanding the fancy HTML tags on the site. (Most modern browsers have this by default but if not, you can usually download a plugin for the browser). Requesting the file and streaming it on your PC is all done in the Web Browser.

Uploading Media

There is only one prerequisite when uploading media files and it's exactly the same as for any image file like a GIF or JPEG -- the file must be uploaded in binary format. Normally, if you upload with a FTP client (like FileZilla or WS_FTP etc), the program knw automatically to do this by looking at the file extension -- .mp3, .mpeg, .rm etc. However, it's bet to check the FTP software to make sure because if it uploads these file types in ASCII, they won't work.
Are there other kinds of Streaming?

Yes. There is "live" streaming. This is for something like a radio or TV station. This is something completely different to "static" streaming (above).

Hope this makes it clear.

[sallymander]

It's semi-clear. I'm still trying to get my head around how I get the video to play as it goes instead of waiting for the hole 64MB to be ready. The cit site that sleepgone recommended asked me this:
What kind of server is your file located on?
Server Type? A Streaming server A Web server A Streaming server is a special media server designed to stream media files, and includes such server brands as Real's Helix Streaming Server and Apple's Quicktime Streaming Server. The CIT has a Helix Streaming Server capable of serving Real, Windows Media, and QuickTime streaming files used for UCSF academic instruction.
A Web server is designed to serve primarily web pages but can also serve other file types, such as web video (though as non-streaming downloads).
UCSF Faculty with WebCT courses can create links within WebCT that point to streaming files stored on the CIT's Helix Streaming Server. Alternately, UCSF Faculty can store non-streaming media files in their courses on the WebCT server, and make links directly to them.

And so that is where my question came from.
yeah. and I'm pooped tonight so my brain is working in slow motioN!

[bdh]

Helix is special software which can be used for streaming real time media like live radio or TV. That's not what we're talking about.

To stream static audio and video it's all done in the HTML. The browser then preloads a chunk of the file and bufferes the rest in the background while you watch (or listen to) it play.

Take a look at post #16 -- http://bibleforums.org/forum/showpost.php?p=740980&postcount=16 -- as well as post # 17 -- http://bibleforums.org/forum/showpost.php?p=944793&postcount=17 -- for an example (16) as well as on online form (17) that will make the link for you.