How it all works
There are five basic components to the webcasting process:
- Source: file (such as MP3 or MPEG) or a live source such as camera, or microphone through to TX or studio output.
- Encoding: the process of turning the file or live source in to a suitable format for relaying this to the server for effective onward delivery to the player.
- Serving: a server (or servers) that take the incoming encoded source and then broadcast it on to the viewer.
- Delivery: the process of physically getting the live stream from the server to the player across the internet.
- Player: the ‘end point’ of the system – i.e. a device and software used by the viewer to view the stream.
There are five elements required for the process: Encoders & Tools (1) - to create, capture and edit multimedia; Data Types (2), such as audio and video, which are transmitted by centrally located Servers (3) over Networks (4) to individual Players (5), on a live or on-demand basis.
The challenge for successful delivery is maintaining necessary capacity between the encoder and the server, and then the server and the player. This requires not only the skills to optimise and prepare the content that is to be encoded, but also the understanding of the networks that the content will ‘transit’ to the intended viewer.