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Streaming Video
Streaming Video, sometimes called "progressive video" is a method of dowloading and viewing video clips that allows the video to begin playing shortly after it is requested. Download of the video file occurs as you watch.Streaming video is by far the most common method of delivering short video segments, because streaming video is delivered via standard Web Servers.
Viewing Streaming Video
To download and view streaming video files, you'll need appropriate player software. Three of the most popular are QuickTime Player, Real Player, and Windows Media Player. To download the latest versions of these players, click the links above. Note: The free version of Real Player works just fine, even though the link to it may roam around the site. Keep looking!I Can't Seem to View a Video Clip. What Can I Do?
- First, make certain you have the recent version of the recommended player installed. If you don't know what version you have, use your computer's find feature to search for the player. If it is found on your system, you should see the version number listed next to the player's name. All of the players are available in a free version.
- Make sure you have a recent version of your browser installed. Popular choices include Internet Explorer, FireFox, Mozilla, Opera, OmniWeb, Netscape, and Safari.
- If you click the link for the video clip and nothing happens, make note of the URL for the video file. You can usually view this address at the bottom of your browser in the status bar. It will look like a web address with a video file extension. For example: http://www.webvalence.com/streamingvideo/video.mpg.
Alternatively, right-click the link (control + click for Mac) and select "copy link to clipboard"
Open your media player and, under the file menu, select "Open URL." Enter the address of the video clip. If you copied the link to the clipboard, you can paste it in by typing Control + v (command + v for Mac).
- If you're a Windows user, make sure you have up-to-date drivers for your sound card and video adapter. More instructions can be found at Microsoft's Support Site.
- If you get an error code, it may help you diagnose the problem. Check out error codes for Windows Media Player or Real Player.
- It's possible that the server hosting the video file is temporarily down, network traffic is unusually high and the connection is timing out, or the URL for the file is just plain wrong. It may help to take a break and try again later. At least you'll feel better. If it's still not working, try emailing the site owner to make sure the reference is fresh.
- You may be behind a firewall without the proper open ports to allow streaming. Contact your network administrator or ISP.
