Get your videos out to your online audience
For nonprofits, video can be a powerful medium for promoting social change, mobilizing support, and showcasing work. Not only can you create influential advocacy videos, but you can also use video to broadcast important meetings, press conferences, and other events.
Of course, for video to have an impact, it needs to reach an audience. One way to accomplish this is through the Web. By offering archived video (video-on-demand) or streaming video of live events (webcasting), you can get your message to your entire online audience.
Streaming Versus Progressive Download
Live webcasting is the ability to deliver a live video signal in real-time to Web viewers. Video-on-demand is the ability for Web users to view archived material at any time. Often webcasts are recorded and also made available as video-on-demand files later.
The term "streaming" is often used loosely to describe both streaming and progressive downloading (also called "FastStart" or "pseudo-streaming") of media. Progressive downloading is usually used for video-on-demand (this way, viewers don't have to download an entire video before they can begin watching).
Progressive downloading allows media files to be served through a Web (HTTP) server. Once the viewing application (e.g. Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player) has enough data, the video plays. The viewer does not have to wait for the entire file to download. Progressive downloads do not require special server software and can be hosted by most Web servers.
The big advantage to progressive downloading is that the quality of the playback is often higher than true streaming quality and once the entire clip is downloaded, the quality remains high since the file is stored locally. The disadvantage is that media files can remain locally stored and therefore can be copied or stored by the viewer.
Because progressive downloading does not sacrifice quality, it may take longer for viewers to watch the clip the first time if their connection speed is not fast enough. Viewers may also experience short breaks in viewing as the player waits for additional data.
True streaming delivers time-dependent media files, such as live broadcasts, using special streaming server software. Using a streaming server is the only way to deliver live broadcasts since they are able to sacrifice quality in order to ensure that video is delivered in real-time. A 30-minute broadcast of a show will take exactly 30 minutes to broadcast regardless of viewers' bandwidth or the load on the servers. If the viewer's connection is slow, quality will be sacrificed to ensure timely delivery of media.
Streaming media does not remain on the viewer's computer, so content is better protected. But streaming media requires more intensive resources and additional server software licenses. However, using a Streaming Media ISP (see below) may eliminate some of these problems.
What You'll Need
To put video on your site, you'll need video in the proper format, access to a Web server, a streaming media server, and adequate bandwidth. In addition, you'll need to factor in the cost of staff time and training.
Your video data needs to be in a format that can be viewed on the Web. While most of the streaming media ISPs listed below in the Resources (Streaming Providers) section can provide these encoding services, it's also possible to do this in-house with the help of a high-end workstation.
For live webcasting, you must transmit your live signal to an appropriate format in real-time. A computer with a high performance processor, significant disk space, a DVD-Burner (for archiving digital media files) and a high-speed Internet connection is essential.
The infrastructure necessary to host streaming media can be complex. Organizations should look into service providers that specialize in streaming media (streaming media ISPs) to host video-on-demand media and to facilitate live streaming to viewers. While it is possible to purchase the appropriate hardware, software, bandwidth, and training, it may be significantly cheaper to use an ISP.
Video requires bandwidth, and organizations also need a high-speed connection to support live webcasting. This connection is necessary to relay a live stream to a streaming ISP that can support a large number of viewers.
Streaming Media Internet Service Providers
Most standard Web hosting services can host video files designed for progressive downloading without any special configuration. This usually works well for limited video-on-demand needs. However, in order to provide a high-quality streaming experience to a very large number of Web viewers or to provide live webcasting, a significant investment is required in hardware, software licenses, bandwidth, and training. By using shared servers and shared bandwidth, streaming media ISPs can provide streaming services at a cost that is often much lower than for an individual organization that would have to maintain full-time high-speed Internet connections designed for peak performance, high-performance servers, and appropriate software licenses.
In addition to providing basic hardware, software, and expertise, streaming media ISPs usually have geographically-distributed networks optimized for streaming that can provide the best user experience for viewers based on their physical location.
Formats
Streaming video must be offered in a format that can be played on the Web. Usually, one of the following formats is used: Real-Network's Real-Media, Microsoft's Windows Media, Apple's QuickTime, and ISO-standard MPEG-4. (MPEG-4 is a newer standard which is playable by all three proprietary viewers as well as a variety of mobile devices and open-source players.)
In addition, you'll need to decide how large the video should be and what quality should be offered. Sometimes it's helpful to have several versions of the same video in order to offer a choice of quality or size based on users' connection speeds.
Lastly, depending on the method of delivery, a file may be encoded as a variable bit-rate file that provides optimal playback for various connection speeds using a single file, saving disk space and minimizing inconvenience for viewers.
Preparing Streaming Video
Preparing video for the Internet requires several steps:
Step 1: Acquisition
Video-on-demand: If the video source is in a digital tape format such as MiniDV, video can be transferred from the tape to the computer using FireWire or USB 2.0. Since digital video cameras digitize video when recording, no conversion from an analog format is required; the camera has already done this. If the source is an analog tape such as a Beta or VHS tape, video must be digitized -- converted to a digital format -- while it is transferred to computer.
Live webcasting: For a live signal, real-time video-capture hardware, similar to that needed to acquire video from analog tape sources, is required to digitize the video in real-time. This hardware is usually available as an computer add-on card or as a USB or FireWire device.
For analog media (analog tape and live signals), it is important to use the highest quality media possible (i.e. high-end tape formats are better than VHS, and better broadcast quality results in better Web quality) as encoding and compression work best this way (see next step for details).
The length of time required to acquire video is generally the same as the length of the media that is being acquired (i.e. a 30-minute tape takes 30 minutes to acquire).
Step 2: Encoding
Raw video acquired from tape must be then encoded in a streaming format using a chosen method of representing and compressing video (often referred to as a CODEC) to produce an appropriate Real-Media, QuickTime, Windows Media, or MPEG-4 file. This step is usually accomplished at the same time as the acquisition. For streaming servers to provide the best user experience or for files to be progressively downloaded, additional data needs to be added to the video file. Tools for compressing and preparing digital video files for each format are provided directly by each video vendor:
Real-Networks: Real-Producer Basic (Free) and Real Producer Pro
Apple: QuickTime Pro (minor cost of $35)
Windows Media: Windows Media Tools (Free)
The length of time needed to encode and prepare video is dependent on the speed of the computer that is performing this task, the length of the video, and the quality settings that are used. As a practical matter, it is important to note that the computer performing this step will generally be required to be dedicated to this task so it will be unavailable for other uses.
Since acquiring and compressing digital video requires a great deal of staff and computer time, it may be a better use of funds to outsource this task. Most streaming ISPs offer this service.
Transmission
Once files are prepared they need to be uploaded to a streaming media server. While it is possible to serve video in-house, the bandwidth requirements and server requirements to support multiple users at peak times may be prohibitively expensive. By using a streaming media ISP to host streaming content or to relay a live broadcast, an organization can take advantage of greater bandwidth, high-end servers, and advanced networks at a reasonable price. If files are to be created daily and timeliness is a factor, it is recommended that a high-speed broadband connection be used to transmit files to the streaming server. Most standard DSL (ADSL)/Cable connections do not have a very high upload speed; therefore, it is advised to evaluate faster ADSL service options or consider switching to SDSL. For live webcasting, a high-speed Internet connection (384K or better upload) is advised for transmitting the stream to the streaming provider.
Resources (Streaming Providers)
RealImpact: offers streaming services for nonprofits based on Real Networks technology
Online Video Service: Provides streaming services for QuickTime, WindowsMedia, and RealMedia; clientele includes nonprofits, NGOs, and arts organizations
DVLabs: Provides streaming services for QuickTime, WindowsMedia, and RealMedia formats using advanced networking technology
PlayStream: Provides streaming services using a geographically distributed network for QuickTime, Windows Media, and RealMedia
AudioVideoWeb: Provides streaming services for QuickTime, WindowsMedia, and RealMedia
SingleReel: Provides free video hosting services for basic (5 MB files up to 25MB total) video streaming needs using QuickTime
Resources (Streaming Technologies)
Networks : Provides content encoding tools, streaming servers, and playback software for the Windows, Macintosh, and Linux operating systems
Windows Media : Provides content encoding tools, streaming servers, and playback software for the Windows operating system and provides playback software for the Macintosh and some handheld devices.
Apple QuickTime : Provides content encoding tools and playback software for Macintosh and Windows operating systems and provides streaming servers for Macintosh OS X and provides a multi-platform Open Source version.
MPEG-4.NET: Provides industry information and resources for the MPEG-4 digital video format.
Resources (Packaged Services for Nonprofits)
ActionStudio by GroundSpring: Provides a comprehensive set of services for Web site content management, membership management, donation acceptance, and audio and video streaming services for nonprofit.
Resources (Learning and Software)
Deliver Your Media: Online resource to help understand online streaming media.
RealMedia How-To: Embedding RealMedia in a Web page reference.
FlaskMPEG: Free open-source application to convert and manipulate MPEG4 video on Windows-based computers.
VirtualDub: Free open-source application to do simple editing and manipulation of MPEG4, WindowsMedia, and MP3 files.
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