Im hoping someone could fill in a few blanks for me, so I can better understand how I need to tackle a personal project.
Obviously, it's about our wonderful friend video streaming.
As I understand it, it works as follows:
Video is taken from it's raw state (whatever the input source is), and it is encoded based on any number of our friendly video formats.. mpeg, avi, mp4, flv, etc... Each, understandably, has perks and downfalls...
This video is then placed on a "host" site... this is where some of the blanks begin...
Is there a special server required for video/audio? What does it do differently than a "regular" host?
When sending video, if it's sent via http, doesn't it send the full file to the target for handling?
If it is sent to an embedded player, like what is being used for html5 <video> with <object> and <embed> as fallbacks, how does the player know to accept chunks of data for streaming instead of a full video being transferred?
If sending over rtmp instead, is it only a matter of changing the header info? What needs to be set up to accept the difference in connection type? Can rtmp be bi-directional? (or.. as I think I read it, rtmp is bi-directional by standard as it remains persistent?). If using rtmp, are you limited to flash/flv?
I think that's enough to get started... any clarification, or direction to reading/tutorials/etc.. would be much appreciated. I don't mind reading on my own to figure it out, I simply don't quite know what I am looking for.
Thanks!
Ryan
