Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun (a medium with multiple content forms) or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which only use traditional forms of printed or hand-produced material.
Designing a network protocol to support streaming media raises many issues, such as:
Datagram protocols, such as the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), send the media stream as a series of small packets.
This is simple and efficient; however, there is no mechanism within the protocol to guarantee delivery. It is up to the receiving application to detect loss or corruption and recover data using error correction techniques. If data is lost, the stream may suffer a dropout.
The Real-time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) and the Real-time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP) were specifically designed to stream media over networks. RTSP runs over a variety of transport protocols, while the latter two are built on top of UDP.
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of streaming media systems both audio and video. Please see the individual systems’ articles for further information. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date.
Name |
Creator |
First Public Release (yyyy-MM-dd) |
Latest Stable Version (Release Date) |
Cost (USD) |
license |
Media |
Media Player |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PeerCast | Giles | ? | 0.1217 | Free | GPL | Audio/Video | {?} |
| Flash Media Server | Macromedia/Adobe Systems | 2002-07-9 | 3.5 (2009-01-13) | $4,500 | proprietary | Video | Flash Player |
| Darwin Streaming Server | Apple Inc. | 1999-03-16 | 5.5.5 (2007-05-10) | Free | APSL | Audio/Video | Any |
| Flumotion Streaming Server | Flumotion | 2004-11-30 | 0.4.2 (2007-04-03) | Free | GPL | Audio/Video | Any |
| Firefly | Ron Pedde | 0.2.4.1 (2007-10-21) | Free | GPL | Audio | Any | |
| FreeCast | Alban Peignier | 2004-09-14 | 2006-06-29 | Free | GPL | Audio/Video | FreeCast client |
| Helix DNA Server | RealNetworks | 2003-01-22 | 11.1 (2006-06-10) | Free | RCSL/RPSL | Audio/Video | Any |
| Windows Media Services | Microsoft | Free | proprietary | Video | Windows Media Player | ||
| Broadwave | NCH Software | 2006-07-21 | 1.01 | Free (Personal), $136 (Commercial) | proprietary | Audio | Any |
| Icecast | Xiph.Org Foundation | 1998-12 | 2.3.2 (2008-06-02) | Free | GPL | Audio/Video | Any |
| Red5 | ? | ? | 0.9.0 (2010-01-27) | Free | LGPL | Audio/Video | ? |
| SHOUTcast | Nullsoft | 1998-12 | 1.9.8 (2007-02-28) | Free | proprietary | Audio | Any |
| Unreal Media Server | Unreal Streaming Technologies | 2003-10 | 7.0 (2010-03-22) | Free, Commercial | proprietary | Audio/Video | Flash, Windows Media, UMedia players |
Nothing more to add … You nailed it!