e-Video: Producing Internet Video as Broadband Technologies Converge

This resource-packed guide to producing, encoding, editing, compressing, and serving video over the Internet lets you in on this coming "killer app." It presents the current tools and technologies that make Internet video possible, and reveals likely future developments, allowing you to make knowledgeable investments in technology and equipment that anticipate these trends.

The book covers bandwidth requirements for video delivery-from low-end broadband to the ultimate high-speed HDTV transmission. It follows the video preparation and production process, demonstrating various software tools for developing, encoding, and editing content. You will also find in-depth information on the state-of-the-art in video compression and streaming technology. In addition, the book explains how the networks and servers currently support Internet video, and describes future developments in the works.

You will learn about such specific topics as:

• e-commerce, educational, and entertainment opportunities made possible by
• streaming e-video
• The desktop video production cycle
• Data compression fundamentals and algorithms
• Streaming video codec standards
• RealVideo and other software tools from such vendors as Microsoft and Apple
• MPEG streaming
• The transition from electronic routers and switches to optical nodes
• Innovations in network caching and datastorage on the Internet

Filled with examples, experience-based techniques, and available tools, this book serves both as a compendium of information and a hands-on tutorial. The code and video demos for all the examples are included on the accompanying CD-ROM.

As compression technology, streaming techniques, and transmission lines grow in efficiency, speed, and capacity, Internet video is fast becoming both viable and inevitable. This resource-packed guide to producing, encoding, editing, compressing, and serving video over the Internet lets you in on this coming "killer app." It presents the current tools and technologies that make Internet video possible, and reveals likely future developments, allowing you to make knowledgeable investments in technology and equipment that anticipate these trends. The book covers bandwidth requirements for video delivery-from low-end broadband to the ultimate high-speed HDTV transmission. It follows the video preparation and production process, demonstrating various software tools for developing, encoding, and editing content. You will also find in-depth information on the state-of-the-art in video compression and streaming technology. In addition, the book explains how the networks and servers currently support Internet video, and describes future developments in the works. You will learn about such specific topics as:

• e-commerce, educational, and entertainment opportunities
• The desktop video production cycle
• Data compression fundamentals and algorithms
• Streaming video codec standards
• RealVideo and other software tools from such vendors
• The transition from electronic routers and switches to optical nodes
• Innovations in network caching and data storage on the Internet

Booknews

Computer engineer Alesso describes such technologies as digital encoding and editing, compression and streaming, and high-capacity data transmission and argues that their convergence makes video over the Internet both viable and inevitable. He addresses either webmasters who want to get into video or video producers wanting to get onto the web. The CD-ROM contains example code and streaming video demonstrations; software can be downloaded from an associated web site. There is no bibliography. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

H. Peter Alesso is President of Video Software Laboratory, a video streaming Internet business. With twenty years of experience in computer engineering at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Mr. Alesso has worked with a wide range of platforms and applications. He holds several software copyrights and has written numerous articles for scientific journals and conference publications.