When deciding on the best way to
deliver your QuickTime movies over the web, which should you choose--Fast
Start (HTTP/FTP delivery) or streaming (RTP/RTSP delivery)? For live feeds
that must be transmitted in real time, streaming is the only answer, but
for other types of movies, each delivery method has its pros and
cons.
Why
Choose?
Because this is QuickTime, you don’t face a
hard-and-fast choice. You can offer more than one option to your
audience.
For example, you can create a fast-start movie for
viewers with slower connections and a streaming movie for viewers with
faster connections, and offer both of them from the same web page. More on
creating reference
movies.
Or you can embed streaming tracks within a Fast Start
movie. When the Fast Start movie is sent over HTTP, it will call the
streaming tracks from the streaming server. This can happen even while the
Fast Start movie is still downloading. Use this technique to mix things
that must stream, such as live feeds, with things that can’t stream, such
as sprites. |
 |
| Fast Start
pros |
| • No special
server software needed |
| •Movie gets
through no matter how slow the connection |
| •With fast
connection, movie plays as it downloads--it looks like streaming to
the audience |
| •Delivers all
types of QuickTime media, including sprites and QuickTime
VR |
| •Lost packets are
retransmitted until they are received |
| •No problems with
firewalls or NAT |
|
|
| Fast Start
cons |
| • Can’t broadcast
or multicast |
| •Can’t transmit
live feeds |
| •Can’t skip
ahead; audience must download the entire movie |
| •Puts a copy of
the movie on the local hard disk--you lose
control | |
|
| Streaming
pros |
| • Only way to
transmit live feeds |
| •Broadcasts and
multicasts (one stream to many viewers) |
| •Random access
within prerecorded movies |
| •Uses no space on
viewer’s hard disk |
| •Never uses more
bandwidth than it needs. |
| •Doesn’t leave a
copy of the movie on the viewer’s hard disk |
| •Can stream
individual tracks into a movie from any streaming server
anywhere | |
|
| Streaming
cons |
| • Requires a
streaming server and/or broadcaster |
| •Movie breaks up
if data rate exceeds connection speed |
| •Lost packets are
gone for good; movie always loses some data (though some data is
almost always lost over the Internet – over a LAN, there is normally
no data loss)§. |
| •Some QuickTime
media types, such as QuickTime VR, Flash and sprites, don’t
stream. |
| •Can be stopped
by firewalls or NAT | |
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