NewTek TriCaster Studio - Manual (Page 244)

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ON DEMAND HOSTING
TriCaster permits you to record live productions to a local hard drive. The resulting files can be
hosted on a network later, so viewers can connect whenever they like. If you have the resources
available, you can host the video yourself – but if many people will likely want to view your
production, you will likely avail yourself of a service to stream it on your behalf.
Ideally, ‘on demand’ streaming video begins to play on request after a few moments of buffering
- to let the stream get a bit ahead of the client playback device. (This stands in contrast to other
types of online video distribution which requires the viewer to completely download the video
file before he can begin play.)
Given a sufficiently high speed connection between host and viewer, they may well be able to
enjoy a seamless viewing experience without stuttering or other issues.
LIVE STREAMING
Live streaming is a growing international market, and one you may well wish to serve. This form
of streaming is a somewhat more demanding implementation. Rather than record a file and deal
with it later, live video is transmitted over the network (effectively in realtime, give or take a little
‘time in the pipe’ as it were.) Delivering a good quality stream requires that you consider both
your network connection capabilities and that of your viewers. As well, to ensure reliable
delivery, you will ideally have some idea of the size of your audience. Nevertheless, for all cases,
TriCaster gives you the tools to do the job!
Naturally, streaming video is highly compressed to reduce bandwidth demands and make it
available to a wider group. TriCaster supports two popular and prolific encoding systems,
Microsoft’s Windows Media™ and Adobe Flash Media ®.
The decision as to which encoding format to use for your live stream is up to you, or in some
cases – your client. Here are some things to consider:

Some corporate and institutional network administrators opt to support one or another
type exclusively. (Check with your IT department to find out if this affects your decision.)