Internet Webcasting Services

Sending visual communications requires internet webcasting services. The world of broadcasting is now taking over the servers like it took over the air waves. Most television networks and radio stations also "air" their broadcasts for those listening on computers. The media corporations aren't the only ones benefiting from the rise of computers as the medium for carrying visual information. Many businesses are using the services of a video webcasting company to assist them in sending their board meetings to their telecommuting employees, rather than have them travel in. Though, this should not be confused with web conferencing. Web conferencing is set up for both the sender and the receiver to be able to communicate back and forth. The connection in this way is called a many-to-many connection. However, webcasting is set up to be sent by one originating source to many recipients who cannot respond back to the source in any way. Also, these businesses are using internet webcasting services to advertise to potential clients and instruct new employees. Companies in the travel industry can show movies of their beach condos right from their homepage. If a picture speaks a thousand words, a movie of a sunny beach with the roar of waves speaks volumes to a potential customer ready to take a vacation. Educational institutions are following suite and placing videos on university websites to showcase the campuses and transmit lessons to students learning over the web.

Sending video over the web has been around since the late 1980s, but due to the great expense and slow connectivity of commercial grade computers at that time, internet webcasting services were not regularly used until the 1990s when network bandwidth increased and the file types were standardized. The fact that webstream viewing has doubled every year since 1995 is directly related to broadband canvassing the world. In the beginning of this emerging technology a video webcasting company would record the segments and broadcast them later. Sending a video or audio sound bite live just was not heard of back then. This format was called non-streaming. Even though these recordings were not live, they were still a great improvement over the former method. Many times a business would send out DVDs or CDs with its information or marketing presentation to many computer owners and hope that the recipient took time to watch the video before it was thrown away. At least with sending propaganda over the web, a business can reach only those who want to hear the message and intentionally log in to watch the video. "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

With the growing popularity of broadband, the use of live casting is now growing steadily. In 1999, several television entities partnered to broadcast three different concerts simultaneously. They also employed internet webcasting services to reach the entire world. There were over 150,000 computer users watching the news casts of the 2005 London bombings. It is quite common now for a television network or radio station to have a formidable internet presence. These networks air broadcasts over the web at the same time they are being viewed on the television or heard over the radio. Simulcast is the term chosen for these types of "web copies" of media shows. The term webcasting was formally used in the late 1990s to describe this sort of technology. Now using "cast" at the end of a word is understood to mean that it will be streaming live in some way over the web. Computer users still have the option to watch a show or listen to a radio program after it is not being streamed live. A video webcasting company archives and saves the broadcasts on a separate server. The computer user is free then to log in and view the piece at their convenience. These videos accessed after they are recorded are called on demand, because they are viewed on the user's demand. Radio devices that stand separate from the processor can provide a no computer option for the radio listener that does not want to drop everything and log in to hear their favorite program running on the web.

Multimedia files are still pretty large and can be expensive to send. After compression, they are a bit smaller and more affordable to market. With it now cheaper to send the files and the abundant availability of internet webcasting services, many independent filmmakers, public speakers, radio hosts and amateur television actors are getting in on the action that was originally only for the large media corporations. From a persons living room, they can send live presentations to computer users across the globe. There are a few ways that the messages of these individuals, as well as those of large corporations, can reach multiple end users. Unicast protocols send a copy of the live program to each end user's computer. This is pretty simple to use, but creates a lot of work for the network and makes unnecessary duplicates of the show. A video webcasting company uses a multicast to send only one copy of the live show to each network connection. In order to do this, the originator will have to buy a special router to handle multimedia dispersal. Multicasts cut down on bandwidth usage, but do not allow for rewinding or fast forwarding. There are myriad ways to reach an audience over the internet. Peer-to-peer was the old way. One source sent a media file to one recipient. This protocol didn't bog down or require routers, but hardly has the impact a growing company, aspiring talk show host or a cutting edge news outlet needs. The future will bring IP multicasts when the cost decreases and the popularity grows among viewers.

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