Streaming server

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A streaming server is a dedicated server for delivering streaming media data over a network .

Typical streaming servers support special streaming protocols such as RTP , RTSP , RTCP and RSVP (auxiliary protocol for QoS procedures IntServ ).

providers

Streaming server providers include a. RealNetworks (formerly Progressive Networks ), Microsoft and Apple but also smaller providers such as FlexCast . Streaming servers are also being developed in the open source community, for example in the Darwin , VideoLAN , FFserver projects by FFmpeg , Helix, in the Catra Streaming Platform and in the LScube project.

Products

Most of the popular streaming servers are commercially licensed, whereby the costs can rise disproportionately as the number of simultaneous streams increases.

General streaming media server

Dedicated streaming audio server

current streaming audio servers are:

classic software solutions from the 1990s were:

  • NetStreamer (Linux; GNU GPL)
  • Cyber ​​Radio 1 (UNIX; GNU GPL)
  • ampRadio (Windows) u. a.

Server operation

Operating a server for live streaming requires - in addition to the respective licenses - at least one dedicated server; Private customers can also rent preconfigured computers from some web hosts and Internet service providers (ISP).

History and Development

Progressive Networks , later RealNetworks , released the first commercial products for streaming back in 1994; the competitors Apple and Microsoft followed shortly afterwards with QuickTime and Windows Media .

Apple presented the first open source streaming server in mid-1999 with Darwin . The Darwin Streaming Server is based on approved parts of the source code of the QuickTime Streaming Server .

RealNetworks followed suit in 2002 and released parts of the source code of the in-house servers ( Helix Universal Server and Helix DNA Server ), players , production tools and codecs , which are ported and further developed in the Helix DNA project; the Helix DNA Server supports the file formats MP3 , RealAudio , RealVideo , Windows Media and QuickTime .

The project uses two licenses, the RealNetworks Public Source License (RPSL) and the RealNetworks Community Source License (RCSL). The first results were published with the release of the Helix DNA Server in early 2003, but the completion of the Helix DNA Encoder was delayed.

Commercial server software is no longer required for simple streaming in the SOHO area; the streaming player VLC media player contains all the features a home user needs. This now also contains functions that go far beyond the needs of private individuals, which is why VLC is also used professionally.

Since the introduction of UMTS in 2003, streaming on mobile devices has become the focus of streaming technologies. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project has a uniform standard that enables compatible streaming to mobile devices. Numerous projects, such as the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems (FOKUS), show the possibilities that mobile streaming offers.

See also