Streaming Video Tutorials

[aj_nsc]

I am about to embark on a website that has quite a bit of streaming video (not live) and I have no idea how this technology works. I am googling some tutorials but I was hoping some expert here could point me in the direction of a good tutorial on the technology/techniques used today. I'd hate to start learning about streaming video from a tutorial that uses 5 year old techniques. If anybody has any links/advice/software/opinions to offer up, I'd be more than appreciative to hear them. Thanks.

[Eye for Video]

Can you clarify what you mean by
streaming video (not live)
Are you in fact using streaming to deliver the video or will these video be progressively downloaded. There is a fair amount of difference in the technologies used to deliver each.
If you're goal is actual streaming, it will be important to determine what video format you will be using. Then find a host that supports streaming in that format. Currently two of the big contenders are Windows Media and Flash. The specifics of your site will depend on which you chose.
For info I recommend going to your streaming host and checking out their help pages to get a better feel for what's required. Here's one I can recommend
http://www.upstreamnetworks.com/home.php?page=windows-live-streaming
They do both Windows and Flash, and have some helpful info.
Another approach is to understand streaming encoding. Here is a link to the Windows Media Encoder, review what encoding is and how it works. For Flash, go to Adobe and snoop around.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/encoder/default.mspx
On the other hand, if all you will be doing is progressive downloads, well that's a whole lot simpler and a whole, whole lot cheaper.
Good luck with your project!
Eye for Video
www.cidigitalmedia.com

[aj_nsc]

Thanks for the reply. What do you think of this solution:

http://www.jeroenwijering.com/?item=HTTP_Video_Streaming

By not live I mean I am not webcasting an event or anything. Basically, what I want to do is have videos with content restricted to registered users. I also don't want the registered users to have easy access to the source (which is why I opt for streaming rather than simply embedding of a video). I want this site to have two levels of security. (1) Is my ability to restrict only registered users from accessing the videos area - I can take care of this pretty well and (2) I don't want the registered users to have easy access to the source. I want them to watch the videos online, stream them so they won't download and become cached. The second part is mainly what I am interested in.

I figured this layer of security is best implemented through streaming videos and the link I included above seems to offer a pretty reasonable solution, as I don't want to have to go and get an account on a streaming media server. I know the principle that if you can watch it online then you can get it, one way or another, on your computer, I just don't want to make it simple. Hopefully you understand what I am saying.

Thanks again for the reply and let me know what you think.

[Eye for Video]

Thanks for clarifing the reasons for choosing streaming.
I think you are very much on the right track. I recently posted a similar opinion and was quickly answered by a post stating that screen capture software can easily grab what's being displayed on the screen. Sorry I can't find the post or the software mentioned but that is true, it can still be grabbed but the process is much, much more complicated.
With your double layer approach...that's about the best you can do.
EfV