An email address that will receive any email that is sent to your account without an already assigned email address.
An email address that will receive any email that is sent to your account without an already assigned email address.
Geo-blocking or geoblocking is technology that restricts access to Internet content based upon the user’s geographical location.
Hardware encoding is the process of converting from a video source to a streamable format. A hardware encoder is a dedicated physical device that captures, compresses, and converts videos.
Bitrate is a measure of the amount of data per unit of time in a video or audio stream. Typically this is measured in kilobits, megabits, or gigabits per second. For example, the bitrate of a typical 720p HD video stream may be in the realm of 2 Mbit/s (megabits per second), and a standard audio bitrate is 128 Kbps.
Software encoding is identical to the process of hardware encoding, except for it is a program and it runs on a computer. In addition to producing as good of video quality as hardware devices, software encoders also present an opportunity to tweak a lot of settings to your personal taste.
Upload speed refers to the speed that your internet connection can allow data to be sent from your devices to the internet.
A digital camera that sends and receives video data over your network, rather than via a capture device.
AAC stands for “Advanced Audio Coding,” which refers to an audio codec. AAC is the standard audio codec used for online video and live streaming. It’s also compatible with every device on the market today.
Any video resolution below 1280×720 is considered SD. Common SD resolutions include 1024×576 pixels and 720×480 pixels.
Latency refers to the elapsed time between an event taking place and that event being displayed via live stream to viewers on their screens. Most live streams have a latency of less than or around 30 seconds.
Video On Demand refers to pre-recorded video that can be played whenever the viewer wants. This is in contrast to live streaming, which is watched live.
Embedding is the process of placing a video player on a website of your choice. Typically, this is done by copying an “embed code” of a live stream and inserting it into the HTML code of your website.
Streaming is a method of viewing video or listening to audio content without actually downloading the media files.
RTMP, or Real-Time Multimedia Protocol, is an older protocol for live streaming. It is used widely today for delivering a stream from your encoder to your OVP for ingestion. Another protocol, most commonly HLS, is used to then deliver the stream to viewers.
The ability to see multiple video sources simultaneously.
Buffering is when a streaming video is unable to be delivered in real-time and pauses to “buffer” additional data. This happens when your network isn’t powerful enough to deliver all the data viewers are requesting. This can be solved by reducing bitrates of your video or by the viewer relocating to a location with faster internet speeds.
A commonly used streaming protocol designed for entertainment and communications systems to control streaming media servers. Clients of media servers issue VCR-style commands, such as play, record and pause to facilitate real-time control of the media streaming from the server to a client (Video On Demand) or from a client to the server (Voice Recording).
Capture cards (or video capture devices) are dedicated pieces of hardware that can be attached to a laptop or desktop computer. These devices include inputs to capture video feeds from various types of cameras. These feeds can then be accessed and streamed via encoder software.
A container format refers to a file format that contains multiple files. For example, MP4 is a container format. Multiple files, such as video files, audio files, and subtitles, can be packaged inside a single container file with the extension .mp4
RTP (Realtime Transport Protocol): A network protocol for delivering audio and video over IP networks. Commonly used with video teleconference systems and web-based push-to-talk features.
Video quality is partly defined by resolution, which is measured in pixels. High Definition video refers to video that is at least 720 horizontal pixels by 480 vertical pixels in resolution. “Full HD” or 1080 HD video is 1920 x 1080 pixels in resolution.
A hard disk drive, hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage and one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magnetic material.
Abbreviation of ‘Isolated Recording.’ A recording of a single a camera source during a multi-camera production. Typically, multiple ISO recordings are done simultaneously and are edited together in post-production.
OBS Studio is a free, open-source software encoder that allows you to mix multiple sources and stream live events.
Multi-bitrate streaming refers to the process of sending out multiple versions of your live stream feed at different quality levels.
H.264 is the most common video codec in use today. It’s compatible with essentially every device out there and provides reasonable file sizes for streaming video up to 1080p HD resolutions.
The process of converting data from one form of coded representation to another. The process by which video files are converted to a reduced bit rate while still maintaining the original video format. This enables users to fit specific media into a much smaller storage space or deliver video files more efficiently using reduced bandwidth.
The proportional relationship between an image’s or player’s width and its height. The standards for broadcast are 4:3 and 16:9. HD video is natively 16:9.
Load balancing refers to a method of data distribution over a network so that a single server does not become overloaded.
An Internet service provider is an organization that provides many different services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. Internet service providers can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privately owned.
An audio/video interface for transferring video and audio data to and from HDMI-compliant source devices (cameras, receivers, etc.). A common standard for connecting HD devices at the consumer level.
A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), the predecessor of Transport Layer Security (TLS), is an encryption protocol designed to secure connections between computer systems. For convenience and legacy reasons, both protocols are often referred to as SSL.
HTML5 is a markup language that is standard for the internet as a whole. In the video industry, HTML5 marked a major shift in video delivery by ensuring cross-platform compatibility and allowing native embedding of streaming media.
A server is a highly powerful computer that only stores or hosts websites and web applications for public access.
Although a server is generally not different from a PC, it has the following special features:
A server has RAM, ROM, and processor that are more powerful than a normal PC.
A server almost never goes offline. The owner of the server keeps it switched on for 24X7.
Servers are, generally, owned by web hosting companies.
HLS, or HTTP Live Streaming, is a protocol for delivering live streams over the internet. Originally developed by Apple, it is the dominant live-streaming protocol today and is compatible with iOS, Android, desktop computers, tablets, smart TVs, game consoles, and more.
The Transmission Control Protocol is one of the main protocols of the Internet protocol suite. It originated in the initial network implementation in which it complemented the Internet Protocol. Therefore, the entire suite is commonly referred to as TCP/IP.
Web Video Text Tracks, or VTT (Video Text Tracks) is a text format that seamlessly integrates with video, allowing for closed captions or subtitles. It contains a timestamp, which syncs with your video timecode.
Bandwidth is the term used for how much data is transferred when people visit your website, consume content, or make downloads. One of the big differences between different types of web hosting plans is how much bandwidth you’re allotted—higher-cost plans will tend to support more visitors accessing more data.
Server uptime is the total duration for which a server is fully functional and running. It is a metric used to denote the performance of a server. Server uptime is monitored and measured by server monitoring tools.
H.264: Is a standard for video compression, and is currently one of the most commonly used formats for the recording, compression, and distribution of high definition video.
AAC: Advanced Audio Coding is the default or standard audio format across all media platforms, including YouTube, iPhone, iPod, and iPad.
Streaming key refers to an alphanumeric key that allows you to connect and broadcast your content to the streaming server. Without this key, your encoding software is not able to identify and communicate with the end platform.
Frame rate (FPS) is the frequency (per second) at which video frames appear on a display. In other words, it is the speed at which the consecutive images are shown to create video. The more frames per second the video has the smoother it feels for a viewer.
WebRTC is a free and open-source project providing web browsers and mobile applications with real-time communication via simple application programming interfaces.
The User Datagram Protocol, or UDP, is a communication protocol used across the Internet for especially time-sensitive transmissions such as video playback or DNS lookups. It speeds up communications by not formally establishing a connection before data is transferred. This allows data to be transferred very quickly, but it can also cause packets to become lost in transit — and create opportunities for exploitation in the form of DDoS attacks.
A “codec” is an encoding/decoding standard for reducing the file sizes of video, audio, and other media formats. The most common video codec is H.264, and the most common audio codecs are AAC and MP3.
A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack occurs when multiple computers flood a target system with network traffic. Depending on the target system’s configuration, it may be unable to handle the increased traffic, and site performance may suffer.
In computing, a firewall is a network security system that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules. A firewall typically establishes a barrier between a trusted network and an untrusted network, such as the Internet.
In computers, resolution is the number of pixels (individual points of color) contained on a display monitor, expressed in terms of the number of pixels on the horizontal axis and the number on the vertical axis. The sharpness of the image on a display depends on the resolution and the size of the monitor. The same pixel resolution will be sharper on a smaller monitor and gradually lose sharpness on larger monitors because the same number of pixels are being spread out over a larger number of inches.
Adaptive bitrate streaming is a technique used in streaming multimedia over computer networks. While in the past most video or audio streaming technologies utilized streaming protocols such as RTP with RTSP, today’s adaptive streaming technologies are almost exclusively based on HTTP[1] and designed to work efficiently over large distributed HTTP networks such as the Internet. It works by detecting a user’s bandwidth and CPU capacity in real time and adjusting the quality of the media stream accordingly.
Video on demand is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of over-the-air programming was the most common form of media distribution.
An SSL certificate is used to provide third-party validation of your encryption key, so someone else can’t pretend to be your website.
Server space refers to the hard disk space on a server that is allocated to you in a hosting plan. Server space to you is decided by the plan you choose and the amount you are willing to pay. It can also be defined as the amount of space allocated to you on the server to store files, pages, emails, etc.
The server space is also alternatively known as disk space.