Video on the internet

Computers are now capable of supporting a vast range of powerful multimedia tools. Online radio stations, for instance, are widely available across the World Wide Web. You can listen to a variety of music from around the world, without any need for a radio or receiver. The Internet has given users the power to listen to anything, anywhere at anytime.

Perhaps one of the most recent improvements in Internet technology is the ability to stream video live and recorded for Internet users to view. Websites offering videos to view online are becoming increasingly popular and more sites are appearing every day. One such website that has taken the cyber world by storm is You Tube, an online personal video service.

This article provides information about the use of video on the Internet, outlining the advantages and disadvantages and how video for the Internet is expected to develop, incorporating mobile phones and communications.

Video on the Internet - the past

Until the introduction of broadband to homes around the world, people found it difficult to view or download videos. Huge file sizes and slow bandwidth of Internet modems meant that video could take hours and even days to download. Even streaming videos had issues with bandwidth, as the speed of the connection could not keep up with the playback speed. It was formerly considered bad practice to integrate videos into website design, as most users would either not be able to load the video into the site or the site would not load as a result of the video size. As a result, most video was either disregarded or compressed to an appropriate file size, sacrificing the quality of the video and the sound.

By the late 1990s, Macromedia Flash products included new advanced video embedding tools, with the ability to compress videos to a much-needed smaller size, without damaging the quality of the video or the sound to the point where the video was unwatchable. This, however, was still not good enough to view video quickly and effectively using dial-up modems.

Video on the Internet - high speed Internet

With the introduction of high speed Internet, or broadband, all formats of multimedia became easily accessible to Internet users. Music files were available for download, without any loss of quality. Video files started to be streamed on websites, downloaded for entertainment and used for live television broadcasting.

For the first time since the invention of the Internet, media became available across the World Wide Web at accessible speeds and with good quality data.

Internet video streaming

With the ability to view video easily on broadband Internet, websites offering video clips for entertainment have become popular with the generation of web-savvy Internet users. Some sites have taken the video streaming process to the next level, by giving users space online to host their own web videos, with the ability to share, view on other websites and download videos.

You Tube (visit the You Tube website)

One of the biggest websites for personal video streaming is You Tube. Founded in 2005, You Tube is an online community, which was originally set up by a few individuals to give its users the power to watch and share original videos. Individuals can upload videos worldwide, browse other member videos, create video groups and join other groups and integrate You Tube videos into foreign websites (websites that do not belong to You Tube - code is provided to embed the player into the site). More websites are following in the footsteps of You Tube and similar websites.

Google Video (visit the Google Video website)

The Internet search engine Google set up Google Video. Similar to You Tube, the Google Video website allows users to watch videos and upload videos to be shared and embedded into foreign websites. In mid 2006, Google bought You Tube for £883m. There are reports from Google chief executive, Eric Schmidt, that Google has plans to invest further into the Internet video market.

TV online

The BBC currently provides services to watch clips of programmes and live BBC sport and listen to BBC radio broadcasts online, free for UK users. This service is widely used and has been copied by other TV broadcasting companies. ITV has introduced a service for watching ITV football online, subject to a fee. Sky has also given users with subscriptions to Sky Movies the ability to watch movies online.

Video on the Internet - what next?

With You Tube becoming one of the most popular and well-known websites on the Internet, we can see clearly that online video is an important part of Internet entertainment.
So what does the future hold for video on the Internet?

Video on mobile phones

Mobile phones have been developing fast since the launch of 3G (third generation) mobile technology. 3G companies such as 3 and Vodafone have provided users with up-to-the-minute video streaming of sport, such as goals and results for your favourite football team. A user can get a video sent direct to their mobile phone within a few minutes of a goal. The future will introduce new technology such as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), and mobile phones will be able to use broadband style technology to deliver data across the mobile Internet and communicate with better quality.

Developments in all technologies are making it easier to communicate, share data and interact online. With advances in products that enable us to watch and share videos, we will soon see more and more sites like You Tube and Google. Some may be successful and others won't be as lucky.