Video Via The Internet

The real-time transmission of video and audio data via the Internet is only possible using streaming technology due to the limited bandwidth. Streaming audio/video makes it possible to receive music, spoken recordings, animations and video via the network without notable time delays - on an international scale. Two streaming media systems from Real Networks and Microsoft are currently competing for market dominance. Real Network's Real Audio and Real Video streaming formats have established a pseudo standard. Some television channels have been present in the Internet since 1998 using Microsoft's streaming technology 'Active Movie'. Both streaming techniques basically have the same objective: they enable the transmission of video clips or live television recordings to be received via the Internet in acceptable quality. Large media corporations such as CNN were the first to offer this technology.

TV programs such as CNN can be received using the Real Player software package. The audio/video data is transmitted using streaming technology.