Bandwidth is the connection to the internet. More specifically it is the speed of the connection that the viewer has. In many ways, the connection bandwidth determines the viewer’s capacity to download, and view video smoothly over the web. High supply bandwidth, such as cable and DSL, allow a viewer to stream a much higher quality video. Conversely, viewer’s who connect with the outdated modem wont be able to view video content for the better part, as it is unable to download the data fast enough.
In the early years of streaming video, production companies encoded video with the bandwidth capacity in mind. In other words, when a production company created a corporate video for online delivery, they would have to be viewed online in a size so small (about the size of a quarter of a playing card) that it would be almost unbearable for the end user. In addition to this, the compression rate of the files needed to sit somewhere around 28kbps otherwise it would be impossible for the viewer’s to see it.
With the emergence of much faster data rates, upward of 1-2mbps, it is common for a post production facility to output online video content directly online for clients to approve and review. The image size can be much larger, the data rate much higher and what results is a much more positive experience for the end user.
With the emergence of online video technology a huge swing in demand has occurred for video producers to provide video content that is optimized for online viewing. What this has resulted in, is a number of ill-prepared suppliers delivering poorly compressed video files for clients, or files that play too slowly or simply do not play at all online.
Data rate is the size of the video file that is delivered each second.
If you're filming in Australia then your video will begin its life at PAL24fps (Frames per second) otherwise it will most likely be (29.97NTSC).
Resolution refers to the height and width of the video clip in pixel size.
To the viewer, streaming a video means pressing play and then having the video start immediately. From there the video should play from start to finish fairly smoothly. On a technical level however what must occur is that the 'data rate' of the file being viewed must be smaller than the bandwidth of the viewer. If it isn't the video will play 'clunky' and not be an enjoyable experience for the viewer.
Progressive download differs from streaming video in the sense that rather than having a constant flow of video coming to the viewer, progressive video is downloaded and 'stored' temporarily on a viewer’s hard drive.