If you have control over the entire network, I would suggest native multicast. This is used operationally by a number of providers and is one candidate for the next generation of "cable" TV providers. If you want to reach arbitrary people across networks, then you will need to do either unicast or application layer multicast, depending on a bunch of things. Broadcast quality TV is typically 3 to 6 Mbps of MPEG-2. You can do pretty well now-a-days with 300 to 600 kbps of MPEG-4 or H.264. Regards Marshall Eubanks On Jul 14, 2004, at 4:01 PM, Christopher J. Wolff wrote:
Hello,
I have a "state of the state" sort of question for you guru's out there. If I wanted to make a number of video streams available across an IP WAN network, I have a couple of options. Unicast or Multicast. Unicast isn't the most efficient method necessarily so my preference would be Multicast. Now since it's been years since I've thought about Multicast, are there any hot new technologies or methods available for video transmission over an IP network? Thank you very much for your time.
Regards, Christopher J. Wolff VP CIO Broadband Laboratories, Inc. http://www.bblabs.com
T.M. Eubanks e-mail : tme@multicasttech.com http://www.multicasttech.com Test your network for multicast : http://www.multicasttech.com/mt/ Our New Video Service is in Beta testing http://www.americafree.tv