Streaming Web media is hot. Nielsen-NetRatings reports that thirty-six percent of all Web surfers accessed some form of streaming media in November 2000, a 65% growth rate over the previous year. And according to Microsoft, twice as many people listen to Internet radio than watch Monday Night Football.

So, is it time to jump into streaming media? How do you go about producing material and integrating it into your Web site? Yes, streaming Web media can be tremendously compelling, from catching the up-to-the minute election coverage on CNN.com to the popularity of shorts on sites like iFilm and AtomFilms. Yet it can also be confusing and frustrating to work with, with multiple competing and changing standards, and severe quality degradation due to bandwidth constraints.

This talk will provide a roadmap for how to do streaming media, from video and audio production on the desktop to configuring servers for Web streaming. We will begin by describing the current state of the three major streaming formats -- Apple QuickTime, RealNetworks RealMedia, and Microsoft Windows Media -- and their associated compression algorithms. We will then review desktop tools for converting and producing your own streaming media files. Finally, we will discuss issues in hosting the different streaming formats on your Web site, and how to configure streaming servers, including for live broadcasts. We will also cover cost / performance issues in creating and hosting streaming media.

Douglas Dixon is a technologist and author who has worked in the "Video Valley" of Princeton, N.J. for over twenty years. As a technology leader at Sarnoff Corp., and previously as a software product manager at Intel, Doug has extensive experience developing multimedia and Web technology into consumer products. As a technology writer, Doug is contributing editor for Camcorder and Computer Video and Digital Photographer magazines, writing on PC multimedia, Web streaming media, DVD, and even video on handheld PDAs, among other cool topics. He also is a contributor to the Star Ledger's NJ Tech magazine and the U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton.

Doug has published technical articles related to his projects in journals of the ACM and IEEE, and is active in professional activities. He holds four issued U.S. patents, and has received two individual and two team Sarnoff Achievement Awards.

Jeffrey Esakov is a technologist and entrepreneur who has worked in a variety of roles at both startup and established companies. His interactive multimedia development experience dates back to work with interactive videodiscs and Intel DVI. He also developed a prototype DVCPro-based digital video server for a non-linear video editing system presented at NAB 1997. At Sarnoff Corp, Jeffrey currently focuses on Internet architectures and emerging Web technologies. He has worked on Internet technologies and web site development since before the web became cool and long before it became common.

Jeffrey is the author of a dozen technical articles, the author of a college textbook, and holds 2 U.S. patents.

Princeton ACM / IEEE Computer Society meeting are open to the public. Students and their parents are welcome. There is no admission charge, and refreshments are served.