How Does Streaming Work? , livre ebook

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HIGH-TECH SCIENCE AT HOME
How Does Streaming Work?
by M. M. Eboch
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Edited by Leah KaminskiDesigned by Sara RadkaOriginal illustrations © Capstone Global Library Limited 2021Picture research by Eric GohlProduction by Kathy McColleyOriginated by Capstone Global Library Ltd
978 1 3982 0453 9 (hardback) 978 1 3982 0452 2 (paperback)978 1 3982 1779 9 (ebook)
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Acknowledgements We would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce photographs: Alamy: Aleksey Boldin, 33, Alexander Hagseth, 29, Anton Dos Ventos, 16, Ivan Marc Sanchez, 41, Science History Images, 10; Getty Images: blackred, 17, ClassicStock/H. Armstrong Roberts, 11, PeopleImages, 35, Stringer/Jason Davis, 26, Stringer/Marie Hippenmeyer, 14; iStockphoto: Chunumunu, 23, mathisworks, 44¬–45, scanrail, 42, Shaxiaozi, 38, VistaVision, 19; Newscom: KRT/Charles Osgood, 12; Pixabay: 200degrees, 34 (streaming), Clker-Free-Vector-Images, cover (house icon), 25 (closed box), 34 (camcorder), 39 (satellite), dkiessling, 15 (top), 39 (internet), janjf93, 15 (bottom), OpenClipart-Vectors, 25 (data stacks & open box), 34 (laptop & server), Pixel_perfect, 34 (video player), Samuel1983, 39 (WiFi); Shutterstock: ADE2013, 39 (tv network), bluebay, 20, Cristian Dina, 40, Gorodenkoff, 5, JeDo_Foto, 18, Kaspars Grinvalds, 27, Leszek Glasner, 37, LIORIKI, background (circuit board), Maridav, 28, Mile Atanasov, 30, Monkey Business Images, 31, musmellow, cover, RedlineVector, 39 (tower), selinofoto, 7, Sergey Nivens, 6, sitthiphong, 8, Tetiana Yurchenko, 39 (smartphone), Twin Design, 24; SuperStock: Caia Images, 9.
Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders of material reproduced in this book. Any omissions will be rectified in subsequent printings if notice is given to the publisher.
All the internet addresses (URLs) given in this book were valid at the time of going to press. However, due to the dynamic nature of the internet, some addresses may have changed, or sites may have changed or ceased to exist since publication. While the author and publisher regret any inconvenience this may cause readers, no responsibility for any such changes can be accepted by either the author or the publisher.
Contents
Our streaming world ............................ 4
CHAPTER 1 What is streaming? .............................. 6
CHAPTER 2 The early, slow days .......................... 10
CHAPTER 3 Speed over quality .............................. 18
CHAPTER 4 The state of streaming today .......... 26
CHAPTER 5 Making streaming videos ................. 32
CHAPTER 6 The streaming future ........................ 36
Glossary ........................................................ 46
Find out more ................................................ 47
Index .............................................................. 48
Words in bold are in the glossary.
Our streaming world
Sit in front of a TV, computer or smartphone.You’ll find a world of entertainment. Choose from thousands of TV shows and films. Play realistic video games. Watch a live concertor football match. Chat with kids in other countries. You can even jump between these media in seconds!
It wasn’t always like this. At one time, the BBC was the only channel. Then in 1955, ITV began broadcasting. People could only watch what a station was playing at that moment. The first web pages only had text and maybe a photo or two. At the dawn of the internet, people sometimes waited hours to get a file.
Early video games were very simple too. In Pong, two players sent a digital ball back and forth across a dotted line. It was a digital version of ping-pong. And it was a huge hit. People had never seen anything like it.

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Many people use their desktop computers to stream entertainment.
Technology gets better over time. We now have more powerful computers. We have faster internet.What do you want to see or hear? You have millions of choices. In part, you can thank streaming for this.

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CHAPTER 1 What is streaming?
When people speak, they send out sound waves. These waves hold information. The listeners’ ears take in the waves. Their brains work out what the sound waves mean.
The internet works in a similar way. Information travels to an electronic device. This information could include texts, pictures, sounds or all of these. It may travel through wires, as radio waves, or as a satellite signal. It might reach a T V, phone or computer. That device shows the information. Streaming uses the internet to send information, just as speaking sends information through sound waves.

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