SolveYourProblem Article Series: Audio & Video Streaming
Streaming FAQ and Tutorials

Streaming Video - Popular Personal Uses

Streaming video is one of the newer technologies in the cyber world, but not so new that consumers should be scared to approach it or so that surfers should back away from live streaming coverage or live streaming audio or video. Many in the business world are using streaming video, for everything from video conferencing to live security cams. The uses for video streaming are many, even in the domain of personal computer and web use.

Parents are one group of consumers who are already looking into and using video streaming and who will continue to use it for more and more purposes. Do you know any families who have four or five computers in their home and instant message from the living room to the kitchen to various bedrooms? The newest way to tell your kids that dinner’s ready is by simply saying it while recording a live stream from the kitchen. Maybe they’ll even hear you putting everything on the table and not have to be told it’s ready. All we need now is a smell sensor and transmitter.

Remember the baby monitors with their crackly sounds?! Long gone are the days of the walkie-talkie baby monitor. Enter live video streaming from nursery to whichever computer is nearest you. Homes may soon be ‘wired’ between each and every room in the house.

Some daycare centers have cameras posted in various spots within the facility, recording every scream, every kick, and every time a child decides to share their toys with another child. These cameras record the good, the bad, and the ugly, and not only record it, but stream it through their websites. What this means is that anxious parents can ‘peek in’ on their kids throughout the day, allaying concerns about everything from the child’s cough this morning to the child’s behavior, and yes, concerns about those taking care of the children.

This usage of video streaming is used on the business end to attract parents to certain daycares, but it has a very personal use for the parents who use it. They can reassure themselves throughout the day that their little one(s) are safe and having a good day. Many parents truly appreciate the innovation that video streaming has brought to their childcare endeavors; nanny cams are no longer the only way to monitor childcare providers.

The “fanciest” pet grooming and daycare facilities are beginning to offer the same service to pet owners. Fewer pet owners are excited about video streaming than parents, but kennels continue to look into the marketability of such a website tool.

Other personal uses for video streaming are linked to the all-too-common syndrome of families being spread across the nation and across the world. The digital photo revolution was an innovation that grandmothers, aunts, and cousins across the globe celebrated as the ‘once annually’ portrait was replaced by hundreds of photos to be perused when received and then again each time one feels a particular hankering for those far-away loved ones.

Video streaming brings a whole new dimension to the world of digitally staying in touch. Video streaming brings a living, breathing, talking image of those far-away relatives and friends right into our homes. These moving images are a cut above the stationary shots from the digital camera. All we have to do for video streaming is record digitally, instead of on a camcorder, and then post the link to the streaming file that you’ve posted somewhere online. This brings a movie, complete with sounds and movements, into the homes of friends and family across the world that have Internet access and are computer-savvy enough to open a video stream. Doubting this ability? Don’t worry; years ago, everyone was worried about jpegs, now everyone can move on to mpegs—it’s almost the same thing when you really get down to it.

Internet users who currently use a chat function such as AOL, Yahoo or MSN can add video streaming to their chats. This is a step above the webcam video chat because sound is included. For a live-streaming chat, no typing skills and emoticons are required! Communication happens the good old-fashioned way: through spoken words and facial expressions…the difference is that the interface is not a few feet of air but a few computers and Internet connections. It may not prove to be ‘just the same’ as talking face to face, but it sure is the most realistic thing we’ve got at the moment.

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SolveYourProblem.com : 2008

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