The Microsoft NetShow Beta SDK

[This is preliminary documentation and subject to change.]

This SDK provides procedural and reference information for the functionality exposed to developers and Web administrators by the Microsoft®NetShow™ platform. This documentation, along with the samples, is designed to facilitate development of applications built on top of the NetShow platform. With this beta SDK, you can create applications that interact with the various NetShow services and components to perform an assortment of tasks, including the following:

• Building custom user interfaces for Netshow components.
  
  
• Building companion applications that work in concert with NetShow services and applications.
  
  
• Integrating NetShow components with Web site management applications.
  
  
• Adding NetShow multimedia streaming capabilities to Web pages.

NetShow Overview

Microsoft NetShow is a powerful solution for streaming multimedia content across corporate intranets and the Internet. It enables development of Web sites or Web applications that stream audio, video, and script commands as a continuous flow of data. The ability to stream multimedia means the client can render content as it is being received over the network without downloading it first. Streaming is superior to downloading multimedia files because it greatly reduces the wait time and storage requirements on the client computer. Streaming also opens the door to unlimited length presentations, as well as live broadcasts.

NetShow content is based on the open, standards-based Advanced Streaming Format (ASF). ASF is an open standard that supports data delivery over a wide variety of networks and protocols. ASF describes a transmission file format (as opposed to a wire format) for arranging and organizing synchronized multimedia data. It is optimized for streaming the data over networks and rendering the data on a client computer. ASF specifies the format of live presentations being streamed across the network as well as pre-recorded .asf files.

NetShow supports unicasting (sending a stream to each client requesting it) and multicasting (sending a single stream across the network that can be rendered by many clients at the same time). Unicasting allows the user to start, stop, pause, fast forward, or rewind the stream at will. However sending a stream to each individual client can require a lot of bandwidth. Multicasting, on the other hand, makes better use of available bandwidth. Much like tuning into a TV or radio broadcast, multicasting restricts the users ability to pause, rewind, or fast forward the presentation.