NetShow

There are three separate installation programs: one for NetShow Server and NetShow Administrator, one for the NetShow content creation tools, and one for NetShow Player.

What is It

We have always heard of this great new medium that is heading to our home computers, live video and audio feeds streaming onto our desktops. NetShow allows your computer to receive and play streaming media files, which unlike .avi or .wav files do not have to be completely downloaded in order to start playing them. The method is similar to television broadcasts; the NetShow client plays the streaming media file as it is received.

The NetShow Player uses Active Streaming format (.asf) files and live ASF streams. NetShow can receive ASF information delivered via unicast or multicast.and provides an easy, powerful way to stream multimedia content across intranets and the Internet..

The  symbol denotes a NetShow ASF file or stream

How does it work

The Player itself is an ActiveX control, so as a user you do not need to know how the client works in order to use it. Watching a show with NetShow is as simple as pointing your browser to a web page. NetShow Player uses Active Streaming format (.asf) files and live ASF streams. The player can receive ASF information delivered via unicast or multicast.

In supporting both unicast and multicast NetShow has opened up advanced viewing options. Unicast for example means that the server sends a stream each time it is requested. Unicast allows the user to control playback, much like having a remote control, you can rewind, fast forward and pause. Unicast will quickly take up bandwidth if several users are viewing a file simultaneously. Multicast is a way of sending a single copy of the requested data over a network for many computers to receive.

NetShow has two ways of playing .asf files. If you open a .asf  locally it will not stream, but play directly from your computer's cache. If you open an .asx file via a web page NetShow will stream the .asf file from the server. NetShow will buffer the file before it starts to play so it does not skip about whilst playing, if you move to another point in the clip NetShow will also have to buffer.

What you need

You can Download the latest NetShow player from http://www.microsoft.com/netshow/download/player.htm
If you install IE4.0, the player will be installed automatically.

As far a system requirements go, you will need the following hardware and software;

NetShow Player for Win95/NT
Minimum: 486/66 with 8Mb RAM, 16 Colour Display Card, 16-bit sound card, 14,000bps modem, Windows 95 (audio, audio + images, some video).
Recommended: Pentium 120MHz or better with 16+Mb RAM, 256+ Colour Display Card, 28,800+bps modem or ethernet card, Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 (audio, audio + images, video).

NetShow Player for Windows NT 3.51
Minimum: 486/66 with 16Mb RAM, 16 Colour Display Card, 16-bit sound card, 14,000bps modem, Windows NT 3.51 w/ SP5 (audio, audio + images, some video).
Recommended: Pentium 120MHz or better with 24+Mb RAM, 256+ Colour Display Card, 28,800+bps modem or ethernet card, Windows NT 3.51 w/ SP5 (audio, audio + images, video).

NetShow Player for Windows 3.x
Minimum: Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups 3.11, 8Mb RAM, 6Mb hard disk space, SuperVGA card, Windows compatible sound card, 14,000bps modem, 486DX66 processor, Video for Windows.
Recommended: Windows for Workgroups 3.11, 16+Mb RAM, Pentium 90 processor or better, SuperVGA card, 28,800+bps modem, Video for Windows.

Once you have the software installed, check your Player Works by visiting -  http://www.microsoft.com/netshow/examples.htm

What it provides

NetShow Player uses Active Streaming format (.asf) files and live ASF streams. The player can receive ASF information.