Table of Contents:

Definition and Overview

1. Preproduction Concepts for Audio and Video

2. Acquiring the Media

3. Editing

4. Preprocess for Streaming

5. Watermarking

6. Designing the Rich Media Presentation

7. Serving and Delivering the Media

8. The Final Step

Self-Test

Glossary

PDF of this tutorial

Content may also be enhanced by adding metadata. This is one of the more exciting enhancements that may be made. Metadata can be used to encode information such as author, copyright, rating, description, etc. This information can be displayed in the media player as the content is streamed. Metadata may also be encoded to allow the user to navigate to and locate various points in the streaming content.

But perhaps the most exciting news is that metadata may be used to run commands that will open a Web page or launch a Java application. These events can be synchronized to specific times and events in the streaming content. For instance, as the streaming audio is describing the features of a product, metadata could launch the browser and open a Web page with pictures, text, and graphics supporting the dialog and giving the end user a complete multimedia experience.

Creating the Metadata

The process of creating metadata begins with placing markers. These markers associate the metadata with a specific time in the streaming content. How the marker is placed will depend on the encoding software used. Once the marker is placed, it is then defined as a location marker or as a command marker. Many of the commands that are available are specific to a media player, so it is important to become familiar with the media players that are targeted for use with the streaming media before the process begins. The encoding software will usually have several predefined templates to define the markers; options such as the following are available:

• universal resource locator (URL)—By selecting this command and typing in a Web address, the streaming media will launch the browser and open the specific Web page at the appropriate time in the presentation.
• TEXT—A TEXT command displays the text in the captioning area of the Windows Media Player below the video display area. The Text command works with media files that are played in a standalone Windows Media Player.
• WMClosedCaption—This command displays text in a captioning window defined by an HTML layout file. The WMClosedCaption command works for files encoded in Windows Media format using the Closed Caption HTML layout.
• WMTextBodyText—The WMTextBodyText command displays the specified text in a text window defined by an HTML layout file. The WMTextBodyText command works for files encoded in Windows Media format using the Headline and Body Command HTML layout.
• WMTextHeadline—The WMTextHeadline command displays the specified headline in a headline window defined by an HTML layout file. The WMTextHeadline command works for files encoded in Windows Media format using the Headline and Body Command HTML layout.
• Title—The Title command allows the user to specify the title of a RealMedia presentation. The title is displayed in the RealPlayer’s title bar when a user selects "About This Presentation" from the shortcut menu on the RealPlayer display. For example, if a single RealMedia file contains clips from several movies, the Title command may be used to change the title for each clip.
• Author—The Author command allows a user to specify the author of a RealMedia presentation. The Author is displayed when a user selects “About This Presentation” from the shortcut menu on the RealPlayer display. For example, if a single RealMedia file contains clips from several authors, the Author command may be used to change the author information for each clip.
• Copyright—The Copyright command allows a user to specify copyright information about a RealMedia presentation. The copyright information is displayed when a user selects “About This Presentation” from the shortcut menu on the RealPlayer display. For example, if a single RealMedia file contains clips from several sources, the Copyright command may be used to change the copyright information for each clip.
• HotSpotPlay—The HotSpotPlay command allows an area to be defined in the RealPlayer video display that users can click to jump to another RealMedia file.
• HotSpotBrowse—The HotSpotBrowse command allows an area to be defined in the RealPlayer video display that users can click to jump to a specified Web page.
• HotSpotSeek—The HotSpotSeek command allows an area to be defined in the RealPlayer video display that users can click to jump to a point in the current RealMedia file.

The main point to remember is that the metadata is useless unless it is encoded for a media player that will make use of it or unless the Web page is designed to take advantage of it.

Web Page Layout

As stated above, Web page design is a critical part of taking advantage of the metadata encoded in the streaming content. Some of the encoding software packages also provide predesigned Web pages or templates that are specifically designed to interact with the metadata as it is delivered from the streaming media. Basically, it is a two-way street. Users must pick a template (or design a Web page) that provides for the metadata and encode metadata appropriate for the Web page.