Inside Windows Media [Paperback]

Corp Microsoft (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0789722259 | ISBN-13: 978-0789722256 | Publication Date: November 29, 1999

Inside Windows Media Technologies provides an end-to-end solution for creating and streaming multimedia content. Each section contains both conceptual information and step-by-step instructions to help guide you through creating a streaming media solution. Inside Windows Media Technologies is divided into four primary sections to address the specific needs of individual users: Content Creation, Streaming Content, Designing the Client Experience, and Advanced Topics.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Inside Windows Media Technologies provides an end-to-end solution for creating and streaming multimedia content. Each section contains both conceptual information and step-by-step instructions to help guide you through creating a streaming media solution. Inside Windows Media Technologies is divided into four primary sections to address the specific needs of individual users: Content Creation, Streaming Content, Designing the Client Experience, and Advanced Topics.

About the Author

Written by an 11 person team of Microsoft gurus on Windows Media Technologies, including Starr Anderson (Technical Writer, Windows Media Technologies), Brian Crites (Software Development Lead, Streaming Media Division), Brooks Cutter (Program Manager, Windows Media team), Douglas Goodwin (Technical Writer, Windows Media Technologies), Laura Landstad (Program Manager, Windows Media team), John Michalak (Writing Manager, Windows Media Technologies), Andrea Pruneda (Technical writer, Windows Media Rights Manager), Richard Saunders (Program Manager, Windows Media Tools), Howard Stateman (Program Manager, Windows Media team), Mark VanAntwerp (Software Design Engineer, Window Media team) and Scott Harrison (Program Manager, Streaming Media Platforms).

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Que (November 29, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789722259
• ISBN-13: 978-0789722256
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,014,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #57 in Books > Computers & Technology > Microsoft > Web Publishing

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars At last it all becomes clear., December 9, 1999

By 

A Streaming Media Professional (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inside Windows Media (Paperback)

Goodbye Real. Hello Windows Media. Finally I found the answers to all my technical questions in this extremely well put together book about Microsoft's Windows Media Technologies. As well as all the technical stuff (i.e. what it can and can't do) there's lots of useful realworld applications and fictional case studies. All in all, it's pretty damn inspiring and gives me the confidence to use Windows Media technologies for all our streaming media requirements.

I picked this book up at Streaming Media West at the Microsoft stand. Well done and thanks chaps!

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally a good book on streaming media, December 17, 1999

By 

B Bozarth (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inside Windows Media (Paperback)

About time! I have been dying to pick up a good up-to-date book on streaming media particularly Windows Media and this is it. A good consise overview of all aspects of streaming media (creating and presenting content and how to serve + some insight on capacity planning.) Although the focus is on Windows Media, there's a lot of good tips to pick up that can be easily applied to the other realms (Real & Quicktime).

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Short on technical content. Too light. Too dated., July 30, 2002

By 

John Harpur (Trim, Meath, IRELAND) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Inside Windows Media (Paperback)

This text was published in 1999 and is accompanied by a CD of code and utilities. I wouldn't advise installing the CD in an XP environment, but seems fine under 2000, etc. Download the latest Windows Media SDK from Microsoft if using XP.

While the book has lots of interesting overview material, very little is tackled in depth. In fact, much of the book seems like padding around a few technical chunks. The programming content of the book is in chapter 9 and deals exclusively with automating various aspects of Windows Media (e.g. Windows Media Encoder). In this repsect, the title is misleading.

Personally, I was very disappointed to see so little on .avi. The specification of an avi file was only briefly described (you have to go to the web to get avi information of any quality). There is simply no good reason for failing to detail avi. Why Micorsoft doesn't devote a chunk of web pages to .avi is simply beyond me. The authors of this text mention avi only to dismiss it and argue for asf as the better standard.

The comparison between avi and asf is nicely arranged but surprisingly no avi or asf parser is discussed, despite RIFF parsers having been around for years. A whole lyer of background information was simply not there on the origins of these standards.

The two pages on codecs (229-230) are grossly inadequate and give a flimsy overview of developments. For instance, the Intel Indeo codecs are not mentioned at all despite their success with avi compression.

My overall impression is that the book is largely dated by the advent of XP media technologies and egregiously short on meaty technical detail. Unfortunately Microsoft haven't yet produced a suitable programmer's guide to windows media programming. So if you are really stuck and can't spent a few hours conducting intelligent web searches for resources, this book will meet some of your requirements. In the final analysis, however, this book is poor value for its price.