Microsoft Windows Media Resource Kit (Pro-Resource Kit) (Paperback)

~ Microsoft Corporation (Author), Tricia Gill (Author), Bill Birney (Author) "Streaming media has become enormously popular in the last few years, and this popularity can be attributed to many factors..." (more)
Key Phrases: broadcast publishing point, wrapper playlist, skin definition file, Windows Media, Contoso Movies Online, Coho Winery (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The definitive reference for planning and deploying Windows Media technologies on the Microsoft Windows® .NET Server family—straight from the source. This official Microsoft RESOURCE KIT provides in-depth technical guidance plus must-have tools for IT professionals who need to implement streaming media solutions for corporate communications, training and education, e-commerce, commercial broadcast, and other uses. The book provides a detailed deployment road map that covers all related Windows Media components, including Windows Media Encoder, Windows Media Services, Windows Media Player, and Microsoft Producer, as well as cache/proxy servers, routers, and other third-party networking software and hardware. In addition to providing expert installation advice, the authors—members of Microsoft’s Windows Media team—share their insights on how to build custom streaming solutions using samples from the Windows Media software development kit (SDK). They’ve also packed the RESOURCE KIT CD-ROM with essential tools, including Windows Media products such as the encoder and a load simulator; test content including audio and video files; SDK code samples; and scenario-based topologies, plans, and checklists.

About the Author

The highly skilled experts on the Microsoft Windows Media team, including Tricia Gill and Bill Birney, are responsible for every phase of planning, developing, deploying, and supporting Windows Media technologies.

Bill Birney

Bill has been creating content for more than 35 years. He started out in radio as a disc jockey, then gained broad experience in many fields, including television, music, audio production, film, corporate communications, and software. During his career, he has worked as a scriptwriter, composer, producer, director, video editor, sound designer, and creative director. Bill was a developmental editor and co-author of the book Inside Windows Media (Que, 1999), and was most recently co-author of the Windows Movie Maker Handbook (Microsoft Press, 2000).

Tricia Gill

Tricia began her career as a newspaper reporter before moving into technical communication. Over the past 18 years, she has written about a range of topics including hydroelectric power plants, pet food drives, passenger jets, public school programs, and computer software. While at Microsoft, Tricia has written online Help for Microsoft Site Server and Windows Media Encoder, assisted with the user interface design of Microsoft Commerce Serer, and written numerous Web articles and white papers about Windows Media Technologies.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq ‘MSFT’) is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software—any time, any place, and on any device.

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press (April 9, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735618070
• ISBN-13: 978-0735618077
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #658,057 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Resource for Windows Media Formats, August 18, 2006

By	Jake Ludington (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

Despite it being three years since the release of this book, it remains the definitive guide to dealing with most Windows Media Streaming issues. To date, it's the single most useful book available on working with the WMA, WMV, and ASF formats. Starting with the basics of explaining the difference between streaming and downloading, the book immediately jumps into all the nitty-gritty details related to encoding audio and video files for streaming, the complex considerations for outfitting a streaming server, when to use unicast or multicast, creation of on-the-fly server side playlists, and some of the most comprehensive compression formulas available. While there are obviously competing alternatives to the Windows Media content delivery solutions, the Windows Media Resource Kit provides a compelling argument for why the Windows Media solution may be among the most effective available. Yes, Windows Media Player 10 is out now and Windows Media Player 11 is coming soon, but the information contained in this guide will be relevant for content delivery at least until the release of Windows Vista. I hesitate to call this the bible of Windows Media content creation and management, but it comes close.

25 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A whole new set of ideas from reading this book., May 5, 2003

By	Michael J Woznicki "Michael J Woznicki" (Holland, MA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I thought that the Media player was used for videos, music and online content. While this is true there is so much more that can be done with the application and this book will help guide you through.

You'll find ways to create and manage video streaming sites, as well as creating and playing movie trailers. Yopu be given the ability to setup and take care of the Intranet media server and services.

The authors have done just about everything for you except create the final presentation. They also included a cd with the book with a couple of useful and handy utilities like Producer and the SDK.

Overall this book takes you from the beginning of the process to the Web Portal and beyond. The only limits you have is your imagination.

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't throw away your return instructions., July 26, 2007

By	S. Bartlett (New Zealand) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Just received this book, and am thoroughly dissapointed that it doesn't match its description.

This book is a very high level description of the infrastructure and PC-level details required to create a website that streams video. That should be it's title, or at least the Amazon descrition.

If that's what you are looking to do - then this book will get you started. However, if you are looking for details of how to use windows media in applications (as I was) - this isn't the book.