NewTek TriCaster Mini User Manual page 325

Naturally, streaming video is highly compressed to reduce bandwidth demands and
make it available to a wider group. TriCaster supports two popular and prolific
encoding systems, Microsoft's Windows Media® and RTMP (Adobe Flash®).
The decision as to which encoding format to use for your live stream is up to you or –
in some cases – your client. Here are some things to consider:
 Some corporate and institutional network administrators opt to support one
or another format exclusively. (Check with your IT department to find out if
this affects your decision).
 RTMP has a very wide installed user base, and seems poised to increase in
proliferation in the foreseeable future.
 RTMP works well across multiple platforms (PCs, Macs, Linux, etc.). Windows
Media® is well represented, but perhaps not to the same degree.
 Some sources report that the RTMP movies will have a larger file size and use
greater bandwidth than Windows Media for a given stream quality. (This is
hard to assess, and changes constantly as developers update their products).
 Encoding applications for both types are updated with fair regularity, and
when you choose the 'latest, greatest' encoding, your viewers may not all have
the current player, requiring them to update.
You'll often hear the term 'bitrate' in connection with streaming video. This
expression refers to data throughput per second (generally measured in Kilobits per
second, or Kbps.)
You could think of this as being like water flowing through a hose. You control the
'faucet', because you get to choose the Stream Profile in TriCaster's Stream
Configuration panel. However, you don't own the 'hose' – or at least, not the entire
hose.
Once the stream leaves your immediate environment, even if you can supply good
throughput locally, bandwidth may be constricted elsewhere along the transmission
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ANDWIDTH ONSIDERATIONS
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