Planning prerecorded content
Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2
You can use your knowledge of your system capabilities and the capabilities of your audience to plan and develop content that will preserve as much of the quality of the original as possible throughout the encoding and streaming process. The planning process for prerecorded content differs significantly from the planning that must take place for live content.
For example, if the bit rate of your streaming audio files is too high for your audience's bandwidth capability, the stream will be forced to pause during playback so the player can buffer the content. If your bit rate is too low, the sound quality will suffer. Small adjustments to the encoding process, such as switching from stereo sound to mono sound, can reduce the required streaming bit rate by as much as half without impacting the quality of the sound.
You are also likely to encounter situations in which you will be streaming content to a wide range of audience bandwidth profiles: some on a local area network (LAN), others using a digital subscriber line (DSL), and still others connected through dial-up modems. Careful preparation of your content will allow you to stream content to all of these audiences simultaneously while providing each with the best possible quality.