非传统的视频

在洛杉矶举行的2000年民主党全国代表大会是第一次同时采用直播和点播流媒体的全国政治代表大会. 一项激动人心的新技术的第一次大规模演示在今天已经是旧闻了吗. In 2000, users were restricted to one of three bitrates (28Kbps, 56 kbps, and 128Kbps) delivered in what were then the three major streaming formats (Real, Windows媒体, 和QuickTime). 这次结束, 用户使用微软新推出的Silverlight 2播放器和移动网络插件，以高达2Mbps的比特率播放高清和标清视频. 原始的, 有足够带宽的用户可以观看全屏高清视频，这令人印象深刻地反映了流媒体技术的持续进步. 但是其他的, 在视觉上不那么惊人的进步是那些推动视频流媒体对政治进程产生迅速影响的进步.

科技玩家
The Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) chose four primary partners—Level 3, 微软, 移动网络, and Vertigo Software—to deliver and store all of its high-quality HD and SD video. DNCC聘请了自己的制作人和一个12人的摄制组(不同于网络电视转播)，在自己的网站(www.dncc)上制作通过Silverlight播放器播放的视频.demconvention.com). While data from the 2000 convention flowed through an OC-12 pipe at 622Mbps, 丹佛百事中心和景顺球场的数据流需要一个带宽容量为9的OC-192管道.6个千兆比特每秒. "We built fiber into two facilities, which involved digging up roads in Denver,玛丽亚·法农指出, VP for product delivery in Level 3’s Content Markets Group. “这是一个庞大的项目，大概有40人在Level 3工作，在微软和Move工作的人更多.生产和数据传输设施被安置在百事中心的三辆拖车里.

DNCC视频从百事中心和景顺球场通过Level 3的Vyvx网络(213Mbps高清ASI视频)传输到两个场外IP编码设备(一个主设备和一个备份设备)。, 其中视频使用两个高清和两个标清编码器进行编码(3级定义高清质量为1Mbps或更高). 经过编码的视频随后通过移动网络的发布系统发布到DNCC网站上. Level 3通过其Vyvx网络在多个国家政治大会上提供网络电视广播服务, and delivered both streaming and broadcast video this year. Level 3 was also responsible for all caching on the DNCC website, as well as providing CDN services through its extensive network of edge servers.

移动网络的独特技术将编码视频分解为“流”，以最大限度地减少启动时间和缓冲，并最大限度地提高视频质量. Move also enables adaptive streaming, which optimizes the streaming bitrate to match the end user’s available bandwidth. 移动网络 has contributed to much of the high-profile streaming in the past year, including the Olympics on NBCOlympics.com. "The quality of their stuff is incredible,亚伦·迈尔斯说, 他是民主党全国委员会的在线沟通主任，也是几次民主党总统竞选的资深人士. "We saw that going in and said, ‘That is the experience we want to replicate.’" The DNCC also made a latency/quality calculation. "There’s a bit of a delay on the live video," notes Myers. "But it’s a pretty small delay (up to 3 minutes) for the quality that we get."

DNCC网站上的Silverlight 2播放器是由总部位于湾区的Vertigo Software设计的. "They were fantastic every step of the way,迈尔斯说。, “从了解我们的需求，到我们在丹佛有一个相当大的工作人员，以确保在大会期间一切都很好." The player allowed users to choose from multiple camera angles. When streaming live, the player offered users a choice of English or Spanish. (在全国政治大会上，这是第一次用西班牙语逐字翻译.)

Like the Olympics in Beijing, 民主党全国代表大会强调了流媒体相对于广播的各自优势. For events targeting a mass audience, 比如奥运会体操和游泳决赛，或者巴拉克·奥巴马在4000万电视观众面前的获奖演讲, broadcast is still the medium of choice. (我们可以想象一下，要实现4000万次同步流需要多大的带宽和基础设施.) But for niche sports such as Tae Kwon Do or archery, or for viewers to watch speeches by their local congressperson, streaming is the way to go.

民主党全国委员会的网站提供330个视频点播(VOD)，内容涵盖了从高调的演讲到晦涩的党团会议，再到2004年全国代表大会上的演讲. DNCC计划在大会结束后的几周内上传西班牙语VOD片段. 用户可以轻松地复制任何视频点播材料的链接，并将其嵌入网站或通过电子邮件发送给朋友. All told, the site houses 6.1TB视频. 大会期间, DNCC还通过YouTube和iTunes发布每日视频，并在iTunes上成为本周最受欢迎的播客.

Controlling the Message
点击民主党全国委员会网站上的“观看大会视频”链接，就会自动播放奥巴马的获奖演讲视频, the one video that the DNCC most wants viewers to watch. 事实上, the whole purpose of the DNCC’s streaming effort is to manage, 控制, and distribute to the widest possible audience the Democratic Party’s political message. 由于智能手机和其他消费者流媒体技术的进步，以视频为基础的公民记者(VBCJs)的新浪潮正在以改变游戏规则的报道淹没网络，这使得两党控制其信息的努力今年受到前所未有的挑战.

The game changed for good in August 2006. Republican George Allen was leading in the Virginia Senate race when, at one of his political rallies, he called Indian-American S. R. Sidarth a "macaca," which is a French colonialist pejorative for native Africans. Allen’s mother was of French Tunisian descent. The problem for Allen was that Sidarth worked for Allen’s Democratic opponent, 吉姆•韦伯, and was videotaping the exchange. Within weeks, the video was streamed online and broadcast over the air. Largely as a result of that video, Webb narrowly defeated Allen (by less than 0.05%) and the Democrats seized 控制 of the U.S. 参议院以一票之差. 这一事件标志着决心控制自己信息的政治竞选团队和同样决心揭露不一致和虚伪的广播公司之间的斗争的第一次齐射, i.e.真相.

Inspired by that moment and enabled by advances in small form-factor video streaming, 在新媒体和传统媒体工作的vbcj和摄像师/记者在网络上充斥着政治性的视频. YouTube is still the dominant distribution channel for all online video, including that which is focused on politics. 尼尔森的VideoCensus估计，2008年6月，YouTube占据了在线视频市场51%的份额，在7个视频市场中占有40亿个.90亿次观看. comScore gives YouTube 4.在同一时期，这一数字达到了20亿，占该公司预计的更大市场的39%. 谷歌首席执行官埃里克·施密特(Eric Schmidt)估计，每分钟有13个小时的视频上传到YouTube. 几乎所有的候选人和他们的支持者现在都通过YouTube上的许多政治频道播放视频. In addition to the candidates’ own channels, 其他受欢迎的无党派政治频道包括You Choose ' 08和Veracifier，以及YouTube的政治博客, 公民管.