Introducing NetShow

Microsoft® NetShow™ streams audio, illustrated audio, video, and files over corporate intranets, LANs, and the Internet. NetShow supports both multicast and unicast transmission of data over networks. When multicasting, NetShow delivers a single stream of data over the network to clients that are listening for the data. When unicasting, NetShow delivers the stream of data to a client that has connected to the server and requested the data. NetShow supports the transmission of live data, for example live audio or video, as well as stored data, for example illustrated audio stored as an .asf file. Microsoft NetShow includes the following software components:

Microsoft NetShow Server. The server consists of a set of services running on Windows NT® Server 4.0 that unicast and multicast audio, video, and files to Windows® 95 and Windows NT clients.
NetShow Administrator. A set of administrative tools manages NetShow channels, programs, and streams; and configures and monitors NetShow services.
NetShow Clients. Client software receives and renders streams from NetShow Server. NetShow includes four clients: Nsplayer.exe, Nsplay.ocx, Nsrtpaud.ocx, and Nsfile.ocx. Nsplayer.exe and Nsplay.ocx render Active Streaming media that can include video, audio, images, URLs, and scripts. Nsrtpaud.ocx renders audio received via RTP. Nsfile.ocx handles multicast file transfers.
Clients require Windows 95 or Windows NT. Additional clients for Apple and UNIX operating systems are under development.
NetShow Content and Conversion Tools. Content tools include the ASF Real-Time Encoder and the ASF Editor. The Real-Time Encoder converts live audio and video to Active Streaming format and allows you to add command strings to the stream. Use the ASF Editor to assemble, synchronize, and compress audio and video files into a single .asf file. The ASF Editor can also add command strings and URLs to ASF presentations. AsfChop, a command-line utility, edits the length of .asf files and indexes them. The conversion tools include VidToAsf and WavToAsf, which are command-line utilities that you can use to convert .mov, .avi, or .wav files to the .asf format.