The viewing experience

These products' clients are as different as the servers. Because you can use any multimedia client to view video produced by any of the servers we looked at, as long as the client supports the video format used, the choice of client comes down to individual preference. Therefore, we rated each product's bundled client separately.

RealPlayer G2, the client side of RealSystem G2, contributed substantially to RealNetworks emerging as the winner in this review. We liked its RealChannel feature, which let us build one-click lists of streamed video programs from which we could select. It also dynamically updated and displayed headline text from each channel. We used RealPlayer G2's 10-band graphic equalizer to fine-tune its audio playback qualities and its video controls to adjust contrast, brightness and color saturation. From a network administration perspective, we appreciated RealPlayer G2's ability to update itself to a later version with no intervention on the part of the user. Like QuickTime 4's Web browser plug-in module, RealPlayer G2 was smart enough to begin displaying the video stream the moment the first few frames reached the client.

When used with Netscape's browser, the QuickTime 4 plug-in module did an amazing job of detecting client CPU processor speed differences and automatically adjusting the display quality accordingly. However, this feature didn't appear to work in the Microsoft Internet Explorer environment. Using different CPU speed client computers with Internet Explorer produced no noticeable effect on the stream's display. In a test in which multiple bit-rate versions of the same video stream were made available through QuickTime 4, the QuickTime 4 plug-in was able to select the appropriate version of a QuickTime movie based on the client's connection speed. Windows Media Player was also able to select connection-appropriate streams.

Windows Media Player, Microsoft's video client, exhibited the least CPU utilization during our tests but offered the worst user interface. For instance, choosing a video stream with Media Player took several more mouse clicks than with RealPlayer G2.

The QuickVideo Suite is unique in its ability to stream any format of video to just about any player. Unfortunately, the InfoValue suite is highly developer-oriented. Essentially a software developer's kit, your programmers might use it to custom-build an application-specific video display system for a particular corporate purpose.

Scorecard

Note: Individual category scores are based on a scale of 1-10. Percentages are the weight given each category in determining the total score.

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