Platforms for video in interactive media

Platforms for video in interactive media include- Worldwide web, email attachments, DVD, CD ROM, Kiosks, Presentations and Mobile devices.

Worldwide Web- videos on the Worldwide web are used mainly for advertisement purposes and on web based video players. An example of a video player is the bbc iplayer.

The iplayer uses a variable bitrate which means that its quality varies depending on the amount of people watching it at any given time. This is due to the download limit on the iplayer. the iplayer and similar web based media players are a quick and easy way for the user to have quick access to video on the web.

Banner ads are used to advertise sites and products across the Worldwide Web. Here is an example of a web page that had banner ads down the side and across the top that advertise different sites. They use video as it allows the user to see in motion the advertisements across the Worldwide Web.

Video's can also be attached to emails as 'Email attachments. This allows users to send videos to themselves and others as a file/link that leads them to the video. The constraint with these is that the emails will affect a person download limit when they play the video. If the filesize is too large it could result in the user not being able to play the file.

DVD's come in the format of a MPEG2. The interactive video usually occurs on most DVD menu interfaces. For example, on the DVD of 'The lord of the rings: the return of the king' The menu interface is of a book that turns its pages in a video everytime the user clicks on a button. Due to video file being a MPEG2 it can be compressed to take up less file space.

Kiosks are becoming a more popular way to find information in places such as museums. They use touch screen technology and video formatting to allow users to interact with the on-screen buttons which in turn allows the user to access video information. However, each kiosk only holds a certain amount of information data and that is why there is usually many scattered around the museum's etc.

Video can be used in presentation such as powerpoint to give alot of information on each slide. This type of video usage is used by many companies when doing presentation to advertise products or even previews for video advertisements. Video presentations can also take form in flash plash players that allow the user to change the bit rate to increase the quality of the video in the presentation.

A CD-ROM is a type of compact disc that contains data that allows video's and games to be played on it. The data on it on it can be video and audio and they can be used to store data. The advantage with CD-ROM's is that they are portable, which means that a user can distribute the data on the disc to other computers via the same disk. The disadvantage is that CD-ROM's can usually only hold up to 74minutes of video data. Another disadvantage is that the computer had to have a disk drive or the CD-ROM cannot be uploaded into the computer.

Mobile devices are becoming a ever more popular way of viewing video's. For example, Dell's Axim is a mobile device that allows users to interact with its interface and play movie's and games. This is also backed up by touch screen technology which is becoming increasing common on mobile phones and games consoles such as the Nintendo DS. This means that the viewer can be more interactive with the mobile device so that they can control the video's and games through the interface.