Multimedia transmission is the effective way of transmitting multimedia elements (comprising voice, audio, video, data etc) from one place to the other via internet enabled protocols and other means. The term 'effective' is used because multimedia transmission is a nightmare if the conveyance is not smooth, seamless and efficient. Over time, the world has seen tremendous improvement that started from the era of the first generation of multimedia generation to the point of multimedia transmission. Much has been said and done in this area and the world has become a connected enterprise because of the transmission of multimedia. In spite of these successes that have been recorded in these areas, there are still many challenges facing multimedia transmission. What determines the progress of technology globally is the trends of evolution that multimedia transmission has gone through. An important challenge facing multimedia transmission is one that has been neglected for a long time. There has been deep neglect of the devices that are used in transmission while much emphasis has been on the protocols and the software that are being developed for multimedia transmission. Devices play a very important role in the realization of seamless transmission of media. Lately, the world seems to have realized the fact that devices that do the actual transmission needs more attention. These devices are the ones that do the distribution and the transmission of the multimedia streams or signals. This has been highlighted in a recent research study that was referenced in the Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning that showed that the expectations of meeting the world's target on multimedia has been reduced by half because of problems arising from the inefficiency of multimedia devices and not really from the protocol perspective as earlier perceived. It is inline with the above that this research was titled "improving multimedia transmission through enhanced multimedia devices". Multimedia devices are the end to end units that are used in multimedia transmission. This research investigated the current devices that are being used, their deficiencies and the reasons that make them unstable for multimedia transmission. It focused on the real time multimedia transmission over the internet protocol (IP) through enhancing limited capabilities of the current multimedia devices. This will make way for new studies into newer devices that are better designed for the efficient multimedia flow. It will assure better quality end-to-end solutions in the area of multimedia distribution and transmission. This research is broad enough to cover most of the major areas of multimedia transmission and cut across several industries and technologies. These might include industries that specialize in internet telephony; design and manufacture multimedia devices and multimedia technologies. Despite the huge number of fields that this research cut across, the focus remained unchanged in highlighting this challenge and proffering a solution through enhanced end to end multimedia elements. It is hoped that this research work will contribute to the solution of this area of challenge and bring to fore the work that should be done in this regard. The advantages of improved multimedia transmission cannot be over emphasized as there will be a tremendous reduction in the cost of long distance communication globally and smoother media transmission which makes use of the readily available internet protocols. In spite of these successes that have been recorded in these areas, there are still many challenges facing multimedia transmission. What determines the progress of technology globally is the trends of evolution that multimedia transmission has gone through. An important challenge facing multimedia transmission is one that has been neglected for a long time. There has been deep neglect of the devices that are used in transmission while much emphasis has been on the protocols and the software that are being developed for multimedia transmission. Devices play a very important role in the realization of seamless transmission of media. Lately, the world seems to have realized the fact that devices that do the actual transmission needs more attention. These devices are the ones that do the distribution and the transmission of the multimedia streams or signals. This has been highlighted in a recent research study that was referenced in the Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning that showed that the expectations of meeting the world's target on multimedia has been reduced by half because of problems arising from the inefficiency of multimedia devices and not really from the protocol perspective as earlier perceived. It is inline with the above that this research was titled "improving multimedia transmission through enhanced multimedia devices". Multimedia devices are the end to end units that are used in multimedia transmission. This research investigated the current devices that are being used, their deficiencies and the reasons that make them unstable for multimedia transmission. It focused on the real time multimedia transmission over the internet protocol (IP) through enhancing limited capabilities of the current multimedia devices. This will make way for new studies into newer devices that are better designed for the efficient multimedia flow. It will assure better quality end-to-end solutions in the area of multimedia distribution and transmission. This research is broad enough to cover most of the major areas of multimedia transmission and cut across several industries and technologies. These might include industries that specialize in internet telephony; design and manufacture multimedia devices and multimedia technologies. Despite the huge number of fields that this research cut across, the focus remained unchanged in highlighting this challenge and proffering a solution through enhanced end to end multimedia elements. It is hoped that this research work will contribute to the solution of this area of challenge and bring to fore the work that should be done in this regard. The advantages of improved multimedia transmission cannot be over emphasized as there will be a tremendous reduction in the cost of long distance communication globally and smoother media transmission which makes use of the readily available internet protocols. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Multimedia transmission is the effective way of transmitting multimedia elements (comprising voice, audio, video, data etc) from one place to the other via internet enabled protocols and other means. The term 'effective' is used because multimedia transmission is a nightmare if the conveyance is not smooth, seamless and efficient. Over time, the world has seen tremendous improvement that started from the era of the first generation of multimedia generation to the point of multimedia transmission. Much has been said and done in this area and the world has become a connected enterprise because of the transmission of multimedia. In spite of these successes that have been recorded in these areas, there are still many challenges facing multimedia transmission. What determines the progress of technology globally is the trends of evolution that multimedia transmission has gone through. An important challenge facing multimedia transmission is one that has been neglected for a long time. There has been deep neglect of the devices that are used in transmission while much emphasis has been on the protocols and the software that are being developed for multimedia transmission. Devices play a very important role in the realization of seamless transmission of media. Lately, the world seems to have realized the fact that devices that do the actual transmission needs more attention. These devices are the ones that do the distribution and the transmission of the multimedia streams or signals. This has been highlighted in a recent research study that was referenced in the Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning that showed that the expectations of meeting the world's target on multimedia has been reduced by half because of problems arising from the inefficiency of multimedia devices and not really from the protocol perspective as earlier perceived. It is inline with the above that this research was titled "improving multimedia transmission through enhanced multimedia devices". Multimedia devices are the end to end units that are used in multimedia transmission. This research investigated the current devices that are being used, their deficiencies and the reasons that make them unstable for multimedia transmission. It focused on the real time multimedia transmission over the internet protocol (IP) through enhancing limited capabilities of the current multimedia devices. This will make way for new studies into newer devices that are better designed for the efficient multimedia flow. It will assure better quality end-to-end solutions in the area of multimedia distribution and transmission. This research is broad enough to cover most of the major areas of multimedia transmission and cut across several industries and technologies. These might include industries that specialize in internet telephony; design and manufacture multimedia devices and multimedia technologies. Despite the huge number of fields that this research cut across, the focus remained unchanged in highlighting this challenge and proffering a solution through enhanced end to end multimedia elements. It is hoped that this research work will contribute to the solution of this area of challenge and bring to fore the work that should be done in this regard. The advantages of improved multimedia transmission cannot be over emphasized as there will be a tremendous reduction in the cost of long distance communication globally and smoother media transmission which makes use of the readily available internet protocols. In spite of these successes that have been recorded in these areas, there are still many challenges facing multimedia transmission. What determines the progress of technology globally is the trends of evolution that multimedia transmission has gone through. An important challenge facing multimedia transmission is one that has been neglected for a long time. There has been deep neglect of the devices that are used in transmission while much emphasis has been on the protocols and the software that are being developed for multimedia transmission. Devices play a very important role in the realization of seamless transmission of media. Lately, the world seems to have realized the fact that devices that do the actual transmission needs more attention. These devices are the ones that do the distribution and the transmission of the multimedia streams or signals. This has been highlighted in a recent research study that was referenced in the Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning that showed that the expectations of meeting the world's target on multimedia has been reduced by half because of problems arising from the inefficiency of multimedia devices and not really from the protocol perspective as earlier perceived. It is inline with the above that this research was titled "improving multimedia transmission through enhanced multimedia devices". Multimedia devices are the end to end units that are used in multimedia transmission. This research investigated the current devices that are being used, their deficiencies and the reasons that make them unstable for multimedia transmission. It focused on the real time multimedia transmission over the internet protocol (IP) through enhancing limited capabilities of the current multimedia devices. This will make way for new studies into newer devices that are better designed for the efficient multimedia flow. It will assure better quality end-to-end solutions in the area of multimedia distribution and transmission. This research is broad enough to cover most of the major areas of multimedia transmission and cut across several industries and technologies. These might include industries that specialize in internet telephony; design and manufacture multimedia devices and multimedia technologies. Despite the huge number of fields that this research cut across, the focus remained unchanged in highlighting this challenge and proffering a solution through enhanced end to end multimedia elements. It is hoped that this research work will contribute to the solution of this area of challenge and bring to fore the work that should be done in this regard. The advantages of improved multimedia transmission cannot be over emphasized as there will be a tremendous reduction in the cost of long distance communication globally and smoother media transmission which makes use of the readily available internet protocols. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.