Difference between unicast and multicast streaming

[indianred]

Hello friends,

I'm really confused about this. From what I've read or heard - in unicast streaming, there is one to one relation between server and clients and one to many for multicast streaming. Also in unicast streaming parameters like bit rate are controllable and in multicast they are not. Live streaming is multicast since parameters are not controllable.

But what if live streaming is carried put from a single server? Will it be a multicast or a unicast? Does it depend upon the number of servers involved on a path between server and client? Is Youtube a multicast or uncast streaming?

Please help me out here. I need to know this in detail because I've a job interview in a streaming company in couple of days time. I just want to get acquainted with different aspect of networking since I aspire to become network professional one day. But I can tell you that it is not a good start

[RaisinCain]

http://www.inetdaemon.com/tutorials/...roadcast.shtml