Where should I go for this kind of discussion: 
  
 I want to understand both ends of the transactions that happen when 
 an internet user views an online video with a browser. 
  
 What it takes from the server end and what actually happens at the 
 user end. 
  
 Server end might include such things as the available formats, their 
 pros and cons, the actual HTML programming involved to post videos. 
  
 On the user end I've noticed by experimenting with some of the many 
 free online videos, that in most cases a file is actually downloaded 
 to the pc browser cache. 
  
 Ok, but then it gets kind of hard to follow.  For example: if the 
 files are under 25mb they stay in the cache and pile up there as I 
 click the links. 
  
 If then file is over 25mb, then the instant the full file has been 
 downloaded it disappears from the cache.  However it can still be 
 viewed in the browser, restarted etc. 
  
 And even those that are downloaded can be deleted but if one is 
 loaded in the browser and the on disk file is deleted, it doesn't 
 appear to affect the loaded video.  So apparently the on disc file is 
 not really necessary for the video to be viewed in a browser. 
  
 If that is true then you've got to wonder why is it downloaded...? 
 Obviously there is some information missing here, processes 
 transactions or something that explains the observed behavior. 
  
 I want to learn enough about both sides to understand what is 
 happening in some detail. 
  
 I've posted about it on `comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html' but 
 received no replies.  That group appears to be pretty quiet. But maybe 
 it isn't the right group for such a question. 
  
 Rather than trying the shotgun approach I hoped someone might be able 
 to steer me a little with a list of likely newsgroups where I might 
 start learning the details. 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)