Posted by Derrick on January 26, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | 
Digital Rapids — the leading provider of tools and solutions for bringing television, film and web content to wider audiences – announced that Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts has chosen Digital Rapids’ StreamZHD high-definition media encoding system to enable new live HD streaming capabilities from Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall.
Lincoln Center is the world’s leading performing arts center, located on 16.3 acres in New York City. The center’s 12 resident organizations combine to present thousands of performances, educational programs, tours and other events each year on the Lincoln Center campus. StreamZHD is part of a complete HD production environment at the Center’s Alice Tully Hall, which also features four robotic HD cameras linked over fiber to servers, routers and switchers in the facility’s data center.
The StreamZHD system, supplied by systems integrator HB Communications, encodes content in real time for external distribution as live streams or on-demand files. Lincoln Center’s live streaming capabilities recently supported the concurrent worldwide debut performances of “The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later”, the epilogue to the acclaimed Tectonic Theater Project play. On-stage pre-show and post-performance events — including an interactive question and answer session with questions submitted via Twitter — were streamed through StreamZHD to audiences in over 150 theaters worldwide, supporting local live readings of the new play at each location. Three live streams and three on-demand archives at varying bit rates were created in the H.264 format for Web viewing through Adobe Flash technology, with StreamZHD producing all six outputs simultaneously in real time.
“It is important that our technology infrastructure is at a level of excellence commensurate with the caliber of events that we host, and the ability to stream at HD quality over the Internet is phenomenal,” said Rob Tarleton, Chief Technology Officer, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. “Our HD production and streaming capabilities are key benefits for artists, performers and groups holding events at Alice Tully Hall in the Lincoln Center, and StreamZHD is an important part of making that happen.”
“The Lincoln Center’s use of StreamZHD is a tremendous example of how high-quality Internet streaming technology can combine with the arts to create new performance dynamics and unparalleled audience reach,” said Brent Ross, Director of Sales for the Americas at Digital Rapids. “StreamZHD’s simultaneous multi-format output capabilities, outstanding quality and reliability make it the ideal solution to enable innovative streaming experiences, and we’re thrilled that Lincoln Center for the Performance Arts selected us for their world-class space.”
StreamZHD continues to raise the bar for high-definition encoding solutions, delivering multi-format video ingest, encoding, transcoding and live streaming in a versatile configuration that integrates easily into any media environment. Combining the quality and performance advantages of hardware-based preprocessing with a format-flexible and feature-rich software application, Digital Rapids systems seamlessly support live and on-demand multi-platform distribution opportunities and production workflows.
Posted by Derrick on November 26, 2009 under Video Streaming and Compression |
Digital Rapids – the leading provider of tools and solutions for bringing television, film and web content to wider audiences – announced that the company has been recognized with two prestigious accolades from respected global analyst firm Frost & Sullivan. Digital Rapids has been honored with a 2009 Market Share Leadership Award in the World Broadband Transcoders Market, and selected to Frost & Sullivan’s Hot Company Watchlist for Digital Rapids’ forward-looking strategies and continued strong growth potential.
The 2009 honors mark the second time that Digital Rapids has earned dual recognition from Frost & Sullivan. In 2008, Digital Rapids received Customer Value Enhancement and Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Awards in the World Video Encoders and Transcoders Market.
“We’re thrilled that Frost & Sullivan, one of the leading analyst firms in our industry, has again recognized us for our leadership and excellence in transforming digital media content,” said Brick Eksten, President of Digital Rapids Corporation. “In this dynamic market and with the past year’s turbulent economy, customers need to know that the vendors they select not only offer superior technology, but also have the corporate strength, stability and vision to support their evolving needs in the future. Together these two accolades further validate both our current position and future strategy, and we’re proud to have achieved this while maintaining our focus on providing premium, flexible, top-quality solutions to the top tiers of the customer markets we serve. This is a testament to the talent, hard work and dedication of every member of the Digital Rapids team. We’re equally proud of our customers’ continued success and our role in helping them most effectively use multi-platform media to achieve their goals.”
Frost and Sullivan’s 2009 World Broadband Transcoders research analyzed companies providing hardware or software that transform video and audio content into the formats required for viewing on broadband-enabled devices such as Web-connected PCs, personal media players, game consoles and television set-top boxes. Target market segments encompassed in the research included media and entertainment (such as broadcasters, multi-service providers, video portals, motion picture studios, news agencies and others); user-generated content; and Internet distribution of niche material such as adult, sports and religious content.
“There are few vendors who offer an optimal range of products for the varied needs of customers in this segment, and even fewer vendors who have managed to gain a robust penetration with thousands of customers globally while striving to drive innovation and growth despite the impact of recession. Digital Rapids has achieved all of these attributes,” said Frost & Sullivan Senior Industry Analyst, Vidya S. Nath. “Digital Rapids’ diverse product line, from standalone appliances to highly customizable turnkey solutions, enables customers small, medium and large to efficiently transform both live and offline video for IP-based delivery and larger processing workflows. Combining this comprehensive breadth with multi-format support, scalability and competitive price points, Digital Rapids has achieved extensive adoption of their solutions not only domestically but also internationally. Their success reinforces that broadband video is serious business for the media and entertainment sector, and that superior compression solutions can enable seamless, high-quality video streaming while providing viable business opportunities.”
Digital Rapids’ encoding, transcoding, streaming and delivery solutions enable customers to maximize the potential of their media content when pursuing new revenue opportunities or new ways to reach their audiences. Combining outstanding performance, superior quality, scalability, cost-effectiveness and easy adaptability to dynamic customer requirements, Digital Rapids solutions have been adopted by thousands of worldwide customers of all types and sizes — from leading broadcast networks, motion picture studios, telecommunications companies, online content distributors and post production facilities to corporations, government agencies, schools and churches.
Posted by Derrick on October 14, 2009 under Video Streaming and Compression |
Digital Rapids-the leading provider of tools and solutions for bringing television, film and web content to wider audiences – announced that the company is working with YouTube to integrate support for Content ID, YouTube’s content identification and management system, directly into Digital Rapids’ award-winning range of media production and repurposing systems.
Digital Rapids’ encoding and transcoding systems are used by leading media organizations to transform live, tape and file-based video and audio content into the formats required for viewing on multiple platforms including broadcast, cable and satellite television; IPTV; the Web; mobile phones and personal media players.
The integration of YouTube Content ID support with Digital Rapids’ systems enables users to generate Content ID reference files — often referred to as “fingerprints” — immediately from the content during the encoding or transcoding process. These digital fingerprints are then uploaded to YouTube’s Content ID system. YouTube’s content identification tools compare existing and incoming user-uploaded videos against the reference file, identifying the ownership of such content and taking the action specified by the owner’s usage policies. Content owners can choose to block user-uploaded content, permit it on YouTube while simply tracking usage data, or monetize the uploaded media by running advertising against it.
The creation of Content ID reference files directly within existing encoding and transcoding workflows increases productivity and reduces operational costs by eliminating the need for separate steps to create the fingerprints. By generating the Content ID reference files during production, content owners also need only upload the much smaller ID file to YouTube for tracking and protection, rather than the actual content itself — increasing security and significantly shortening the time before YouTube can begin blocking, tracking or monetizing uploaded copies of the content.
“We’re excited to be working with YouTube to streamline their interactions with content owners. Content identification technologies are often thought of strictly in terms of protection against piracy, but they also enable new monetization opportunities,” said Brick Eksten, President of Digital Rapids Corporation. “The automatic identification of content and its ownership gives content owners the option of capitalizing on additional revenue opportunities wherever the content appears. The integration of YouTube’s Content ID technology into our systems makes it easy for media organizations to take advantage of these capabilities within efficient, automated media production workflows.”
“We’re pleased to be working with Digital Rapids to integrate our Content ID technology with their solutions, which are used by leading broadcasters, motion picture studies and content providers worldwide,” said George Salem, Content ID Product Manager at YouTube. “Easing content owners’ ability to identify their content on YouTube is critical to how they work with us to both control and monetize their assets. Support for Content ID directly within Digital Rapids powered live ingest, encoding and file-based transcoding workflows lets their customers easily provide us with ID files at almost the exact same time the content is produced, without changing how they currently do business.”
Posted by Derrick on October 8, 2009 under Video Streaming and Compression |
Digital Rapids — the leading provider of tools and solutions for bringing television, film and web content to wider audiences – demonstrated new enhancements for the award-winning TouchStream live video streaming appliance at the 2009 IBC Conference and Exhibition.
TouchStream delivers Digital Rapids’ renowned streaming video quality and reliability in a fully self-contained, portable appliance with unparalleled ease of use. Software controls are accessed through an intuitive touch-screen interface with integrated video monitoring, eliminating the need for laptops, keyboards, mice and separate monitors. Flexible features allow refinement of the incoming source and the addition of branding to the outgoing stream, while models supporting multiple formats — including VC-1 and H.264 compression formats for Microsoft Silverlight and Adobe Flash technologies — provide easy adaptability to varying project requirements.
New features include customizable, password-protected function locking. Administrators can configure a custom set of interface controls to be locked with a password, letting them limit the functions available to less experienced users to as little as desired — even just start and stop. Taking ‘one-click streaming’ a step further — to no clicks at all — TouchStream can also be configured to begin streaming with the most recent encoding parameters upon power-up, without user interaction.
Two new storage options have also been introduced for TouchStream, supporting its ability to simultaneously archive live streams to files for subsequent on-demand use. Complementing TouchStream’s existing support for external USB or IEEE-1394 storage devices, new internal hard drive and removable storage options allow the addition of archive storage without the added physical space requirements of external drives.
Digital Rapids is also gave IBC attendees a sneak preview of future functionality in TouchStream, including a Web browser-based remote control interface that looks virtually identical to the unit’s local interface.
“Industry and customer response since we began shipping TouchStream has been phenomenal, but we aren’t content to rest on that success,” said Wesley Thiessen, Product Manager, Digital Rapids Corporation. “Our new enhancements continue to make TouchStream even easier and more flexible, particularly in multi-user environments where operators have varying degrees of experience.”
Tags: Adobe Flash, Compression, Digital Rapids, live, Microsoft Silverlight, portable, streaming, streaming video, TouchStream, Video, web content
Posted by Derrick on September 14, 2009 under Video Streaming and Compression |
Digital Rapids – the leading provider of tools and solutions for bringing television, film and web content to wider audiences — is bringing more than just advanced technology to this year’s IBC Conference and Exhibition, September 11-15 in Amsterdam. In addition to the IBC debuts of new and enhanced solutions in stand # 7.G41, Digital Rapids will be sharing its expertise with attendees both at the stand and in free sessions in the IBC Training Zone. Digital Rapids systems have also been chosen to power the encoding of content for the IBC TV News website and mobile delivery for the sixth consecutive year. For first time, IBC TV News will feature live streaming of news updates on the Web, complementing their on-demand news clips.
Digital Rapids’ award-winning TouchStream portable live streaming appliance will also be featured alongside the Datpresenter rich media webcasting service and software from Datmedia in stand IP511 in the IBC IPTV Zone.
“We believe it’s important to offer IBC attendees more than just the chance to experience our technology and products. Robust, versatile and efficient solutions are as important as ever with customers’ shrinking budgets and increasing audience expectations, but technology is just part of what media organisations need to meet these challenges. Customers are looking to us for expertise, guidance, and the flexibility to meet their unique needs,” said Clive Vickery, Managing Director, EMEA and Asia at Digital Rapids. “With a range of activities to share our solutions and knowledge both in and beyond our stand, we can help attendees learn how to maximise new revenue opportunities with the flexibility, efficiency and cost-effectiveness they need to come out of the economic storm stronger than ever. “
