ViewCast Niagara Streaming Media Encoders and Adobe Flash Media Server Power HarperCollins’ New Digital Conference Center

Posted by Derrick on July 30, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

ViewCast Corporation, a developer of industry-leading solutions for the transformation, management and delivery of digital media over enterprise, broadband, and mobile networks, announced that venerable book and digital content publisher HarperCollins has selected advanced streaming media solutions from ViewCast and Adobe Systems Incorporated to power the company’s live streaming and video on demand (VOD) media programming. With ViewCast Niagara streaming media encoders and Adobe Flash Media Server software at the heart of HarperCollins’ new digital conference center, the company is equipped with a feature-rich, easy to use streaming media platform for real-time and pre-recorded corporate communication and events.

Constructed at HarperCollins’ corporate headquarters in New York, the company’s new digital conference center was designed to facilitate live and on-demand broadcasting of executive addresses, guest speaker presentations, company meetings and corporate training programs to company employees. To ensure optimal streaming performance, reliability and manageability, HarperCollins implemented ViewCast Niagara streaming media encoders – including the Niagara 2120 and a Niagara GoStream SURF – networked to two servers running Adobe Flash Media Server software.

“HarperCollins is at the forefront of leveraging online video to improve business communications and collaboration between their employees and stakeholders across the enterprise,” said Scott Wellwood, director of business development for Rich Media at Adobe. “It’s exciting to see the combination of the Adobe Flash Platform and ViewCast Niagara encoders, bringing cutting-edge technology that meets critical business needs. With the leading Web design and development platform, Adobe helps partners create expressive applications, content, and video that runs consistently across operating systems and devices, and reaches more than 98 percent of Internet-enabled desktops in the Enterprise.”

“HarperCollins’ innovative implementation of ViewCast Niagara encoders and Adobe Flash Media Server underscores the value and operational agility that streaming media can bring to any business, and reaffirms the strength of ViewCast’s technology integration with the Adobe Flash Platform,” said ViewCast president and CEO Dave Stoner. “For corporate communication applications, emails and memos can never match the immediacy and impact enabled via online video streaming. Even for a centuries-old company born of the printing press, digital media has the power to transform the scope and effectiveness of key business initiatives.”

“With ViewCast, we were assured proven, professional-grade streaming media systems that were easy to deploy and intuitive to use, complemented with excellent service and support,” said Steve Leiterstein, Senior Director, Desktop Services, HarperCollins. “The Adobe Flash Platform provides a rich, bandwidth-optimized viewing experience across all of our supported operating systems.”

Consulting for Encoding to Mobile Devices

Posted by Derrick217 on May 29, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Consulting for Encoding to Mobile Devices is available at Freeman Compression. If you need our expertise to stream on-demand videos to the various mobile devices then give us a call at 407.477.5837 or E-mail us info@freemancompression.com

StarHub Expands Mobile TV Service for 3G and iPhone with Envivio 4Caster C4

Posted by Derrick on May 21, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Envivio Inc. announced that StarHub has installed the Envivio Mobile TV head-end featuring the 4Caster C4 Three Screens encoder/transcoder, from Envivio, to extend the reach of the “StarHub TV on Mobile” service to more 3G mobile customers, including those using the iPhone. The encoding solution has also enabled StarHub to further enhance the efficiency of network resources in delivering its mobile TV service, which offers 25 premium branded channels of news, lifestyle, documentary and entertainment programs.

“To support hundreds of different 3G handsets for the streaming of 25 cable TV channels on mobile, it is important for us to make TV-viewing on mobile devices as seamless as that on television for customers,” said Ms Yeong Mun Ling, Vice President, Business Development and Integrated Applications, StarHub Ltd. “After deploying Envivio’s 4Caster C4 encoder, we are able to greatly reduce the complexity at our headend, using a single platform to encode signals for both 3G and HTTP content streaming. In addition, the H.264 Extreme Compression from Envivio ensures high picture quality, so our customers can enjoy the best mobile TV viewing experience even on the most sophisticated playback devices such as the iPhone.”

The 4Caster C4 encoder/transcoder encodes and protects the content in multiple profiles to enable Apple’s http live streaming technology. The adaptive live streaming combined with Envivio’s H.264 Extreme codec enables the delivery of the best picture quality regardless of fluctuations in network bandwidth.

At the same time as it is encoding for iPhone users, the 4Caster C4 system also streams the same content directly to other 3G handsets. Advanced features such as network-aware rate control and video display aspect ratio management help to ensure the best quality of experience for customers. StarHub subscribers with a 3G device access the mobile TV channels via StarHub’s mobile TV client installed on their phone or through a designated portal in their phone.

“StarHub is setting a compelling example for service providers operating in competitive markets,” said Envivio CEO Julien Signès. “The fact that they have chosen the 4Caster C4 attests to the value service providers place on the flexibility our solutions offer. StarHub is able to immediately satisfy its existing 3G customer base with a high quality TV service and at the same time provide a top quality service for its iPhone customers.”

The 4Caster C4 convergence encoding platform provides video compression for all Three Screens of consumer video – TVs, PCs and mobile devices – from a single platform. Designed to enable fixed line and mobile network operators to deliver content simultaneously across the full range of consumer devices, the 4Caster C4 is able to take multiple channels of content and encode them simultaneously to deliver multiple mobile TV profiles, multiple Internet TV profiles, or SD and HD IPTV profiles.

RealNetworks’ Updated Helix Media Delivery Platform Streams Any Media Type to Any Player and Device

Posted by Derrick on May 9, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

RealNetworks, Inc., the digital entertainment services company, released a new version of its Helix Media Delivery Platform with advancements that enable organizations to stream live and on-demand content in any format to any device.

Real’s Helix Platform provides the tools to create, deliver, monitor, monetize, organize and play digital media.  The latest update includes support for Flash, MP4/H.264, Silverlight, Windows Media and QuickTime on PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and Symbian devices, creating a truly universal platform.

“Real’s Helix Platform sets the industry standard, providing consumers with the highest quality digital media experience,” said Kari “Kaila” Kailamaki, vice president for Helix, RealNetworks.  “Our latest update makes Helix Platform the most reliable, universal and cost-effective solution for any media and any playback environment across all devices, including PCs, mobile phones and internet-connected TVs.”

The Helix Platform’s advancements include:

•    Simultaneous content delivery from a single media source for iPhone, iPad, Flash Player, Silverlight, H.264 and RealVideo—simplifying video distribution for content owners

•    A comprehensive set of tools that helps content owners monetize and control access to content, including enhanced client control, external authorization and streaming session logging, and management

•    The ability to upload, tag, search and discover digital media quickly, particularly relevant in the education market

•    Encoding into standard MP4/H.264 for maximum audience reach without requiring separate encoders to reach devices like the iPhone and iPad

•    Support for rapidly building and deploying a compelling, customized mobile video viewing experience on mobile handsets supporting over 900 devices including iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Nokia with the new Helix Rich Media Client.

Streambox Releases StreamboxME Video Encoder for the iPhone

Posted by Derrick on May 8, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Streambox announced the launch of StreamboxME, a new video-encoding application that enables iPhone 3GS users to upload high-quality video over the AT&T 3G network and other carriers via the Streambox Live broadband video contribution service. Available for free download from iTunes, StreamboxME is a groundbreaking approach to field newsgathering and video capture that reporters and other contributors can use to stream live or file-based video from their iPhones to broadcasters, news organizations, government agencies, and enterprises.

StreamboxME is the latest free-of-charge encoding application in the Streambox Live solution family, adding iPhones to other 3G and 4G mobile phones and Wi-Fi-connected laptops that can be turned into tools for cost-effective, easy-to-use, and highly flexible field newsgathering. By subscribing to the cloud-based Streambox Live service, news and media companies and other organizations can utilize low-bandwidth networks to enable many-to-many real-time and file-based video acquisition. After downloading the free encoding software to their mobile devices, video contributors, journalists, citizen reporters, and enterprise communicators can file breaking news stories from field locations that are difficult for satellite newsgathering trucks to reach. Once the compressed video streams are uploaded to the studio, they can be decoded and broadcast live or archived via the Streambox Live data center.

“Streambox Live is a truly revolutionary approach to field newsgathering, enabling news organizations to expand their live coverage economically in remote, rugged field locations or those lacking high-bandwidth networking services,” said Bob Hildeman, chairman and CEO of Streambox. “And now with StreamboxME, reporters can add iPhones to the arsenal of mobile devices with which they can quickly and easily record, encode, and transmit live video. All they need is an iPhone and a low-bandwidth IP connection.”

Since its unveiling at the 2010 NAB Show, StreamboxME has been downloaded by many current Streambox customers. Leading broadcast news organizations are actively using it now for field newsgathering. Based on Streambox’s award-winning ACT-L3 codec, StreamboxME offers low latency, high video-quality, and extremely reliable transport at any data rate. Designed with broadcasters and professionals in mind, the application is easy to use and offers an innovative many-to-many video rights management system, video geotagging, and text-based IFB talk back. Video sent to a Streambox Live server can be routed to one or many destinations at one time, including Streambox hardware decoders for baseband or SDI video playout, the Streambox Media Player for viewing on a computer monitor, or the Web via a CDN network.