PacketVideo and JDM Join Forces to Offer Seamless Media Sharing

Posted by Derrick on August 24, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

PacketVideo announced at Telematics Detroit that it is partnering with JDM System Consultants (JDM) to bring its popular Twonky digital media connectivity solutions to the automotive industry. The partners are collaborating on a new voice command media playback system that seamlessly extends consumers’ connected device network to their car, enabling easy, safe and reliable access to digital libraries stored at home or virtually anywhere, while on the road.

The easy-to-use system provides a single, simple user interface that enables users to:

• Manage their full digital media libraries in their home and on the go
• Transfer digital media to their car, and from their car to their home
• Manage media playback using voice commands in their car

“Consumers are currently storing vast amounts of media on their phones, computers and digital media players, and Twonky has been a driving force in making media sharing seamless in multiple environments and across myriad devices,” said Corbett Kull, senior vice president, Worldwide Sales, PV. “Extending the Twonky offering to vehicle entertainment systems is an important next step in the evolution of our product offering, making it possible for consumers to manage and enjoy all of the digital media in their life – this is truly anytime, anywhere.”

The new system includes a voice activated media control point that enables users to search, play, start, stop, pause or mute their music and video content. The system also enables users to control the volume via simple voice commands.

PV’s Twonky family of award-wining connectivity products have been shipped and bundled with more than 3 million consumer electronics devices to date – more than any other media sharing offering on the market. Twonky products are compatible with more devices and file formats than any other media sharing solution in the industry, making sharing photos, video and music a seamless experience for beginners and experts alike.

“Leveraging our combined expertise, PV and JDM have answered the call from people who want to enjoy their media in all environments whenever and wherever they like,” said Steven Malson, senior vice president, Worldwide Sales, JDM. “PV is providing their tremendous media technology, while JDM is ensuring safety through our system integration expertise. It’s a great match-up of industry leading companies, and we’re excited to work with PV to bring this exciting new vehicle telematics technology to market.”

Digital Rapids StreamZ Encoder Fuels Free Agent Fever for Miami HEAT

Posted by Derrick on August 17, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Digital Rapids announced that The HEAT Group, owners of the Miami HEAT National Basketball Association (NBA) team and operators of Miami’s AmericanAirlines Arena, are using Digital Rapids’ StreamZ encoding system to speed the production of high-quality live and on-demand video content for the HEAT.com website and internal production workflows. Most recently, StreamZ was used for live streaming of events leading up to and following the signings of high-profile free agent players Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh.

The Broadcast Services department at The HEAT Group produces live event coverage and pre-packaged content for all departments in the organization, including advertising, marketing, internal training, the HEAT.com website, and shows airing on NBA TV and regional television. The group also produces content such as half-time features that are used within live game broadcasts on SunSports.

Online video is a key focus for the production group, as the team leverages it to support the HEAT brand, engage existing fans and grow the team’s fan base globally. Content from the team’s in-arena HEATV broadcast, special features and more are encoded through StreamZ into the formats required for on-demand Web viewing. StreamZ is also used for live Web streaming of special events and announcements. The StreamZ system is also used in an automated workflow to transcode library footage provided by NBA Entertainment into The HEAT Group’s preferred editing format for subsequent production needs.

Finding their existing encoding solution slow and inefficient, The HEAT Group chose StreamZ for its exceptional performance, high quality and the versatility to meet their broad and growing digital media needs. StreamZ was supplied to The HEAT Group by reseller CIS Group.

“By enabling us to efficiently create high-quality material for HEAT.com with very fast turnaround, the Digital Rapids StreamZ system helps us engage and grow our fan base, and that has a direct impact on our revenues,” said Ed Filomia, Senior Director of Broadcast Services for The HEAT Group. “We’re able to get video content from the arena and events onto the website faster than ever before, while the versatility of the system lowers our equipment and operational costs by supporting our live and on-demand production needs in one platform.”

The importance of streaming video as an integral part of the team’s marketing strategy was underscored at the recent start of the NBA’s 2010 free agency period. As part of a campaign to encourage HEAT star Wade to re-sign with the team, HEAT mascot Burnie took up residence on an exterior ledge of the arena for a week. To fuel publicity and fan interest in the campaign, StreamZ was used to provide a live stream of Burnie’s exploits 24-hours per day through the HEAT.com website. The StreamZ system was also used for live streaming of the welcoming party and press conference marking the signings of Wade and his new superstar teammates James and Bosh.

Streaming to Mobile Devices Training Launches in September

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

Streaming to Mobile Devices Training launches in September.  There has been great interest in streaming video and especially the desire to add another delivery outside of desktop video playback. Streaming to mobile devices is much more challenging than delivering to the desktop.  This new class will cover tools for mobile video encoding, video compression techniques, streaming server delivery, and other items.   If you need to stream video content to iPhone,  iPod Touch, Blackberry, Nokia, Samsung or other Smartphones this class is for you. Look for the class on our Video Streaming and Compression Training Schedule in September 2010.

Warehouse Expands E-commerce Online Video Initiatives with Brightcove

Posted by Derrick on July 14, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Brightcove, the leading online video platform, announced that Warehouse, a leading UK women’s fashion retailer with 320 stores countrywide, has rolled out a host of new online video initiatives, including a new iPhone video application, using the Brightcove platform. Warehouse, which is owned by Aurora Fashions, is leveraging the Brightcove platform to support its Style Studio TV fashion portal at Warehouse.co.uk, which showcases the latest in fashion trends from Warehouse and enables visitors to view and purchase products directly from within online video experiences.

“There is no better way to showcase Warehouse’s collections coming to life and to tell our story than through video,” said Danielle Brown, head of marketing at Warehouse. “The Brightcove platform has enabled us to deliver the highest quality user experience possible for our branded video content across both the PC Web and on mobile devices like the iPhone.”

Warehouse’s online video offerings include the fashion portal, Style Studio TV, as well as video-rich website catalogs of clothing and accessories. With the Brightcove platform, Warehouse has introduced an innovative “shoppable” video functionality, where fashions shown in videos are available for purchase within the same screen. Warehouse also recently introduced a mobile application using the Brightcove iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK), featuring the latest updates on trends and fashion must-haves available at warehouse.co.uk. The app includes new video content from Style Studio TV and a multitude of styling tips.

“Video provides major retail brands like Warehouse with a unique opportunity to drive customer engagement and to deliver a highly interactive online shopping experience,” said Jeff Whatcott, Brightcove senior vice president of marketing. “Warehouse has a tremendous following in the UK, and we are proud to support the organization’s innovative e-commerce video initiatives and new iPhone app.”

Working with Encoding.com, Amazon S3 and Cloudfront

Posted by Derrick on July 2, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Working with Encoding.com, Amazon S3 and Cloudfront is what I had a chance to do recently. It was nice to work with the Encoding.com encoding service again. This service can make things extremely easy for novices especially if you have someone to set up encoding presets and other items for you. It terms of compression, I generally like to be up close and personal on the desktop with my compression tools but there are some things that I like about the Encoding.com service.

Project Goal: To provide a great viewing experience for 80 minute video lessons with Real-Time Streaming. The videos needed to play without interruption. Also we needed to provide 1-2 minute videos for Progressive Download.

Here are the tools used for the project:

Amazon S3
Amazon Cloudfront
Rackspace Cloud
Encoding.com
JW Player

Because of the project we decided to go with delivering Real-time Streaming of the 80 minute lessons with Amazon Cloudfront and Amazon S3. We also used the Cloudfront and S3 for the Progessive Downloads. What nice is the Amazon Cloudfront uses Adobe Flash Media Servers for Real Time Streaming. For delivery we implemented On-demand Dynamic Streaming for Real-time Streaming and went with a single datarate video for Progressive Download. We used 5 different dates for different types of viewers and the video dynamically switches based on users bandwidth. Rackspace was used for the source file location and JW Player was used for both Real-time and Progressive Download playback of the Flash video content.

Here’s what I liked about Encoding.com:

• Watch Folder Encoding
• FTP or Amazon S3 locations can be specified for Watch Folders
• Videos can be sent to FTP or Amazon S3 locations after encoding
• The ability to view encoding jobs in the Encoding Queue
• Watch Encoding Log

Here’s what I’d like to see improved with Encoding.com:

• The ability to specify naming conventions for Watch Folders
• The ability to apply multiple presets to Watch Folders
• More compression filters available