UniversalSports.com Taps Inlet Technologies for Both Live Streaming and Video-On-Demand

Inlet Technologies, the leader in innovative solutions for digital media preparation, announced that Universal Sports has selected its Spinnaker and Armad solutions to power UniversalSports.com’s live and on-demand coverage of world-class sports.

Universal Sports serves as the preeminent multiplatform destination for Olympic and lifestyle sports programming, offering more than 1,000 live events and 7,000 hours of annual original event programming. UniversalSports.com delivers more than 100,000 hours of programming content with dedicated, sport-specific "channels," including Skiing, Rowing, Swimming, and Cycling, to give fans a centralized, convenient, consistent place to go for event video, video highlights, breaking news, and features. Universal Sports is following a growing trend in the sports industry by complementing traditional broadcasts with unprecedented online access.

"We're dedicated to delivering our fans and viewers at UniversalSports.com the highest quality video presentation of our world-class sporting events," said Carlos Silva, president and COO of Universal Sports. "Increasingly, fans are turning to the web to view their favorite sports, competitions and events. Our partners at Inlet Technologies allow us to deliver the online sports-viewing experience that brings our viewers back for more."

“Inlet’s Spinnaker and Armada solutions, along with Microsoft Smooth Streaming, will offer UniversalSports.com viewers the highest quality video and more personalized viewing options,” said John Bishop, senior vice president of strategy and business development, Inlet Technologies. “Following the recent Vancouver Winter Games announcement, we are excited and proud of this collaboration with UniversalSports.com, which further solidifies Inlet’s role as a strategic partner of NBC Sports, and as a leader in online sports video.”

Inlet’s Spinnaker family of encoding solutions is especially well-suited for live sports as it provides broadcast-quality streams over the Internet to multiple devices and screens. With its built-in support for adaptive streaming protocols, including iPhone streaming and Microsoft Smooth Streaming, Spinnaker delivers exceptional quality that enhances online viewing of live sports action. Spinnaker’s patent pending stream synchronization capability makes it ideal for adaptive bitrate delivery.

Inlet is also redefining the process of building and scaling a video-on-demand operation. Automation and software intelligence are the keys to building scale and quality while minimizing costs. Inlet's Armada is a revolutionary workflow management system that automates the entire file preparation process and adds encoding intelligence, not just simple node management.

Internap Enhances Content Delivery Network for High-Quality Video

Internap Network Services Corporation, a global provider of end-to-end Internet business solutions, announced enhancements to its Content Delivery Network (CDN) offering, including new ease-of-use functions and automation of key CDN capabilities. Exclusively delivered with Internap’s Performance IP™ service – which ensures optimal video delivery across the Internet – these enhancements deliver an intelligent video streaming solution that simplifies and automates content creation, management and reporting with the highest quality end user experience.

According to comScore’s Video Metrix service, during the month of September 2009, more than 84.8% of the total U.S. Internet audience watched online video, and the average online viewer watched 9.8 hours of video. As more organizations look to adopt video CDNs as part of their marketing strategy and business operations, they also face cost and complexity challenges associated with delivering high-quality content across an increasingly diverse device landscape of PCs, netbooks and mobile phones. Additionally, as video usage broadens beyond the user-generated content and over-the-top media and entertainment markets and becomes a core enterprise tool for communicating with business-critical audiences – such as employees, customers, investors and partners – ensuring the highest quality experience to those consumers by overcoming issues of network latency, congestion and downtime are also becoming key CDN requirements.

Internap’s CDN addresses these challenges with a fully-integrated solution for live and on-demand video streaming – with the Adobe® Flash® Platform, Microsoft® Silverlight™ and iPhone formats – that allows organizations to focus exclusively on content creation by simplifying and streamlining the workflow for content uploading, transcoding, management and reporting. By leveraging Internap’s patented MIRO™ (Managed Internet Route Optimizer) technology – which dynamically selects the best path for video traffic across multiple Internet backbones based on network performance characteristics instead of the least number of Internet hops – organizations are assured of a highly-reliable CDN with guaranteed uptime and performance-based service level agreements.

“Our collaboration with Internap provides customers with a one-stop shop for seamless delivery of high-quality online video,” said Bill Rusitzky, senior director for media alliances at Adobe. “Internap’s CDN utilizing the Adobe Flash Platform is optimized for delivery to a broad range of operating systems and devices while providing the network performance and high-quality experience customers expect from Internet video today.”

Through its partnerships and enhancements to its CDN solution, Internap provides customers with the ability to maximize the consuming audience by addressing the broadest range of devices across the Internet. According to comScore Media Metrix, approximately 75 percent of online videos viewed worldwide are delivered using Adobe Flash technology, making it the No. 1 technology for video on the Web. Adobe Flash Player — already installed on 98 percent of Internet-connected desktops — gives viewers access to rich content without having to download additional software.

The new ease-of-use features within Internap’s CDN MediaConsole® 5.0 CDN include:
Integrated, rule-based transcoding – automatically converts video into the ideal formats for a broad range of devices, allowing content to reach the widest audience possible without additional management and development costs.

Integrated adaptive bitrate – continuous bitrate adjustment dynamically adapts video streams based on the capabilities and bandwidth of the network, ultimately ensuring that the best quality video is delivered to an individual device.

Advanced analytics and reporting – enables video campaign refinement through: comprehensive statistics for individual video streams delivered; audience geographical information; and audience viewing habits by file, directory or custom segmentation, among other capabilities.

“Microsoft is committed to helping partners deliver the highest quality online video with Silverlight,” said Steve Sklepowich, director for Silverlight at Microsoft Corp. “Internap’s enhancements to their CDN provide their customers with a simplified content creation and delivery solution, allowing them to more efficiently deliver high quality video with interactivity using Silverlight across the Web.”

“Video is the single most immersive, engaging and effective form of electronic communication, but the cost and complexity associated with high-quality delivery has held it back from being even more widely used on the Web,” said Peter Evans, senior vice president of marketing at Internap. “Internap’s CDN enhancements address this issue by automating the entire process from video creation to management to delivery, and then delivering superior performance with the industry’s only route-optimized CDN for video quality that you can see. This finally frees enterprises to focus on delivering valuable content to drive their business and not worry about the technology behind managing and distributing it. ”

Internap is showcasing its CDN offering, along with its Performance IP service, at Streaming Media West, November 17-19, in San Jose, Calif. in booth 601.

Envivio 4Caster C4 Encoder Powers Bouygues Telecom Mobile TV Service

Envivio Inc. announced that its 4Caster C4 video encoder is being used by Bouygues Telecom, one of France's largest mobile network operators with ten million subscribers, to encode video for its TV 3G+ mobile video service. The Bouygues Telecom video headend is hosted by Cognacq-Jay Image, the content management and delivery subsidiary of TDF. TV 3G+ provides subscribers with access to more than 60 channels in a variety of standard and premium packages.

When launching the new service in November 2008, Bouygues Telecom and Cognacq-Jay Image elected to replace their legacy software encoders with the 4Caster C4 hardware encoder configured for Mobile TV. The multi-profile 4Caster C4 enables the TV 3G+ service to be optimized for the 176 different handsets currently in use by Bouygues Telecom subscribers. This includes a QVGA resolution, 3.5G HSDPA profile to deliver premium video quality for subscribers with high end devices.

“4Caster C4 from Envivio has helped us by delivering the reliability and performance needed to provide a good quality of experience for the end user, as well as flexibility that is enabling our company to follow the fast-moving mobile market.” said Thibaut Keraval in charge of Mobile Services Solutions in Bouygues Telecom

“Upgrading the existing infrastructure to an up-to-date Envivio platform was an important decision in the development of TV 3G+,” said David Karoutchi, Business Development Manager – Mobile & Broadband, Cognacq-Jay Image. “The 4Caster C4 provides a high reliability, high performance foundation that offers the superior service levels we were looking for in order to ensure the best experience for subscribers.”

The award-winning Envivio 4Caster C4 simultaneously delivers four channels of video with up to 32 different Mobile TV profiles per system, providing an advanced compression platform for operators launching new services or upgrading early generation services based on software encoding platforms. The Bouygues Telecom deployment also includes the Envivio 4Manager headend management system, providing M:N automatic redundancy configuration for true carrier-grade service availability. This transforms mobile TV into a full-fledged service offering, based on a state-of-the-art professional headend infrastructure.

Brightcove 4 Online Video Platform Unveiled

Brightcove Inc. announced the general availability of Brightcove 4, a major new release of the industry-leading online video platform with enhancements that empower customers to maximize the quality, reach and business impact of online video across desktops and devices. Brightcove 4 introduces a host of new features, including support for native iPhone™ video application development, expanded live streaming capabilities, advanced analytics, and new resources for video distribution, monetization and custom online video applications.

Brightcove also introduced the new Brightcove Express edition to bring the power and flexibility of the leading online video platform within reach for all website projects, no matter how large or small. Brightcove Express is priced starting at 99 dollars per month with no annual contract.

“As video becomes pervasive on the Web, publishers face increasingly complex and demanding requirements that often span multiple use-cases and devices,” said Jeremy Allaire, Brightcove chairman and chief executive officer. “Brightcove 4 provides a powerful and extensible suite of new services that make it easy for customers to execute three-screen strategies and generate additional value from online video through new distribution and monetization opportunities. And with Brightcove Express, the Brightcove 4 platform is accessible for any size organization and projects of any scope.”

Brightcove 4 builds on the success of the most comprehensive and widely-used online video platform in the market with wide-ranging innovations and enhancements.

Deliver high-quality video experiences across desktops and devices - Brightcove 4 introduces new capabilities that make it easier than ever to execute high-quality, three-screen strategies:
• Custom cloud encoding offers fine-grained control over state-of-the-art encoding technology, with higher quality default encoding, more formats, and more renditions to ensure optimal quality on every connection and device.

• Secure multi-bitrate streaming protects content while delivering smooth adaptive streaming over any connection.

• Universal Delivery Service (UDS) enables the delivery of content over the most appropriate protocol for the viewer, whether it is via PC, mobile device, connected television or set-top box.

• Brightcove Player and Software Development Kit (SDK) for the iPhone expands the delivery options available to website publishers to include iPhone applications and mobile video websites.

Maximize the business value of online video - Brightcove 4 addresses new use-cases and advanced requirements with a host of new features to help businesses and organizations generate additional value from their online video initiatives:
• Advanced monetization capabilities offer more control and efficiency in ad operations, access to new advertising networks and servers from Google, Yahoo, FreeWheel and the OpenX ad technology platform, as well as support for Video Ad Serving Template (VAST), the new industry standard enabling publishers to work with multiple ad servers and networks.

• Enhanced analytics provide in-depth insight into viewer engagement and the overall value of an organization's video content by highlighting the most effective and ineffective initiatives.

• Social sharing accelerates the flow of video through social networks and services, including Facebook®, MySpace and Twitter.

• Support for live streaming, including the ability to mix and match live and video on-demand programming within the same Brightcove players, brings the compelling immediacy of ad-supported live content within reach for publishers and projects of all sizes and scope.

• Media sharing helps publishers share videos across divisions, affiliates, and with other partners with a single click, enabling them to generate more value from their content through re-use and re-distribution.

Harness the power of cloud-based services to extend online video - Brightcove 4 includes a wide array of new cloud services, SDKs, and extensibility options that provide publishers with an advanced starting point that can adapt and scale to the requirements of the most sophisticated video project:
• Enhanced Media Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) allow developers to build deep, real-time integrations within their Web applications to drive search engine optimization and support robust workflow adaptations that lower the cost of video publishing.

• New Player APIs support the development of highly customized user experiences, advanced monetization, analytics tracking, and synchronized content placement.

• Brightcove Experience Markup Language (BEML) component skinning makes it easier to create fully branded player controls and in-player design elements without requiring Flash programming.

• iPhone SDK for Objective C programmers introduces pre-built components for playback, social sharing, content discovery, and hooks into the Brightcove Media API services.

• Ad Rules API and SDK offers more control and efficiency in ad operations to enable the easy development of sophisticated ad policies, new business logic and custom ad player integrations.

Available for any online video project, no matter how large or small - Brightcove 4's new capabilities and pricing brings the leading online video platform within reach for every professional website project or organization:
• Brightcove Express is a new edition that packs in all the essentials required to jumpstart new online video projects for as little as 99 dollars per month and with no annual contract.

• Easy integration with advertising networks makes it possible to deliver ad-supported video content at low cost.

• Google Analytics integration provides organizations with easy access to the most popular free Web analytics package, making it possible to get a unified view of all content interactions at an extremely low cost.

• Content Management System (CMS) integrations with popular entry-level and open source CMS solutions such as WordPress, TypePad, Drupal, Joomla and Ektron, enable websites of all sizes to easily integrate professional video into their existing Web publishing workflow.

Elemental Technologies Releases Elemental Server

Elemental Technologies, the leading provider of massively parallel video processing solutions, announced the release of Elemental™ Server, the world’s first GPU-based transcoding appliance. Elemental Server’s breakthrough technology enables faster than real time, simultaneous encoding of video files targeting the comprehensive specifications required for the three-screen experience of TV, PC and mobile. Delivering high-speed encoding and premium video output using GPUs (graphics processing units), Elemental Server can replace multiple CPU-only solutions for a fraction of the price, ensuring immediate capital and maintenance cost savings.

With video consumption skyrocketing and predicted to comprise 90 percent of consumer Internet traffic by 2012, companies require encoding technology that leapfrogs current CPU-only solutions. Elemental Server’s innovative multi-GPU system can simultaneously process and encode video to multiple resolutions and bitrates and provides support for all major adaptive bit rate standards.

“Content distributors are experiencing rising demand for all types of video and Elemental Server is ideally suited to address this trend,” said Sam Blackman, CEO and chairman of Elemental Technologies. “The shift towards massively parallel computing opens new frontiers in the video processing landscape, and we are proud to introduce Elemental Server as the first of many enterprise-class, GPU-accelerated video processing solutions we are bringing to market.”

Companies not only focused on delivering online video content, but a broad range of broadcast networks, mobile operators and government agencies are deploying Elemental Server into their workflows to efficiently deliver more online video content with immediate benefits in price/performance and transcoding versatility.

Elemental Server is designed to fit into existing workflows with crucial video processing features including:

• Simultaneous processing of up to four 1080p or 24 standard definition video transcodes in real time.
• Support for concurrent processing of multiple resolutions and bitrates on a single system, simplifying the requirements for creating Adaptive Bit Rate (ABR) content and streamlining the overall content production process.
• Dense transcoding that completely replaces multiple CPU-only hardware and software systems, allowing a single Elemental Server to replace up to seven dual quad-core CPU-only systems.
• Flexible output support for today’s most popular codecs including MPEG-2, VC-1 and H.264, as well as support for a wide variety of output containers including F4V, ASF, WMV, 3GP, and MP4.

Elemental Server is the first product available in a family of GPU-accelerated solutions currently in development. Elemental Server is available for sale directly from Elemental. Learn more about Elemental Server at www.elementaltechnologies.com/server.

Sorenson Media Launches Sorenson Squeeze 6

Sorenson Media announced the immediate availability of Sorenson Squeeze 6, a significant update to the gold-standard video encoding software application. Sorenson Squeeze 6 provides the first total workflow solution for video professionals, enabling customers to employ innovative tools - such as email and text notifications and a secure review and approval process - that simplify the overall workflow and allow them to more easily encode and publish their video files on the Internet. Optimized video codecs and new filters have also been added, significantly improving video quality and encoding speed.

Video Management Made Easy
Working in tandem with the Sorenson 360 Video Delivery Network (Sorenson Media’s re-imagined online video publishing platform), Sorenson Squeeze 6 includes a variety of new unique features that make encoding and publishing videos online easier:
- E-mail and Text Notifications. Sorenson Squeeze 6 can now send automatic notifications to clients, colleagues, supervisors, friends or the users themselves via e-mail and text message (SMS) when encoding jobs are completed. With this new feature, users can start an encoding job and walk away, knowing they will be notified immediately when the process is done.
- Review and Approval Workflow. Video professionals can now add their clients’ and supervisors’contact information to Sorenson Squeeze, which will automatically send them secure, password protected videos for review and approval after encoding jobs are completed. This automated workflow is accessible from desktop computer Web browsers as well as the iPhone, enabling busy professionals to review and approve content on the go. After viewing a video, reviewer feedback and comments are immediately sent back to the Squeeze user, thereby streamlining the workflow of today’s video professionals.
- Direct Publishing and Syndication. In addition to seamless publishing to the Sorenson 360 Video Delivery Network, Sorenson Squeeze 6 users can upload high-quality encoded files directly to popular social media sites, such as YouTube and Twitter, as well as to content delivery networks, including Akamai and Limelight.- Enhanced User Interface. The Sorenson Squeeze 6 interface has been re-designed to simplify the video compression workflow and provide easy access to the software’s powerful features, including encoding presets; high-quality audio and video filters; DVD burning tools; and the new review, approval and notification functions.- Complimentary Sorenson 360 Review & Approval Account. Every purchase of Squeeze 6 includes a complimentary one-year Review & Approval account to the Sorenson 360 Video Delivery Network, making Squeeze the first end-to-end encoding and publishing solution.

Higher Quality, Faster Encoding, Expanded Compatibility
Sorenson Squeeze 6 surpasses previous versions of the software in both speed and quality by incorporating and optimizing the latest On2 VP6 and MainConcept H.264 codecs. Internal benchmark tests have shown Sorenson Squeeze 6 is up to 500 percent faster than Sorenson Squeeze 5 when encoding in the H.264 and VP6 formats, both of which are standard formats included with every copy of Squeeze 6. New video filters, including blur, RGB, tint, white balance and timecode, have also been added to improve the quality of any encoded video. New input and output formats have also been added to Sorenson Squeeze 6, including:
- New Input Formats: AVC-Intra and WMV with VC-1 for use in Blu-ray and Microsoft Silverlight
- New Output Formats: AVI, AIFF, DV Stream, Image Sequence, Wave, and WMV with VC-1

To coincide with the release of Squeeze 6, Sorenson Media has also launched an innovative new Preset Exchange, an online repository of professional “video encoding recipes” or presets. The presets in the Exchange have been created by top industry compression experts, thereby providing Squeeze 6 users with direct access to the same encoding tools used by seasoned encoding professionals to get the best quality out of their encoding processes. Because the Preset Exchange is seamlessly integrated with Squeeze 6, users can instantly import new presets into Squeeze by clicking “Install” on the Preset Exchange Web site. Along with previous integration with Avid’s suite of editing applications, Sorenson Squeeze 6 also now works seamlessly with Apple’s Final Cut Pro and iMovie. This process significantly improves workflow times by eliminating the need for cumbersome exporting and importing between applications and enables users to tap into the powerful Squeeze feature set directly from their favorite editing software.

ViewCast CEO David Stoner to Discuss Streaming Technology

ViewCast Corporation, a developer of industry-leading solutions for the transformation, management and delivery of digital media over IP and mobile networks, announced that President and CEO David Stoner will be speaking at the Sports Video Group’s second-annual Venue Technology Summit in Dallas on November 11. This year’s event will take place in one of the most technologically advanced stadiums ever designed: the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Attendees will enjoy an in-depth technical overview of the new stadium’s groundbreaking video facility, as well as panel discussions and workshops covering some of the hottest topics facing venue technology professionals.

Stoner will participate in the afternoon panel (2:45 pm - 3:45 pm) on Understanding Fiber, IP, and Wireless Technology. The panel will discuss how next-generation technologies are transforming sports venues into massive communication hubs that can deliver content to fans more easily than ever. The discussion will lay out the basics of the technologies and help venue personnel and architects understand how they can change venue design and systems integration to better achieve their programming objectives.

“I have been involved in engineering and operations management of technology companies engaged in video and imaging technology and hardware and software development for more than 20 years, and I look forward to sharing my expertise with fellow participants in this year’s Venue Technology summit,” said Stoner. “ViewCast has been at the forefront of innovative solutions that are tailor-made for large venue broadcasting. By sharing knowledge about next-generation technologies, like our turnkey IP-based streaming media systems, we can enable venue technology professionals to deliver the professional-quality video programming they need to grow their market share beyond conventional coverage areas.“

Telestream Speeds Video Encoding

Telestream announced that DnA Creative Services, a leading video production company in Louisiana has selected Episode® Encoder for Windows to address the company’s advanced encoding and content repurposing needs. DnA uses Episode Encoder for various applications such as convert video to MPEG for DVD, using QuickTime and Windows Media for emailing and uploading projects to clients, and Flash for embedding videos on client web sites. Episode Encoder makes it easy to import virtually any file format and encode media to Web, DVD, or mobile including portable device formats.

As a full-service media company that provides location filming, audio recording, and complete postproduction services, DnA needed a practical means of delivering TV commercials digitally to area television stations. Over the years, DnA has used several software encoders, including Sorenson Squeeze, but turned to Telestream’s Episode Encoder for Windows due to its flexibility to quickly encode a multitude of formats including high-quality broadcast formats.

One of DnA’s ongoing projects is a semi-annual modeling and talent competition. During the weeklong event, DnA does on-location editing and uses the Episode iPhone setting to quickly encode videos before showing them to event producers on the iPhone handset. With this flexibility, the producer can instantly provide approvals and comments before broadcasting on the large projection screen over the main stage, thus mitigating any additional costs for re-shoots. In addition to flexibility, DnA chose the Episode Encoder because it has the fastest encoding speeds available in a desktop video encoder, and its fine-tuning compression capabilities generate the highest-quality media files.

“Episode Encoder's impact is much greater than the dollar value we charge for encoding video. With Episode, we are totally comfortable that the encoded video will be the highest quality and the process will be very quick and simple as opposed to the worry and work-around we would have had to go through with other encoding solutions,” said David Cardwell, Owner of DnA Creative Services.

DnA also credits using Episode to encode DVD-compliant video files, which cuts the company’s time to produce a master DVD in half. Even more significant, videos on the resulting DVDs look noticeably better and in the long run the company expects to see this directly impact its bottom line.

“The Episode line continues to deliver an unprecedented customer encoding experience, and we are delighted to have customer success stories of this nature,” said Barbara DeHart, VP of Marketing at Telestream. “The innovative work DnA Creative Services is doing as the result of Episode truly changes the way the company does business. The quick encoding speeds actually allow companies such as DnA to focus on its core competencies and in this instance, I would say, the product has not only out-performed the competition, but helps deliver peace of mind.”

Free Video Streaming and Compression Tools Training in Atlanta

There will be a Free Video Streaming and Compression Tools Training in Atlanta, Georgia at the Courtyard Atlanta Airport North/Virginia Avenue on Dec. 11, 2009. So If you're in or near Atlanta, Georgia and need to get familiar with video streaming and compression make sure you attend this Free Episode Encoder, Wirecast and Sawmill Professional Training in Atlanta. The training will get you up to speed with video encoding using Telestream's Episode Encoder and webcasting with Telestream's Wirecast. The training day also includes Instructor and Video Streaming and Compression Consultant, Derrick Freeman, teaching attendees how to perform log file analysis using Sawmill Professional. You can Click Here to Register for the Event in Atlanta.

Brightcove Cited as an Online Video Platform Leader

Brightcove Inc., the leading online video platform, announced it was recognized as a leader by Forrester Research, Inc. in its report, The Forrester Wave: U.S. Online Video Platforms, Q4 2009. Brightcove was among the select companies that Forrester invited to participate in its Wave report, and the company received top scores across all of the major evaluation categories.

According to the report, “Brightcove’s offering is the most comprehensive video platform in this Forrester Wave evaluation; it consistently scores high marks with few, if any, gaps. The company’s customer base, video scale, and internal resources are unrivaled in the market today. Brightcove’s significant resources and road map position the company to stay ahead in the video platform race.”

“Brightcove is honored to be recognized by Forrester as a leading online video platform,” said Jeremy Allaire, Brightcove chairman and chief executive officer. “This is an exciting time for the online video industry, as video is becoming as pervasive as text on the Web and nearly every professional website is looking to publish video. We see an enormous global opportunity to establish Brightcove as the dominant platform for professional video publishing on the Web, and we believe this recognition from Forrester further validates our leadership position in the market.”

Forrester evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of six U.S. online video platform vendors against 37 criteria in three major categories – current offering, strategy and market presence. Platforms were evaluated against several features, including media management, user-generated video, player capabilities, publishing capabilities, distribution capabilities, monetization capabilities, reporting capabilities, internationalization, integration, scalability, and service offerings. Strategy was measured against the vendor’s ability to envision the future needs of the marketplace, the road map required to meet these needs, partner relationships and executive team experience. Customer base and financial strength were measured to determine market presence.

Setting the File Output Location in Sorenson Squeeze

Setting the file output location in Sorenson Squeeze is done inside the Squeeze Preferences. This is valuable when you want to have all of your encoding output to a specific location. Here's how to define the Default Output Location in Squeeze.



Navigate to the Squeeze pull-down menu and select Preferences.



By default Same as Source is selected. To set another location for your output files



click the Radio button and the Browse button to navigate to the new destination.



Navigate to the folder that you want to save files to. In my case I'll select the Movies folder. Next click the Choose button.



Now the Movies folder appears as my Default Output Location. All files encoded will now go to this output destination.

Wowza Media Server 2 Advanced Gains More Than 1,000 Beta Customers

Wowza Media Systems®, the media server software company, announced that more than 1,000 beta customers are using a preview release of its Wowza Media Server® 2 Advanced software, including numerous customers who have already deployed Wowza Media Server 2 Advanced servers in production networks.

Among the first production deployments was global CDN Mirror Image Internet, which launched a Wowza-powered multi-protocol video delivery service for Flash®, iPhone™ and other desktop and mobile clients. In addition to content delivery networks like Mirror Image, Wowza has seen a surge in adoption of its new server from online TV platforms and television broadcasters.

Early adopter Livestation, an online destination for global TV and radio news, is using Wowza Media Server 2 Advanced to offer live broadcasts from international channels like BBC World News, C-SPAN, Deutsche Welle, euronews and others to viewers on multiple screens – the iPhone, desktop and other devices.

“Wowza is changing the way the business of online video content delivery is conducted and is doing so in a way that generates value across the entire content delivery chain,” said Matteo Berlucchi, CEO, Livestation. “Whether you are an online TV platform like us or a content creator, the power and flexibility of the Wowza Media Server 2 Advanced cannot be ignored. And at the end of the day, that enables us to bring quality content to the everyday consumer on any device – a strong value proposition for our customers as well as our viewers.”

Spanish national broadcast channel laSexta and a UK-based TVCatchup, an online TV platform delivering over 30 channels from broadcaster like BBC, Sky and Virgin, have deployed Wowza Media Server 2 Advanced for concurrent Flash and iPhone streaming.

“Wowza gave us a unified streaming platform that greatly simplified our infrastructure and gave us tremendous competitive and cost advantage,” commented Guillermo Revuelta, systems engineer, laSexta. “The combination of these capabilities along with Wowza’s incredible customer support is what makes all the difference. I can’t think of television streaming without it going forward.”

“The Wowza unified workflow architecture is a real breakthrough,” said Nick Parr, co-founder, TVCatchup. “The ability to serve multiple client technologies from one streaming platform has greatly improved our market reach. As demand for our service continues to soar, Wowza remains our first and indeed the only choice for media servers.”

Wowza Media Server 2 Advanced is the world’s first multi-protocol unified media streaming platform to provide media properties, service providers, enterprises and other organizations the ability to deliver video to the three most popular digital screens – computer, mobile phone, and IPTV set-top boxes – without the need for costly investments in separate client-specific technologies for the encoding, storage and delivery.

“Wowza Media Server 2 Advanced provides a dramatic shift towards a democratization of video that is focused on the needs of all involved in the content delivery value chain, from creators to consumers. Instead of locking the industry into special-interest media platforms, protocols and players, Wowza 2 Advanced provides a unified platform for content delivery to multiple players” said Dave Stubenvoll, CEO and co-founder, Wowza Media Systems. “Built on the proven Wowza Media Server platform currently deployed by more than 30,000 licensees worldwide, Wowza 2 Advanced is the first media server software to truly unify streaming capabilities in a simple delivery workflow.” 



The Wowza Media Server 2 Advanced has been named a finalist in the category of Best Streaming Innovation by the readers of Streaming Media magazine. The winner will be announced on November 19 at the Readers' Choice Awards reception at the Streaming Media West/Online Video Platform event in San Jose, CA. A live demonstration of Wowza Media Server 2 Advanced will be conducted at Wowza Media booth number 527.

BlackArrow Provides VOD Ad Insertion Technology for Comcast On Demand Service

BlackArrow, a leading worldwide provider of advanced advertising solutions for New Television platforms, announced that its video-on-demand (VOD) ad insertion platform has gone live in Jacksonville, Florida with Comcast Corporation, the nation’s leading provider of entertainment, information and communication products and services. Comcast has chosen BlackArrow’s Advanced Advertising System to lead its ad insertion technology for its On Demand programming.

BlackArrow’s Advanced Advertising System gives programmers and cable operators a real-time, multiplatform campaign management and decision system for offering more timely and relevant ads in their On Demand sessions. Traditionally, advertising campaigns in video-on-demand content have had limited effectiveness due to the static nature of the ads being encoded directly into the VOD stream. In the Jacksonville market, Comcast is inserting standard 15- and 30-second promotional spots as well as newly introduced 20-second spots designed to drive tune-in for upcoming shows and specials on PBS KIDS Sprout and FEARnet in a dynamic environment.

Diana Kerekes, vice president of Video Content for Comcast, said, “The ability to update VOD advertising will help us offer feature parity with traditional linear and Internet-based advertising systems. We’re pleased to be working with a technology leader like BlackArrow as we look for ways to offer our programming partners expanded opportunities to monetize their content offerings.”

“Comcast has led the industry in creating new opportunities to reach consumers in the on-demand marketplace, and we’re excited to be working with them,” said Dean Denhart, chief executive officer, BlackArrow. “By combining BlackArrow’s expertise in advanced VOD advertising platforms with Comcast’s VOD leadership, we hope to expand the business model significantly for on-demand advertising.”

StreamingMedia.com Announces the 2009 Streaming Media Reader's Choice Finalists

StreamingMedia.com announces the 2009 Streaming Media Reader's Choice Finalists. The winners will be announced at the Readers' Choice Awards reception at the Streaming Media West/Online Video Platform event on November 19, 2009. If you're available make sure you attend the event. Winners will also be announced on the site on November 20, 2009.

Here are the finalists:

Best Online Video Startup Company – Content
EffinFunny, Legend of Neil
Invodo, Invodo Product Video Library
Purchase Brothers, Escape from City 17

Best Online Video Startup Company – Technology
Boinx, BoinxTV
Encoding.com
Livestream, Livestream

Best Streaming Innovation
Adobe Dynamic Streaming
Microsoft Smooth Streaming
Wowza Media Server 2 Advanced

Encoding Software (over $1000)
Inlet Technologies Fathom
Rhozet Carbon Coder
Telestream FlipFactory

Encoding Software (under $1000)
Adobe Media Encoder CS4
Microsoft Expression Encoder
Sorenson Squeeze

Enterprise Video Platform
Accordent Technologies Rich Media Communications Suite
Kontiki Delivery Management System
VBrick EtherneTV

Global CDN
Akamai
Highwinds
Level 3
Limelight

Hardware Encoder (HD)
Digital Rapids StreamZ HD
Telestream Pipeline HD Dual
ViewCast Niagara 7500

Hardware Encoder (SD)
Digital Rapids StreamZ/DRC-Stream
VBrick H.264 Appliance
ViewCast Niagara Pro II

Live Video Streaming Platform
Justin.tv
Livestream
Ustream

Online Video Platform (free)
Blip.tv
Vimeo
YouTube

Online Video Platform (Premium)
Brightcove
Kaltura
Sorenson 360

Portable Live Encoding Appliance
Digital Rapids TouchStream
NewTek TriCaster
ViewCast GoStream SURF

Regional (North American) Delivery Network
PowerStream
StreamGuys
Streaming Media Hosting

Reporting and Analytics Solution
Accordent Media Management System
Omniture Site Catalyst
Skytide Insight for Flash Video Players

Search and Indexing Platform
Digitalsmiths VideoSense 2.0
EveryZing MediaCloud
Gotuit VideoMarker Pro

Server Hardware/Software
Adobe Flash Media Server 3.5
Microsoft IIS7 Media Services 3.0
Wowza Media Server Pro

Streaming Music Solution
Last.fm
Live365
Pandora

Transcoding SaaS
Amazon Web Services EC2
mPOINT
Multicast Media Technologies Multicast Transcoding

Video Advertising Management Platform
Eyeblaster
Tremor Media Acudeo
YuMe ACE

Video Advertising Network
Broadband Enterprises Video Network
Tremor Media
YuMe

Webcasting/Presentations Solutions
Accordent Technologies Capture Station
ON24 Webcast Center
Sonic Foundry Mediasite 5.1

Streaming H.264 Videos with Wowza Media Server Pro

Streaming H.264 Videos with Wowza Media Server Pro is common place and a great benefit of the Wowza Server. If you have a collection of H.264 real-time streaming videos you can movie the entire library to the Wowza Server since it supports real-time streaming of not only Flash videos but also H.264 videos as well. Now, it's important to note that the server doesn't support real-time streaming of MPEG-4 files but only the H.264 files. Remember in most streaming and compression applications MPEG-4 Part 2 is listed as MPEG-4 and MPEG-4 Part 10 is listed as H.264 or AVC. Why move all of your content to the Wowza Media Server Pro? Well, if you're moving the H.264 real-time content form a server such as the QuickTime Streaming Server, the move will give your content the cross-platform and cross-browser compatibility that Flash provides.

To learn more about encoding and authoring H.264 real-time streaming videos for Flash using the Wowza Media Server Pro attend one of our 1-Day Wowza Media Server Pro Trainings. The class also covers many other topics and is available on-line, on-site or in-class.

Dreamweaver Great for Authoring Streaming Video

Dreamweaver is great for authoring streaming video. So, if you need to start putting video content on-line then it's a tool you should have in your arsenal. The application is featured in our 2-Day Video Streaming and Compression Trainings. One of the benefits of Dreamweaver is that it doesn't insert a lot of unnecessary code. Also, if you're authoring Flash content the task becomes a breeze. The tool automatically inserts the proper code whenever you insert a .SWF or .FLV file. You can use Dreamweaver to also author Windows Media, Real Media, QuickTime, and MPEG-4 content. Attend one of our Video Streaming and Compression Trainings to find out how to use the Dreamweaver and how to author your streaming video.

Livestream Launches Livepack - The World's First Solution for Wireless Live Streaming at HD Quality

Livestream announced the availability of Livepack, a turn-key hardware solution for wireless live streaming at HD quality to hundreds of thousands of viewers on the web.

Livepack is ideal for live broadcasting any events including concerts, interviews, sporting events, town hall meetings, paparazzi, university graduations, weddings, ceremonies, transmission from a moving car, and a variety of enterprise applications.

"Livepack is like having a satellite television truck in a backpack," said Max Haot, CEO and co-founder of Livestream. "If you want to live stream in high quality at an event where you don't have a reliable fixed Internet connection, broadcasting with a cell phone cannot yet deliver either the high video quality or network reliability you need. The only other solution available is a traditional broadcast truck and satellite signal which can cost up to $50,000 a day."

Livepack is an integrated solution using hardware provided by Livestream's partner, LiveU, that has been fully integrated with Livestream's streaming video platform and content delivery network (CDN). Livepack fits in a custom-designed backpack and includes everything required to stream live: a built-in wireless connection with six load-balanced 3G/EVDO modems over three carriers, encoding hardware, Firewire cable, and 30 hours of streaming uplink time per month.

Livepack product details and recordings of live videos can be viewed at www.livestream.com/livepack. Livepack was recently used for coverage of the MTV Video Music Awards, NY Fashion Week, Harry Potter movie premiere and Pixie Lott Live.

Livestream's groundbreaking Livepack redefines simplicity for live mobile HD quality video streaming. Once Livepack is powered up, and a DV camera is connected, all it takes is just one press of a button to start the live streaming, enabling broadcasters to deliver live, on the scene, video coverage at just a fraction of what a satellite truck costs to rent and operate.

Livepack quickly establishes a reliable Internet connection and is not tied to one wireless network, as it includes six 3G/EVDO modems for redundancy. Because it integrates with Livestream's streaming video platform, Livepack does not require any additional re-encoding or server in your offices to reach its destination. Once the video reaches the Livestream content delivery network the video is immediately streamed in your Livestream player, as well as being captured and securely archived.

Freeman Compression Inc. Looking for Trainers in Rome, Italy

Freeman Compression Inc. is looking for Trainers in Rome, Italy that can teach video streaming and compression training classes.

Trainers with expertise in the following are needed:

Go Stream Surf
Sorenson Squeeze
Episode Encoder Pro
Wirecast
Video and Audio Podcasting
Video Streaming
Video Compression
Sawmill Professsional
Authoring Streaming Videos with Dreamweaver
Streaming Servers

We can be reached at 407.477.5837 or by email at info@freemancompression.com.

WNYC Radio Rolls Out Innovative Radio Program with ViewCast Streaming Solution

ViewCast Corporation announced that WNYC, America’s most listened-to public radio station, has selected ViewCast’s Niagara GoStream SURF portable encoding system for the station’s newly-opened The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space. The Greene Space is a state-of-the-art, multi-media performance space and broadcast studio that presents live broadcasts and tapings of WNYC’s signature programs. In addition, music concerts and festivals, audio theater, literary readings, art exhibits, political debates, symposia, town hall meetings and other exciting civic and cultural events are presented in the space. Most shows from The Greene Space are webcast live and archived in real time in Adobe Flash formats via the Niagara GoStream SURF. Many programs are also made available as video-on-demand (VOD) via the WNYC website.

“With the opening of The Greene Space, thousands of visitors each year are welcomed inside WNYC to experience great radio as it is created,” said Indira Etwaroo, Executive Producer of The Greene Space. “Technology allows millions more to connect to great content by stream, and in many cases download, audio and video of our live events. This is why it was so important to outfit the space with a cutting-edge digital audio and video production system.

“We tried to configure a PC-based encoder, but the machine time and labor for encoding via software, particularly for VOD, was both difficult and expensive,” said Bill Porter, President of Whitehorse Productions, Inc. and consultant to The Greene Space, who managed the ViewCast implementation for WNYC. “ViewCast’s Niagara GoStream SURF was a cost-effective, turnkey solution to provide reliable, real-time, live streaming of video programs and performances, plus VOD turnaround by next morning.“

“WNYC’s The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space is a model of innovation and a testament to the advanced capabilities that ViewCast’s streaming media technology can facilitate for today’s forward-looking content providers,” said David Stoner, President and CEO, ViewCast. “Our plug-and-play, professional-grade Niagara streaming media systems ensure exceptional ease of use, video quality and reliability for sophisticated broadcast applications such as WNYC’s The Greene Space, enabling high-performance video capture and streaming for both live and on-demand content.“

ViewCast’s Niagara streaming media appliances are designed to deliver the quality, features and ease-of-use convenience that professional broadcasters demand. They are pre-configured, plug-and-play solutions that enable users to quickly capture and broadcast premium quality audio and video in multiple formats and at multiple bit rates - all simultaneously. Plus they are powered by ViewCast’s award-winning Osprey technology, guaranteeing exceptional quality and reliability.

Encoding H.264 Downloadable Streaming Video with Episode Encoder Pro

Encoding H.264 downloadable streaming video with Episode Encoder Pro is simple to do. For this tutorial we’ll take a DV.mov source file that is 720 x 480 and 29.97 frames per second captured from an analog source. The source file has the DV/DVCPro Codec for video with PCM for audio.



To get started with encoding this file for downloadable streaming for high broadband users in Episode Encoder Pro, we first need to select our source file.



Next, drag it to the Batch area where Drag Source is displayed



Now your source file can been seen in the batch. You can also drag the video file directly to the Batch from a folder or the desktop. Let me talk a little about our source before we move forward. If you select the source and click the Enter button on your keyboard a preview of the video appears.



As my preview appears I want to point out that this source has black banding around the edges. As we encode our video we want to make sure we crop this black out of the video. It will make our output file look so much better. Now we’ll move forward to create a compression preset for our encoding. Keep in mind that these settings will be a good starting point as every source file is different and the encoder will respond differently to each source file you encode.



Open up the Templates and twirl down to the All File Formats Templates.



Once the All File Formats Templates are open navigate to the H.264 Download templates and select the H264_480x360 preset. With the preset selected Control-click and choose Duplicate from the Contextual Menu to make a copy.





You now have a copy of the preset you duplicated. Click where the H264_480x360 copy text appears to rename your preset.



Let’s call your preset H264_600k_DL and select Enter. Notice that we don’t have any spaces the preset name. This is because the preset will be used in the file naming and it’s better to take out all spaces in the encoding process. When you author video content for the web you don’t want to have spaces in your video name.

Once you rename your compression template Double-click the preset to open the setting for customizing.



When your setting is open the Output tab will appear. Since we are encoding a downloadable streaming H.264 file notice that your file extension will be .mp4 and the H.264 codec is used for the video and AAC is used for the audio. You can see that the Hint Prepare for Streaming check box is not selected. Hinting isn’t necessary to use because we’re not targeting this video file for a streaming server.



Next move on to the Video Tab. Twirl down where H.264 is displayed to adjust the settings for the H.264 codec.



For the datarate type in 600 kbps and you can continue to use VBR using VBV. For the buffer, since this is a downloadable video, you can increase your buffer to 10 seconds. This will allow the codec to vary the bit rate more. For the Keyframe distance you can use a value of 90 frames which will provide a keyframe at least every 6 seconds.



Click on the Profile and Quality tab. Notice that 2-pass encoding is selected. Adjust the quality slider to the highest quality of 100 and twirl up the codec setting.



Go to the Frame Rate Filter and twirl down. For the filter mode choose Fixed framerate.



For the Framerate preset you can use Automatic and select 15 fps. Now twirl up the Frame Rate filter.



Twirl down the Deinterlace filter and choose Automatic Detection for the Field Order. This fact that this setting is available is great because with compression it’s always good to know you field order. Choosing the Automatic Detection value takes the guess work out and the codec will determine the field order for you. Go ahead and twirl up the Deinterlace filter.



Now twirl down the Resize filter.



For the output size you can leave it at 480 x 360. You can choose Cut for Maintain proportion with.



For the cropping values we’ll multiply the 4:3 aspect ratio by 8 and crop 32 x 24 pixels. So crop 12 pixels off the top, 12 pixels off the bottom, 16 pixels off the left and 16 pixels off the right.



Since we’re dealing with video from an analog source we need to apply a Noise Reduction filter. Navigate to the Noise Reduction filter and click the check box to make it active.



Now, twirl down the Noise Reduction filter to adjust the values. Check Median and Only Filter Chroma to apply the filter only on the Chroma channel. Leave the other values at the default. Twirl up the Noise Reduction filter.



Let’s move to the Audio tab.



Click on the Bit Rate Pop-up Menu and choose 32 kbps.



You can leave Stereo selected for Channels and 44.1 kHz selected for the sample rate.



Now that were are finished making our adjustments click the Save Setting button to the top right on the Episode Encoder Pro interface.



Click the Close Setting button.



Next, select the H264_600k_DL setting that you created



and drag it onto your DV.mov video source.



You can see that your compression preset appears right below the video source. Before we start encoding let’s look at something. Select the H264_600kDL preset and click the Enter key.



A preview of your video output appears with the cropping values applied under the Resize filter. Our black edges no longer appear. Time to encode your video file.



At the bottom right of the Episode Encoder Pro interface click the Start Encoding button.



You can watch your progress under status. This will show you how much time you have left.



Once your video has finished encoding your status will switch to Done. You have now encoded an H.264 downloadable streaming video using Episode Encoder Pro.