Digital Rapids Unveils New Features and Storage Options for TouchStream

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."

Chips&Media Licenses Sorenson Spark Video Decoder

Sorenson Media announced that Chips&Media has licensed the Sorenson Spark Software Developers Kit (SDK) to include the Sorenson Spark video decoder in Chips&Media's optimized video IP. Chips&Media video technology provides multi-standard video codec support for consumer multimedia devices, including mobile phones.

Sorenson Spark is the industry's most ubiquitous video codec and was the first codec used in Macromedia Flash, now Adobe Flash. The decoder exclusively enables the playback of hundreds of millions of videos on the Internet, including those on YouTube, the single largest online video destination site today. The Sorenson Spark SDK allows developers to integrate the Sorenson Spark decoder into a wide array of programmable chipsets and semiconductors. The kit is designed to provide Sorenson Spark decoding on any platform, including custom silicon.

The optimized Sorenson Spark decoder will be bundled with Chips&Media's video IP that will be designed into Chips&Media’s customer chipsets to deliver high performance video applications on low power consumer multimedia devices. Some of the industry’s largest semiconductor and mobile device manufacturers rely on Chips&Media technology to efficiently playback video content.

"We are thrilled to be able to include the Sorenson Spark decoder in our video technology offering," said Steve Kim, president and CEO at Chips&Media. "Our end customers have been asking us for a hardware optimized implementation of the Sorenson Spark video decoder. We are now positioned to offer this to our customers who will have access to the millions of videos on the Internet that can only be played back using the Sorenson Spark decoder."

"Our Sorenson Spark decoder is the ideal addition to Chips&Media's optimized silicon IP offering," said Peter Csathy, president and CEO of Sorenson Media. "This partnership is the latest in a series of licensees who see the Sorenson Spark decoder as a necessary part of mobile phones and other multimedia devices. With Chips&Media’s large customer base of semi-conductor manufacturers, even more consumers will have access to the widest and deepest base of online video content."

Sorenson Spark Video Decoder Licensed by Qualcomm for Mobile Video

Sorenson Media today announced that its Sorenson Spark video decoder has been licensed by Qualcomm for chipsets targeted at the next generation of high-performance, low-power and multimedia-rich mobile phones, mobile computing devices, and other consumer products. The Sorenson Spark video codec will enable devices to play a wide variety of videos available on the Internet.

Sorenson Media’s Sorenson Spark decoder was the first codec used in Macromedia Flash, now Adobe Flash, today’s de facto standard for Web video. Sorenson Spark is the industry’s most ubiquitous video decoder and enables the playback of hundreds of millions of videos on the Internet. For example, YouTube, which is the single largest online video destination site today, utilizes Sorenson Spark.

“As mobile multimedia expectations continue to grow, we remain committed to offering our customers innovative solutions that enable a next-generation experience,” said Jason Bremner, senior director of product management for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. “Sorenson Spark will enhance our product portfolio with comprehensive video capabilities, enriching the Internet video experience for mobile users.”

“One of the most productive features of these powerful new mobile multimedia form factors is their ability to take full advantage of Web video,” said Peter Csathy, CEO of Sorenson Media. “We are thrilled to be providing Qualcomm with Sorenson Spark to raise the bar for mobile multimedia possibilities and enjoyment.”