Wirecast 3.5.1 has Flash Live Streaming Support

Telestream's Wirecast encoding tool version 3.5.1 was already an amazing tool for live streaming but things just got better. Now Wirecast has support for Flash streaming in the H.264 flavor. This brings a much needed improvement for those doing live encoding on the Mac platform. One catch is you'll need to have an Intel based Mac to have the new Flash encoding support. PC users also benefit from the latest release but it's not as important because PC users already have live encoding tools such as On2 Flix live and Flash Media Live Encoder to choose from. Both On2 Flix live and Flash Media Live Encoder are not available on the Mac platform. So, certainly the Wirecast 3.5.1 release will make Mac folks happy. Buffering is also much better with this latest version. For those doing live encoding with Wowza Media System's Wowza Media Server Pro you can improve your buffer times for Flash Streaming by going with Wirecast over using QuickTime Broadcaster. Many thanks to Telestream for the much need Flash Live encoding support for Mac users.

dicas and Wowza Media Systems unveil multiple bit rate live Flash streaming

dicas, the German MPEG-4 experts, and Wowza Media Systems, a US-based developer of Flash streaming media server software, have announced the interoperability of dicas MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 encoders with Wowza Media Server Pro. Broadcasters, operators and enterprises delivering IPTV and streaming services now have at their disposal a versatile and cost-effective conduit for the live distribution of broadcast-quality video content in multiple bit rates to Internet-connected Flash player clients.

Wowza Media Server Pro is an award-winning solution for Flash streaming that counts more than 15,000 global licensees across a broad range of industries. Its popularity is due in large part to its exclusive ability to stream to Flash players using both RTMP and non-RTMP live encoders.

"We knew that a server allowing non-Flash RTP/RTSP encoders for H.264 live Flash streaming would be an extremely attractive product," says David Stubenvoll, CEO & Co-Founder, Wowza Media Systems. "But we never foresaw such a broad and deep affection for what we have done. Now the combination of Wowza Pro with dicas2020 multiple bit rate ability offers customers a great way to stream Flash while simplifying encoding infrastructure and reducing cost."

"The compatibility with Wowza Media Server Pro is a natural advancement of our product portfolio," says Sebastian Moeritz, CEO at dicas. "In addition to the dicas Flash plug-in allowing for H.264 live Flash streaming over RTMP, clients now have the choice of using RTMP or delivering streams to the media server at multiple bit rates over a standard non-Flash transport protocol that best fits with their needs."
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The recently launched dicas2020 multi-format encoder is a perfect complement to Wowza Media Server Pro. The dicas2020 encodes a single input channel into up to six parallel output signals at varying bit rates (adjustable from 40 kbps to 6 Mbps), resolution (from QCIF to SDTV), and transport protocols (RTMP, RTP/RTSP, MPEG-TS). Wowza Media Server Pro can ingest streams over any transport protocol from the dicas2020 encoder, selecting from a bit rate appropriate to the user's bandwidth and reliably deliver it over RTMP to the Flash player.

Wowza Surpasses 10,000 Global Licensees

Wowza Media Systems, an emerging leader in streaming media server software, announced that their award-winning Wowza Media Server Pro has surpassed the 10,000 global licensees mark in just 18 months since its launch. The key to Wowza's success: its unmatched combination of performance, innovation, price and support.

Among its 10,000+ licensees, Wowza counts such well-known brands as Sun Microsystems, Macy's, Astral Media, RAI and Mogulus, and numerous service providers, including Interoute, Nacamar and T-Systems Multimedia Solutions GmbH, the business customer brand of telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom.

"We are truly amazed," said David Stubenvoll, CEO & Co-Founder, Wowza Media Systems. "In even our most optimistic projections we never predicted that our product acceptance rate would be so rapid. Nor did we foresee such a broad and deep affection for what we have done."

Record of Innovation

Launched in February 2007, Wowza Media Server Pro has revolutionized online media by introducing unique capabilities, as well as radically changing the economics of Flash streaming. With Wowza, live and on-demand video and audio, video recording and interactive Flash streaming, is now a reality for a broad range of customers.

Following its strong market entry, Wowza has boosted its competitive edge by continuous innovation with such exclusive features as support for live H.264/HE-AAC RTSP/RTP and MPEG-TS encoders and SHOUTcast-to-Flash streaming for live Web radio broadcasts.

In particular, service providers find Wowza Media Server Pro innovative server software very appealing:

"Wowza became our choice not only because its Wowza Pro server is an outstanding product, but also because Wowza provides exceptional support," commented Oliver Stache, Technology & Innovation Manager, T-Systems Multimedia Solutions GmbH. "Wowza's customer focus and the innovative capabilities of its Flash server enable us to build very scalable streaming infrastructure that addresses the diverse needs of our customers."

"Wowza is the only flexible Flash solution that scales to our requirements," added Steinar Torsvik, FastHost, Norway's largest hosting company, while Stef van der Ziel, CEO of StreamZilla, a leading European CDN, was more analytical: "In our research for alternatives to the overly expensive Adobe FMS, we found that Wowza offered better performance and stability at a much better price point. Since then, we have expanded our market position dramatically. In the past six months, we delivered over a billion streams to a global audience, all due, in large part, to our relationship with Wowza."

Orban Announces Opticodec 1010 Version 3

Circuit Research Labs, Inc., parent company of CRL Systems, Inc. dba Orban/CRL, announced that Orban PC Products, the leading supplier of MP4/AAC & HE-AAC enterprise audio streaming and file encoders, introduced Version 3 of its 1010 Opticodec-PC Streaming Encoder. Version 3 fully supports the Real Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), the protocol that Adobe Flash Media Server 3 uses to stream data, audio and video live over the Internet, as well as ICY SHOUTcast, Icecast2, and standards-based RTSP/RTP MPEG-4/3GPP protocols.

"With Adobe Flash Media Server now streaming the full MP4 family of codecs including AAC and HE-AAC (aacPlus), we're able to deliver the highest quality consumer audio over the Internet via the Adobe Flash Player to the widest possible audience," said Greg Ogonowski, Vice President of New Product Development for Orban/CRL. "The Adobe Flash Player is installed on over 98% of all Internet-connected desktops, including Mac and Linux platforms.

With support for Flash Media Server 3, Opticodec-PC now supports every major streaming server platform except Windows Media Server, so Opticodec-PC can stream to more players than any other modern codec." These players include Winamp, Windows Media Player with the Orban AAC/HE-AAC Plugin, Adobe Flash Player, Apple QuickTime, Real Networks RealPlayer, VLC, and many hardware devices, such as Roku SoundBridge and Terratec Noxon2.

When developing Version 3, Orban worked closely with Adobe to help ensure full, reliable support of the RTMP protocol. Orban, in conjunction with major CDN's, already has clients lined up to take advantage of the new support for RTMP and the ubiquity of the Adobe Flash Player.

"We are pleased that Orban has added RTMP support to stream audio via Adobe Flash Media Server," said Laurel Reitman, senior product manager for Flash Media Solutions at Adobe. "With Orban's powerful encoders and the ubiquity of Adobe Flash technology, including Adobe Flash Player, broadcasters can inform and entertain audiences by delivering professional-quality audio over the Internet."