Adding Video MIME types to Windows 2003 Server for Downloadable Streaming

For those that are using the Windows 2003 Server and you desire to use the formats such as Flash (.FLV), and MPEG-4 and H.264 (.mp4) for download streaming you'll need to add these MIME types to your server before you can stream your content.

Here's a quick tutorial on how to do it:

Option #1 for Adding MIME types- at the Global Level

If you need to add a MIME type for a Web Server that uses IIS such as Windows 2003 Server first go to Administrative Tools and choose Internet Information Services (IIS). Once you get in the IIS Window you can add your MIME type by selecting the local computer and choosing the Action pull-down menu and selecting Properties.



Next go in and add your MIME type by clicking the MIME Types button.




Once in the MIME types dialog you can add your MIME type by clicking the New button and adding the format extension plus the MIME type. For example, for Flash Video you would type in .FLV for the extension and video/x-flv for the MIME type.

Option #2 for Adding MIME types - At the Web Directory level

For adding a MIME type at the Web Directory Level you go to Administrative Tools and choose Internet Information Services (IIS).



Select the Web Sites Folder in the IIS Manager and choose the Action Pull-down menu and select Properties.




Click the HTTP Headers Tab and go in and select the MIME Types button on the bottom of the dialog.



Now you can click the New button and add you MIME type. Use the same process you used for adding a MIME at the Global level.

Unrestricted multi-format live streaming with the dicas2020

German MPEG-4 video coding expert dicas will add a new product to the successful dicas2000 hardware series at the beginning of next week. The dicas2020 is a multi-format encoder that enables broadcasters, content providers and satellite operators to deliver one input channel of video and audio simultaneously to various end-user applications such as set-top boxes, PCs, broadcast-quality decoders, handheld devices and Flash Players.

"The dicas2020 convinces with enormous flexibility" says Klaas Schuur, CTO at dicas. "It's a single 1RU encoder, but it creates a user-defined number of output formats for different clients." For each output format users can continuously adjust bit rates (from 40 kbps to 6 Mbps) and chose between various video (MPEG-4, MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, H.263) and audio codecs (AAC, AMR), transport protocols (MPEG-2 transport stream, RTP and RTMP for Flash) as well as resolutions (from QCIF to full D1, PAL and NTSC, interlaced and progressive displays). The dicas2020 supports for Adobe's Flash format as well as 3GPP for streaming to mobile devices

On2 Technologies Announces New HD Hardware Encoder IP

On2 Technologies, the leader in video compression solutions, announced the availability of the Hantro 7280 encoder Register Transfer Level (RTL) design. Supporting MPEG-4, H.263 and H.264 video, along with 16MP JPEG, the encoder is targeted for chipsets intended for devices with very low-power requirements such as: portable video cameras, mobile phones, remote security cameras, laptops and webcams. With a maximum resolution of 1280x1024 at 30 fps, the Hantro 7280 introduces a new level of performance and functionality.

Following the Hantro 6280, which was licensed by more than 15 leading chip manufacturers, the encoder brings further speed improvements to achieve resolutions up to 1280x1024 at 30 fps. Easily encoding full 720p H.264 at 30 fps in only 180 MHz clock frequency, the 7280 brings ultra-high performance to 65 nm and 90 nm low-power chipsets. Placing a CPU load of less than 1MHz, the Hantro 7280 allows even an entry level ARM9-based chipset to encode real-time HD H.264 video with plenty of headroom to spare. The new encoder also incorporates proprietary image stabilization technology which reduces the effects of camera shake prior to encoding resulting in higher quality video with better compression.

Optimized for rapid integration with ARM, MIPS and other embedded CPU and DSP cores, the Hantro 7280 marries high performance with ultra low-power and efficient silicon utilization. Silicon area can be further optimized for unique applications by selecting only the formats and screen resolutions required with area reduced to as small as 0.19 square millimeters per 139,000 gates. Additional area savings can be gained in a full codec solution by sharing internal memories with the Hantro 8190 multi-format decoder.

"For portable devices, battery-life is a critical success factor and manufacturers seek to optimize in every aspect." says Eero Kaikkonen, Chief Marketing Officer at On2. "The 7280 requires only 12 mW to encode VGA H.264 in real-time. Although in practice it is not possible, theoretically an ARM 11 would require as much as 500mW to achieve the same performance."

The Hantro 7280 is available now for licensing from On2. The product comes complete with RTL source code for VHDL or Verilog, an RTL test bench and test data, ANSI C driver source code and complete technical documentation.

dicas to develop H.264 HD encoder for Cell B.E.

dicas, the German MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 specialist, has just started to develop an HD encoder for Cell processor platforms in collaboration with IBM. The objective of the technological co-operation is to bring together one of the most powerful video codecs, MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, with one of the most powerful currently available microprocessors, the Cell B.E. chip, for professional broadcast applications.

Initially designed by Sony, Toshiba and IBM for the extreme processing demands of the PlayStation3, the Cell chip has rapidly gained in importance for a large number of further graphic-intensive applications. "Its revolutionary architecture makes the Cell chip a great deal for video encoding" says Philipp Kraetzer, managing director at dicas. Due to eight independent processing cores the Cell is claimed to be more than 10 times faster than any current PC processor. "It's a very interesting challenge to divide the H.264 encoding algorithms across the Cell's processing cores", Kraetzer continues

"Utilizing the Cell's mighty processing power makes broadcast-quality HD encoding and even 1080p in real-time possible" says Klaas Schuur, co-founder of dicas. "dicas has gained considerable expertise in porting the H.264 codec to various platforms. The combination of Cell and H.264 is a convincing answer to the requirements of broadcasters and IPTV content providers in the age of HDTV."

The launch of the HD encoder for Cell is scheduled for the second quarter of 2009.

H.264 High Profile in MPEGIF Logo Qualification Program

The MPEG Industry Forum (MPEGIF), the largest advocacy group for MPEG technologies in the world, congratulates the Joint Video Team (JVT), lead by Messrs Gary Sullivan, Ajay Luthra and Thomas Wiegand for being honored by the 2008 Primetime Emmy Engineering Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the work in developing the High Profile for MPEG-4 AVC/H.264. The JVT is comprised of engineers from the International Standardization Organization (ISO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

The MPEGIF is pleased to announce the addition of the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 High Profile to its MPEGIF Logo Qualification Program, a unique initiative designed to help guide interoperability among products and technology. The program, which until now included the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Baseline and Main Profile, is based on a self-certification process, is free of charge and open to all companies using MPEG-4AVC/H.264 technology, not just members of MPEGIF. Qualified products have the right to display the MP4 Qualification Mark and list their status in their documentation, literature, and advertising. They will also have their product listed in the MPEGIF Product Directory. Participant Companies include Motorola, Hantro, Harmonic, dicas, Divx, Amino, Envivio, NVidia, Samsung, Freescale, 2Wire, Fraunhofer, Bsoft, Elecard, Vsoft, Seva, Human Monitoring, Scopus, Sencore, Silicon Image, ARC, Sunplus, Media Tek, and Ceva.

"This Emmy award manifests the technological superiority of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 and the unmatched engineering delivered by the JVT, comments Sebastian Moeritz, President MPEGIF and CEO at dicas. "Picking up from where the exceptional technical work of the standardization bodies stop, the many promotional activities of MPEGIF include the MPEGIF Logo Qualification Program, its interoperability program, and educational and informational initiatives such as the MPEGIF MasterClasses. These have significantly contributed to the worldwide adoption of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264." he continued.

David Price, Vice President MPEGIF, and Vice President at Harmonic added, "MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 has emerged as the world's clear successor to MPEG-2 for digital video compression technology. It is being widely adopted for next generation media delivery delivering the new television experience from mobile up to HD. Organizations such as the JVT and MPEGIF are distinctive in their area of engagement and complement each other perfectly sharing a common goal. MPEGIF has clearly achieved its mission of widespread adoption of MPEG technologies set out when the organization was formed back in 2000."

MPEG-4 vs. H.264/AVC

In understanding MPEG-4 vs. H.264/AVC it's important to know that H.264/AVC are also both MPEG-4 as well. Let me explain. MPEG-4 actually consists of 22 Parts, many of which have not been implemented yet. MPEG-4 Part 2 was implemented in real world applications first and because of that, it has become widely known of as MPEG-4. My guess is that MPEG-4 Part 2 came first because it was the least complex of many video profiles for MPEG-4 and people could start viewing what MPEG-4 content had to offer sooner. This is because MPEG-4 Part 2 doesn't require as much processor speed or memory as that of H.264/AVC because it's decoding algorithms are less complex. Now, let's talk about H.264/AVC.

H.264 and AVC are actually the same thing. They refer to another part of MPEG-4 called MPEG-4 Part 10. So you can take your pick at what you would like to call it. MPEG-4 Part 10 includes Advanced Video Coding and uses higher level profiles than that of MPEG-4 Part 2. This type of decoding is more complex and requires more computer processor speed and memory because it uses more complicated decoding than MPEG-4 Part 10.

Note: Simple Profile and Advanced Simple Profile are included in MPEG-4 Part 2. The least complex to decode being the Simple Profile. AVC Baseline Profile and AVC Main Profiles are found within MPEG-4 Part 10. The least complex to decode being the AVC Baseline Profile.