RipCode and CSS Strike China Distribution Partnership for Transactional Transcoding

RipCode, Inc., the leader in transactional video transcoding, announced a distribution alliance with Century Sage Scientific (CSS), a premier reseller and systems integrator of broadcast, Internet, and streaming technologies to the Chinese media and telecommunications markets.

As a certified systems integrator to some of the world’s largest broadcast and telecom equipment manufacturers and operators, CSS has a proven track record of delivering fully integrated, turnkey systems for IPTV, Web, and communications applications. Recent CSS projects include large-scale deployments for CCTV, Shenzen Media Group, and the upcoming master-control build-out for the 11th National Games in the People’s Republic of China. RipCode’s transactional transcoding technology expands the CSS portfolio for broadcast, broadband and 3G mobile services, while also providing cost-effective options for Internet delivery of educational and other entertainment content.

China’s broadcast and mobile communications market has unique requirements and regulations relative to other geographical regions. The number of mobile users is expected to surpass 1.2 billion within four years, leading to a growing appetite for quality content over broadband and wireless connections. “Given the sheer number and model variance of devices, optimizing transmission and encoding recipes for local browsers and mobile handsets is both a significant undertaking and opportunity for a value-added service,” says Alex So, CSS vice president of marketing. “In order to best serve the local market, CSS and RipCode have already begun joint testing and development to ensure smooth adoption of RipCode transcoding technology in China. RipCode’s solution portfolio provides leading transcoding technology – but goes beyond what we’ve seen from traditional vendors by also addressing on-demand ad insertion, client detection, and policy-based bandwidth optimization – key factors in our selection of RipCode for the China market.”

“We are seeing increasing interest and demand in China – not only for three-screen content delivery – but also in the innovation RipCode delivers through its end-to-end transactional transcoding solution approach,” says Greg Lowitz, RipCode executive vice president of sales. “CSS represents the top brands in the broadcast and communications business, and we’re thrilled to be part of their solution portfolio for the Chinese media and telecommunication markets.”

RipCode On-Demand Transcoding Brings Video to AccessU2's Property By Phone

RipCode, Inc., the leader in transactional video transcoding announced it has partnered with AccessU2 to deliver on-demand property videos to virtually any mobile device – enabling ‘anytime, anywhere, any device’ viewing of agent profile and virtual tour property videos.

AccessU2 Mobile Solutions, LLC, a pioneer in mobile marketing for real estate, and its patent pending product, Property By Phone, are revolutionizing property information delivery by providing the same experience to a buyer's cell phone that virtual tours have delivered to websites. The Property By Phone application lets clients dial a toll-free number listed on the property sign or in print advertising, entering a displayed property code. After making a language selection and confirming the cell phone number, an SMS text message description of the property, up to 10 photos, and a streaming video link are presented nearly instantly. Agents receive a text message of the cell phone capture at the same time. If the client selects the video link, RipCode’s TransAct solution automatically discovers the mobile device type, retrieves the source video file, transcodes the file for the best video playback experience for that particular mobile device, and streams the content within seconds of request – all through its innovate and unique On Demand Transcoding technology. Clients can even set an appointment instantly to view the listing by connecting with a live operator 24/7, who can book an appointment, and text the confirmation and full contact info back to the consumer and agent.

“Adding video viewing to Property By Phone improves the buyer’s purchase experience and enables agents to build those all important relationships faster, especially when they can deliver an agent profile video instantly. It is simply not enough to deliver a text message and photos any longer,” said AccessU2’s Founder and CEO, Kenneth O’Hanlon. “The ability to deliver video instantly enables endless marketing opportunities for brokers, agents, and real estate suppliers, the likes of which the industry has never been seen before. RipCode’s solution lets us deliver these videos to virtually any mobile device prospective buyers may carry – without us having to pre-format our entire video library for each device when only a small subset may actually be required for a given site. Multiply that activity times thousands of properties and buyers, and you can see why this approach is advantageous.”

“We are excited to see one of our flagship innovations – on demand transcoding – penetrate the world of enterprise and consumer mobile video delivery,” said Neal Hartsell, Vice President of Marketing and Product Management for RipCode. “What AccessU2 is doing for real estate buying and selling is creative, advanced, and indicative of the growing expansion of mobile video beyond entertainment and into business and consumer productivity, a trend that is set to explode worldwide in the coming years.”

Sorenson Spark Video Decoder Licensed for Transactional Video Transcoding Solutions

Sorenson Media announced that RipCode, the leader in transactional video transcoding, has licensed the Sorenson Spark Software Developers Kit (SDK) to integrate and distribute the Sorenson Spark video decoder in its suite of industry-leading video transcoding solutions. With the addition of Sorenson Spark, RipCode customers will be able to seamlessly transcode and deliver the largest installed base of online video across multiple platforms, including mobile devices, the Web and Internet television.

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, semiconductors and server-based transcoding solutions.

An appliance-based, infrastructure solution, RipCode simplifies the complexity of video delivery and enables customers to extend delivery of video content across multiple channels, without requiring specialized handset applications or video players, and without the need to pre-transcode content for each device. Built to address the high-availability needs of today’s new media market, RipCode’s On-Demand and Real-Time Stream Transcoding solutions enable the cross-marketing of content over a variety of channels including mobile video, Internet video and IPTV – for the greatest flexibility in expanding video delivery and increasing revenue opportunities.

“Sorenson Spark is important to our customer base, and particularly for customers who want to take advantage of our on-demand transcode capability – which allows large libraries of legacy content to be made available rapidly and cost effectively to mobile and Web devices,” said Neal Hartsell, vice president of marketing at Ripcode.

“RipCode has established itself as a leader in the video transcoding industry, and our new partnership underscores Sorenson Spark’s unique value of providing access to the complete world of Internet video,” said Peter Csathy, president and CEO of Sorenson Media. “Whether on the Web, TV or a mobile device, consumers want to view all online video content and cannot do it without the Sorenson Spark codec.”

RipCode Announces Availability of On-Demand Transcoding Tool

RipCode today announced the availability of on-demand video transcoding for the holiday season's must have video-enabled phones including the Apple iPhone, T-Mobile G1, RIM BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Storm all of which are now available in stores.

The coupling of On-Demand Transcoding -- a game-changing video delivery technology pioneered by RipCode with the Apple iPhone, T-Mobile G1, RIM BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Storm is an industry first. On-Demand Transcoding enables content owners and operators to quickly and cost-effectively scale multi-media delivery by transcoding video content only when requested, while at the same time progressively downloading or streaming to end user devices. An appliance-based, infrastructure solution, RipCode extends video delivery across multiple channels, without requiring specialized handset applications or video players, and without the need to pre-transcode content for each device.

"As the holiday buying season kicks off next week, these are the phones making people's wish lists," said Brendon Mills, RipCode CEO. "As these popular video-enabled devices increasingly penetrate the market, content aggregators and operators will offer solutions that leverage the devices' video attributes and larger screen real estate to extend content and brand value to mobile customers."

An inherent feature of RipCode's On-Demand Transcoding technology is the ability to support ad insertion and integration with ad networks through an open API, enabling operators to monetize the delivery of on-demand video content. Additionally, RipCode's Client Detection Application which accurately identifies the characteristics of a variety of Internet-enabled devices and handsets -- lets operators seamlessly optimize video delivery or image re-sizing for the mobile market.

RipCode Announces Latest Version of its Flagship Offering

RipCode, an innovator of Internet and mobile video infrastructure solutions, announced the availability of the RipCode V5 Video Transcode and Transrate Appliance, the latest addition to the company's family of new media conversion solutions. Continuing RipCode's commitment to high performance video delivery, the RipCode V5 doubles the video processing horsepower of the company's flagship appliance, the RipCode V4. Designed for processing large volumes of video files concurrently while ensuring video quality and integrity, RipCode V5 is suitable for delivering either video on-demand or live video content from a single appliance. This capability provides RipCode's customers with the flexibility to address multiple markets from one, scalable platform.

According to Vidya Nath, senior digital media analyst with Frost & Sullivan, transcoding is a critical component of the video delivery value chain. "With so many demands for extending video to new channels, there is a significant need for robust, scalable and efficient solutions like RipCode," she said. "RipCode offers a complete transcoding package that helps overcome the complexities of getting video into the right format for the right device."

The new RipCode V5 sets the standard for raw transcoding performance. Engineered for managing large amounts of simultaneous transcode or transrate transactions, the RipCode V5 performance capability is critical in the deployment of RipCode's unique On-Demand Transcoding methodology where "on-the-fly" transcoding replaces traditional batch transcoding. When coupled with RipCode's existing On-Demand Signaling Server, the RipCode V5 transforms an operator's network into a transparent peer-point for video to any screen.

Also announced is the availability of RipCode's Client Detection Application, which accurately identifies the characteristics of a variety of Internet-enabled devices and handsets that are particularly important for optimizing video delivery or image re-sizing for the mobile market. RipCode's Client Detection Application helps content owners and syndicators create an improved end-user mobile video experience. The solution also maximizes advertiser value by recognizing device attributes, including resolution, bit rate, frame rate, codec, geo-location and carrier identification pinpoints. The result provides the intelligence needed to transcode and deliver device optimized video and banner ads in compliance with the Mobile Marketing Association's (MMA) specifications. The RipCode Client Detection Application is available as a complement to RipCode's On-Demand Transcoding solution or as a standalone application to augment a company's existing image or video transcoding technology.

According to Brendon Mills, RipCode CEO, RipCode's long-term strategy is about creating video content ubiquity across all IP end-points. "But beyond just moving files from one format to another with industry-leading performance, we're also dedicated to providing an overall Internet and mobile video delivery solution that adds value through applications like our Client Detection technology. We want to improve the end-user experience and increase our customers' revenue opportunities for direct-to -consumer video services."

RipCode Introduces Real-Time Stream Transcoding Solution

RipCode, Inc. announced the addition of Real-Time Stream Transcoding to its solution portfolio, creating the only dual-application transcode platform for both video on-demand and live video broadcast available from a single RU appliance. Powered by its high density, DSP-based video transcoding appliance, RipCode's Real-Time Stream Transcoding solution gives mobile video streaming and mobile TV broadcast customers the best video quality achieved through RipCode optimized codecs over IP or broadcast networks.

Supporting simultaneous, multi-channel ingest from satellite and studio feeds to mobile broadcast and mobile streaming, RipCode's Real-Time Stream Transcoding solution supports video delivery over current and next generation networks including: 3GPP and 3GPP2, DVB-H, MBMS, ATSC, and Qualcomm MediaFlo.

NextWave Wireless, a global provider of mobile multimedia and wireless broadband technologies, is collaborating with RipCode to supply live video stream transcoding for its UMTS MBMS based TDtv solution. "We've chosen solutions that enhance our TDtv ecosystem based on their innovation and service quality. Incorporating RipCode's transcoding capabilities will help NextWave and its subsidiaries meet our commitments to delivering a cost effective, feature rich mobile TV service," said Alan Cameron, SVP & GM Global Services of NextWave Wireless.

"Companies operating in today's Web 2.0 market are really challenged to keep pace with evolving customer demands and stay one step ahead of their competition," said Brendon Mills, CEO of RipCode. "By creating a single transcoding platform for delivering both video on-demand and mobile video broadcast, RipCode is enabling operators with the ability to offer a superior mobile video experience to their subscribers. "