ON24 Announces Full Windows 7 Support

ON24, Inc., the global leader in webcasting and virtual event solutions, announced that it will be providing full support for webcasts and virtual shows on Windows 7. The launch of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system has been one of the most anticipated technology introductions of the year.

In addition, ON24 is announcing a beta program for select customers to execute online webcasts using Silverlight, Microsoft’s plug-in for creating rich interactive Web applications. "ON24 already offers Flash webcasts," explained ON24 Chief Technology Officer Jayesh Sahasi. "With the introduction of Silverlight, we will be able to supplement the use of proprietary media players like RealPlayer and Windows Media Player with next-generation technology—for even greater reach and functionality."

ON24 product development and support efforts are designed to maximize virtual event accessibility. "As our Windows 7 and Silverlight support demonstrates, providing ubiquitous access to virtual events is our priority," said ON24 Chief Marketing Officer Denise Persson. "We are committed to providing to our customers the industry’s greatest reach."

Go Stream SURF Superior Tool for Live Webcasting

If you are serious about taking your webcasts to the next level or simply wanting to launch live streaming for your organization, you should know that Viewcast's Go Stream SURF is a superior tool for Live Webcasting. The portable live encoder comes from the manufacturers of the Osprey capture cards which have been the de facto standard for many building live encoders in the streaming space. Enter the Go Stream SURF live encoder, which is portable and user friendly with an easy to use push button interface and common audio and video inputs for ease of use. The Go Stream SURF, which can be accessed via the internet for set-up and use, has three buttons on the front panel that can be programmed for live encoding to specific datarates. You can program three different encoding datarates and have them all performing live streaming and the same time. The live streaming solution is qualified and very heavy duty.

So, if you need to do small or large webcasts on a regular basis in the field or in a set environment, you'll find a lot of benefit in using the Go Stream SURF. Viewcast's encoder can be used for streaming to many of the popular streaming servers such as: Adobe's Flash Streaming Server, Wowza Media Server Pro (for Flash Streaming), Windows Media Streaming Server, and Real Networks' Helix Universal Server.

If you purchase a Go Stream SURF and need assistance with set-up you can contact Derrick for Go Streaming SURF Consulting and he can walk you through the set-up and assist you in implementing your live encoder on-line. This can also be done in your production environment on-site. Call Derrick Freeman at 407-477-5837 for more details on your consulting needs.

Columbia Journalism School to Enhance Election-Night Webcast with Streambox

Streambox announced that the Columbia University Journalism School is expanding its presidential election night coverage on November 4 to include a live streaming component in addition to its radio coverage. To help facilitate the live video webcast, a number of Streambox ACT-L3 Software Encoders will be deployed to student journalists on location. The Streambox solution will provide an easy-to-use and reliable means for students to gather live reports to supplement the upcoming election webcast as well as content for New Media and TV Broadcast during the course of the academic year.

The student journalists -- all graduate students - will be involved in producing Columbia's Election Website, designed to provide hands-on experience in all newsgathering and news production disciplines including print, radio/TV broadcast, and new media/web production. Armed with up to four laptops running the Streambox ACT-L3 Software Encoder, students will be able to capture and encode live video from field locations and transport it over low-bandwidth IP connections to the Journalism School's TV control room, where it will be output to a Flash server and streamed to the Election Website. Early testing of the Streambox system using 3G WiFi express cards has yielded transmission speeds as high as 800 Kbps.

"The Streambox solution helps our students gain a broader learning experience by letting them work hands-on with the kinds of systems they'll be using in the real world," said Craig Hettich, manager of broadcast technology for the Columbia University Journalism School. "By providing an affordable and easy-to-use solution for acquiring video from the field and getting it back to the studio for broadcast, Streambox is enhancing our ability to teach cutting edge news reporting. The beauty of the system is that it enables smaller news outlets to do large-scale productions and stream them to the web with the same ease as large news organizations."

In addition to streaming live video to the Election Website, the Columbia Journalism School will use the Streambox solution to incorporate live remote coverage into its spring "Nightly News" broadcasting course. "The ability to include live newsgathering and reporting in this course will give it a whole new dimension," said Hettich.

He added, "For this ambitious project, and the kind of newsgathering our students are doing, Streambox is the only game in town. It's a big plus that the software-based encoder runs on standard-off-the-shelf laptops without the need for any hardware other than a Streambox decoder and possibly video management systems back at the studio. Also, the solution delivers broadcast video from the moment you plug it in."

"The Columbia Journalism School's commitment to give its students authentic real-life experience by using best-of-class teaching tools is one more example of why the school has such a stellar reputation," said Bob Hildeman, chairman and CEO at Streambox. "We're pleased that Columbia has selected Streambox's IP-centric newsgathering platform to play a key role in that effort."