Microsoft Silverlight and Smooth Streaming Join Forces - Smooth Streaming Features
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There are many obvious advantages of Smooth Streaming, two of the most important being that the average user can view high definition-quality video online and the fact that users get minimal buffering and fast start-up time. Smooth Streaming technology is rather advanced, as it adapts the quality of the video stream in real time, based upon the consumer's changing bandwidth and central processing unit conditions.
Media companies can make the most of the technology by taking advantage of Smooth Streaming features to boost advertising and subscription revenues by using true high-definition (HD) video with uninterrupted delivery to extend viewing times. In exchange, Smooth Streaming can take advantage of the Web's massive existing HTTP infrastructure by bringing superior performance and scalability to media experiences delivered using HTTP.
When Smooth Streaming technology was released on April 20, 2009 at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show, Microsoft demonstrated end-to-end delivery of live streams delivered viaAkamai Technology's AdaptiveEdgeStreaming for Microsoft Silverlight. According to Microsoft, live encoding of video streams will be produced withInlet Technologies' Spinnaker, the first video encoder to support IIS Live Smooth Streaming.
Live Smooth Streaming, which is currently in beta, provides personal video recorder-style access and navigation to live video streams. One of the coolest features users will surely be fond of is the ability to join events in progress, then quickly jump to the beginning or rewind the highlights.
At NAB, Microsoft also demonstrated some of Silverlight 3's most impressive features, including support for native playback of MP4 formats, an extensible decoder pipeline, full-screen HD playback using graphics processing unit acceleration, and out-of-browser capabilities.
In a press release for Microsoft's new Smooth Streaming technology, Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the .NET Developer Platform at Microsoft, made it clear that though Smooth Streaming's features will greatly benefit the average user, it will also greatly improve online experiences as a whole. "Smooth Streaming is a solution that content providers can leverage to deliver true HD-quality, highly scalable and secure online video to their customers. Coupled with the power of Silverlight, IIS Live Smooth Streaming is further evidence of Microsoft's commitment to ensure that our partners and customers have the tools and platforms they need to deliver high-quality online video experiences," Guthrie said.
The tools Guthrie is referring to include extensions for cost-effectively measuring, monetizing and caching media, and many companies have already publicly proclaimed their intention to utilize these technologies. At the National Association of Broadcasters Show, Microsoft highlighted the growing industry adoption of Smooth Streaming from leading media customers. Some of these very popular and recognizable media customers include electronic retailer HSN, and broadcasters such as NBCOlympics.com, RAI, TV 2 and CTV, as well as media ecosystem partners, including content delivery networks (CDNs), encoding independent software vendors (ISVs) and digital rights management (DRM) service providers, all of which have announced their support and intention to utilize Microsoft's Silverlight and Smooth Streaming capabilities.
Also, in order to provide the highest level of content protection, Microsoft has implemented Silverlight DRM powered by PlayReady for live and on-demand smooth streaming. Leading DRM application service providers such as BuyDRM, CDNetworks, Entriq Inc., ExtendMedia Corp., Ipercast Inc. and iStreamPlanet Co. have announced support for Silverlight DRM. In addition, at NAB, BuyDRM and Envivio demonstrated the first implementation of protected Live Smooth Streaming encoding using Silverlight DRM.
Microsoft has obviously been a wildly successful company for years now and quite impressively, the IT giant has never rested on its laurels. It has continuously provided users, designers, and creators with a constant stream of new innovations that change the way people connect and experience the Internet Surely, Smooth Streaming will do the same.
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