ViewCast
to Exhibit New Streaming Products at Streaming Media West
in San Jose
ViewCast
Corporation will demonstrate recently announced new additions
to its industry-leading Osprey family of audio/video PC
capture cards Dec. 12-14 at Booth #609 at the Streaming
Media West 2000 exhibition at the San Jose Convention
Center in San Jose, Calif.
“We’re
looking forward to be demonstrating some exciting new
products at Streaming Media West,” said Neal Page, vice
president and general manager of ViewCast’s Osprey Video
division. “The demand for high-quality audio has caught
up with the demand for high-quality video in streaming
media applications, and the new Osprey 210 and 220 puts
ViewCast ahead of the curve in delivering CD-quality sound.”
The
new Osprey-210 and Osprey-220 add audio-quality enhancements
that enable CD-quality audio and professional analog capture
of video and audio signals for the leading streaming media
applications.
In
addition to the new Osprey-210 and Osprey-220, ViewCast
will demonstrate the Osprey-500, the first professional-grade
video capture card designed specifically for the capture
of broadcast-quality digital video for streaming media.
The Osprey-500, developed by ViewCast’s Osprey Technologies
Division, was optimized exclusively to support the Microsoft�
Windows Media™ Format with cooperation from Microsoft’s
Digital Media Division. The company will also showcase
its Viewpoint VBX�, an enterprise-wide video communication
system that enables desktops and conference rooms to access
a choice of video communication resources.
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ViewCast
Announces new Osprey-210 and Osprey-220 Analog A/V Capture
Boards
|
We
are very pleased to announce new additions to our
industry-leading Osprey family of audio/video PC
capture cards. The new Osprey-210 and Osprey-220
add audio-quality enhancements that enable CD-quality
audio and professional analog capture of video and
audio signals for the leading streaming media applications.
These new products complement recent industry improvements
in streaming audio technology like those from RealNetworks,
Inc.
|
The
Osprey-210 adds enhanced audio capabilities.
|
“RealAudio�
8, sets a new standard of quality, clarity and range for
Internet audio,” said Kevin Foreman, general manager,
Developer and Partner Relations, RealNetworks, Inc. “ViewCast.com’s
Osprey-100 has long been a preferred card for use with
RealNetworks’ products. The new Osprey-210 and Osprey-220
deliver enhanced quality audio capture and offer the perfect
complement to RealAudio 8, allowing users to experience
the full benefit of a rich-media experience through RealPlayer�.
We are extremely pleased that our long-time partner ViewCast.com
keeps pace with products that enhance RealNetworks’ capabilities
in the streaming media market.
ViewCast.com
Osprey video cards are used in Internet/intranet streaming
video, videoconferencing, distance learning, business
TV, Web-cams, live event streaming and a variety of other
digital video applications. The Osprey-210 and Osprey-220
capture products support RealNetworks� RealVideo� 8 as
well as Windows Media 7 capture and encoding. This support
for the two major streaming media platforms by the Osprey
family provides unparalleled flexibility in audio and
video streaming applications.
The
Osprey-210 is an analog capture card with a BNC connector
for a reliable, lock-on composite video input; an S-Video
connector; unbalanced stereo audio inputs; and an audio
loop-back feature for monitoring of the captured source.
The Osprey-210 also features a hardware audio gain control
providing enhanced sound capture at lower bitrates and
expanded audio sampling rates up to 48 kHz. For even higher
quality, the professional-grade Osprey-220 takes the Osprey-210
feature set and adds both a break-out box and balanced-stereo
audio inputs via XLR connectors for pro-quality stereo
audio inputs.
The
Osprey-210 and Osprey-220 products are now available for
ordering and shipping. You can also see these new boards
first-hand on Dec. 12-14 at Booth #609 at the Streaming
Media West 2000 exhibition at the San Jose Convention
Center in San Jose, Calif.
Click
here for more information regarding the Osprey-210
and the Osprey-220.
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New
Version 1.03 Software for Osprey-500 allows capture of
Extended AVI files to disk
On
December 15th ViewCast.com will be introducing a new version
of software for its Osprey-500 professional digital capture
product family. The new version 1.03 software release
adds new capabilities to the Osprey-500 that allows users
to now capture files in Extended AVI format. Extended
AVI capture to disk can now be done utilizing all the
Osprey-500’s analog and digital video sources. Extended
AVI files can be utilized by popular PC editing applications
including: Sonic Foundry Vegas Video, Adobe Premiere 6.0,
Terran Media Cleaner Pro, etc.
This
new software driver, called WMCap, will be available for
download on December 15th from the Osprey driver
download page of the OspreyVideo.com web site. You
can download the new WMCap software driver from the Osprey
Video http://www.ospreyvideo.com
driver page in the support section on Dec 15.
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NaviSite,
Inc. uses Osprey Streaming Capture Technology to stream
Madonna Concert to largest webcast audience ever!
Uses
Osprey� Video to Capture the Material Girl in Record-Setting
Concert
A
record-setting crowd of more than 9 million people got
a glimpse of ViewCast.com technology on Tuesday, Nov.
26. That was the estimated number of viewers who logged
on to Microsoft Network sites in the United States, Europe
and Asia to watch a 30-minute concert by Madonna.
Osprey�-100
video capture cards from ViewCast.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: VCST),
a leading provider of Internet and networked video solutions,
were used to capture and encode the streaming video for
the show which was Webcast by Navisite, Inc. (NASDAQ:
NAVI), a leading managed application hosting provider.
The
previous record was held by Paul McCartney, whose
concert at Liverpool's Cavern Club was seen by 3 million
viewers. The Madonna concert streamed was held at London’s
Brixton Academy. There was no television broadcast and
only 2,000 tickets were sold for the show.
As
Webcast by NaviSite, the Madonna concert marked the first
time that an event of this magnitude was delivered at
up to 700 kbps, producing “near-DVD-quality.” NaviSite
acquired the concert signal via satellite and encoded
the content using Microsoft’s Windows Media Encoder 7,
which is designed to provide high quality streaming audio
and video. NaviSite employed its streamOSTM
system to manage the concert’s distribution over the Internet.
“Anytime
you do something of this magnitude, you want to make sure
you put your best foot forward. With that many people
watching, it was essential that we use a capture card
that combined high quality of video with reliable and
stable hardware when it really counts. ViewCast.com’s
Osprey Video capture cards deliver on both counts,” said
Christopher Levy, Chief Technology Manager, Streaming
Media Division, NaviSite. “The ViewCast.com Osprey Video
technology helped NaviSite deliver an immensely enjoyable
Internet experience for a record-setting audience.”
Click
here for more information about the Osprey-100
video capture card.
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EDS
& ViewCast.com Collaborate to
Showcase Broadband Streaming Technology at Fall Comdex
2000
ViewCast.com
provided EDS with Osprey streaming capture technology
for use in the EDS\COMDEX Metropolitan Area Network for
Fall Comdex 2000 in Las Vegas. EDS designed, built and
managed the first Metropolitan Area Network in Comdex
history.
The
high-speed fiber-optic network linked the Comdex show
and its five Las Vegas venues. The network also provided
fully scalable and redundant bandwidth up to 320 Gbps
via a fiber network between venues and – simulating the
last mile – copper to the booths.
The
Osprey-200 streaming capture boards were used to provide
streaming throughout the multiple venues, including integration
into the media lounge areas, live streaming from cameras
in the two Network Operating Centers at the Sands Exposition
Center and Las Vegas Convention Center, and from rack-mounted
encoding stations on the show floor. Both static and live
encoding was employed using the Osprey-200 capture boards.
“The
goal of EDS and the EDS\COMDEX Metropolitan Area Network
was to make it easier for the press and media at Comdex
to experience all that Comdex had to offer via the two
media lounges that EDS hosted. It was a great showcase
of state-of-the-art high speed networking and demonstrated
the broadband possibilities and applications for streaming
media technology,” said Mark Nelson, Enterprise Consultant,
EDS.
|
The
Osprey-200 capture card expands on the capabilities
of the Osprey-100, one of the most widely used capture
cards in the relatively short history of streaming
media. The Osprey-200 features video and audio capture
and provides a highly scalable streaming and capture
solution. The Osprey-200 also features advanced
DMA for ultra-high performance (full 30fps); Direct
Draw for 30 frames per second overlays to video
screen with minimal CPU utilization; and closed
caption capabilities. Additionally, multiple Osprey-200
boards can be hosted within a single PC enabling
multi-channel capture and encoding possibilities.
|
|
Click
here, for more information about the Osprey-200
family of audio/video capture boards including the new
Osprey-210
and Osprey-220
boards.
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ViewCast
Streaming Media Guide
The
following is an excerpt from ViewCast’s Streaming Media
Guide. This white paper gives a good overview of streaming
media, its history, why it is important, what it is used
for, and steps in the streaming process.
History
of Streaming Media
The
streaming media market really began to emerge in the mid
90’s when technologies such as RealAudio debuted and radio
stations started putting live and on-demand audio content
on the Internet. The growth at first was slow, but the
rate of adoption of streaming technologies has accelerated
exponentially in the last 5 years. The following graph
illustrates this phenomenal growth in streaming related
spending and shows that dollar value of all streaming
media hardware, software, and services is predicted to
more than double in the next four years and will grow
to more than a $20 billion dollar industry.
What
is Streaming Media?
Streaming
media is multimedia content, such as audio, video, and
other media objects, which are, streamed from media servers,
over satellites, across broadband networks, across the
Internet or on corporate intranets. Streaming is a way
of transmitting video or multimedia files so that playback
begins as the first data packets arrive. Streaming is
an alternative to store-and-forward or downloaded delivery
of media. When multimedia data is downloaded all the data
packets of the multimedia file must arrive before playback
can begin.
What
streaming means to the viewer is that there are no lengthy
downloads before they are can view the requested multimedia
content. There is merely a short download buffering period,
typically less than 10 seconds, to fill a buffer which
is used to prevent delays in playback due to network congestion
that causes content delivery delays.
Why
is streaming needed?
Streaming
is needed to enable the efficient delivery of media content
at data rates below what is available in traditional broadcast
mediums. The challenge is to find ways to compress and
deliver media content in the most efficient manner to
maximize the quality of media traveling through a variety
of networks and bandwidths. Ultimately, streaming bandwidths
are determined by the connection speeds of the user, both
at home and in business applications. Consumer Internet
access had traditionally been confined to dial-up access
and the connection speeds of traditional modems. This
is changing as broadband infrastructure deployment is
starting to ramp up. On the business side, high bandwidth
connection costs are dropping as more and more high-speed
fiber networks are deployed and as the competition for
market share heats up. T1 and E1 connection costs are
dropping, and higher speed connections are coming within
the fiscal reach of even small and moderate sized companies.
This
article is a part of a ViewCast guide to streaming media.
Other information contained in this FREE Streaming Media
Guide includes:
a) Factors that Affect Streaming Quality & Performance
b) Who is using streaming?
c) Dominant Streaming Media Formats
d) What is needed to create streaming video content?
e) Steps to Create Streaming Video Content:
- Capture
- Editing
- Encoding
- Media
Hosting and Distribution
If
you find this information useful and would like to have
a complete copy, simply go to: http://www.ospreyvideo.com/streamingVideo,
fill out the registration form and download your FREE
copy of “The Streaming Media Guide.
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ViewCast
Solution Bridges Distances in Texas-Sized School District
The
Customer
Region
IX, a Texas secondary school district that encompasses
more than 7,200-square miles in the state’s sparsely populated
panhandle area.
The
Situation
Space
– the “wide open” variety – is the biggest natural resource
in the stretches of the Texas panhandle that the Region
IX school district calls home. It takes more than five
hours to drive from one end of the school district to
the other. Along the way, there are long stretches where
the local jackrabbit population vastly outnumbers the
population of humans. Distances of hundreds of miles might
separate one small school building from the next and one
qualified teacher from a student in need of that teacher’s
expertise.
The
people who call this sparsely populated region home, many
of whom are first-generation immigrants, desire high-quality
education – but finding, retaining and affording qualified
teachers in rural areas can be difficult for school districts.
Region IX could hardly justify an instructor of advanced
physics or a bilingual English teacher for a class that
might have but two students. On the other hand, for those
two hypothetical students, such a teacher might provide
the spark that lights an eager-to-learn young mind.
So
the Region IX school district had a dilemma: How to bring
students and teachers together over vast distances at
an affordable cost? ViewCast.com had the solution.
The
Solution
While
it might not be possible or feasible to physically move
teachers from one school to another within the large school
district, videoconferencing technology would allow Region
IX to share resources between its far-flung schools. Through
videoconferencing, teachers in Mineral Wells could interact
with students in Bowie, and a classroom of two students
in Jacksboro could, thanks to the technology, join a class
of 12 in Wichita Falls.
So
Region IX turned to ViewCast for a solution. The solution
was the ViewCast.com Viewpoint VBX, an enterprise-wide
video communication system, which enables desktops and
conference rooms to access a choice of video communication
resources.
The
versatile Viewpoint VBX server and codec array supports
a number of video communication standards, including H.323
(video over TCP/IP networks), MPEG-2, H.320 (video over
ISDN), and H.324 (video over standard telephone lines),
in addition to NTSC and PAL interfaces for connection
of commercial and consumer A/V devices.
The
ViewCast Viewpoint VBX met all of Region IX’s needs –
both technically and financially. The school had applied
for – and was awarded – an annual grant for the project,
with the first year covering the initial purchase of equipment
and the second year to cover any system enhancements.
ViewCast
delivered a large VBX for the regional center and 35 mini-VBX
systems to schools around the district. While some schools
didn’t have Internet access, every school that could be
enabled was enabled. In most schools, the monitors and
cameras are located in the library, cafeteria, or other
large conference-type room.
The
new videoconferencing system was first used to teach ESL
(English as a second language) classes. Shortly thereafter,
Region IX partnered with Vernon Regional College to allow
high school students within the system to take advanced
or accelerated classes at the college via the ViewCast.com
videoconferencing system. Soon, adults were also able
to log on and take continuing education classes at Vernon.
Not
only was the new ViewCast video-distribution system able
to deliver teaching expertise to where it was needed and
allow faculty and students to share resources and learning
experiences, it also enabled teachers to participate in
training sessions and administrative meetings. Teachers
and administrators, who once had to make a long trek to
district meetings and teacher training sessions, were
now able to attend via videoconferencing – a benefit that
saves Region IX a considerable amount of time and travel
expenses.
“The
ViewCast videoconferencing solution has allowed us to
share our educational resources throughout the large area
that makes up Region IX,” said a Region IX project coordinator.
“We’re able to provide necessary courses and college-level
classes to people who, due to the distances involved,
were unable to take advantage of such opportunities in
the not-so-distant past. And we’re able to do so in a
way that is affordable.”
The
Future
With
the scalable and versatile ViewCast Viewpoint VBX solution
in place, Region IX can grow the system as technology
warrants. As new schools become Internet-enabled, the
Viewpoint VBX is easily, and affordably, expanded. Students
and faculty in the Texas panhandle will be effectively
communicating with each other – and learning from each
other – for years to come.
Click
here for more information about the ViewCast VBX System
(http://www.viewcast.com/Products/vbx/vc_vbx_overview.htm).
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ViewCast
Systems Training, Sign Up Online!
ViewCast
offers training courses for Viewpoint VBX and ViewCast
Niagara Streaming Systems. We strive to offer training
that meets and exceeds our customer's needs. Our
training facility is located at our corporate headquarters
in Dallas, Texas. This Training Center is equipped
with the hardware and software required to ensure that
students leave class technically competent to support
ViewCast system products.
Comments
from former students who have benefited from ViewCast
hand-on training:
"Each
of the instructors had plenty of hands-on knowledge and
experience doing exactly what I'm going to be doing.
Don't change a thing! You have plenty of equipment
to configure in most of the possible ways. I've
configured a lot of equipment, and attended many classes.
This one was unusual in having front-line, knowledgeable
instructors that know the equipment inside-out and troubleshoot
the usual problems from the perspective of customer service
because they ARE technical customer service representatives."
"Very
good class. One of the best I have ever attended."
"Good
class. Very informational. Both instructors
knew what they were talking about and know the ViewCast.com
products we were trained on very well."
"All
of the instructors did an excellent job with giving information
on everything."
"Great
course. Excellent instructors."
"The
class was very well done. There is a good balance
of hand-on and lecture. All the questions were answered
very well."
"I'm
very impressed. I sincerely believe that this class
is very close to the level of a tech school type class
- and in some ways far superior. I know where of
I speak - I have a two year tech school degree."
You
can sign up online for a training class and time that
is convenient for you at http://www.viewcast.com/support_training.htm.
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