 | August 1, 2000 |
The dream stream
TREND: Broadband paves way for DVD-quality streaming
As consumers sign onto broadband services at an amazing rate, everyone from telcos and cable operators to ISPs and ASPs is salivating at the potential to deliver entertainment content down this wider data pipe.
Image quality, however, has been an issue for streaming video. Now such stumbling blocks, it seems, may be falling away as well. Promising to deliver DVD-quality streaming video for live and on-demand applications, new companies are entering the streaming foray with MPEG-2 encoding systems.
One example is recently launched Streaming21. The company has announced a carrier-class broadband content-management and -distribution system. The system allows telcos and ISPs, as well as those in the entertainment, corporate, and education markets, to deliver MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video and MP3 audio via the Internet. A scalable streaming platform that's built upon industry standards, the Streaming21 system operates over existing IP networks to deliver content to PCs, set-top boxes, handhelds, and mobile phones.
As with current streaming-media platforms like RealNetworks' RealSystem G2, Microsoft's Windows Media, and Apple's Quicktime, the Streaming21 suite includes a software-based MPEG server (Media Server), a live Webcasting system (Media Caster), an MP3 server, and a free media player. The system also includes e-commerce, security, management, and scaling features for live and on-demand media delivery.
Meanwhile, Streambox has unveiled StreamboxTV, a broadband technology that also allows for MPEG-2 digital video streaming over IP. A Java-based architecture that is based on open standards and is operating-system agnostic, StreamboxTV enables video-on-demand and live Internet access. The company intends to launch it first in private networks, such as those found in hotels, then in broadband DSL and cable markets.
And then there's Medio Systems, which offers Medio Mvision, a real-time software MPEG-2 encoder. The tool supports encoding and decoding of DVD-quality video streams on any Pentium or Athlon PC over 600 MHz. Slower PCs can run Medio MVision at a lower frame rate or resolution. Designed with a modular interface, the codec is scalable and programmable to fit different applications, such as Internet video streaming, live Webcasting, digital VCRs, Internet video phones, time shifting, DVD authoring, distance learning, and video email.
—Margot Suydam
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