Streaming Media West Recap

Streaming Media conferences have long been about the latest in new technologies for the streaming industry. This year’s West conference, held last week in Los Angeles, proved no different – with newly announced RealVideo 9, video-on-demand provider Intertainer’s call for 1-MB/s to the home, and MPEG-4 showcased in a keynote speech and lively panel on visual licensing issues.

Jonathan Taplin, CEO with Intertainer.tv, kicked off the conference with a bold promise to guarantee all at-home broadband users one-megabyte-per-second in bandwidth in the next two years. As part of the campaign, Taplin urged the audience to email the commissioner of the FCC demanding high-speed bandwidth. Certainly, this guarantee would go a long way in helping Intertainer develop a sustainable business model for VOD, who currently have 100,000 registered users. Taplin also outlined a new online film marketplace targeting budding filmmakers around the world.

In an evening keynote speech, RealNetworks’ CEO Rob Glaser unveiled version 9 of the RealVideo format and also announced improved audio technology RealAudio Surround. Glaser pronounced the new RealVideo 9 as requiring 30 percent less bandwidth to reproduce the quality of video provided by the RealVideo 8, released nearly two years ago.

MPEG-4

As part of an all-day track on MPEG-4, M4IF president Rob Koenen walked the keynote audience through a quick lesson in MPEG-4. Sidestepping the contentious issue of MPEG LA’s recent licensing proposal for MPEG-4 visual, Koenen was thorough in discussing the advantages of an open multimedia technology platform.

Later in the day, a panel convened on the topic of MPEG-4 licensing that included representatives from MPEG LA, Apple, Envivio, iVast, Dolby Laboratories and On2 Technologies. On2’s Doug McIntyre was most outspoken declaring the MPEG LA doesn’t have the right to license as a pool, recommending that each patent holder should license on its own. Many on the panel disagreed with this approach, including Elliot Broadwin – CEO with iVast – who argued individual licensing would prove inefficient, time-consuming and further slowing down a market that is business-ready. While heated at times, panel members seemed determined to resolve these issues soon.

The final keynotes included Mark Jarvis, senior vice president and chief marketing officer with Oracle Corporation, discussing the many broadband efforts underway by the software application provider, and Andy Schuon, CEO of pressplay, talking about how his experience with MTV and Warner Brothers Records helped in launching the online music subscription service.

For a look at some of the company announcements from Streaming Media West 2002 check out the the latest press releases.

Below find all keynotes streaming on-demand:

Jonathan Taplin
CEO
INTERTAINER