New MPEG-4 Webcaster Tops List of New Products at InfoComm 04

With more than 22,000 reported attendees, this year’s InfoComm, held June 5-11 in Atlanta, was the biggest ever, according to its organizers. Though streaming media made up only a small part of the giant A/V trade show, there was no shortage of new and promising streaming technology on display. Once again, most of the products were grouped together in the Streaming Media Pavilion, sponsored by Primedia, making it easy for Web audio and video delivery pros to find exactly what they were looking for.

Envivio, perhaps the strongest proponent of MPEG-4, launched version 3 of its 4Forum MPEG-4 Webcasting solution, which offers synchronized Webcasts that the company promises have a latency of less than one second. Controlled via a Web-based interface, live 4Forum presentations are fully customizable and easy to export to Envivio’s 4Sight MPEG-4 video streaming server for later, on-demand delivery.

Canopus demo’d its ProCoder Station, a network-based encoding solution that automatically encodes single or multiple sources to all major codecs. An enterprise-level batch encoder designed for workgroup use, ProCoder joins discreet’s Cleaner XL in encroaching on AnyStream and Telestream territory. Even though ProCder is a Windows-only tool, both Windows and Mac workstations can access Procoder Station.

ViewCast showcased the Niagara SCX, which allows remote network control and monitoring of any Osprey-based streaming video encoding system. New features include video preview of encoding sessions independent of encoder mode/type and push-and-pull capability for delivering content to streaming servers. Also for that system is SchedulStream, which promises users new flexibility and functionality to SCX users. The software allows remote users to schedule and manage day and time playout of multiple streaming sessions via Niagara SCX, and it’s also available to Osprey card users who purchase SCX separately.

ViewCast also showed off the new Interactive Video Network, which allows users to take video from DVD players, satellite receivers, and other standard video sources and distribute it via LAN to desktops, workstations, lobbies, or multimedia presentation rooms.