the connected world supplement special report Supplement sponsored by
There are several new streaming media innovations on the horizon that could change the landscape of streaming media once again. And while some media server providers prefer to watch these new developments from a distance, Wowza Media Systems has already been planning how it will support its customers’ needs in the future. WebM, UltraViolet (UV), and MPEG-DASH could all soon be technologies needed to support your video streaming solution. In planning ahead, Wowza already has working demonstrations of both WebM and MPEG-DASH streaming from its software, and support for UV can easily be added. As Wowza continues to enhance its products and develop new features that keep its media server software affordable, adaptable, and easy to use, the company’s new AddOns, technology support, and tailor-made solutions are designed to future-proof video delivery. Chris Knowlton, vice president of product management at Wowza Media Systems, explains why Wowza and its customers are so confident about what’s on the horizon.
Streaming media: advancing to the next level
D
ynamic Overlays are being integrated into Wowza Media Server and will allow customers to use compositing to overlay text, images, motion
graphics, and secondary video sources instantly onto streams passing through the Wowza Transcoder AddOn. The feature opens the door to many creative options, including the dynamic insertion of advertising, titling, scores for sporting events, and picture-in- picture video. It also allows for single- display viewing of multi-camera broadcast and surveillance feeds on any screen. In addition, Dynamic Overlays can be manually configured or preprogrammed based on external events, making this a powerful new tool for adding premium TV-like experiences at commodity prices. Wowza recently announced its
support for another impressive streaming innovation: Windows Azure Media Services, an upcoming platform- as-a-service (PaaS) cloud offering for video workflows. This will enable Wowza customers to deliver audio and video content using Wowza Media Server 3 running in the Windows Azure
Chris Knowlton, vice president of product
management at Wowza Media Systems.
Media Services environment. It will also give customers multiple options for streamlining their any-screen media workflows as part of prebuilt, preconfigured, ready-to-consume services that dynamically scale to meet their needs. In addition, this integration will allow customers to make instant use of the automatic scalability, reliability, and cost-effectiveness of Windows Azure to build out audio and video streaming products for their end users. Wowza has also been expanding its
ever-growing toolbox of AddOns. Now for Wowza Media Server 3, the Wowza Transcoder AddOn allows servers to accept incoming live streams in either MPEG-2 or H.264 format. It then re- encodes the stream in real time for single or adaptive bitrate delivery, which ensures the highest quality stream for viewers. Wowza Transcoder AddOn also features an audio-only option for streams that do not contain video, offering a cost-effective option for users, particularly radio broadcasters. The new Wowza nDVR AddOn
creates a single content cache for time-shifting of live streams accessed
S28 l ibe l the connected world supplement september/october 2012 l
www.ibeweb.com
by end users viewing via Adobe Flash HTTP Dynamic Streaming, Microsoft Smooth Streaming, and Apple HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) clients. This reduces on-server storage and setup complexity. The nDVR AddOn also supports trick-play features such as live-stream pause, rewind, and resume. This enables content publishers and service providers to develop the kind of premium catch-up TV services that both enhance and individualise the viewer experience. The Wowza DRM AddOn facilitates
integration with various digital rights management platforms to deliver on- the-fly encryption for live and video- on-demand content to any screen. This provides simultaneous secure key exchange for multiple DRM platforms and key management services, including Verimatrix VCAS, Microsoft PlayReady, EZDRM, and BuyDRM. Individual live or on-demand content is encrypted on-the-fly for HLS and Microsoft Smooth Streaming for delivery to viewers on a wide range of devices including set-top boxes, connected TVs, smartphones and tablets. It also applies to any-screen adaptive bitrate streaming, which is
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