ViewCast develops streaming media appliance, software

ViewCast will unveil its latest in video streaming and media management at IBC 2011. ViewCast’s Niagara 7550 streaming media appliance and Niagara SCX 6.4 streaming media management software will be making their world debut at the event.

ViewCast will also be hosting live demonstrations of its award-winning ViewCast Media Platform (VMp), Niagara 4100, and Niagara 2120 streaming media appliances, and Osprey 260e and 460e video capture cards.

“We continue to see customers needing to deliver their video content faster and in an ever-expanding variety of formats,” said ViewCast President and COO John Hammock. “The 2011 IBC show is the perfect forum to showcase our latest breakthrough solutions to a global audience looking for new ways to elevate both the technological capabilities and value of their digital media infrastructure.”

The Niagara 7550 takes advantage of the latest multi-core processing technology, greatly expanding its adaptive streaming capabilities and making it the most powerful, feature-rich streaming appliance for Web-based delivery of high-definition video currently available from ViewCast. By enabling users to simultaneously leverage multiple adaptive streaming formats, including Apple HTTP live streaming for iPads and iPhones, Adobe Flash dynamic streaming, and Microsoft IIS Smooth Streaming, the Niagara 7550 is able to meet the needs of the most demanding professional broadcasting applications and other professional-level high-definition video distribution requirements.

Another key feature of the Niagara 7550’s video processing capability is that it can switch-on-the-fly between standard and high-definition sources, without having to re-initialize the system. Audio inputs include analog stereo (balanced and unbalanced), two channels of AES/EBU, and eight stereo pairs of embedded SDI audio.

The Niagara 7550 also comes standard with ViewCast SimulStream technology, which enables a single video source to generate several video streams at once, with each stream configured differently for laptops, cell phones, or mobile devices. It also allows simultaneous streaming in many popular formats, including Windows Media, (Silverlight), Flash, H.264, as well as container support for 3GPP and 3GPP2.

Niagara SCX 6.4 is an enhanced version of the company’s powerful SCX streaming media management software. The new Niagara SCX 6.4 includes support for adaptive live encoding via Microsoft IIS Smooth Streaming and PlayReady DRM support, updates to Akamai HD iPhone and iPad streaming, improved MPEG-4 streaming, and presentation and security enhancements for adaptive streaming.

Improved adaptive streaming presentation features enhance the viewer experience by allowing the media player to dynamically select the appropriate bit rate, frame rate, and scaling for each viewer’s available bandwidth. Other features that are new with Niagara SCX 6.4 include definition of standard profiles, improved presets availability, the capability for audio-only streams, and a toggle for on-screen display statistics. These new features further enhance service provider ease of use while improving video quality.

Niagara SCX 6.4 will be available on ViewCast’s professional-grade Niagara Pro II, Niagara 7550, and Niagara 4100 streaming media appliances, with upgrades available to existing owners of ViewCast streaming appliances.