Digital Rapids — Crossing The New Stream (digiGO! — The Digital (R)Evolution™)

Digital Rapids has unveiled a new version of the Stream software for the company’s StreamZ, StreamZHD and DRC-Stream encoding and live streaming systems. Available immediately, new features in Stream version 3.2 include advanced encoding for adaptive streaming to Apple(r) iPhone(r) mobile devices; expanded format support including JPEG2000 video and Dolby(r) Pulse audio; enhanced encoding of content for Sony(r) PlayStation(r) 3 and other Sony devices; Microsoft(r) PlayReady(r) technology for protection of Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Smooth Streaming content; enhanced IIS Smooth Streaming; and YouTube Content ID reference file generation.

A new optional module for Stream 3.2 adds enhanced capabilities for encoding content for live and on-demand viewing on iPhone mobile devices and iPod touch(r) personal media players. The iPhone module’s integrated segmenting capabilities provide full support for HTTP-based adaptive bit rate delivery to the iPhone while eliminating the need for an external stream segmenter, simplifying encoding workflows and reducing overall system costs. Stream 3.2 encodes to multiple output streams at varying bit rates and resolutions from a live, tape or file-based input source, automatically dividing the outputs into discrete segments immediately ready for adaptive delivery by a server or Content Distribution Network (CDN). As content is delivered to each viewer, the delivery is switched between these outputs to provide the optimal viewing experience based on current bandwidth and device playback conditions. Live iPhone streams can also be archived as VOD files for future on-demand distribution.

Stream 3.2 enables encoding and decoding of the Motion JPEG2000 format in powerful and efficient workflows through a new software option. Content can be encoded into the JPEG2000 compression standard and output as image sequences or wrapped in an MXF container. Stream 3.2 provides full encoding support for the JPEG2000 format’s ability to combine multiple layers at progressively higher quality — from visually ‘lossy’ to mathematically lossless — within a single output. Performance optimizations in Stream 3.2 significantly increase the number of streams that can be simultaneously created at varying resolutions and bitrates in a single encoding system — seven or more concurrent VC-1 IIS Smooth Streaming outputs including full 1280×720 resolution on the latest StreamZHD systems, and even higher concurrent stream counts or resolutions up to 1920×1080 in the H.264 format.