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Microsoft Silverlight 3 Promises Simpler, Faster, and Better High Def Streaming
Mon Jul 13, 2009 at 11:30 AM ETTags: HD Streaming, Microsoft, Industry Trends (all tags)
And a boost for online video providers, finally able to offer true 720p
Microsoft unleashed the full version of Silverlight 3, the most recent edition of their Flash like application, on July 9th, and the internet is abuzz with the possibilities. Before we get into the nitty gritty of the exciting niche applications, here’s the big news: full 720p playback. Sure it’s almost certainly at a bit rate far below that of Blu-ray and almost certainly behind most TV channels, but it’s a good start.
Users will have a much more fluid experience with the aptly named “Smooth Streaming”, which will act to ensure an absence of stutters and loading times by making smart use of buffering. Also exciting are the possibilities of using Silverlight outside of the browser. Having a Netflix application for example, rather than logging on to a website, could be a very big deal in the future.
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Blu-ray To Remain Dominant Through 2015
Wed Jul 08, 2009 at 07:30 PM ETTags: HD Streaming, Industry Trends (all tags)
High quality video and sluggish net connections are keeping streaming and ‘instant on’ services from gaining a foothold.
Streaming video may be a convenient way to keep up on television shows, but Blu-ray isn’t going anywhere, according to the latest Global Entertainment and Media Report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. While Blu-ray players are present in around twelve million homes, many more consumers already own a device, be it an Xbox 360, a set top box, or a computer, capable of streaming HD content, so what gives?
It all comes down to bandwidth, and right now, most of America just doesn’t have the internet infrastructure in place to support instant on streaming of high definition content, let alone content of the quality delivered by Blu-ray discs. To give a general idea, a lower quality Blu-ray movie may have a bit rate of at least fifteen megabits per second, the Blu-ray format has a theoretical max of forty megabits per second, and the average American has a connection of only two and a half megabits per second. Looks like it’ll be some time before we see streaming able to compete on a quality level.
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