Enabling Water Cooler Moments
In just a few days the world will turn its attention to the Winter Olympic Games hosted by Vancouver, Canada. Thanks to the great smooth streaming technology available in IIS Media Services, sports fans around the globe will be able to view their favorite events online, in HD. Yesterday’s CNET article, Microsoft aims for smooth streaming in Vancouver, describes another feature we are particularly excited about, the ability for fans to view highlights of an event online, even before the event has concluded.
NBC is also tapping the capabilities of Silverlight to allow for the creation of more highlights packages more quickly. Whereas traditional highlights require an editor to cut the video clip, Silverlight allows for highlights to be created just by creating an XML file of the various time that one wants to start and stop.
That’s important, because the demand for highlights is actually higher than for full streams of events, said Perkins Miller, Senior Vice President of Digital Media for NBC Universal.
"It’s about that water cooler moment," Miller said in a telephone interview.
To generate the highlights, editors at NBC and CTV will be using a Silverlight application, the Rough Cut Editor, to consume smooth streamed content, assemble clips, insert ads, and publish highlights for immediate viewing online. Southworks developed the Rough Cut Editor (previously used for creating highlights of Sunday Night Football) and has been working closely with Microsoft, DeltaTre, NBC, CTV and other partners over the last several months to prepare the application for the Olympics. When the opening flame has been lit and the games have begun, be sure to visit the NBC Olympics and Universal Sports sites to enjoy the live events and some amazing highlights.