Red Bee Media Automates Video Production Using Anystream
At IBC 2007 it was announced that Anystream has joined Red Bee Media's Digital Hive as the media automation platform tapped to support the highly acclaimed iPlayer project for the BBC. iPlayer is an on-demand Web TV service currently available to UK license fee payers via YouTube and bbc.co.uk; the project is expected to add several additional outlets throughout the year.
Red Bee selected Anystream because of its ability to hit the ambitious goal of repurposing broadcast media for Web viewing a mere ten minutes after it airs. To meet the requirements of the iPlayer service, Anystream teamed up with Microsoft to implement the latest VC-1 quality improvements for Windows Media using the new Microsoft VC-1 SDK.
"Because it is fully automated, Anystream's platform begins converting video for iPlayer while it is still being delivered to air," said Red Bee Media CTO Bob Johnson. "The solution is highly-scalable, reliable, and encodes in real time. Without Anystream, our 'clip length +10 minute' distribution target would be unobtainable."
In order to distribute the highest possible video quality to iPlayer, Red Bee sought to find a technology that could support the aggressive distribution time requirements set for the project. The solution came by integrating the newly released Microsoft VC-1 Encoder into Anystream's media conversion platform; the result is a fast, efficient workflow that consistently produces the highest quality content to meet the established media distribution windows
"The new Microsoft VC-1 Encoder delivers significant improvements for solution providers looking to enable the best video quality, optimized for virtually any delivery scenario," said Tim Harader, business manager of VC-1 Tools at Microsoft Corp. "For Red Bee Media's iPlayer project requirements the new VC-1 technology was deployed by Anystream to speed up the encoding process, enable the wide-scale, multiplatform distribution of content, and deliver the highest quality video."
The video is repurposed without human intervention and easily produces premium content for iPlayer via 33 Anystream nodes. By harnessing the power of the Anystream solution, Red Bee can instantly repurpose MXF formatted video for delivery to Windows Media while tagging the content with program-specific metadata to enable audiences to easily find their favorite shows online. This workflow ensures that Red Bee can consistently and cost effectively fulfill their contract obligations to the BBC.
"By tapping Anystream, Microsoft and Red Bee Media, the BBC has a best-of-breed video production system that offers viewers the unprecedented ability to catch their favorite shows on demand minutes after they've run on linear broadcast channels," said Russell Zack, Anystream VP of products. "We are thrilled to be a part of this innovative and exciting Web-based VOD venture."
As the service matures, viewers can expect to catch iPlayer content through additional distribution outlets such as MSN, telegraph.co.uk, AOL, Tiscali, Yahoo!, MySpace, Blinkx and Bebo.
