Video Streaming

What is Live Streaming?

You have live content - sporting events, local interest stories, government-mandated open meetings, specialized business opportunities, or any number of possibilities. One thing is certain. There is an audience for it - local or global. Connect to your audience with the media of the future.

So how do you harness the power of streaming technology to take your business to the highest levels? Let’s begin with an understanding of why streamed media is a compelling way to capture your audience, and then explore some of the technologies behind live streaming media.

Reasons to reach your audience with streaming media.

Streamed content can be any of a variety of types - news and entertainment being perhaps the most familiar. But it can also be educational media, as in Distance Learning. For a large enterprise, the video may be a corporate CEO presentation to global employees.

For governments, it may be streaming a city council meeting. Internet Radio is streaming without video. Ministries use streaming to reach out to home-based viewers. And there are lots of less well-known applications for video streaming, including traffic cameras and surveillance in high-crime areas.

ViewCast Osprey® cards have application in all three categories. ViewCast Niagara® series encoders are designed primarily for the third category - live video capture, processing and delivery.

Uncompromised Quality.

The Niagara 2100 is built on the legendary quality of ViewCast Osprey® technology. This means you can count on the same highly reliable performance demanded by others who utilize ViewCast technology, including the world’s leading broadcasters and content delivery networks.

Ease of Use.

The Niagara 2100 allows even non-technical personnel to stream high-quality live video. Its built-in Web interface simplifies system set-up and operation, allowing complete system control from anywhere on the network. Just set your streaming parameters from the intuitive interface and you can begin streaming in multiple resolutions and bit-rates with a single push of the front panel "stream" button.

Compact Form Factor.

At just the size of a half rack (1 RU x 7.5”) the Niagara 2100 fits easily into any live production environment.

Maximize Your Audience.

ViewCast SimulStream® technology comes standard with the Niagara 2100, which means you can stream in multiple, simultaneous resolutions and bit rates to computers, cell phones and mobile devices anywhere around the world. It’s the ideal low-cost, easy-to-use solution to help you expand your audience in the digital media marketplace.

Innovative Streaming Solutions

ViewCast has broken the price/performance barrier with its latest innovation, the Niagara 2120. Packed with many of the same powerful features found in ViewCast’s other professional-grade streaming appliances, the Niagara 2120 offers uncompromised quality and simplicity of operation in a compact, low-cost streaming solution.

Uncompromised Quality

The Niagara 2120 is built on the legendary quality of ViewCast Osprey® technology. This means you can count on the same highly reliable performance demanded by others who utilize ViewCast technology, including the world’s leading broadcasters and content delivery networks.

Ease of Use

The Niagara 2120 allows even non-technical personnel to stream high-quality live video. Its built-in Web interface simplifies system set-up and operation, allowing complete system control from anywhere on the network. Just set your streaming parameters from the intuitive Web interface and you can begin streaming in multiple resolutions and bit-rates with a single push of the front panel "stream" button.

Compact Form Factor

At just the size of a half rack (1 RU x 7.5”) the Niagara 2120 is compact, portable and fits easily into any live production environment.

Maximize Your Audience

ViewCast SimulStream® technology comes standard with the Niagara 2120, which means you can stream Adobe® Flash® H.264 video in multiple, simultaneous resolutions and bit rates to computers, cell phones and mobile devices anywhere around the world. It’s the ideal low-cost, easy-to-use solution to help you expand your audience in the digital media marketplace.

Next generation portable powerhouse.

Introducing the GoStream® SURF - same GoStream portability, but with much more power to let you broadcast in multiple full resolution streams. Designed with a combination of simplicity, portability, and power - just grab the handle and GO! It’s a great way to quickly stream live events over the Internet from on location or anywhere you can access an IP network.

Features you need. Reliability you can count on.

The GoStream SURF portable encoding system is well-suited for Broadcasters, Corporations, Government entities, Network Service Providers and Ministries. It offers a wide range of features and functionality to make Internet streaming to computers and mobile devices push-button easy for even the most novice user.

Now anyone can stream, from anywhere.

It’s true. ViewCast has made streaming easy for anyone. And from virtually anywhere. Start with a video camera and a microphone…then, connect your GoStream SURF to the Internet, push a front-panel button to select your profile, press the red “Stream” button, and you’re streaming live from wherever the action is!

Expand your streaming options.

Also included on the GoStream SURF are the most versatile ViewCast software applications - Niagara SCX® Pro and Simulstream® - both pre-configured and ready to use. These tools empower you to set up, control and monitor multiple Niagara streaming systems throughout an enterprise or over the Internet, using a single, easy-to-use interface.

Capture, encode, stream and archive video in a wide variety of popular encoding and streaming formats.

Streaming Formats:

MPEG-4
Adobe Flash
Windows Media®
RealVideo®
Uncompressed AVI capture to file

High-quality, high-density encoding.

The Niagara® 8224 is the newest high-density analog encoder from ViewCast, featuring eight fully independent channels. This media encoding system provides a full variety of analog video inputs for each channel, as well as balanced and unbalanced audio.

This powerful system is the ideal choice for simultaneously creating select combinations of full- and CIF-resolution streams for your most demanding multi-channel applications.

Expand your streaming options.

The Niagara 8224 includes two of the most versatile ViewCast software applications - Niagara SCX® Pro and SimulStream® - both pre-configured and ready to use. These tools empower you to set up, control and monitor multiple Niagara streaming systems throughout an enterprise or over the network, using a single, easy-to-use interface.

For each channel, you can create multiple streams in different formats in real time, enabling encoding of different streams for Intranet users, high-speed Internet users, dial-up users, and users with mobile devices - all at the same time! You can also size and scale each individual stream, and customize each stream with bitmap overlays (e.g., logos and graphics), closed-caption pre-rendering, etc.

With Niagara SCX Pro and SimulStream, you can capture, encode, stream and archive video in a wide variety of popular encoding and streaming formats.

This level of flexibility and convenience is another reason ViewCast is a global leader in the industry.

Streaming Formats:

MPEG-4 Part 2
H.263
H.264
Windows Media (Silverlight™ compatible)
Adobe® Flash® capture to file
RealVideo
Uncompressed AVI capture to file

The professional’s choice for streaming.

ViewCast is pleased to introduce the new Niagara Pro II – the next generation in professional-grade video streaming appliances. This encoder offers the most powerful processors and largest memory capacity of all the Niagara appliances, taking professional streaming to the next level. With its two independent audio and video channels, the Niagara Pro II allows you to capture and encode multiple full-resolution (D1), SDI video streams.

The Niagara Pro series is the preferred choice for broadcasters, studios, enterprise IT departments, CDNs and network service providers because it’s loaded with the high-end features that professionals demand.

Professional features in the Niagara Pro II include:

• Standard Definition SDI video, embedded SDI audio, and AES/EBU digital audio
• Two independent sets of audio and video inputs
• Supports popular standards, such as NTSC and PAL
• Front-panel video confidence display alternates between the two channels
• Front-panel, dual-channel multi-segment LED audio meters
• Front-panel LCD display and convenient status navigation controls
• Automatic switch-over to alternate video source with loss of input video
• Uses Microsoft Windows XP Embedded O/S for the ultimate in reliability and unattended 24/7 operation
• Front-panel USB port for easy installation of software upgrades and encoding profiles
• Client management software (Niagara SCX Pro) and Web-based software (Niagara SCX Web interface tool) included

The Niagara Pro II delivers powerful performance in a wide range of applications:

• Capturing and encoding live video for streaming to the Internet and to mobile devices
• Capturing live video for Video-on-Demand (VOD) applications
• Re-purposing video for Internet and Intranet distribution

With the included SimulStream® software, you can create additional streams from the same sources in different formats - encoded independently and simultaneously. This powerful tool enables you to stream in multiple resolutions, formats and bit rates – all at the same time.

High-definition streaming so advanced, it's simple.

Video streaming from high-definition (HD) video sources has reached a new level of quality and performance with the Niagara 7550. Designed for professional broadcasting applications, this powerful streaming appliance simplifies the complex workflows often associated with the transformation of HD video over broadband and mobile networks.

The Niagara 7550 takes advantage of the latest multi-core processing technology giving you the power you need for multi-platform video streaming applications.

Simplicity without sacrificing functionality.

The Niagara 7550 accepts standard- or high-definition video through its SDI interface, and can switch on-thefly between SD or HD sources, without having to reinitialize the system. An SDI loop-out is also provided to facilitate your workflow.

Audio inputs include analog stereo, two channels of AES/EBU and up to eight stereo pairs of embedded SDI audio. Its powerful video pre-processing features include closed-caption extraction and rendering, deinterlacing, inverse telecine, bitmap overlay, scaling and cropping.

Multi-platform video delivery.

The Niagara 7550 comes standard with ViewCast SimulStream® technology. From a single video source, you can deliver multiple simultaneous streams in various formats, bit rates and resolutions, including live streaming to Apple® iPhone® and iPad® mobile digital devices. The Niagara 7550 also supports Microsoft® Live IIS Smooth Streaming and PlayReady® Digital Rights Management (DRM) support.

It also includes management software so you can control all of its key features remotely, through an easy-to-use web interface.

This software greatly enhances the live streaming delivery workflow. By eliminating the need for an external stream segmenter, encoding workflows are simplified and overall system costs reduced.

Schedule and manage live video.

VMp Live, an event scheduling software module that is part of the ViewCast Media Platform (VMp™) suite of products, is now available as an add-on component to the Niagara 7550. VMp Live is an easy to use, costeffective solution to schedule and manage your live video events.

Streaming since the beginning

The famous ViewCast Osprey 100 - the card that helped start the streaming media revolution! It’s still an excellent choice for budget-conscious users with a need to capture and deliver video from composite and S-Video sources.

Originally designed to capture video for streaming, the Osprey-100 also has many applications in security, medical, scientific and other applications where audio capture is not needed. this is an ideal card for capturing video-only camera feeds like those used in ATMs, surveillance, medical and scientific equipment.

Features:

• Multiple cards can be used simultaneously in a single system
• Mix-and-match with other Osprey cards for more input options
• Captures full-frame video at 30 frames-per-second

Specifications:

• Four switchable video inputs
• 3 composite (RCA)
• 1 S-Video (mini-DIN)
• PAL and NTSC video formats
• Closed Caption extraction
• Logo/bitmap overlay
• Microsoft DirectShow API

Perfect for low-cost systems.

The Osprey-210 starts with the legendary quality and performance of the Osprey-100 and adds on-board analog stereo audio inputs.

It’s an excellent choice for low-cost systems where one video input and one unbalanced line-level audio input is sufficient.

Benefits of the Osprey-210:

• Increased integration flexibility by allowing multiple cards to operate within a single PC
• Captures full frame video at 30 frames per second for maximum quality
• Supports most popular video and audio APIs
• Monitoring of audio capture without impacting rich media delivery
• Enhanced sound capture at lower bit rates

Features:

• Multiple Osprey-210’s per chassis
• Mix-and-match with other Osprey cards
• BNC composite video input
• Audio Loop-back output via headphone jack on bracket
• Driver supports Closed Caption extraction
• Compatible with Simulstream®

Inputs:

• Composite Video (BNC connector)
• S-Video
• Unbalanced stereo audio input

The Osprey-210 ships with a breakout cable for video and audio inputs.

PCI-X Power with Analog Video Capture

The Opsrey 230 analog video capture card offers legendary Osprey® quality and reliability, designed for streaming.

Optimized for Live Streaming

Take advantage of the Opsrey 230’s Designed for Live features like Logo Bitmap Overlay with transparency and positioning controls. Automatically detect and adapt on-the-fly when the input video format changes from Movie frame rates to Television frame rates. TheOpsrey 230 can do the job today and is ready for your future applications.

Multiple Streams per Input

Purchase the Opsrey 230 with Simulstream® and you can feed audio and video to multiple encoders at the same time. Use it with ViewCast Niagara SCX® to easily create and manage live streams in RealVideo®, Windows Media®, Adobe® Flash® Video, and MPEG-4 at the same time, in any combination. Or create multiple streams of the same type with completely independent settings for sizing, scaling, logos and bit rate.

Global Standards Support

Like all Osprey cards, the Opsrey 230 supports global analog standard-definition formats, including NTSC, PAL and most others used throughout the world. If you are a global OEM integrator seeking a single-solution deployment strategy, this card’s for you.

The industry standard.

Osprey video technology sets the industry standard for high-quality, rock-solid streaming performance. Utilized in a wide variety of applications – from aerospace to surveillance, Internet TV to webcasting – Osprey cards drive the delivery of video to viewers all around the globe. The Osprey 260e continues that strong tradition of high-value streaming performance.

Designed for the latest PC architectures.

PC manufacturers have adopted the PCI Express® (PCIe) bus as the standard for high-throughput internal bus architectures. Osprey cards optimize this architecture and unleash the power of modern multi-core PC engines with unfettered access to all PC resources. This means more power for your most demanding streaming applications.

Optimized for live streaming.

Take advantage of advanced video pre-processing features such as logo/bitmap overlay with transparency and positioning controls, de-interlacing, color space conversion and closed-caption extraction and rendering. The Osprey 260e automatically detects and adapts on-the-fly when the input video format changes from movie frame rates to television frame rates. We've also added a broadcaster-requested feature – loss of video detection – which automatically substitutes internally generated NTSC color bars (or other test display) with an optional customized text overlay.

Global standards support.

Like all Osprey cards, the Osprey 260e supports global analog standard-definition (SD) formats, including NTSC and PAL. If you are a global OEM integrator seeking a single-solution deployment strategy, this card's for you.

Multi-platform delivery.

multiple devices – in various formats, bit rates and resolutions – simultaneously, from a single video source.
You can deliver multiple streams from a single channel in Adobe® Flash®, Microsoft® Windows (SilverlightTM), 3GPP or H.264 formats all at the same time. The Osprey 260e is the ideal solution to meet the demands of today's multi-platform digital media marketplace.

With the capability to simultaneously capture four independent channels of audio and video, the Osprey® 440 PCI-X™ capture card is a good choice for broadcasters and government agencies. The benefits of higher channel density include efficiencies and cost savings achieved through reduced space requirements and being able to encode multiple channels on one encoding system instead of four. And, as with all Osprey capture cards, quality and reliability come standard.

Optimized for Live Streaming

The Osprey 440 maximizes the effectiveness and management of your streaming operation through its Designed for Live features, such as Logo Bitmap Overlay (graphics over the video) with transparency and positioning controls. The Osprey 440 automatically detects and adapts on-the-fly when the input video format changes from movie frame rates to TV frame rates.

Multiple Streams per Input

Purchase the Osprey 440 with SimulStream® and you can use any or all of the four available inputs to feed multiple encoders at the same time. Use it with ViewCast Niagara SCX® to easily create and manage live streams in RealVideo®, Windows Media® and MPEG-4 at the same time, in any combination. Or create multiple streams of the same type from each input, independently, with completely independent settings for sizing, scaling, logos, and bit rate.

Global standards support

Like all Osprey cards, the Osprey 440 supports global analog standard-definition formats, including NTSC, PAL, and most others used throughout the world. If you are a global OEM integrator seeking a single-solution deployment strategy, this card’s for you.

Additional inputs and outputs for OEM applications

OEM product developers can take advantage of additional composite video, S-Video, and balanced audio inputs which are available on internal connections on the Osprey 440 circuit board. Security / Surveillance OEMs can also access internal contact closure inputs and alarm relay outputs for custom applications. And there is a versatile Osprey SDK available for custom software application developers.

Experience the power of multi-channel Osprey technology.

The Osprey 460e is a powerful, professional-grade card capable of capturing and streaming multiple independentchannels, simultaneously. Ideally suited for high-density encoding applications, the Osprey 460e will streamline your workflow as it provides the highest possible video quality for your capture and streaming applications.

Reduce system costs.

With its PCI Express® (PCIe) architecture, the Osprey 460e is designed to simultaneously capture four independent channels of analog video and unbalanced stereo audio signals and process them independently, minimizing internal PC space requirements. The channel density offered by the Osprey 460e dramatically reduces total system cost by increasing the capture capacity within a single system.
The Osprey 460e A/V option provides additional video inputs and four stereo balanced audio inputs to the rear panel connectors. The optional video inputs include the selection of component or Y/C (S-Video) for each of the 4 channels or 3 additional composite inputs for a total of 16 switchable composite inputs per card.
PC manufacturers have adopted the PCIe bus as the standard for high-throughput internal bus architectures.
Osprey cards optimize this architecture and unleash the power of modern multi-core PC engines with unfettered access to all PC resources. This capability means more power for your most demanding streaming applications.

Optimized for live streaming.

Take advantage of advanced video pre-processing features such as logo/bitmap overlay with transparency and positioning controls, de-interlacing and closed-caption extraction and rendering. The Osprey 460e automatically detects and adapts on-the-fly when the input video format changes from movie frame rates to television frame rates.

Multiple streams per input.

Add SimulStream® to the Osprey 460e and stream to multiple devices – in various formats, bit rates and resolutions – simultaneously, from a single video source. You can deliver multiple streams from a single channel in Adobe® Flash®, Microsoft® Windows (SilverlightTM), 3GPP or H.264 formats all at the same time. The Osprey 460e is the ideal solution to meet the demands of today's multiplatform digital media marketplace.

The Osprey® 530 is a high-performance analog and digital video capture card engineered to interface seamlessly with high-end broadcast gear for maximum performance, flexibility and reliability.

Professional Features for Broadcasters

Features, such as color space conversion, automatic telecine detection and processing, and automatic optimization for changing motion content, make this a perfect choice for broadcast professionals.

Optimized for Live Streaming

Take advantage of the Osprey 530’s Designed for Live features, such as Logo Bitmap Overlay with transparency and positioning controls. Automatically detect and adapt on-the-fly when the input video format changes from Movie frame rates to Television frame rates. The Osprey 530 can do the job today and is ready for your future applications.

Multiple Streams per Input

With the optional Simulstream® feature, the Osprey 530 can feed multiple encoders at the same time. Use it with ViewCast Niagara SCX® Standard to easily create and manage live streams in RealVideo and Windows Media - all at the same time, in any combination. Or create multiple streams of the same type with completely independent settings for sizing, scaling, logos and bit rate.

Global Standards Support

Like all Osprey cards, the Osprey 530 supports global analog and standard-definition SDI formats, including NTSC and PAL. If you are a global OEM integrator seeking a single-solution deployment strategy, this card’s for you.

Compatible with Popular Application Software

Like all Osprey cards, the Osprey 530 works great with popular video capture and encoding applications, including our own Niagara SCX Standard multi-codec streaming manager. Some of those other cards lock you in to a select few applications.

Industry-Proven Performance

Over 300,000 Osprey cards are in daily worldwide operation in a wide variety of commercial, industrial and broadcast applications. You’ll find Osprey 530 capture cards in mission-critical applications throughout the world.

Rock-Solid Stability

Legendary Osprey reliability means you can count on rock-solid performance, day in and day out.

SDI Signal Tolerance

The Osprey 530 includes special SDI signal capture and processing technology, so it can handle sub-optimum cable quality with no loss of performance. You won’t find that feature in other capture cards!

Mix and Match with Other Osprey Capture Cards

Use multiple Osprey cards in the same machine. You can even freely mix and match with other Osprey models. Try that with your average computer-store capture card!

Designed for Live in HD with SD Switching On-the-Fly

ViewCast is proud to introduce a cutting-edge addition to the Osprey family: the Osprey700e HD high-definition (HD) and standard-definition (SD) combination video capture card, featuring legendary Osprey performance - now in HD - with the latest PCI Express® technology.

Already making a splash, the Osprey700e HD won TV Technology magazine’s 2007 STAR Award and was featured in HD Video Pro magazine’s February 2008 issue.

The Osprey 700e HD accepts industry-standard SD and HD SDI in a single half-height PCIe card. By utilizing the high-speed PCI Express bus the Osprey700e HD provides the solid bandwidth required for high-resolution video capture in applications for a wide range of SD and HD standard resolutions up to 1080i (60/59.94/50 Hz).

Multi-Channel Embedded Audio

The Osprey700e HD card’s SDI input supports up to eight independent embedded stereo audio pairs in all SD and HD modes.

Exclusive Designed for Live Adaptive Features

With the Osprey700e HD card you can automatically adapt to input signal format changes without having to stop, reconfigure and restart your video application. This newest Designed for Live™ feature distinguishes the Osprey700e HD from many cards used for ingesting video into video editing systems or other applications:

• Switch On-the-Fly Between SD and HD - Accepts a variety of SD and HD video standards and will automatically adapt - without interruption - when the signal format changes between any of the supported SD and HD modes.
• Specify constant output format with changing input format - Can automatically adapt (size and scale) the incoming video to match the selected output parameters. You can freely switch between a live HD studio feed, SD promo clip from a playback server, back to live HD, etc. - without touching a thing!
• Instantly publish your live streaming content - We call it Instant VOD, allowing you to configure separate live and archived versions of the same live content - separate logos, separate sizing, cropping, scaling, etc. - to minimize or eliminate post-processing time and resources. (Requires Simulstream®)

Multiple Streams Per Input

Purchase the Osprey700e HD with Simulstream and you can feed multiple encoders at the same time. Use it with a variety of available streaming codecs to easily create and manage live streams in RealVideo®, Windows Media®, Adobe® Flash® Video and MPEG-4 at the same time, in any combination. Or create multiple streams of the same type with completely independent settings for sizing, scaling, logos and bit rate.

Professional Features for Broadcasters

Features like color space conversion, automatic telecine detection and processing, and automatic optimization for changing motion content make this a perfect choice for broadcast professionals. We’ve added broadcaster-requested features like Loss of Video Detection that let you automatically substitute internally-generated SMPTE color bars with an optional text overlay.

Optimized for the latest PC architectures

PC manufacturers have adopted the “be better served” philosophy by upgrading to the PCI Express bus, which offers the latest high-throughput internal bus architecture. The best PC graphics cards use this bus because it unleashes the power of modern multi-core PC engines. ViewCast chose the PCI Express® bus for the Osprey700e HD for the same reasons - unfettered access to all PC resources. No bottlenecks, no mysterious glitches, no unexplained hiccups, no random data collisions. Just smooth, unadulterated power. Power that can support multiple Osprey PCIe cards in one system. For the ultimate in high-density, multi-channel streaming.

Industry-proven performance

Over 300,000 Osprey cards are in daily worldwide operation in a wide variety of commercial, industrial and broadcast applications. You’ll find Osprey capture cards in mission-critical applications throughout the world.

Rock-solid stability

Legendary Osprey reliability means you can count on rock-solid performance, day in and day out.

Half-height profile

The Osprey700e HD card’s low-profile format delivers greater usability in small form factor computers. Plug it into any 2U server without the need for a riser card. It’s the premier solution for rack-mount encoding farms, custom enclosures and other form-factor constrained environments.

Professional quality HD streaming performance.

Osprey video technology sets the industry standard for high-quality, rock-solid streaming performance. Utilized in a wide variety of applications – from aerospace to surveillance, Internet TV to webcasting – Osprey video capture cards drive the delivery of video to viewers all around the globe. The Osprey 710e HD continues that strong tradition of high-quality streaming performance.

Designed for professional video applications.

The Osprey 710e HD features a high-definition SDI video input, with an additional SDI/BNC loop-out pass through to facilitate workflow. In addition to 16 channels of embedded SDI audio (8 stereo pairs), the Osprey 710e HD includes 4 stereo pairs of AES/EBU digital audio inputs implemented across mini XLR connectors, providing maximum audio flexibility.

Optimized for live streaming.

Take advantage of advanced video pre-processing features such as logo/bitmap overlay with transparency and positioning controls, de-interlacing, color space conversion and closed-caption extraction and rendering. The Osprey 710e HD will automatically detect and adapt on-the-fly when the input video format changes from SD to HD. Wide screen signaling is also standard. We've also added the broadcaster-requested feature – loss of video detection – which lets you automatically substitute internally generated NTSC color bars with an optional text overlay.

Multi-platform delivery.

The Osprey 710e HD includes our SimulStream® technology that allows you to stream to multiple devices – in various formats, bit rates and resolutions – simultaneously, from a single video source. The Osprey 710e HD is the ideal HD solution to meet the demands of today's multi-platform digital media marketplace.