Microsoft® Visual Studio® LightSwitch™ gives you a simpler and faster way to create professional-quality Silverlight business applications for the desktop, the Web, and the cloud.
Download and try the first beta of the new member of the Visual Studio Family today!
Exciting news for beach volleyball fans: watch live coverage of the AVP Nivea Tour Hermosa Beach on AVP.com powered by Ooyala’s new Silverlight player.
Check out the Ooyala blog and learn about the Ooyala player for Silverlight, which leverages the Silverlight Media Framework. Most importantly, watch and enjoy the action unfold on Saturday, July 17th from 1:30pm-6.30pm Pacific Time over at AVP.com.
Microsoft, NVIDIA and iStreamPlanet to produce first 3D live streaming event built on Microsoft Silverlight and NVIDIA 3D Vision technology
3D streaming video has finally made it to the Web! On July 3rd at 7:30 pm ET TNT RaceBuddy 3D will feature a live 3D video broadcast of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race “Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola” in Daytona, FL. The streaming event, among the first of its kind, will be powered by Microsoft Silverlight and NVIDIA 3D Vision technologies and produced by digital media services provider iStreamPlanet.
The event will be the first public showcase of the integration between NVIDIA 3D Vision and Microsoft Silverlight, announced recently at Computex 2010 in Taipei. The Silverlight-based RaceBuddy 3D video player, developed jointly by iStreamPlanet and NVIDIA, is not only the first browser-hosted video player with 3D Vision support but also the first player to enable true 3D playback in both windowed and full screen modes. Web surfers can now enjoy high definition 3D video from a browser right alongside interactive elements like the RaceBuddy automated leader board! For content owners, this innovation unlocks a brand new monetization channel for 3D content by enabling content owners to build rich interactive 3D experiences, display banner ads, insert pre/post-roll ads, and even implement VOD and subscription services for 3D video – all within the familiar environment of a Web browser.
Saturday’s NASCAR race will be streamed using IIS Smooth Streaming, Microsoft’s HTTP-based adaptive streaming technology which has been used recently to deliver high-profile live streaming events such as Sunday Night Football, 2010 Winter Olympics and NCAA March Madness. Smooth Streaming, a component of IIS Media Services, was specifically designed to deliver video over the Internet in an efficient and scalable way while providing a superior user experience. All its benefits naturally extend to 3D video too, making it an ideal choice for delivery of 3D video over the Internet.
For the Coca Cola 400 race Turner Broadcasting will produce 1080i stereoscopic frame-compatible side-by-side formatted live feeds on location in Daytona and uplink them via satellite to iStreamPlanet’s Webcast Operation Center in Las Vegas, NV. The two live feeds will represent separate camera angles, allowing viewers to select which camera angle to watch at any time during the race. iStreamPlanet will feed the 1080i sources via HD-SDI into Inlet Spinnaker HD encoders which will encode video in real-time to the Smooth Streaming format at 6 different bitrates and resolutions, starting at a minimum bit rate of 600 kbps and peaking at a maximum bit rate of 3.5 Mbps (at 720p video resolution). The encoders will publish the encoded live streams to IIS7 origin servers hosted at iStreamPlanet where they will be picked up by Akamai and optimally distributed to the edges of their content distribution network. The advantage of using the side-by-side stereoscopic format and SMPTE standard VC-1 video codec is that it will allow iStreamPlanet to deliver 3D Smooth Streaming video to Silverlight players without requiring any changes to their existing live video workflow or the Silverlight runtime.
To take advantage of this great innovation and enjoy the NASCAR race you will need the following components:
Then just head over to the TNT RaceBuddy 3D site and test drive the 3D player! In addition to playback of stereoscopic 3D video on NVIDIA 3D Vision PCs, the TNT RaceBuddy 3D player will also support 3D video playback on PCs and Macs connected to external 3D-ready TVs. 3D-ready customers will need a minimum Internet connection speed of 700 kbps to experience 3D video streaming in windowed mode, but 3.5 Mbps is the recommended minimum bandwidth for 3D streaming in full screen mode. To learn more about NVIDIA 3D Vision or purchase a 3D Vision Kit please visit the NVIDIA 3D Vision site. You’ll also be able to see the race live on July 3rd at any of the Microsoft Store Locations: http://store.microsoft.com/Locations.
Microsoft Silverlight and IIS Smooth Streaming are powering NBC Sports’ coverage of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships. Tennis fans can watch live and on-demand games in HD on the web by visiting www.nbcsports.com.
Many of you have been waiting in anticipation for the Silverlight PivotViewer to build collections and embed them on your website, and today this control is available to Silverlight developers.