Pinnacle Unveils Internet Product Strategy
The strategy consists of four elements – iCreate, iStore, iStream and iView "iCreate" consists of Pinnacle's video editing products interfaced with streaming media encoders from Microsoft, Real and Apple. Pinnacle's latest product, TARGA 3000, and its Studio line of consumer movie-making products comprise the core of this strategy for direct publishing to the web.
Pinnacle's video servers and its StreamFactory Live Web Media encoder make up the "iStore" solution, enabling direct and easy export of previously created content to Internet streaming formats. Pinnacle also plans to support MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 formats for broadband web streaming in environments where high quality content is critical. This includes incorporation of streaming protocols to allow IP multicasting of high-quality images over corporate and institutional networks for applications such as training, education, and messaging.
"iStream" products and services enable direct webcast of live media content over the Internet. Pinnacle's StreamGenie, which enables users to create live multicamera productions on location – with camera mixes, titling, and special effects – then webcast at multiple bit-rates in both Real Networks and Microsoft streaming formats, is the first in this line of products. Further, Pinnacle is entering into alliances with Internet infrastructure ASPs to offer webcasters a mechanism for initiating a live webcast from any location.
The final link in the chain is the facilitation of direct viewing of TV broadcasts on a PC as well as distribution and sharing of videos over broadband Internet connections – Pinnacle's "iView" strategy. Pinnacle has enhanced its PC tuner cards with a Webtext feature that leverage the Teletext transmission over the television spectrum to provide relevant web links for additional information on selected Teletext topics. In addition, Pinnacle has recently announced PC-HDTV, allowing direct viewing of high-definition TV content on your PC and has entered into a relationship with WaveExpress to enable data encoded by broadcasters to be decoded on Pinnacle Systems' PCTV cards using WaveExpress technology.
Edited by John McKnight