The company is poised for widespread adoption of Windows Media in broadcast, film and media creation.At the ongoing National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, Microsoft Corp. made several key announcements around what company officials termed "the widespread adoption of Windows Media technology for use in broadcast, film and media creation."
These announcements followed last week's news that VC-1, the proposed Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) video codec standard based on Windows Media Video 9 (WMV9), recently met the requirements for Final Committee Draft (FDC) status and is one step closer to standardization.
"Interoperability is one of the main challenges as the PC and CE worlds converge, which is why Microsoft is focused on pursuing standards and making sure there is open and flexible licensing for technologies to promote interoperability," said Megan Kidd, product manager for the Windows client division at Microsoft. "This includes everything from video and audio codes to content protection systems."
Concerning the status of the video codec standard based on WMV9, Kidd said the process of standardizing WMV9 is in the final stages, and the next step is the five-week Draft Standard ballot prior to Trial Publication.
At NAB, Microsoft said it will collaborate with Warner Bros. Studios to bring HD-DVD discs using VC-1 to consumers, with Warner Bros. Studios planning to release titles in the fourth quarter of 2005. The announcement did not detail the specific titles involved in the release.
And in conjunction with San Rafael, Calif.-based THX Ltd. and founding member Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Microsoft is launching the THX Best Practices Laboratory for Windows Media, to educate and build awareness in regard to advanced digital content processes and solutions available for distributing content in the Windows Media Format as well as VC-1, said company officials.
Touting WMV9 over other high-definition codecs, Kidd says that WMV9 is far less complex than other high-definition codecs, which means less processor demand and thus less power. "A good example is Generation Technologies' demonstration of a Windows PC-based news contribution and distribution system deployed for CBS Newspath. The system uses WMV9 for the acquisition and redistribution of digital content to more than 200 CBS news affiliates nationwide. No network operator has deployed a PC-based system like this before, which is managing both browse and near-live contribution content," said Kidd.
Microsoft also announced Sony Pictures Entertainment as the first company in the broadcast and film arena to adopt and deploy the Connected Services Framework in a live application environment.
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