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The Windows Media 9 Series Platform
With Windows Media 9 Series communications and online learning are enhanced with:
- TV-quality experience to the desktop
- Reduced buffering and uninterrupted viewing experience with Fast Streaming
- Optimized quality at any connection speed, from dial-up to broadband/LAN
- Unmatched audio and video quality
- Low-cost implementation, leading to rapid return on investment
- Easy to manage, reducing IT resource requirements
- Industry-leading scalability requiring fewer servers
- Better compression offering reduced bandwidth requirements
- Easy administration and integration into solutions
- Rapid deployment of the player to every desktop
- Easy player customization and implementation of corporate policies
- Extensible architecture enabling development of scenario-based solutions
This section describes key features of the Windows Media 9 Series platform components as they pertain to enterprise needs:
Windows Media Services 9 Series in Windows Server 2003 ensures the best audience experience, enables dynamic content programming, and provides an industrial strength platform with maximized scalability.
Ultimate Streaming Experience
Combined with Windows Media Player 9 Series, Windows Media Services 9 Series can provide an instant-on/always-on playback experience for users on broadband networks/LANs, and a dramatic improvement in streaming reliability and responsiveness for dial-up users, significantly reducing buffering delays and eliminating streaming interruption due to network conditions.
Dynamic Content Programming
On-demand or live, Windows Media 9 Series provides the capability to automatically program and seamlessly update digital media content on the fly. For scenarios such as enterprise TV, now organizations can make program changes during broadcasts, change the order of content, and insert new content, without interruption to the viewer.
Maximized Scalability
By supporting approximately twice as many concurrent users per server, Windows Media Services 9 Series enables organizations to reduce costs through increased scalability. And the scalability of rich media delivery is now maximized with the ability to distribute Web pages, slides, and images over a multicast network.
For more information, please visit the Windows Media Services 9 Series Web site.
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The Windows Media Audio and Video 9 Series codecs deliver unmatched audio and video quality at any bit rate, with features designed to provide superior quality over broadband/LAN and dial-up connections. Plus, better audio/video compression means lower bandwidth requirements, minimizing any impact on the network.
A significant feature for enterprises is a desktop recording solution that simplifies the creation of screen-based videos for software training, demos and helpdesk/support materials. The Windows Media Video 9 Screen codec allows content developers to capture high-quality, full-motion screen activitywith voice annotationand deliver it at very low, dialup bitrates. Delivering it using the Windows Media 9 Series server and player ensures an efficient and effective solution.
To ensure your ability to reach the broadest audience, Windows Media Audio and Video 9 Series content plays well in Windows Media Player 7.1 and Windows Media Player for Windows XP. However, when the new codecs are used in conjunction with other Windows Media 9 Series components, the new technologies draw on each others advanced capabilities to provide dramatic additional benefits.
For more information, please visit the Windows Media Audio and Video 9 Series Web site.
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The Windows Media Player 9 Series offers significant benefits to both IT professionals and end-users. IT professionals have the flexibility to configure various settings that conform to existing enterprise standards and help reduce helpdesk support calls. The new player also includes a "corporate" skin, which when coupled with one of the new Group Policy settings provides a "locked-down" version of Windows Media Player 9 Series. In addition, anyone can create a custom skin which could include company-specific branding as well as exposing and hiding various features of Windows Media Player 9 Series.
End-users will enjoy the instant-on/always-on experience, which virtually eliminates buffering when content is streamed from a server running Windows Media Services 9 Series. This provides a "TV-like" experience when accessing enterprise video content. In addition, Windows XP users can enjoy the benefits of Variable Speed Playback, which allows them to speed up or slow down the actual playback speed of a Windows Media 9 Series file without changing the pitch of the audio. Speeding up playback removes pauses in the speakers audio, allowing users to quickly access the content theyre after. Slowing down playback speed can be valuable for users who might not natively speak the language of the speaker or for accessibility purposes.
For more information, please visit the Windows Media Player 9 Series Web site.
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Windows Media Encoder 9 Series is a powerful tool that enables content producers to convert both live and prerecorded audio and video to Windows Media Audio and Windows Media Video for secure streaming, download and play, or physical format delivery.
Windows Media Encoder 9 Series has three primary functions:
- Capturing video from devices and encoding them into Windows Media Audio and Video 9 Series
- Encoding and passing live feeds along to Windows Media Services 9 Series to broadcast a live event
- Converting files from one format or bit rate into Windows Media Audio and Video 9 Series
For more information, please visit the Windows Media Encoder 9 Series Web site.
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Windows Media DRM is a flexible platform that enables the secure distribution of digital media over a corporate LAN/WAN, an extranet or the Internet. Windows Media DRM 9 Series now gives content owners the ability to protect both live and on-demand content to ensure that only the intended audience has access to the material.
For more information, please visit the Windows Media Digital Rights Management 9 Series Web site.
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Windows Media has always been much more than a set of tools and individual componentsit is an end-to-end platform upon which Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) can build their own digital media solutions. The Windows Media 9 Series Software Development Kit (SDK) enables easy development and deployment of digital media products and solutions.
Opportunities for ISVs and independent hardware vendors (IHVs) include:
- Integrating Windows Media 9 Series into content creation and playback tools
- Integrating Windows Media 9 Series into software playback applications
- Integrating Windows Media 9 Series into hardware devices
For more information, please visit the Windows Media 9 Series SDK Web site.
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