Video-encoding equipment vendor Envivio has added native support for the new iPad and Apple TV set-top, offering the ability to deliver up to 1080p HD to the devices, and has developed a technology demo of the emerging MPEG-DASH adaptive bit-rate standard.
Envivio's Muse transcoding software now supports native 1080p HD resolution, which can be viewed on the new iPad tablet -- which features a "Retina" 2048-by-1536 display for a pixel depth of 3.1 million -- and Apple TV box.
The Muse application is available on the Envivio 4Caster appliance or HP blade servers for IT data-center environments. According to Envivio, a single appliance or blade can deliver two 1080p HD channels and up to six lower resolutions in Apple HTTP Live Streaming (HLS). Customers with existing Envivio systems can upgrade their headends to support the new formats with a license upgrade.
Separately, Envivio will present a technology demonstration of its encoding software running MPEG-DASH at the CableLabs Winter Conference in Philadelphia March 11-13, as well as at the IP&TV World Forum in London, March 20-22. DASH, which stands for Dynamic Adaptive Streaming Over HTTP, is designed to provide a standard, vendor-neutral way to deliver streaming video at various bit rates.
In the demos, live video is being encoded in an Envivio Genesis multi-bit-rate transport stream using Muse, and packaged in MPEG-DASH format by the Envivio Halo network media processor. An Android tablet with an MPEG-DASH decoder client receives the adaptive bit-rate streams, then decodes and displays the video.
"We were the first to offer an encoder that supported Apple HTTP Live Streaming, and continue to enable our service provider customers to provide high quality video to the latest devices and integrate new technologies such as MPEG-DASH," Envivio president and CEO Julien Signès said.
Envivio has 310 customers in 50 countries. The South San Francisco-based company filed for an initial public offering in April 2011 through which it is seeking to raise up to $72 million.
