Not many gadgets were on display at Streaming Media East earlier this month, but this was my favorite: a portable, battery-powered video encoder, which we understand to be the world's first.
The device, which can be attached to a camera, creates a H.264 file which is streamed to a CDN via Wifi or to a cellular network.
This sort of functionality for live streaming is currently provided by a computer connected to the camera. Having a portable solution opens a number possibilities for news organizations, sports teams, and performers. We think this is very cool.
The device comes from Germany's TV1, a major European content delivery network. The portable device will go on the market in North America later this year. The price will be around $1,200.
For a demo, we interviewed TV1 CEO and co-founder Michael Westphal.
In related news, uStream, one of the leading live Web video services, has just announced a professional product.
Andy Plesser, Executive Producer