LAS VEGAS — Can one broadcaster move the entire consumer electronics manufacturing industry? Perhaps when that broadcaster is as powerful as the BBC is in the UK.
The corporation’s support for MPEG-DASH, an emerging media streaming standard that supports adaptive bitrate streaming over standard HTTP web servers, could move the industry toward the format, says Unified Streaming CEO Dirk Griffioen.
“The BBC in England wants to support DVB-DASH – that’s one of the DASH profiles – the same for ITV.
“The BBC is asking device builders, TV builders and others, to take the streams BBC provides and adjust their devices to that. Twelve months from now, you will see devices .. supporting DVD-DASH. That’s a step forward.”
MPEG-DASH could allow the BBC, which once used Microsoft’s WMA standard and had moved to Flash compatibility to efficiently deliver across platforms. It has been testing deployment for radio online, although the switch has affected reception for some listeners.
Amsterdam-based Unified Streaming wraps the solutions available from Apple (HTTP Live Streaming), Adobe (HTTP Dynamic Streaming), Microsoft (Smooth Streaming) and MPEG-DASH in to a single platform. Its customers include HBO Go, the BBC and Globo. Last year, Dailymotion picked the company to handle all its live streaming.
We interviewed Griffioen at the NAB Show. Beet.TV’s coverage of the show was sponsored by Akamai. Please find more coverage from Las Vegas here.
