LAS VEGAS — Google’s recent decision to end Chrome browser support for Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface and, with it, for Microsoft’s Silverlight video format, will spur adoption of fast-growing rival format MPEG-DASH, says one online video boss.
“We will see a lot of deployments now with Silverlight dropping out of Chrome. The signs are really good,” according to Austria-based Bitmovin‘s CEO Stefan Lederer, whose company makes software to transcode and play online video.
Although Google may have thought it was doing users a favor by elbowing the ageing video format, many broadcasters still use Silverlight, and have instead advised their subscribers to ditch Chrome in favor of Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari.
The alternative MPEG-DASH uses adaptive-bitrate technology on standard HTTP servers to bring better-quality video, audio and encryption to digital media.
“DASH is in our DNA,” says Lederer. “We have an HTML5-based MPEG-DASH player, we have a DASH-based cloud transcoding system. We deploy 80% of our content in DASH.”
Bitmovin recently unveiled a cloud-baed transcoding suite for the DASH and HLS video formats.
We interviewed Lederer at the NAB Show. Beet.TV’s coverage of the show was sponsored by Akamai. Please find more coverage from Las Vegas here.
