Inlet Technologies powers HD stream of Tour De France for Norway’s TV 2

Inlet Technologies’ Spinnaker streaming appliances are supporting Norway’s TV 2 new online live TV service. As one of the country’s largest commercial broadcasters, TV 2 is now on-air and online with HD content. The premium HD service has been used recently to cover such major sports events as the Tour de France.

With Inlet Technologies’ live streaming Spinnaker 7000 encoders and Microsoft Smooth Streaming technology, Web viewers can view live HD streams while having full access to DVR capabilities (such as pause and rewind), with no stuttering, buffering or other interruptions. Smooth Streaming uses the standard downloading of HTTP files for easy connection to video streams, even through firewalls, as if they were just another Web page.

Helge Høybråten, manager of TV 2 SUMO, said the Spinnaker is providing good-quality HD streams at bit rates of up to 6Mb/s. The products are providing a more interactive and personalized online event.

As one of the first encoding solutions providers to announce Smooth Streaming support for live and on-demand applications, Inlet develops solutions for a wide variety of media companies that want to stream high-quality content, including sports. Spinnaker supports all of the major formats, including H.264, VC-1, Silverlight and Flash VP6, and allows content creators such as MLB to stream multiple formats simultaneously from one source.

Spinnaker is ideal for live sports and entertainment events because it can create real-time highlights without the need for additional file preparation. Users can also switch between multiple views or camera angles during a single event. URLs or captions, such as scores and statistics, can also be inserted directly into the live stream.