Microsoft TV Brainstorms with 5 Industry Leaders to Ease Interactive TV Transition
LAS VEGAS - April 23, 2001 -
Today at the National Association of
Broadcasters convention, NAB2001, Microsoft Corp. announced the availability
of new broadcast tools supporting the Microsoft TV platform from five
industry leaders: Avid Technology Inc., Chyron Corp., Norpak Corp.,
VertigoXmedia and virt Ltd. Many of these tools are being shown for the
first time at NAB2001, and all are designed to help accelerate the creation
and delivery of interactive TV programming using recognized tools, equipment
and editing resources. The availability of these tools will speed the
creation of mainstream interactive television by making it easy to integrate
interactive content during the writing and editing process of a TV program.
Microsoft’s pioneering work with leading tools providers is an outcropping
of its industry-leading interactive TV developer program. By supporting
Microsoft TV, these companies are helping make it easy and possible for
content creators everywhere to create compelling interactive TV programming
and applications.
“The Microsoft TV Developer Program is helping companies such as Avid,
Chyron, Norpak, VertigoXmedia and virt create the tools that broadcasters
use to make interactive TV a reality today,” said David Witus, director of
content programs for the Microsoft TV Group at Microsoft. “Through their
involvement in the developer program, these companies are demonstrating
strong support for the Microsoft TV platform while making it easy for the
broadcast industry to integrate high-quality video and graphics with
interactive elements, resulting in some amazing new TV programming.”
The five tools partners will be demonstrating new products that support the
Microsoft TV platform in their booths on the show floor at NAB2001.
Chyron
Chyron (http://www.chyron.com/) will be demonstrating a complete range of
interactive TV production and automation tools, including Lyric iTV for
professional television graphic-oriented iTV content creation and
triggering; CG Interactive, which enables the large installed base of
existing and new Chyron graphics systems to automatically produce
synchronous enhanced television, even in a live environment; and DCC
Interactive, providing seamless broadcast automation support for ATVEF
content.
virt
virt (http://www.vizrt.com/) announced the release of its content pilot
I-Extensions developed exclusively for the Microsoft TV platform. content
pilot I-Extensions take advantage of the Microsoft TV platform by using
templates that generate broadcast-quality graphics for television and the
Web as a script is being written, enabling broadcast producers to prepare
content for broadcast and the Web in one simple application. This reduces
the time and expense associated with the production of interactive TV
programming.
Avid
Avid (http://www.avid.com/), the company that delivers the solutions that
Make, Manage and Move Media, has added an interactive design tool to its
editing products that allows producers to work in tandem with interactive TV
teams. The design tool adds HTML triggers in the Avid timeline along with
audio and video tracks for seamless, complete editing of an entire
interactive TV program at one time. The new interactive features were
designed to support the Microsoft TV platform and ATVEF standards, the most
widely used standards for creating interactive TV content.
Norpak
Norpak (http://www.norpak.ca/) will be showing new solutions for interactive
TV, HDTV and data broadcast with its latest solutions that support the
Microsoft TV platform. The Norpak WHAZ-it Interactive TV Monitor is the
first professional data-monitoring solution available for systems running on
the Microsoft TV platform. Norpak and Microsoft TV have been working to
develop encoder systems that allow broadcasters and network operators to
filter and/or replace, in real time, embedded interactive TV data based on
predetermined rules established by the broadcaster. WHAK-it provides
real-time localization of national content.
VertigoXmedia
VertigoXmedia (http://www.vertigoxmedia.com/) has released the latest
version of its flagship product, Producer On Air 2.0. Producer On Air allows
broadcasters to collect content from the Web, wire feeds, newsroom systems
and other outlets and convert the data for delivery to the Web and
interactive TV programs through satellite, cable or mobile devices. By
establishing a reactive link between multiple media-delivery channels,
VertigoXmedia enables broadcasters to produce dynamic content that is
updated automatically in response to viewer feedback. This reduces the time
and costs associated with producing interactive TV content. The content is
easily distributed through the Microsoft TV platform, using open standards
technology, and is delivered seamlessly to the viewer.
SpinTV Joins Microsoft TV Developer Program
Microsoft also announced that SpinTV (http://www.spin.tv/) has joined the
developer program. Spin TV’s Studio Suite supports ATVEF standards, allowing
content developers to easily create and deploy interactive TV content,
speeding the development and delivery of interactive TV programming. Future
versions of the product will be designed to support the Microsoft TV
platform.