Larry Kless' Weblog: NAB

Showing posts with label NAB. Show all posts

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Elemental Delivers GPU-Accelerated Video Streaming Solutions

Last month at Streaming Media East, Sam Blackman, CEO and Co-Founder of Elemental Technologies, demonstrated Elemental Live and Elemental Server, two enterprise-class video processing systems for live and on-demand streaming. The Portland, Oregon-based software company, has pioneered the use of GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) and other massively parallel chips for video processing capable of handling multiple simultaneous tasks with much higher performance than CPU (central processing unit)-based transcoding. Blackman says that Elemental is the first company to take advantage of GPUs for video processing and that their solutions help lower the total cost of streaming video. Elemental Server was released in November 2009 and Elemental Live was recently launched at NAB in April 2010.

Blackman explained that Elemental Live works by taking a couple GPUs to create many concurrent real-time encoded versions of the input file. A single Elemental Live can simultaneously encode for any number of mobile handsets, either iPhone, iPad, Android devices, Flash, Microsoft Silverlight and more, for adaptive bit rate protocols, HTML 5 and multiple HD streams. Elemental Server takes files in and batch encodes to output files with two NVIDIA Corporation. video cards (each with two GPUs) as well as two quad-core CPUs.

The company says that through the combination of by combining GPU and CPU processing, one Elemental Server replaces up to seven dual quad core 3GHz CPU-only servers. Both products are single rack mount units with multiple inputs and outputs. Elemental says the two products are ideal for for broadcasters, studios, online video platforms and any other video transcoding application, and are much more cost-effective than other solutions. Elemental Live has a price tag of $36,000 and Elemental Sever sells for $26,000.

Demonstration Video - How the Elemental Video Engine Works

Elemental's products are targeted to large data center operations and studios that require a sturdier solution than cloud alternatives HD Cloud and Encoding.com. Elemental customers include Brightcove, CDC, Citrix, Highwinds and InQtel, and partners with Adobe, Microsoft, and Nvidia. Blackman co-founded Elemental technologies in 2006 with CTO Jesse Rosenzweig and Chief Architect Brian Lewis, who along with Blackman were former engineers of semiconducter company Pixelworks. Soon after their launch, Pixelworks provided seed funding to Elemental for initial reach and development and in July 2008 Elemental had raised a total $7.1 million Series A.

Elemental Technologies was recognized as one of 10 companies chosen for NewTeeVee’s Next Big Thing List for 2009 for their innovation in online video. Blackman was on hand to demo the GPU-accelerated Elemental Server which he debuted at the event. Other Elemental products include Elemental Accelerator for Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 renders Blu-ray quality AVC/H.264 files using the GPU and Badaboom, a consumer media converter, in partnership with NVIDIA Corporation.

About Elemental
Elemental Technologies is the leading provider of massively parallel video processing solutions for enterprise video customers. Elemental's products use off-the-shelf, programmable graphics processing units (GPUs) for compute-intensive video processing tasks. Founded in 2006, Elemental is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. To learn more about Elemental, visit www.elementaltechnologies.com.

Follow Elemental (elementaltech) on Twitter
Check out the Elemental Technologies blog

Related:

Friday, March 12, 2010

NAB 2010 Special Giveaway for Destination Broadband, The Online Video Experience

The NAB Show has a history of over 80 years, and brings together attendees from all over the world – from content holders to broadcasting and movie industries and manufacturers of broadcasting equipment and software/hardware. The show has evolved over the years as broadband and mobile networks have eroded the old power of the traditional broadcast models. The new focus is on broadband video, digital media, online content, IPTV, widgets and social media. This year at the 2010 NAB Show, the annual trade show produced by of the National Association of Broadcasters will include a new conference and exhibit area focusing on advances and applications for broadband technology. Destination Broadband and the Broader-casting Conference are the newest broadband-centric additions to the NAB Show coming up April 10-15 in Las Vegas.

I have a special registration code for the readers of this blog, giving you access to the show – a $150 value - for FREE. This special pass includes the exhibit floor, the Opening Keynote and State of the Industry Address, Info Sessions, Content Theater, Destination Broadband Theater and Exhibits. All readers need to do is register at http://nabshow.com/register with the code A913.

Destination Broadband, will feature more than 50 leading-edge companies and a presentation theater, with three days of conference sessions focusing on back end infrastructure to revolutionary technologies for the home. A pavilion within Destination Broadband will feature three specialized areas - Broadband Innovations, Mobile Solutions and Broadband Lifestyles, a living room-like setting for consumer products and services. The pavilion will comprise more than 25 companies showcasing the latest in content delivery network solutions, online video, IPTV, video streaming and advertising and monetization platforms enabled by broadband.

Also located within Destination Broadband, the Destination Broadband Theater, sponsored by Ambrado, Inc., will offer informative discussions, case studies, research and top level insights on delivering and monetizing broadband content. The power panels featuring "Bits and Bytes" segments will also address how the evolution of broadband is changing traditional content distribution. The Destination Broadband Theater is co-produced by the Society of Satellite Professionals International, World Teleport Association, VideoNuze, The New Media Minute, Interactive Television Alliance (ITA) and other industry experts. Will Richmond and Daisy Whitney will be among the many industry voices that will be heard.

ITA President Ben Mendelson said:

"It's terrific to see the NAB Show stepping up to meet the challenges brought by the digital revolution. Not only is the venerable show adapting, it's aggressively pursuing innovations on the floor and in the conference. Clearly, the NAB Show intends to expand its relevance within the 21st Century television and media landscape."

Also debuting at the NAB Show, the New Broader-casting conference gathers leading media executives, content creators and technicians for an in-depth examination of the intersection of creativity, technology and developing business models. Programming streams include a Business of Media, Creative and Technology track.

The Business of Media Track offers keynotes, topic-driven panels and case studies devoted to uncovering the strategies and business of digital media.
The Creative Track provides a sampling of in-depth curriculums provided by NAB Show partners and is specially designed for talented professionals from the entertainment industry.
The Technology: Broadband and Telecom 2010 covers most recent developments in standards in technologies driving the broadcast entertainment and information media industries with a focus on IPTV and broadband.

Register here or View the schedule.

The NAB Show is about Content, Digital Asset Management/IT Workflow Technologies, Motion Capture, Digital Signage, Online Video, Gaming, Social Media, Advertising, Film, Video, Set Top Boxes, Radio, Streaming, Distribution, Content Monetization, Broadband, Mobile, Broadband Networks, Animation, IP, HDTV, 3D, Editing, Production, Post-Production, Software, Widgets, and much much more. Plus it's in Las Vegas! ;-)

Twitter – NAB Show (NABShow) on Twitter
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/NAB-Show/
LinkedIn - NAB Show - Where Content Comes to Life group | LinkedIn

NAB Show Fast Facts

More than 85,000 audio, video and film content professionals
157 countries represented
$30 billion in purchasing power
500+ conference and training sessions
1,500+ exhibiting companies and 800,000+ net square feet of exhibit space
1,300+ members of the press
82 years of industry leadership

About NAB
The National Association of Broadcasters is the premier advocacy association for America's broadcasters. NAB advances radio and television interests in legislative, regulatory and public affairs. Through advocacy, education and innovation, NAB enables broadcasters to best serve their communities, strengthen their businesses and seize new opportunities in the digital age. Learn more at www.nab.org.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Beet.TV Live from NAB 2008

Andy Plesser is in Las Vegas this week broadcasting live from the floor of the 2008 NAB show. His Mogulus channel is embedded below and the live feeds are scheduled at 4:00 PM PDT. Try out the new on-demand feature to see interviews with Bill Joel, CEO of On2 Technologies, Cory Bergman of Lost Remote and Max Haot, CEO of Mogulus, Thomas R Wilde, CEO of multimedia SEO solution EveryZing, Art Mimnaugh of Digital Fountain, John Griffin of UK-based ioko, with more to come. Thanks again to Beet.tv for providing the videos!

Notably absent from NAB this year were competitors Avid and Apple who both pulled out of the show leaving Adobe to slug it out with Microsoft. I recall when I went to NAB in 2006 that Avid, Apple and Adobe all had very large competing booths right across from each other. At that time I saw several emerging trends which now two years later are becoming the norm.

H.264 as standard video delivery format
Mobile content
Alternate distribution channels
Tapeless acquisition
Move from SD to HD

These are a few links I've been checking to get updates from the show: