There were major companies that did not have their on booths at this year's show but instead opted to demonstrate their wares in partner booths.

One of these was Media 100, who was showcasing their Cleaner Live system at the Globix booth. While Cleaner Live is not a new product-it was unveiled at NAB a few months ago-the partnership with Globix is new. Until now, those who purchased Cleaner Live had to find their own provider to deliver streaming content. Going this route is often very expensive. However the Globix partnership gives Cleaner Live owners an option to use the Globix services, which start at $250. This is a huge price difference (several thousand in some cases) compared to other streaming providers.

In a nut shell, the Cleaner Live user logs onto the CleanerLive.com website, schedules the date, time, and number of streams they want to deliver, and they are done. Globix has their own world wide network infrastructure that guarantees that your stream is no more than 3 hops from the source. This is great as it assures that your streams will arrive crisp, clean and fast.

We also touched on the status of Cleaner XL. If you are not familiar with this version of Cleaner 5, it incorporates their latest CrystalICE board into the production pipeline to decrease compression time as much as three to four times standard. Like Cleaner 5, Cleaner XL supports all major streaming formats, in addition to EventStream technology. This enables users to author interactive events directly into streaming content, including chapter lists, hot spots and URL flips, creating a more interactive experience for the end user.

This is a product I have been dying to get my hands on for some time now. Working with DMNTV each week, we generate huge files (larger than 2 GB) that need to be compressed. I have always enjoyed Cleaner 5's ease of use and great compression quality (see Cleaner 5 review on this site), but because it did not support the ICE card initially, we have had to drop back to Media Cleaner Pro 4, which does support the ICE card and lowers our compression time. The drawback, of course, is that Media Cleaner Pro 4 does not support files larger than 2 GB, so it always creates problems when it comes time to export and compress. We've also been limited in the fact that we cannot embed the interactivity that we have wanted to in the show. Cleaner XL looks like it will solve those problems for us, and I hope to have an eval unit in soon and be able to give a full report on its effectiveness.

Pinnacle Systems was another company that opted to go the partner booth route. They too were showcasing products unveiled at NAB 2001, including StreamFactory X2 and Stream Genie Presenter. Stream Genie Presenter not only gives the user the ability to switch between multiple camera sources and add CG elements like before, but it also has the ability to incorporate PowerPoint presentations into the webcast. This is an excellent solution for those in the government and distance learning sectors. Last year I gave Stream Genie a "Best of Show" award, and, while it didn't make the cut this year, I still believe this is the best solution for anyone wanting to stream and switch a live show and wanting to do it at a nice price point.

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