"The industry doesn't fail; companies do," Disney Internet Group Executive VP Richard Glover. Apple is putting the finishing touches on it's MPEG-4 CODEC, which should be available by the end of the year. Microsoft unveiled Microsoft Producer, it's answer to streaming media presentation creation. Media 100 has partnered with Globix to provide inexpensive streaming services for Cleaner Live users. Stream Genie gets an upgrade to support Power Point presentations in streaming media. SRSWOWcast.com receives the Digital WebCast Best of Show Award.

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Streaming Media West, took place last week in Long Beach, California, and I decided to briefly attend and take a quick run through of those exhibiting. You may be asking yourself, "Stephen, you are the webcasting guru, why only spend a short amount of time at the show?"

Well, dear reader, I decided to make it a quick trip for two reasons. The last Streaming Media West was just a few months ago (October if memory serves), and, to be honest, I thought having another convention so soon was pushing it a bit. Second, I had a feeling that after the many months of dot-bombings that the show floor would be smaller than expected.

Even though the space for this year's show floor was bigger, the number of exhibitors was quite small. If you looked through the long list of exhibitors published a few weeks ago here at Digital WebCast, you would have noticed many were now curiously absent and that some had cut back on booth size from last year. Many still seemed shell shocked about what had happened in recent months, and I got the distinct impression that the view by many on the show floor was that streaming media was about to say a fond farewell.

Don't misinterpret my words; streaming media is NOT dead, and neither is the Internet, despite what is happening in the economy. We are at a lull, or, as Douglas Adams once wrote, "The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul."

Disney Internet Group Executive VP Dick Glover reflected those ideas in his keynote address when he said everyone should not give up. "If you believe in your idea, don't give up on your vision. Don't bail out at the first signs of trouble." He also said, "The industry doesn't fail; companies do," and he advised everyone to hold on to good ideas and not confuse failing companies with failing technology.

In fact, recent reports (http://www.digitalwebcast.com/2001/06_jun/news/streaming_europe.htm and http://www.digitalwebcast.com/2001/06_jun/news/yankee_group.htm) have indicated that streaming media demand is up, not only in the United States but in every part of the world. This demand will only increase the need for those companies who can deliver great technologies that are actually useful.

Which brings me to my adventures in Long Beach and those companies I had a chance to visit and talk with.

One of my first stops was with Apple. While they did not have a booth at this year's convention, they did have a meeting room where we discussed the forthcoming release of the Sorenson 3 CODEC. According to those I spoke with, the CODEC should be released in the next three to four weeks. Word is that the upgrade will be free. Stay tuned for more as the release date draws near. Apple also touched on some of the improvements to QuickTime 5, including the new skin features. This is far better than the skin options you have with some other media players, and I'll try and get some tutorials on how to build them soon.

We also talked briefly about Final Cut Pro 2 and how it will have an impact for those producing for streaming media. If you would like to read a review of this great NLE system, click here. I did have my first sighting of a working Pioneer DVD-R "Superdrive" in use in the Apple demo computer. Previous units I had seen were mockups because the demand was so high for these drives that Panasonic could not keep any in stock. For more on the Pioneer DVD-R drive, be sure to check out DMNTV.com.

Also shown was Apple's new MPEG-4 CODEC. This CODEC is still in early beta form, but it did look promising. The video image was a bit fuzzy and soft for my taste, but I was assured that Apple was working on it, and by the time it is released it should produce a very sharp picture.

The nice thing about MPEG-4 is that it produces a small enough file size for picture quality that it will be the key to unlocking streaming video across wireless networks and devices. While many trial streaming video wireless phones are on the market now, if economic trends improve, look for mass marketing of video cellular phones by Christmas 2002. Last year, Microsoft demonstrated the Eggy, a wireless portable device from Japan that can stream video and audio to the end user. While the Windows Media Format seems entrenched in Japan, I have a feeling that the lines will blur in the United States, and the end user will have no idea if the video they are watching is streaming QuickTime or Windows Media.

Speaking of Apple and Microsoft, Microsoft did have a booth on the show floor, and did have an Apple computer sitting among the various PCs. Microsoft has recently released Windows Media Player 7 for the Mac and was demonstrating the great image quality. Microsoft also unveiled Microsoft Producer, their answer to editing and producing streaming media presentations. This companion tool for Microsoft Office XP is available for download today from the Microsoft site as a technology preview. The final release is expected to ship sometime near the end of the year.

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.

Avid did have their own booth, but instead of showing ePublisher (still no word on when they will enable an Undo function in the program), they were showing Avid Xpress DV 2.0. Having started my NLE career on Avid systems, I was intrigued to see an inexpensive yet powerful product that can allow one to edit and then deliver streaming video content from a laptop computer. I really can't say much about this program right now; I would really like to review it more than the five minutes I was able to play with it at the show floor. I'll try to get a review unit in soon, and give it a thorough testing.

The rest of the people I visited with were those groups that had the exact same thing to say, "blah blah blah, we are the best. Blah blah blah, push to the edge of the Internet. Blah, blah, blah, no one can beat us. Blah, blah, blah, look how great we are." To be honest, I don't mind listening to that kind of hype coming from companies because that is what they should be saying. The problem I do have with that kind of talk is that many of these companies seriously believe it, and it would be considered blasphemy toward the company if they thought any other way.

At last year's Streaming Media West show, I ran into many companies that had the same dogmatic beliefs. These are the companies that strut around with their fancy painted PT Crusiers, proclaiming they have cornered the market on B2B solutions, while all the rest are nobodies. Guess what. Those companies were the first to suffer the fall out from the dot-bomb explosions. Were they at this year's show? If they were, I didn't see them, or else they were in the DMZ with a single podium booth. Instead of running from booth to booth looking for who had the neatest toys to snag, the exhibitor attendees should have been spending more time on what their competition was actually saying and showing at the convention. By keeping an open mind, and tight lip, many of these companies could learn and adjust instead of being the next bombing run.

Which brings us to the Digital WebCast Best of Show Award.

The award winner for this show is one of those companies that at fist glance many might say, "So what? Big deal." Let me assure you, this is not one of those companies.

SRSWOWcast Technologies debuted at the show, with their latest product to improve the quality of streaming audio. If you have Windows Media Player you are probably familiar with the SRS Wow button located in the audio panel. SRSWOWcast Technologies is a spin off of SRS Labs. With their first product, SRS-APC, those in the encoding, post-production and media services communities will be able to improve the quality of the audio streamed. SRS Audio Processing Center can deliver stereo and surround sound audio at extremely low bit rates. Imagine you are a mom and pop Internet Radio Station. You know that the better the audio signal you send out, the more bandwidth you will be taking up, and the more money will have to be spent in broadband delivery. Now image that you can make a 12k audio signal sound like a 48k without having to spend more money. The word you are looking for is WOW.

SRS APC Center comes in three forms. The first is a software-only package which can improve voice material with VIP or WOW Voice filters to improve intelligibility and restore a natural quality to the voice instead of the "tinny" sound that is common with low bit rate streams. Audio can also be processed prior to compression with WOW, SRS Truebass, FOCUS and 3D Mono. TruSurround can also be applied to deliver a virtual surround sound experience for the end user. There are also hardware options available to those who need to output many different signals at the same time.

The last configuration is a prototype box that routes audio from your system and then into your sound card. This prototype allows you to do many of the same functions as the software only unit, but for those who like to have a real hands on approach to tweaking their audio signal, you will definitely want this one.

If you would like to see SRSWOWcast technology in action, click here (http://www.srswowcast.com/clips/default.asp# ).

So what will be on the line up for the next Streaming Media West show? Will the exhibitor Ghost Town continue to grow as more dot-coms become dot-bombs or will we have a complete turn around as more and more companies recognize the need for streaming media in their daily workflow? We won't have long to wait as the next Streaming Media West show is set to begin in April of 2002.