Vivo Streaming Video

Vivo reports that more than 78% of all sites with streaming video use its VivoActive Producer software--about 2,800 of 3,500 such sites. More than nine million people have downloaded the VivoActive Player plug-in.

VivoActive is unique among streaming video products because it enables sites to stream video directly from an HTTP server--just as they serve .gif and .jpeg images. Other popular streaming video products like Vxtreme, RealVideo from Progressive Networks, and Microsoft Netshow require the use of their own special server software.

Vivo's professional product VivoActive Producer 2.0 sells for $599 and a simpler version called VideoNow for only $99. The standard VivoActive player is a free plug-in, but a special VivoActive PowerPlayer sells for 12.95.

Vivo recommends at least a 28.8 Kbps dial-up connection. The frame rate and overall quality of the video presentation is set during compression with the VivoActive Producer and will not vary according to connection speed. The optimum frame rate is highly dependent on source material and Internet connection bandwidth. Most 28.8 Kbps dial-up applications will probably use 7.5 to 15 fps and ISDN or LAN connections at 15 to 30 fps.

The VivoActive Producer runs on Windows 95, Windows NT, and Power Mac. Vivo files (.viv) play on both Mac and Windows equipped with a VivoActive Player or Power Player.

The Converging Streaming Video Marketplace

Specialized media servers like RealVideo, XingStreamworks, Vxtreme, Microsoft's NetShow, and VDO currently represent about half of the $900K in revenue that streaming video solutions generated in the first half of 1997. They are in use at about 700 of the 3,500 sites on the Web that stream video.

The rest of the streaming video market--those using VivoActive or other products that stream Quicktime, AVI, or other nonspecialized video formats--relies on standard HTTP servers. Microsoft and its partners believe that fully enabling the streaming media market will require a standards-based solution that spans HTTP servers and specialized media servers.

Media companion sites (TV, music, radio content providers) require specialized media servers that are essential to address specific applications like live Webcasts and reach very large audiences where IP Multicast, powerful CPUs, and sophisticated real-time network access management is essential. The customers for these servers are typically the IS/IT departments who have the experience and resources needed to install, configure, and maintain such sophisticated products.

Not surprisingly, the first wave of server-based streaming video solutions from Microsoft's NetShow, Progressive Networks, and Vxtreme, have been most successful in media companion sites. For example, over 50% of Progressive video-enabled sites (about 250), for example, are media companion sites, many with live content.

The vast majority of sites offering streaming video, however, are making video clips for the purpose of marketing products and services or for providing information to employees on corporate intranets. These sites are eager to create Web video documents for on-demand access that will be viewed by only a few hundred to a few thousand people.

Such applications don't justify the expense and resources required for a specialized server, and instead very effectively make use of existing HTTP servers to host and stream video content. This is where Web video usage is exploding, where the network infrastructure already exists and content creation is the enabler of usage.

The market for streaming video is now rapidly converging around a common platform and file format--the Active Streaming Format developed by Microsoft. This format is supported by Vivo and Progressive Networks, which have recently forged a close marketing and technology partnership with the Redmond giant. Another leading vendor, Vxtreme, was recently purchased by Microsoft.

Microsoft's solution spans the requirements of specialized servers and supports standard HTTP servers, using ASF as the unifying file format. The NetShow server coupled with the ASF file format also supports HTTP streaming.

XingStreamworks is the only vendor conspicuously absent from the group supporting ASF, since their products are based on the MPEG video standard, which is not compatible with ASF.

Vivo says that:

As a pioneer of HTTP-based web video and the leading provider of web video solutions, Vivo will continue to develop tools to support open streaming media platforms, allowing users to choose whether a specialized server or an HTTP server is best for their needs. The market for streaming video is about to explode, and with our support for ASF streamed from HTTP servers in addition to NetShow, Vivo's tools will support the needs of all segments of the market.