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July 10, 2009
Microsoft has released the latest version of Silverlight, its rich media platform.
Silverlight's upgraded feature set includes the introduction of Smooth Streaming. Adaptive bitrate technology adjusts the quality of a stream according to the speed of a user's broadband connection. If sufficient bandwidth is available live and on-demand videos can be played back in high definition (720p+ resolution). Microsoft has also introduced support for H.264 video and AAC audio codecs.
Silverlight 3's out-of-browser capabilities allow users to run applications on their desktop. Applications can be accessed offline, with user data cached until the connection is restored.
Additional features include support for 3D graphics, animation features and GPU hardware acceleration.
NBC Sports has announced its intention to use Silverlight for video delivery across its web properties.
But the latest version of Silverlight will not just be looking to gain share from FP10. The ability to access content offline on both Macs and PCs makes version 3 a viable competitor to Adobe's AIR desktop client. AIR applications have been developed for video outlets including the BBC iPlayer to provide a download option to consumers.
NBC Sports is the latest high profile client win for Silverlight, whose customers already include Netflix and Sky. Microsoft's key advantage over Adobe may prove to be the ability to roll out video services across multiple platforms – Mac, PC and, significantly, the Xbox 360 console - using the same back-end technology (for example Netflix streaming content is delivered to all three platforms). If additional companies decide to distribute video through the Xbox Microsoft may be able to leverage these relationships to convert partners to Silverlight for their PC and Mac services.
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