ViewCast Corporation today announced that Madrid-based Ambient Media supplied a Niagara 4115RW streaming video encoder to the Gran Teatre del Liceu opera house in Barcelona for an educational and community outreach program.
The Opera Oberta program goal is to provide accessibility of its performances to individuals -- young adults in particular -- who have limited or no opportunity to attend operas in person. To achieve this goal, the Opera Oberta program streams
live operatic performances via the Internet to students at more than 40 universities
as part of the curriculum for an opera-themed class.
"We think that using the World Wide Web to stream opera performances directly
to young people, who rarely present at opera houses, is an excellent way for
us to circumvent the physical limitations students have in attending the Gran
Teatre del Liceu," said Angel Fernandez, the Liceu's IT manager and leader
of new technology projects. "The Niagara 4115RW was a
good solution for us because the Liceu's audio and video system is a professional
environment, and ViewCast's encoder permitted us to easily, reliably, and cost-effectively
convert from professional digital formats to low-bandwidth Internet formats."
The Gran Teatre del Liceu and its partners, including Spain's Ministry of Industry,
Trade, and Tourism, decided to launch the Opera Oberta project in May 2001.
Shortly thereafter, on Dec. 18, it broadcasted the opera "La Traviata"
live to several universities. Positive feedback encouraged the Liceu to expand
the program, and it launched the first university-course program during the
2002-2003 academic year, with 13 participating schools and an average attendance
of 1,800 students per broadcast. The number of participating universities expanded
to 27 in 2003-2004, and to more than 40 in the current school year.
Five opera performances, with subtitles in multiple languages, are now retransmitted
live in high-quality 8-Mbps video and 640-kbps Dolby Digital-AC3 surround-sound
audio as part of the Opera Oberta's course. This quality provides the universities
with the capability of projecting the video on a large screen for students to
enjoy the opera in a specially equipped hall. The audio and video highlights
of each opera are also streamed in a lower-quality Windows Media(R) or Real(R)
format on the Opera Oberta Internet site, www.opera-oberta.org. Each performance
is introduced with a brief educational program, and after the show, students
can access the Web site for complementary materials.
The Liceu uses the Niagara 4115RW encoder to digitize opera
video and audio contents for Opera Oberta and other Internet-related projects.
The opera house, reconstructed following a fire in 1994, has world-class information
technology facilities, including a video-editing station that it originally
used for the Opera Oberta project. When this equipment proved to be too slow
and expensive for continued use, the Liceu turned to Ambient Media, which equipped
the theater with ViewCast's user-friendly, cost-effective encoder. Ambient provided
the 4115RW ready to go with software and hardware pre-installed.
The ViewCast Niagara family of streaming video encoders and servers provide
reliable, pre-configured, plug-and-play solutions for broadcasting premium-quality
audio and video over the Internet. Award-winning, industry-leading Osprey streaming
video capture cards are integrated into the powerful, reliable, and cost-effective
Niagara platforms, which are supported by Niagara SCX software
for full-featured remote workflow automation and control.
"The Gran Teatre del Liceu has undertaken a very interesting educational
and community outreach program, and our Niagara encoders are
an excellent solution for the theater's need to digitize live operatic performances,"
said Horace Irwin, vice president of business development and marketing at ViewCast.
"We are delighted to contribute to the success of the Opera Oberta project
as it gains momentum in the community."
Visit ViewCast at NAB2005, Booth SL4572
About the Gran Teatre del Liceu
Founded in 1847 on Barcelona's La Rambla, the Gran Teatre del Liceu is an opera
house that has retained its role as a culture and arts center throughout its
history and one that represents one of the symbols of the city. Today, it is
a publicly owned theater -- by the Catalan Regional Government, Barcelona City
Council, Barcelona Provincial Council, and the Ministry of Culture -- under
the administration of the Fundacio del Gran Teatre del Liceu, which, besides
the above institutions, incorporates the Patronage Committee and the old Societat
del Gran Teatre del Liceu.
Visit the Liceu's Web site at www.liceubarcelona.com and the Opera Oberta project
Web site at www.opera-oberta.org for more information
About ViewCast
ViewCast(R) develops video and audio communications products for delivering
content dynamically via a variety of network types and protocols. These products
include Osprey(R) Video capture cards, Niagara(R) video encoders/servers, and
ViewCast IVN enterprise software and systems. ViewCast products address the
video capture, processing, and delivery requirements for a broad range of applications
and markets. ViewCast also provides professional IT services focused on merged
data and video networks through its wholly owned subsidiary Delta Computec Inc.
Visit the company's Web site (http://www.viewcast.com) for more information.
Safe Harbor Statement
Certain statements, including those made by Horace Irwin, contain "forward-looking"
information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933,
as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended,
that reflect the company's current judgment on certain issues. Because such
statements apply to future events, they are subject to risks and uncertainties
that could cause the actual results to differ materially. Important factors
that could cause the actual results to differ materially include, without limitation,
the following: the ability of the company to develop and market new products
as technology evolves and increased competition in the video communications
and IT services market. For a detailed discussion of these and other cautionary
statements and factors that could cause actual results to differ from the company's
forward-looking statements, please refer to the company's reports on Form 10-KSB
and 10-QSB on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
ViewCast and Niagara are registered trademarks of ViewCast Corporation.
Osprey is a registered trademark of Osprey Technologies, Inc.
All other trademarks are property of their respective holders.
