Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV and Multimedia Platform Announced

Microsoft Corp. has a new name for their Internet Protocol television (IPTV) venture, and it's called Microsoft Mediaroom. The latest update to the IPTV software platform includes new multimedia capabilities like in-home personal music and photo sharing, dynamic MultiView (multiple picture-in-picture) capabilities, Multimedia Application Environment for development of interactive services and advanced applications, and digital terrestrial television (DTT) support. Microsoft's Mediaroom Application Development toolkit is said to provides service providers and third-party developers with tools to create revenue-generating TV-based applications that run on the Mediaroom IPTV platform.

Building upon existing Microsoft IPTV features, such as enhanced digital video recording, video on demand, high-definition television and instant channel zapping, the Microsoft Mediaroom platform introduces the following:

• Personal media sharing. This enables consumers to easily listen to digital music and view digital photographs stored on PCs elsewhere in the home on the best screen in the house: the television.

• Multimedia Application Environment. The environment offers richer support for Web services and applications, enabling service providers to deploy advanced features such as dynamic video-on-demand portals, casual games and interactive TV services.

• Enhanced MultiView capabilities. These allow consumers to see multiple channels, programs and camera angles on one screen.

via | TechCrunch