GCI Streams 2011 Iditarod Race with RGB Networks

Alaskan operator General Communication (GCI) will use the TransAct transcoder from RGB Networks to stream live coverage of the annual Iditarod race to its subscribers’ PCs. The Iditarod is Alaska’s most popular sporting event, and this year’s race begins on Saturday, March 5.??

At its central headend in Anchorage, GCI is using RGB’s TransAct to transcode video of the Iditarod in real-time from the MPEG-2 format used by cable networks to the MPEG-4/H.264 format that’s better suited to streaming to PCs over the Internet. GCI is also using TransAct to create multiple individual streams at different screen resolutions and bit rates to accommodate the wide variety of PCs and broadband speeds used by GCI’s subscribers. Finally, GCI takes advantage of TransAct’s advanced packaging capabilities to package the individual streams into the Microsoft Smooth Streaming video delivery application.