Kulabyte Powers the Next Generation of Live Web Video With MySpace

Kulabyte is Kicking Off the Live HD Web Video Revolution, Using Their XStream Live Encoding Appliances to Deliver HD Video for MySpace’s Largest Ever Webcast, “Operation MySpace”

On March 10, 2008, Kulabyte, together with MySpace.com, using Adobe® Flash® Media Server through Akamai’s content delivery network, will distribute live HD video on the web from “Operation MySpace.” This live concert webcast from Kuwait will demonstrate the future of video on the web, delivering high definition video of the event at less than 1.5 megabits per second.

While Tom Anderson, Chris DeWolfe and today’s top music acts are entertaining the troops and the global MySpace community, Kulabyte will be transcoding the high bit rate HD satellite feed from Kuwait to a lower bit rate HD stream for the web. Despite the lower bit rate, Kulabyte’s proprietary encoding process delivers high quality HD video that will allow viewers to watch the event in full screen on larger Plasma and LCD displays.

“Three years ago we sat down to figure out why we couldn’t get higher quality live video over the web. We are pleased to be able to share what we created with the rest of the world. Traditional broadcasters now have the opportunity to deliver existing programming in parallel over the internet,” said Chris Gottschalk, Co-Founder of Kulabyte. “We have been working hard to deliver higher quality video over the Internet, and we’re excited to showcase that work for the MySpace community,” said Blake Wenzel, Co-Founder of Kulabyte.

With Kulabyte’s encoding products, traditional cable, satellite and broadcast feeds can now be repurposed in real-time for broad consumer distribution on the web. Now that 90% of US consumers have access to broadband connections, and 99% of them have Adobe Flash player on their computers, live re-purposed SD and HD content can be made readily available for viewing on the web.

“I have been amazed by Kulabyte’s technology,” said Josh Brooks, VP of Marketing for MySpace and Executive Producer of Operation MySpace. “Operation MySpace would not be webcasting this show in HD without them. Kulabyte’s encoders are making it possible for MySpace to bring its community a whole new level of web video quality as part of this groundbreaking event.”

“Kulabyte’s Live HD video encoding technology is an impressive solution for delivering high-quality live video over the Internet,” said Scott Wellwood, senior business development manager for Dynamic Media at Adobe. “Together, Adobe and Kulabyte are enhancing the user experience by providing real-time, HD Adobe Flash streaming Web video for this landmark event.”

Kulabyte, developer of the world’s first Live 2 Pass VBR streaming encoders, announced today the commercial availability of its revolutionary XStream Live encoding solutions.

About MySpace

MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world. By integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college communities, and member forums, MySpace has created a connected community. As the first ranked web domain in terms of page views (a), MySpace is the most widely-used and highly regarded site of its kind and is committed to providing the highest quality member experience. MySpace will continue to innovate with new features that allow its members to express their creativity and share their lives, both online and off. MySpace’s international network includes localized community sites in the United States, France, Germany, Australia, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, Austria, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Japan, Sweden, Latin America, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Brazil and the United Kingdom. Fox Interactive Media is a division of News Corp. (NYSE:NWS) (NYSE:NWS.A) (ASX:NWS) (ASX:NWSLV).

(a) Among the top 2000 domains comScore Media Metrix, January 2008. For more information on comScore Networks, please go to http://www.comscore.com.

About Kulabyte

Kulabyte is a leading developer of advanced video encoding solutions for multi-format capturing, encoding, transcoding, and Live streaming of high quality video over the web. All products incorporate Kulabyte´s multi-core TimeSlice™ technology that significantly accelerates the encoding process, increases picture quality, and reduces the required bandwidth for video transmission. Video can now be encoded and transmitted at full SD and HD quality at consumer-level broadband speeds using the world’s only Live 2 pass Variable Bit Rate (VBR) streaming process. Kulabyte solutions consist of software and turn-key hardware products which are uniquely scalable and high performing. Products are geared for professionals to large enterprise networks producing or distributing Live or On-demand video. For information visit www.kulabyte.com.

Contacts

Kulabyte
Jason Cronkhite, 512-749-1266
Jason {at} kulabyte(.)com