NAB Brings Highlights from Adobe, Apple

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Originally published at Internet.com

This week's NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) trade show in Las Vegas delivered plenty to cheer about for creators of online video, including significant announcements from Adobe and Apple.

Perhaps most important was Adobe's unveiling of a new desktop Flash video player that will let viewers subscribe to content, while allowing creators to serve ads and control playback.

The Adobe Media Player will work on both Windows and Macintosh systems, and will let viewers subscribe to RSS feeds to automatically download new Flash video content. The player will also play saved FLV files, allowing viewers an easy way to play videos downloaded from YouTube and other video sharing sites. Viewers will be able to customize navigation functions and also set when and how often the player looks for new content, so as not to download large files during peak usage times. Saved files can be viewed when the user is offline. The player will also support streaming Flash files.

While the Media Player should prove popular to viewers, Adobe will include even more features that should appeal to content creators. For example, creators will be able to control the look and feel of the viewer's player, re-skinning it to match the content or channel played. Creators will also be able to tie ads to video, making it impossible to play a video without ads. The Media Player will support pre-video, post-video, overlay animations, and banner advertisements.

Adobe won't sell ads for playback with videos, leaving that to the established online advertising networks. Adobe hasn't yet announced media content partners.

The Media Player will support identity-based DRM, letting creators tie video files to specific systems so that videos can't be shared. Saved files can't be played on portable devices, but in an interview with Web Video Universe, an Adobe spokesperson said that that was an upcoming component in Adobe's media strategy.

A beta of the Adobe Media Player will be available this summer, with the final version available in the fall.

Other NAB highlights include: * Adobe announced that the Creative Suite 3 Design Premium and Standard editions are now available. Included components-such as Photoshop CS3, Illustrator CS3, Flash CS3, and Dreamweaver CS3-can also be purchased separately. * Apple unveiled Final Cut Studio 2, which includes new versions of Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack Pro, Motion, and Compressor, and also includes a new color grading and finishing application called Color. The suite will be available in May for $1,299 or an upgrade price of $699. * Apple also announced Final Cut Server, a new media serving application designed to work with Final Cut Studio 2. The server will be available this summer for $999 for one server and 10 concurrent client licenses, or $1,999 for one server and unlimited client licenses.