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15,000 Watch Manchester Graduation Ceremonies...Live from Home
News Release: 26 September 2011
Coordinating 38 university graduation ceremonies over a period of two weeks is a daunting task, particularly considering the importance placed on these events by both students and their families. However, The University of Manchester not only succeeded in doing so, they also ensured that families members unable to attend could watch the events as they were streamed live via the university’s website in Flash format using VBrick encoders supplied by the UK’s Garland Partners Limited.
Each ceremony at the university’s beautiful Whitworth Hall was transmitted in high quality as it happened, with clarity of audio and video that allowed website viewers to feel as though they were part of the event. While the hall can hold almost 700 people, many graduates had friends and family members who were unable to attend due to travel costs and availability.
“We wanted to provide everyone with the opportunity to view the celebration of the remarkable achievements of our students,” says Andrew Stevenson, Media Support Analyst at The University of Manchester. “Due to our previous equipment failing, we were in the market for a solution that would not only deliver events live over the internet now, but would be flexible and powerful enough to allow us to future proof the service. We already had Wowza Media Server installed, but the VBrick HD H.264 encoders provided by Garland Partners Limited were the ideal addition. However, it was the support provided by Garland—both pre and post purchase—that was key to smoothing of streaming the event live and which resulted in more than 15,500 unique views during the days of the ceremonies.”
These encoders represent the latest in video streaming, and are a great general-purpose platform for a wide range of IP video applications. Supporting both standard-definition and high-definition video formats, the H.264 product family delivers stunning video quality at unmatched reliability and bandwidth efficiency. Key functions, such as a high-capacity streaming server, on-board recording and rich networking support, are fully integrated into the device versus the multiple boxes typically required by other approaches.
“Having this technology used for such a prestigious event and seeing the resulting streaming being so enthusiastically received by the university’s viewers is extremely rewarding,” states Malcolm Harland, Director of Garland Partners. “We know that there are many events out there that could benefit from a similar solution. It really is an easy way to offer great added value to clients, customers and other stakeholders.”
