LiveStation

Infobox Software
name = Livestation



caption =
author =
developer = Skinkers Ltd., Microsoft Research
released =
latest release version =
latest release date =
latest preview version =
latest preview date =
operating system =
platform = Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh (beta) cite web | url = http://www.livestation.com/forum/categories/16-mac_build/posts/1017-it_works | title = Livestation forum - Mac - It works!] , Linux (beta)
language =
status =
genre = P2PTV
license = Proprietary
website = [http://www.livestation.com Official Site; www.livestation.com]

Livestation is a platform for distributing live television and radio broadcasts over a peer-to-peer data network.cite web | url = http://www.livestation.com/channels | title = Live television and radio | accessdate = 2008-03-09] It is being developed by Skinkers Ltd. based on peer-to-peer technology acquired from Microsoft Research.cite web | url = http://www.livestation.com/broadcast_platform?tracker=main_menu | title = Scalable High Quality Solution | accessdate = 2008-05-14]

Overview

Livestation broadcast streams encoded in VC-1 format, received over a peer-to-peer overlay network. Playback controls are overlaid on top of the video stream. Unlike services such as Joost which offer video on demand channels, Livestation streams live broadcasts.cite web | url = http://soapbox.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=4da4263c-68a0-411f-8eec-58dc81bf22da | title = Livestation demonstration | accessdate = 2007-07-05] Livestation splits a video stream into multiple stripes, each of which are shared independently among peers.

Current live TV news channels in the global offering (which comes with a default installation) are limited to France24 in English and French, Al Jazeera English, Bloomberg Television, Deutsche Welle TV and radio, Euronews, Russia Today, BBC World News and BBC World Service Radio. Otherwise, reception is limited through GeoIP filtering, and depends on the location of the receiver [http://www.livestation.com/forum/categories/3-error_messages/posts/392-nothing_view] . Despite advertisement boasting BBC World News or EuroNews, these are not available in some locations, including but not limited to the United States [http://www.livestation.com/forum/categories/12-new_channels__your_suggestions/posts/774-bbc_world_news_for_american_viewers?page=1#776] . Livestation viewers can add channels from a directory, and may add their own choice of channels to the directory (limited to Windows Media streams).

The software is currently available in an open beta for Windows, Mac and Linux. Social networking features have been added that include the ability to chat with other viewers and also find out what others are watching through a user generated rating system. The system can also be ported to Windows Mobile once a port of Silverlight is made available on that platform.

See also

* IPTV
* Internet Television
* Jaman
* Joost
* Miro (software)
* Babelgum

References

External links

* [http://livestation.com/ Official site]