nbcolympics.com

Updated 9:20 a.m. PDT, with comments from conference call and at 10:20 with additional comments regarding Silverlight and the iPhone.

Microsoft on Monday announced, as expected, that it is ready with a final version of its Silverlight 2 media player.

Silverlight 2 will be available for download starting Tuesday, Microsoft said. Among the new features are support for digital rights management technology, improved cross-platform support and deep zoom technology. Microsoft also announced a range of new partners including AOL, Blockbuster, CBS College Sports, Toyota, and Yahoo Japan.

Microsoft also disclosed some numbers for the Olympics work it did with NBC. … Read more

Monday night offered me the first chance to really test NBCOlympics.com's live video. It was the first time I was home to watch the events and there was something live that I wanted to see more than what was on one of the television channels.

I stayed up late to watch USA Softball in its first match against Venezuela. The video quality was mixed--from a bit pixelated to quite excellent--but overall acceptable.

At first I found the online commentary helpful, right up to the point at which it told me that a particular player flied out a good … Read more

Updated 1:00 p.m. PDT, with initial impressions of video experience on NBCOlympics.com.

Although NBC is holding back online video of the opening ceremonies until its TV broadcast Friday night, some other sites have started posting unofficial videos.

As many had predicted, the Internet refuses to adhere to a schedule. I did a quick peek this morning and found a radio station news site with video from the opening ceremonies, even though the official NBCOlympics.com site has only photos.

NBC is showing 2,200 hours of live video but is holding back certain marquee events, such as … Read more

Although it talks about the battle with Google as a marathon rather than a sprint, Microsoft is hoping that the Olympics will help give its Internet properties a tail wind.

As Google and Yahoo are also doing, Microsoft is tailoring its search results to feature Olympics content. Its news, video, and celebrity search results will all highlight Olympics content.

Still, when it comes to search, Microsoft is probably going to have to be happy with the Bronze medal, in terms of overall traffic.

In other events, though, Microsoft is going for the gold (OK, I'm done with Olympic metaphors). … Read more

Stage 8H is best known as the place where Saturday Night Live is filmed. This week, though, it's been turned into an ad-hoc data center as part of NBC's efforts to stream thousands of hours of live Olympic coverage over the Internet.

Instead of the usual crop of comedians, NBC will have dozens of people watching every hour of the games, looking for highlights that it can chop up and make available on-demand. It's just one piece of an elaborate arrangement that shuttles the events in Beijing back to the U.S.

From each of the dozens … Read more

Two years ago, watching the Olympics live via the Internet was limited to a single gold medal game of a popular sport. This year, everything from preliminary table tennis matches to team handball will be available both live and on-demand directly to the PC.

In all, more than 2,000 hours of live content and 3,000 hours of on-demand video will be available from the PC via NBCOlympics.com.

While a huge opportunity for Olympics fans, it is also a big test for both Web video and for the companies behind the site, in particular for NBC Universal and Microsoft, whose Silverlight technology is being used in the video player, and for Limelight Networks, whose network is being used to route all of those streams to Internet service providers.

To be sure, the Web has seen some big live events in recent years, including CBS Sports' streaming of March Madness games, but this could be the biggest test yet.

"It does keep me up at night," said NBC Universal Senior Vice President Perkins Miller, who is heading up the network's Internet efforts.

That this much content will be available over the Internet is a testament to just how much progress has been made in everything from video streaming to online advertising in just the past two years, as well as a change in attitude among consumers, who now slurp up 3.5 billion videos a month from YouTube. … Read more

Sun Microsystems made the Olympic cut. Sun will provide server technology using Intel quad-core processors for NBC's Olympic coverage.

The technology platform will enable live events to be streamed online to NBCOlympics.com during the Beijing Olympics, which take place from August 8-24, Sun and NBC said Monday.

Intel quad-core Xeon processors will power a total of 160 Sun Fire servers that will drive NBC's Web site, according to an Intel statement. Sun Fire X4150 and X4450 servers will be deployed, according to Sun.

The X4150 servers are offered with quad-core Xeon processors such as the Xeon E5440 (… Read more

Microsoft's latest legal headache is a suit from a little-known company called Gotuit Media, which charges elements of Silverlight infringe on the video metadata company's patented technology.

In a suit filed July 2 in San Francisco Federal Court, Gotuit charges Silverlight infringes on several of its patents and seeks an injunction against the software maker as well as damages and attorney's fees.

Gotuit may be a relative unknown, but Microsoft is facing an opponent it knows quite well. Gotuit is represented by San Francisco-based lawyer Spencer Hosie, the same Hosie that successfully represented Burst.com in its … Read more