Open Media Network
Encyclopedia
The Open Media Network was a P2PTV
service and application which provided distribution of educational and public service programs. The network was founded in 2005 by Netscape
pioneers Mike Homer and Marc Andreessen
. After operating for an extended beta period, development ended with the serious illness and subsequent death in 2009 of founder Homer.
The OMN network operated as a large, centrally controlled grid network for the distribution of free radio and TV content over P2P
, described as "part TiVo, part BitTorrent file swapping". The Open Media Network client application was available for Apple Mac OS X
(but not Intel based Macs as of October 2007) and Microsoft Windows
(XP and 2000, but not Vista as of October 2007).
The OMN infrastructure was powered by Kontiki
grid network technology, a commercial alternative to BitTorrent.
The U.S. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) launched a "download to own" initiative with OMN and Google
which allowed viewers to purchase episodes of popular PBS programs via the Internet for viewing anytime, anywhere. The fees for downloading videos ranged from about $2 to about $8 (U.S.). Video files were made available in whatever format the producer chose, including WMV, Quicktime
and Google's GVI
format.
P2PTV
The term P2PTV refers to peer-to-peer software applications designed to redistribute video streams in real time on a P2P network; the distributed video streams are typically TV channels from all over the world but may also come from other sources...
service and application which provided distribution of educational and public service programs. The network was founded in 2005 by Netscape
Netscape
Netscape Communications is a US computer services company, best known for Netscape Navigator, its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California...
pioneers Mike Homer and Marc Andreessen
Marc Andreessen
Marc Andreessen is an American entrepreneur, investor, software engineer, and multi-millionaire best known as co-author of Mosaic, the first widely-used web browser, and co-founder of Netscape Communications Corporation. He founded and later sold the software company Opsware to Hewlett-Packard...
. After operating for an extended beta period, development ended with the serious illness and subsequent death in 2009 of founder Homer.
The OMN network operated as a large, centrally controlled grid network for the distribution of free radio and TV content over P2P
Peer-to-peer file sharing
P2P or Peer-to-peer file sharing allows users to download files such as music, movies, and games using a P2P software client that searches for other connected computers. The "peers" are computer systems connected to each other through internet. Thus, the only requirements for a computer to join...
, described as "part TiVo, part BitTorrent file swapping". The Open Media Network client application was available for Apple Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
(but not Intel based Macs as of October 2007) and Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
(XP and 2000, but not Vista as of October 2007).
The OMN infrastructure was powered by Kontiki
Kontiki
Kontiki is a peer-assisted content delivery technology company, founded in November 2000. It was acquired by VeriSign in March 2006. VeriSign, as part of a major divestiture, sold Kontiki to MK Capital in May 2008....
grid network technology, a commercial alternative to BitTorrent.
The U.S. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) launched a "download to own" initiative with OMN and Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
which allowed viewers to purchase episodes of popular PBS programs via the Internet for viewing anytime, anywhere. The fees for downloading videos ranged from about $2 to about $8 (U.S.). Video files were made available in whatever format the producer chose, including WMV, Quicktime
QuickTime
QuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
and Google's GVI
Google Video
Google Videos is a video search engine, and formerly a free video sharing website, from Google Inc. Before removing user-uploaded content, the service allowed selected videos to be remotely embedded on other websites and provided the necessary HTML code alongside the media, similar to YouTube...
format.
See also
- PPLivePPLivePPTV, developed by PPLive, is a leading online TV service offering both live streaming and video-on-demand of TV programs/shows, movies, drama, sports, news and entertainment video contents. The service is accessible either from its website or from client software installation...
- CoolStreamingCoolStreamingCoolStreaming is a P2PTV technology that enables users to share television content with each other over the Internet. The technology behind CoolStreaming is similar to that of BitTorrent. The viewers upload content at the same time the programs are downloaded and viewed...
- Cybersky-TVCybersky-TVCybersky-TV is a free software application for sharing television signals using a P2PTV technology. It allows users with a broadband internet connection to share the TV channels they are able to receive...
- PeerCastPeerCastPeerCast is an open source streaming media multicast tool. PeerCast uses peer-to-peer technology to minimize the necessary upload bandwidth for the original multicaster.The website of PeerCast appears to be abandoned since December 2007...
- OctoshapeOctoshapeOctoshape is a proprietary streaming media platform. It uses throughput optimization technology to deliver HD quality streams and to break through congestion in the last mile to provide more resilient delivery...
- Miro