Nvidia Releases Tech For Streaming 3D Video

Nvidia's free plugin allows video websites to stream stereoscopic 3D video

Tuesday during NAB 2011, Nvidia announced that it has opened the doors to its 3D Vision video player technology for free, allowing websites to stream stereoscopic 3D video supported by Nvidia 3D Vision-equipped PCs. The free tech arrives in the form of a plug-in for the Microsoft Media Platform (MMP) Player Framework v2.5 (formerly known as Silverlight Media Framework).

"With Nvidia's new 3D video plug-in, developers can now take full advantage of the stereoscopic 3D video streaming support available in the latest version of Microsoft Media Platform Player Framework," said David Sayed, senior product manager at Microsoft Corp. "Microsoft is delighted to work with Nvidia to deliver exciting functionality and capabilities to help developers build the next wave of websites powered by the Microsoft Media Platform."

Nvidia said the new plug-in is based on the one that's used on its popular 3D web community, 3DVisionLive.com. The MPP Player Framework is open-source code that enables developers to quickly deploy robust, scalable, customizable media-player applications for the Web, based on Microsoft Silverlight and with full support for IIS Smooth Streaming and Microsoft PlayReady DRM, Nvidia said.

To get started, web developers can head here to get the 3D video player plug-in and the how-to guide outlining key steps into getting stereoscopic 3D video support up and running. StudioTV, the "world's first" 3D video sharing website, is one of many who have already started adding Nvidia's new plug-in. However, for those who don't have hardware to support stereoscopic 3D, there's plenty of old-school red/blue 3D videos to watch too.