Video on the Internet has grown at such an explosive rate that the phenomenon has put an increasing strain on servers, and with it the need for extra storage space.

With video iPods, PSPs, iPhones and many other mobile devices offering video playback, it has become necessary to offer videos in multiple different formats which takes up more space and eats up more bandwidth requirements.

To provide a solution for this growing dilemma, RipCode has been hard at work for the past 18 months developing an appliance-based video transcoding solution that works on-demand and on-the-fly. 

Today, RipCode is launching its service and V4 device and it has announced that MySpace is on-board for testing.

Ripcode V4

The RipCode V4 is a real-time video transcoding appliance that, unlike many other encoding solutions, is “built around arrays of best-in-class DSP-based processors,” which allows it to process multiple transcode paths at the same time. 

This translates to a significantly quicker transcode process. RipCode states that one V4 unit can replace between 10 and 20 general process servers, which are used by most encoding solutions.

Currently, most video content is transcoded into multiple formats in advance, with each different version being stored on a server for consumers to pick their desired format. 

With RipCode, this is unncessary. Only one format needs to be uploaded, and when a user clicks to view a video, the V4 works behind the scenes to determine what type of device is being used and to encode the video on-the-fly. This saves time and server space.

MySpaceTV On Board

RipCode also announced today that MySpaceTV is its first major partner and has completed a successful trial of the RipCode V4 appliance.

“MySpace is committed to meeting our members demand for integrating video and other new media to further enhance and personalize their social networking experience,” said Jeff Berman, General Manager of MySpaceTV. “RipCode’s appliance-based transcoding solution allows us to meet this need.”

With a growing audience of online video viewers using a growing array of devices to access content, RipCode has quite a promising future. 

With all of the money and resources that the MySpace team is bound to save from this solution, I am sure that it will not be too long before we begin to hear about other video sites joining up too. YouTube, Veoh, Revver… are you listening?

Michael Garrett is a contributing author discussing the social networking world, his work can be found on Profy.com

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