Microsoft’s studio-focused Skype TX for broadcasters close to full release
Skype has become a very familiar application that is used by millions of people worldwide everyday for texting, voice and video communications. The application which Microsoft acquired rather than developed internally was never intended for commercial use in broadcasts but increasingly that's been the case with on-air interviews being conducted with interviewees over Skype when they are not near a broadcasting center.
Microsoft has been busy developing Skype TX for the broadcasting industry for some time now and it has just been released a version to manufacturing to produce final copies of the software. The Skype TX service was demonstrated recently at the IBC trade show in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
Manufacturers will now include the Skype TX software inside their hardware in order to test it and see if there are any remaining bugs that need to be addressed before the software is released to the broadcasting industry as a whole. Microsoft has made many new partners with this latest Skype version including Riedel, NewTek and Quicklink in their latest partnering drive to ensure broad compatibility across the industry.
Skype TX has its genesis in the Microsoft acquisition not of Skype per se, but Cat and Mouse which had been a long-time partner with the company on broadcast technologies. The focus has been on better integration with existing TV studio software and equipment in order to help Skype communications be more easily included in broadcasts where needed.
Skype has been used by broadcasters for a while now, particularly over their high speed leased lines which provides a good connection from cooperative TV studios globally when conducting interviews. What has been lacking is good hardware integration and the use of the HD-SDI formats which is a current broadcasting standard but little known about outside of industry insiders and audio / visual technicians.
The new Skype version had been made completely free of associated adverts, all pop-ups have been expunged and notifications are not present at all in order to provide a perfect recording experience for the broadcasting industry which doubtless do not want a pop-up to suddenly appearing right in the middle of a live interview broadcast.
This alternative TV studio friendly version of Skype will also automatically correct for aspect ratio mismatches between multiple people conducting a conversation on the communications service. The software can also multi-task by enabling multiple simultaneous Skype calls at the same time too.
Skype TX represents a broader push into the broadcasting space for Microsoft and is part of their Skype in Media service offering.
