Smooth Streaming HD

Content for the NBC Olympics site are presented in hi-definition through a technology called Smooth Streaming, part of Microsoft Silverlight. When watching a video with Smooth Streaming the Bit Rate indicator (signal strength meter) on the right end of the control bar will indicate the quality. When the video is playing at optimal definition, the HD icon will appear.

Media Player Icons

Play/Pause starts and stops the playback of the video that you are currently watching.

Time Bar visually displays where the video is relative to its total duration and displays the Play Markers to help you navigate the game. You can click anywhere on the timeline to start watching from that point or (when watching live video) click the "To Live" button to get back to the current action

Replay Jumps back 15 seconds to let you repeat the last play. You can then click the "To Live" button to get back to the current action or continue in DVR mode

Slow Motion starts playback at half speed. You can either click the button again or click the Play button to resume normal speed. You may continue in DVR mode or click "To Live" to return to the current action

Fast reverse Tapping the button once will start rewinding at 4x normal speed. Tap a second time to rewind at 8x normal. Tap again (or press "play") to revert to normal playback

Fast Forward Tapping the button once will start playing at 4x normal speed. Tap a second time to play at 8x normal. Tap again (or press "play") to revert to normal playback

Key Events Pressing the button will open or close the menu listing all the key places from the game in order. You can click on a play to jump to that point in the timeline

Timeline Markers These represent where key events took place. If you hover the mouse over the marker you will see a brief description of the event and clicking the marker will take you to that point in the timeline.

Full Screen opens the video into full-screen mode (return to normal mode by pressing Esc)

Boss Button Of course you're working! Click here to pause the video and display something more appropriate for business hours.

Timeline Clicking anywhere on the timeline (or dragging and dropping the "play" indicator at the end of the dark blue area) allows you to move forward and backward in the currently playing video (including live hi-definition Smooth Stream videos)!

Mute & Volume allow you to change the volume, including muting it; the volume slider will appear when you place your mouse over the icon

The NBC Olympics video player requires the latest version of Microsoft Silverlight in order to access the high quality video presentation. Silverlight is a lightweight, cross-platform web browser plug-in from Microsoft that enables rich multimedia experiences like the NBC Olympics player. You can learn more about Microsoft Silverlight at http://microsoft.com/silverlight.

Note for Linux users: While Moonlight2 has added many Silverlight3 features for Linux users it does not currently fully support the requirements of the NBCOlympics video player, though enabling this is a priority. If you want to assist the project in any way please visit the official Moonlight site for current project status and opportunities.

Video is currently supported on the following browsers:

• Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8 for Windows (2003, XP SP2 or greater, and Vista)
• Firefox 2, 3.x for Windows (2003, XP SP2 or greater, and Vista) and Macintosh (Intel only)
• Safari 3, 4 for Macintosh (Intel only).

For all operating systems we recommend you have the latest services packs or updates applied

Hardware and internet connection speed recommendations for viewing video in the NBC Olympics Player

For using the NBC Olympics player, we recommend the following minimum hardware and broadband connections:

• 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 or Intel-based Macintosh, 1 GB RAM, hardware acceleration-capable graphics card
• 768k broadband connection

For the best quality experience using the NBC Olympics player, we recommend the following minimum hardware and broadband connections:

• 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 (Windows or Macintosh), 1 GB RAM, hardware acceleration-capable graphics card
• 2500k broadband connection

Machine and network conditions may vary during playback and affect the end-user experience.

RECOMMENDED: Use Silverlight in the 32-bit Internet Explorer process on x64 systems. Most browser plug-ins (including Silverlight, Flash, Java and almost all ActiveX controls) only work in 32-bit browsers currently.

For more information about Microsoft Silverlight, see the official web site.

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