The 2014 Readers' Choice Awards Finalists

The votes are in, and we're one step closer to crowing the winners of the 2014 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards. We'll be announcing the winners of our 8th annual awards on November 19 at Streaming Media West in Huntington Beach, Calif., but today we present the finalists—the top three vote-getters in each of our 31 categories.

That's the most categories we've ever had—almost double the number of categories in the first awards in 2007—and the growth in the size of our awards program reflects the unstoppable growth of the online video industry. This year, we added several new categories that reflect our Streaming Media Producer focus on the production side of things, while still keeping our emphasis on all aspects of the streaming workflow from capture to delivery.

We began accepting nominations for the awards in July, then opened up the voting for six weeks beginning in September. This year, we were more selective than ever in which companies and products we allowed in each category; i.e., just because a software tool offers rudimentary editing features doesn't make it a video editor. So while the overall number of categories is up significantly from 2013, the total number of nominees available for voting was actually slightly less than in the past.

Still, we saw well over 3,600 voters and more than 34,000 votes cast (voters could submit their votes in as many or as few categories as they wished), and when all the votes were counted and confirmed, we had our finalists. Congratulations to all of them, and a big thanks to Akamai and Teradek for sponsoring this year's awards.

Join us at Streaming Media West—or watch the live webcast at 8:30 a.m. PT/11:30 a.m. ET on November 19—to find out the winners.

The 2014 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards Finalists

Audio Mixer
Azden FMX-32A 3-Channel Portable Field Mixer
Roland Systems R-88 8-Channel Recorder and Mixer
Sound Devices MixPre-D Compact Field Mixer

Capture Card
AJA KONA 3G
Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Capture and Playback
Matrox VS4

Cellular Bonding Solution
LiveU LU500
Streambox Avenir Mini
Teradek Bond

Closed Captioning Solution
3Play Media Captioning + Transcription Services
Adobe Primetime
Livestream Platform

Cloud Encoding/Transcoding Service
Akamai Transcoding Services
Haivision Video Cloud
Sorenson Server

Content Delivery Network
Akamai
Amazon Cloudfront
Limelight

Desktop Video Editing Software
Adobe Premiere Pro CC
Apple Final Cut Pro X
Sony Vegas Pro 13

DRM/Access Control Solution
Adobe Primetime
Google Widevine
VCAS for Broadcast-Hybrid

Education Video Platform
Discover Video DEVOS
Haivision Calypso
Kaltura Video Platform

Encoding Software
Haivision KulaByte 4.3
Sorenson Squeeze Desktop
Telestream Episode

Enterprise Video Platform
DaCast Streaming as a Service
Haivision Video Cloud
Sorenson 360

Field Monitor
Adorama Flashpoint
Atomos Samurai
Marshall M-LCD70

Field Recorder
AJA Ki Pro Mini
Atomos Ninja Star
Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Shuttle 2

Gimbal
DJI Ronin
Freefly MOVI M10
VariZoom StealthyPro

Hardware Encoder (Live)
Cisco AnyRes Live
Haivision Makito X
VBrick 9000 Series Encoder

Hardware Encoder (On-Demand)
Elemental Server
Harmonic ProStream 1000 with ACE
Telestream Vantage Lightspeed

Live Video Platform
Akamai Live Media Solutions
Livestream
Ustream

Media & Entertainment Video Platform
Adobe Primetime
Kaltura OTT TV
Limelight Networks Orchestrate

Media Server
Adobe Media Server 5
Haivision Calypso
Wowza Media Systems Streaming Engine

Multi-Language Solution
Moravia
RealNetworks Helix Media Library
Sovee Language Translation

Portable Live Streaming Appliance
Livestream Broadcaster
NewTek TriCaster
Teradek VidiU

Reporting & Analytics Platform
Adobe Primetime Analytics
Conviva Intelligent Control Platform
Highwinds StrikeTracker

Search & Discovery Platform
Digitalsmiths Seamless Discovery
Haivision Calypso
Kaltura REACH

Transparent Video Caching Solution
Alcatel-Lucent Velocix
Broadpeak nanoCDN
Juniper Systems Juno Content Encore

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)
DJI Phantom 2 Quadcopter
Draganfly Draganflyer X6
Freefly Cinestar 8

Video Advertising Solution
Adobe Primetime
JW Player 6.10
Ustream LiveAd

Video Camera (Less than $2500)
Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera
Canon XA20/25
Sony Alpha a7S

Video Camera (More than $2500)
Blackmagic Design Production Camera 4K
Canon XF200-205
Sony NEX-FS700

Video Switcher/Mixer
Blackmagic Design ATEM Production Studio 4K
Livestream Studio
NewTek TriCaster 40

Webcasting/Presentation Solution (Cloud)
MediaPlatform WebCaster
On24 Webcasting
VBrick Rev

Webcasting/Presentation Solution (On-Premises)
MediaPlatform WebCaster
Sonic Foundry Mediasite
Telestream Wirecast

The 2014 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards Winners

The readers have spoken, and today we presented the awards at Streaming Media West. Here's the online video industry's cream of the crop in 31 categories.

19 Nov 2014