CIOL: What are the video encoding formats are supported by Silverlight?

AS: Silverlight supports Windows Media Audio and Video 7, 8 and 9 (WMA, WMAPro, WMV and VC-1). Silverlight also has support for 1080p High-Definition video out of the box. In addition, the Expression Encoder makes converting video/audio to Silverlight-friendly formats a snap.

Finally, Silverlight 3 (due to be launched sometime this year) brings support for the H.264 (MPEG 4) codec and a raw A/V pipeline that allows developers the choice to write their own codecs. This, along with built-in GPU acceleration support, makes Silverlight the best platform to deliver video on the web.

CIOL: What are the new interactivity elements that Silverlight is offering in IPL website?

AS: I touched upon some of these in my first answer. In addition to providing an adaptive stream of live match videos, the live match video player also has advertising support. The advertisements are non-obtrusive and let viewers enjoy the live match action for free.

There’s also the great video gallery that lets viewers search for highlights (by team/player/date etc.) and relive the action from matches that happened earlier.

The Deep Zoom enabled image gallery has a huge collections from the match and off-the-field moments. The great thing about Deep Zoom is that it lets users browse all these images together and see them at the resolution they want without overly taxing limited Internet bandwidth.

CIOL: Does Silverlight web application work with all browsers and platforms and what are the main features and benefits of Silverlight?

AS: Silverlight supports (or will support) the following platforms:

a. Windows: Internet Explorer, Firefox
b. Mac OS X: Safari, Firefox
c. Linux: Firefox and Konquerer supported via Moonlight, a Silverlight compatible runtime
d. Windows Mobile: Support for Windows Mobile is currently under development
e. Symbian OS: Support for Symbian OS is currently under development. Symbian powers phones by Nokia among others

As you can see, the list is quite large and covers practically the whole gamut of browsers/platforms currently available.

Silverlight is a portable subset of the Microsoft .NET Framework and as such brings with it all the power and ease of use developers have come to expect from the .NET framework:

a. Data-driven controls such as DataGrid
b. Media Support: Video/Audio playing capabilities with a number of supported formats
c. Networking: Support for SOAP web services, REST-enabled services and TCP/UDP sockets
d. Browser Integration: A Silverlight application is a first-class citizen of the browser it is hosted in. Not only can the application interact with other elements in the browser (using JavaScript) but it also enables elements in the browser to interact with Silverlight applications
e. Isolated Storage: Lets Silverlight applications store data on the client’s machine thus allowing differentiated experiences per user and storage off application settings.