二五年十二月二十日
By 蒂姆Siglin 特约编辑
专题文章

回顾:CNN管道

For the true news junkie, nothing satisfies the craving like 24-7 news coverage. But for those for whom even that isn’t enough–and for the casual viewer willing to trade a few dollars a month for access to breaking news–CNN Pipeline offers an unmatched streaming video news experience.

12月5日推出, 2005, CNN Pipeline is available in 25 countries and shows various CNN content live--in some cases, 直接从卫星下行链路. 视频可以通过网站(www)观看.cnnpipeline.com), for those who want to casually browse and view in Internet Explorer, 火狐, 或其他熟悉的浏览器(Macintosh用户), 哪些人只能访问网页浏览器, 必须下载适用于OS X的Windows Media 9 Player).

For true "power viewing," CNN recommends downloading the standalone Pipeline application. This application installs itself with options to display video breaking news alerts and live news alerts, which allow viewers to focus their attention on other computing tasks but remain informed about important events.

The Pipeline interface is fairly intuitive, and can be set in one of three primary modes: 视频只, which displays only the video content, at approximately 1/4 screen size; 迷你模式, which shrinks the video window to about 1/8 screen size; and the more powerful 主要模式, which provides a large video window surrounded by 信息 about other news options: up to four live feeds, on-demand "now in the news" packages to show what is currently playing, 即将开始的节目的时间表, 突发新闻的“时事”栏目, and a feature called "your voice" that allows viewers to post comments about particular stories.

Live feeds and on-demand packages (2-3 minute news segments) mimic what one would see working behind the scenes in a news organization: while some are streaming equivalents of watching the same news channel on cable, 比如CNN国际频道, others are raw satellite downlinks with wild or ambient sound and no reporter commentary.

“今天是CNN.Com用户不仅可以按需阅读故事和观看视频, 但有了CNN管道, 还可以控制每日新闻剪辑, several live streams of news and even video from CNN's extensive archives,苏珊·格兰特说, CNN新闻服务执行副总裁. “CNN管道为在线新闻创造了一个额外的维度, 提供更相关的体验, 可信的，专门迎合用户的需求."

该系统问世还不到一个月，但仍有一些怪癖. 例如, the Mac browser-based version (which uses the Windows Media 9 plug-in for OS X) at first didn’t recognize that the plug-in was available to Safari, 尽管测试文件确实播放了. 当选择一个流时, 然而, neither the plug-in nor the standalone Windows Media 9 Player for OS X responded properly to streams. Windows应用程序也有一些怪癖, with the images in the feed windows strobing or failing to appear while video played in the large window, and video in the 主要模式 exhibiting green or yellow horizontal bands that change hue over time when viewing the CNN International live feed.

Even with these quirks, though, CNN Pipeline is attractive in the area that matters most: price. U.S. 观众有三种付费方式:1美元.99日通票，2美元.每月95美元，还有24美元.95美元年费. The price is compelling enough for the average viewer who doesn’t have access to TV during the day, 想要及时了解突发新闻, and doesn’t want to go through the multiple steps normally required to view multiple video clips from a news Web site.

"Many times when trying to showcase multiple channels of content, 导航非常麻烦,丹·雷伯恩说, streaming industry consultant and executive VP of StreamingMedia.com. "CNN's pipeline product does a good job of laying out the content so that it is easy to navigate and allows you to see what the content is about before you watch it."

Initial users agree; while a significant number of responders to blogs about the CNN Pipeline wished the service were free and a number pined for ESPN at this price, several users also pointed out that CNN "got it" by offering live commercial-free feeds at a price that was considered "pocket change."

"Would all of you guys who want to see this free be willing to watch the feeds interspersed with commercials?博客回复者Fantt在dig上问道.com. “3美元/月真的是一个大问题吗? The very fact that CNN did not decided to charge upwards of $15 per month is evidence to me that they DO get it. This isn't just canned content; it's live stuff that's going on right now. I'm not aware of anywhere else on the Internet to get high-quality broadband feeds like this for free, 3美元/月或25美元/年要便宜得多."

CNN personnel choose what is shown on the four live feeds; recent instances include multiple camera angles of a national security confrontation in Miami, as well as simultaneous feeds of a bank robbery in one state and a rescue in another. 给新闻迷, being able to constantly monitor four feeds on CNN Pipeline might just be as close to mainlining as one can get.

可以在网站www上免费试用一个月.cnnpipeline.com.