NBC Prepares For The Winter Olympics With Silverlight, HD Video, And Facebook Connect

NBC is gearing up for the 2010 Winter Olympics with some changes to its mainstay site, NBCOlympics.com, scheduled to go live tomorrow. (See screenshots below). Once again, just as it did with the 2008 Summer Olympics, NBC will be using a video player based on Microsoft Silverlight technology to offer full HD videos. Except this time, the video player will have DVR-like functionality, with the ability to rewind the video, highlight clips and save them.

The video player will also incorporate Facebook Connect, to allow people to chat with their friends as they are watching the events. NBC expects the addition of Facebook chat to make the videos a more social and engaging experience, and also hopes viewing times will subsequently increase.

The site is also giving its photo slideshows an upgrade, with the ability to pan across high-res photos of all the action shots and do deep zooms on Lindsey Vonn’s boot buckle. Of course, there will also be sections of the sites devoted to TV listings, medal counts, and “Tweets and Blogs.” But the more visually appealing NBC can make the site, the more people will want to stick around.