The back-end technology that broadcasts IPTV and broadband video. These articles discuss the technology and workings behind the platforms that bring us television over the internet including both hardware and software.
Although live streaming is already big business, there has so far been a dearth of options for the professional Webcaster who wants to stream live events without paying a fortune for a traditional broadcast truck and satellite signal. But no longer, as Livestream has launched Livepack.
Livestream, formerly known as Mogulus, is one of several live streaming companies which offer everyone the chance to be the star of their own television channel. It’s a competitive sector, with Ustream and Justin.tv the other big contenders.
But yesterday saw Livestream launch a new service which could mark it out against its competitors. Livepack is “the world’s first solution for wireless live streaming at HD quality,” and the hardware which makes that possible fits in a specially designed backpack.
Project Kangaroo has been dead for a while now, but the technology, infrastructure, and branding were all up for sale. Orange was interested but baulked at the price. Now, Arqiva, a broadcast operator with its fingers in lots of pies, has bought the lot and intends to use it in the coming months.
Kangaroo was a joint project between the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 which was intended to bring together content from the three main British broadcasters, as well as others, and deliver it online and on-demand to viewers.
Project Kangaroo was shaping up to be the U.K.’s answer to Hulu, a one-stop online video shop where a multitude of different broadcasters and content creators could offer their wares for free to the viewing public.
But, as is usually the case with something good, Kangaroo was crushed before it could be born, as the Competition Commission decided it was anti-competitive.
Barely a month goes by where one of the big name competitors in the live video streaming sector doesn’t introduce a new feature, unveil a redesign, or evolve in another way. Justin.tv is currently doing all those and more in an effort to forge ahead of its rivals.
The live video streaming sector is one of the most competitive across the whole online video market. Big names such as Justin.tv, Ustream, and Mogulus continue to evolve and improve in their efforts to become the number one brand and recognized in the same breath as Google, eBay, Amazon, and YouTube.
Mogulus recently rebranded itself to LiveStream, buying the frankly worth its weight in gold domain name to go with it. While Ustream underwent a radical redesign this time last year and then again in April of this year. Now, Justin.tv, the current traffic leader, has done the same. As well as a complete redesign of the site there are also a number of new features being added to the mix.
Including a video camera in the new iPhone 3GS was an inspired move by Apple, and one which has increased the number of mobile uploads on YouTube. How much more inspired it would be to also include a video camera on the iPod Touch and other models. It could have a huge impact on the world of online video.
The recently-released iPhone 3GS includes some fantastic video features. The device includes a 3 megapixel camera which is capable of recording video at near-HD quality with full audio and at 30 frames-per-second. What’s more, there is some excellent basic editing software included as standard which also allows captured clips to be uploaded to YouTube and the like with ease.
This inclusion of a good quality video camera in the iPhone is a worry for video camera manufacturers, because if this sort of device is available in a smartphone, where is the need to buy a product which costs more and is only capable of doing that one job? However, the iPhone is still a costly prospect for most people thanks to the monthly contract required to use one.
Microsoft’s showing at E3 2009 was dominated by its new motion-sensing device. But the company also announced some innovation in the online video market, including the unveiling of a new Zune video marketplace capable of streaming 1080p full-HD quality content for the Xbox 360 console.
I’ve been banging on for a while now about the importance of video games consoles in getting online video into the living room. That’s because I firmly believe these Internet-connected devices are key to getting quality streaming content onto people’s televisions rather than only on computers as it generally is at the moment.
We’ve already seen a fair few advances in this area. Both the Wii and PS3 are able to provide users with access to Web-based television services such as the BBC iPlayer, Joost, and Hulu. While the Xbox 360, which has no Web browser capability, has Netflix and now the Sky Player providing both downloadable and live streaming video.
Each month, several companies release viewing figures for online video. This month was no exception, although the huge difference in figures for Hulu over the last quarter shows there is still much work to be done in the field of online video metrics.
Online video metrics, the study of traffic and viewer numbers to the various online video companies, is clearly a tricky business. The figures are released every month by different companies, most notably Nielsen, comScore, and Quantcast. Unfortunately, all three sets of figures tell a different story.
The figures for April were released earlier this week and taken individually didn’t really offer too many surprises. YouTube is still way out in front, MTV saw an unexplained increase in viewer numbers, and Hulu, well it really depends who you listen to in Hulu’s case. The U.S.-only video site may either be doing really well or really rather badly, depending on which company you choose to believe.
A hell of a lot of us use YouTube on a daily basis to watch videos, and for the most part this is fun. But when even that becomes boring, it’s time to experiment with the medium a little, which is exactly what YooouuuTuuube allows you to do.
The quality of videos available to watch on YouTube varies greatly. There are gems which deserve massive audiences and consequently go viral across the Internet, but there are also pointless clips of interest to absolutely no-one whatsoever.
The same goes for tools and add-ons which make sense or increase the usability of YouTube. One such tool which has made a splash around the blogosphere this weekend is YooouuuTuuube, which is receiving nothing but praise for the way it converts even the most bland and downright dull video clip into something approaching a work of art.
