SpeedBit’s Free Video boost the speed of video downloading speed and also ends interruptions in video streaming.

No More Freezing YouTube Videos

I have a fairly old Sony VAIO computer, around 10 years old, that I still use because I don’t have the heart to put it out to pasture yet.  And being an old computer, I’ve had problems with YouTube videos that will freeze a couple seconds into each clip.

The videos start like normally, then just freeze completely, showing that the video is loading but going nowhere.  I do all I can to keep the computer in good shape, but alas, those videos would just keep freezing on me.  So what to do…?

The Accelerating Solution…

So I recently gave SpeedBit’s free Video Accelerator a try, and it did a great job speading up streaming videos on my old box.  No more freezing.

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Connected TV platforms are growing in number as everyone tries to grab a piece of the emerging Web video sector. Vudu, up to now a distinct also-ran, has increased its chances of standing out from the crowd by being acquired by budget retailer Wal-Mart.

Vudu

Vudu is one of the many companies which started out offering a set-top box for serving Web video to consumers. When that strategy didn’t work, it became one of the many companies which switched to focusing on software rather than hardware.

This means Vudu’s service is now included on a number of other Web-connected devices instead, including televisions and Blu-ray players. The Wal-Mart deal will inevitably affect deals in place with Mitsubishi, Sanyo, Sharp, and Toshiba, but quite how isn’t clear.

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FreeZ Online TV is a downloadable program that allows you to watch a large variety of world-wide television programs on your computer.

How it Works

Following a quick install, the FreeZ software is basically a window with a video screen to the left, and off to the right is a large selection of channels within a number of different categories.

The FreeZ TV channel categories include:

• Entertainment
• Sports
• News
• Government
• Weather
• Shopping
• Etc.

What does FreeZ Offer

A cursory scan of some of these channels shows that, although there are some fairly well known sources such as the BBC, FOX, NBC, etc, there are also an obscure body of program streams that I’ve never heard of (such as ‘IBA Channel 3′ and ‘Tros Sterren’?)

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Hulu’s preposterous exclusion of Boxee has now made it to Congress, with the head of NBC being directly asked about the continuing situation. Could this finally lead to an end of the fight or will the networks and cable companies dig their heels in further?

Boxee Vs. Hulu History

It was almost a year ago when Hulu decided to pull its content from Boxee. TV.com also lost out. The decision was made after the networks and cable companies declared they didn’t like the way their premium content was being viewed on television via Boxee via Hulu.

In essence, they were only happy with Hulu while it remained a computer-only affair. Boxee enabled Hulu to be experienced on TVs and that just wouldn’t do as it may influence people’s decision to cancel their cable subscriptions in favor of online video.

Boxee responded by issuing a workaround to the Hulu block. Which Hulu then plugged, only for Boxee to unplug it. The cat and mouse game has continued since then, with some Boxee users able to watch Hulu programming and others not.

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Faced with a rapidly-dropping number of subscribers, cable companies are starting to realize they need to embrace rather than fight the Web to succeed in this new digital age. And Brightcove wants to help them, providing the platform which could see content cropping up on multiple sites on the Web.

Cable – Who Needs It?

The cable companies really aren’t keen on the Internet or online video. It’s a sector they don’t control, and currently don’t even have a foothold in.

But the Web is providing a viable alternative to expensive cable subscriptions for many people. Who needs to see a huge fee leave their bank account every month when the likes of Hulu provide content for free (at least for now). Especially with more TVs and devices being Internet-enabled, meaning Web video is moving from computers to the living room.

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Boxee has been available for a while now, but it’s still a work in progress. However, the Boxee beta has now been unleashed on the world, available to all who want to download and use it.

It features an overhauled interface, and new apps and content. And it’s pretty damn awesome, though not yet perfect.

Boxee Begins

Boxee seems to have been building up to its open beta status for years now. Probably because it has been doing exactly that. But the beta has now finally been unleashed, unveiled during the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show.

If you haven’t yet heard or used Boxee, it’s a free, open-source piece of software that acts as a central locale for a user’s multimedia content. Films, TV shows, and photos from the Web and your local drive are brought together in one easily manageable setting.

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DivX has changed tact and reinvented itself more time than most. Its latest move is away from a dedicated set-top box and to a streaming Internet TV platform which will be available on a range of devices. Though competition is already fierce.

Evolving DivX

DivX has been a name synonymous with online video for a long time thanks to the codec and player which have been around for years.

However, in more recent years, DivX has tried to break out of these self-imposed walls by trying to enter the hardware market.

But having pretty much failed with its own set-top boxes, DivX is now entering the crowded Internet TV platform market. Which is a risky move.

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