Viddyou comes out with HD (for pay)

Guy Manfred seen in Washington DC

Watch My Other Vidds On Viddyou.

Now things are getting interesting as online services consider high quality video distribution. The above video is not HD, since I don't have a premium account (it costs $3/mo). Here's how they sell the upgrade:

"With a Premium Account you get to enjoy all the benefits you currently have, plus a lot more. You will be able to upload an unlimited number of vidds — of any length. We'll store your original vidds for you to download or share them if you want them back! Think of Viddyou like a massive archive and backup system for all of your treasured memories in the event something catastrophic happens to your original files at home. Unlimited Custom Privacy Groups so you can add your friends and family and then create groups that only those you want to see your vidds are able to. Shoot and share your videos in the best quality possible with our stunning 720p and 1080p HD video in stereo. Viddyou has it, and you will have it too as part of our economical Premium Account offerings. Protect your memories so they can be shared for generations."

HD video service from Vimeo

After years of enduring the quality levels offered by YouTube and other video sharing services, Vimeo has launched an HD service. Users can upload 1280x720 files from consumer HD cameras such as the Canon HV20 (it appears that Canon is sponsoring at least some part of the service). Hit the full screen button and enjoy the view. Note that the embedded file on this blog is in SD, while the files on the Vimeo site are in HD.

To upload my HD files, I prepared them as h.264 movies, with a bitrate around 1.5mbps, and audio at 48khz. The Apple TV settings in QuickTime and Visual Hub work nicely. They say they support DivX, AVI and other formats, but I haven't tested them.

There is a 250MB/week upload limit. I've got a couple of gripes: The file below doesn't seem to play in HD with the embedded player, and I don't know why. Also, the RSS feed generated by the service doesn't create media enclosures, so I can't use Vimeo as an origination point for iTunes or other podcatchers.


Mt Ritter in June 2007 from John Duhring on Vimeo.

Blogger Draft takes video

Now that Google has removed Google Video in favor of its YouTube brand, it is making moves in the authored content area. While the line between "video sharing" and "video publishing" might be thin in some cases, the new version of Blogger (currently in beta at Blogger Draft) reveals significant differences.

Blogger Draft enables Google to test out new technologies. Right now, it has a video upload and distribution system that leverages Adobe Flash 9 (with h.264 support). Videos are uploaded as media enclosures, so the blog is automatically a feed (Google's Feedburner service is nicely bolted in as well). The resulting videos can be played onscreen (in their Flash wrapper), and also downloaded as .mp4s for use on iTunes, Apple TV, the iPhone, etc.

There is currently no support for audio files.

YouTube Re-mixer

It had to happen sooner or later.

Google has made Adobe's Premiere Elements functionality available as a web-based service via it's YouTube site. This tool promises to make mashups a snap, while rewarding higher quality uploads.

At first blush, this tool has the potential to provide a free wide area workflow solution. Think about the steps to manage an "amateur broadcasting project":

• Create a YouTube account and have your group upload their materials to that account's "My Videos" area.
• Trim and create transitions between videos. Music will be available "soon", and I'm assuming you could do some simple voice-overs.
• Titles can be added, and you have a complete assembly.

Of course, the YouTube label is displayed on your finished project, but you have all the distribution benefits (embeds, conversions, etc). I expect PowerPoint presentations to be filled with YouTube videos everywhere, and soon.

The RSS feed as a video channel

Pyro.tv has come out with a new embedded player, which allows a web page to offer users a selection of episodes from RSS feeds. Here's an example, using the Captured Speed feed. While collegiate rowing might not be your area of ineterest, syndication of this kind should be!



Compare this with the exerience of navigating to the Captured Speed page at pyro.tv.

Here is a way to leverage RSS onto any web page. It remains to be seen if Facebook users will place entire channels on their profiles pages, for instance, but Pyro has taken some nice steps to allow people to move in that direction.

HD cameras are here... but which to buy?

In the New York times, David Pogue does a great job submitting short videos along with his written pieces. Click on the image to see what he says about HD cameras from Sony and JVC that store everything on hard disks, not tape. Bottom line, he seems to recommend tape, since you can easily archive your old tapes and get new ones.

The good news, with this and tape cameras like Canon's new HV20: These are true high definition cameras at affordable ($1k - $2k) prices.

One for all format for Computer, iPod and Apple TV

Leave it to Geek TV:

They have arrived at the "HD" format that plays on an iPod, a PC and AppleTV! They call it their "large format":

It's an H.264 encoded Quicktime file. It's shot in HDV, has a 16x9 aspect ratio, saved as a 640x360 sized movie. Datarate is 1.5 megabit/sec. (sound is 44khz, 16 bit AAC).

I have tested it on the iPod and PC/Mac, although not (yet) with an Apple TV. It's within the Apple TV specs, and should look a lot better than the demo podcasts they had running at the Apple store in Palo Alto.

Note, GeekBrief is taking in money from sponsors (a coffee company, of all things!) and donations from individuals (direct to PayPal). Sound like a plan?

I've uploaded a the segment I tested to my own server, so you can right-click to download the file. Or, watch it by clicking on the picture below: