Video is Evolving -- Don't Get Left Behind 11/15/2011

Video was it, is still it and always will be it.  From the the first time a kid sat in front of a screen and the movement and sound caught their eye, they were hooked.  It doesn't matter how it gets delivered, cable, DVD, download, or stream the viewer is insatiable.

I liked this article in MediaPost, it presents interesting facts surrounding use of video.

MediaPost Publications Video is Evolving -- Don't Get Left Behind 11/15/2011:

It is critical to recognize that just putting a video on a web site or in a blog is not good enough any more.  With so much to choose from and limited time (even with mobile devices now giving us even more access), the viewer wants to be compelled.  Audiences expect more and we can give it to them.  We all have something to say, the key is to not suck while saying it.  Become your own broadcast media company.  Put up your own broadcast antenna so to speak.  Make your point relevant, honest and poignant.  Your audience will find you.

Flash - Today's 8-Track Tape Player

For some of those reading this the reference to 8-track tape will not even resonate.  8-track was a technology that came and went because it was only a temporary solution and never really that good.  There was no point in fighting it, if you invested heavily in 8-track tape media (as some have invested today in Flash media) you were going to be left with the hefty cost of  replacing your media and hardware (in today's case streaming infrastructure).

Flash advocates and those heavily invested in the plug-in are dragging their heals and fighting a similar yet inevitable battle as the 8-track generation.  Flash was a temporary solution to what is now a 10 year old problem.  Flash was okay, looked cool and solved some challenges but

Going, going... Silverlight

The writing has been on the wall for some time. Microsoft Silverlight was nothing more than a reactive response to Adobe's Flash. As Flash will ultimately go, Silverlight already has. Get over it! We no longer use Morse code either.

Microsoft, in order to have any place in the evolving "cloud based" Internet, have more or less left Silverlight for dead as their latest OS Microsoft 8 is presented to developers.

The frustrated pro Silverlight Developers, flooded and flamed MSFT Silverlight forums.

I can appreciate the frustration that these developers are experiencing but it's over boys and girls.  Time to move on and realize that the future is HTML5.

This also means Flash is history.  Although Adobe is putting up a good fight, they cannot stave off the inevitable memetic transformation that is video without plugins.

Heeeeeeere's WebM!

With Larry Page (co-founder, Google) replacing Eric Schmidt, all eyes are on the company to see what new culture Page may bring. Perhaps the most recent push of WebM is an indication. 

Internet Broadcasting: A Look Forward into 2011 and Beyond

In an interview with Streaming Media magazine, I was asked for my observations, trends and predictions based on the current state and future status of the Streaming media industry.  In this article, among other issues, we discussed how models shift from free (ad supported) to pay based content.  By conditioning an online audience that highly specific content is a good value proposition, thus smaller content producers have aided the larger aggregators like Hulu and Netflix in gaining market share.  The article supports some fascinating findings from comScore for example, "Twenty-nine percent of those surveyed like the fact that it is easy to discover new shows by finding them online; 13% just plain prefer the online viewing experience, and 9% either don’t have a TV or, if they do, don’t subscribe to cable or satellite".

As forecast - Big Media Comes Looking for Little Media Content

Not to sound smug... no I take that back. I am a bit smug on this one.
Your content matters and you should become your own broadcast media company.  
I have been advocating this for some time now, advising my clients that the time to begin broadcasting online is now!  Get a jump on the learning curve.  Perfect your production techniques, work on better lighting and audio.  Try different camera angles, etc.  As you do this, you will be considerably ahead of others who are surely to follow.  The logic I have used and claimed was based on the trends that were and still are clearly evident.  Internet and Television are melding.  Digital channels and 24 hour specialty networks need original content.  This has now escalated to the giants of TV, The Networks.

Online Viewers - Conditioned To Expect HD Streams

Isn't HDTV great?  All one needs to do is watch your favorite HD program in Standard definition and it becomes obvious.  We are spoiled now.  No matter whether it is sports, reality TV, drama or news, we have really gotten use to the resolution 1080p.


As hard is it is to go backward from your favorite HD program to SD, so too is viewing webcasts (online streaming or Internet broadcast) in the compressed video format once we have become accustomed to high resolution video and in particular HD.


The challenge facing the industry at the moment is an appetite for HD resolution which is ahead of the curve.  That curve being the last mile delivery speed, the home network (modem, router, NIC) and the video processing capability of the computer or device being used for playback.  The online viewer is generally non technical and doesn't relate to the complex series of integrated elements that need to get along in order to stream an HD video over the public Internet backbone.  Because the DVD player works well, so too should the streaming video on their brand new computer.  At least that is their perception.

Google drops H.264 from Chrome - knee jerk or brilliance?

For the average consumer this recent move by Google won't mean much.  Early adoption of web enabled devices for "TVeverywhere" is still limited to a fraction of the market.  It will impact all those otherwise oblivious users of devices like the PS3 and Xbox, the iPhone and iPad, the Blackberry and new Playbook as well as anyone using Mac OS and Safari.  When put into this perspective it should earth shattering news.  So far only the developers and service providers wrestling with standards have taken notice but here is why you will want to pay attention.

YouTube's success is chocking itself - Spammers benefit

The more successful your video becomes on YouTube the less likely you are to benefit. Spammers have learned to watch for high traffic clips and then hammer these with links and promotions spamming anyone wanting to view comments pertaining to the clip itself.

This defeats the social aspect of video viewing and should certainly be a concern should you wish to share the link with friends

Forwarding or posting a link to a popular video just increases the reach of the spammers. In otherwords it is self defeating

This will ultimately lead to reduced interest in the viral aspect of YouTube thus chocking on it's own success

The good news is that YouTube has trained the masses as to the effectiveness and interest in online video. Becoming your own Internet Broadcast media company is more beneficial than trying to gain attention via YouTube. Online producers of Internet Broadcasts can control their own views and traffic by embracing new technology that puts publishing and distribution into their hands. The tide is turning and it is very positive for all those looking to be the antithesis of YouTube, Myspace and other similar social video sites and apps.

Intel Chip "Insider" unlocks HD Movies for streaming

One of the knocks against HTML5 video has been the lack of security or DRM.  Intel may have resolved this at the chip level.  A new chip feature called "Insider" will allow for a protection layer to unlock 1080p content from online streaming services.  New graphic technology is also being included in the chip to speed up video.  The Core chips are based on a new microarchitecture code-named Sandy Bridge.  They will not currently support DirectX 11 at the this time.