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.