That rejoicing you hear. It’s all the video geeks I know reacting to the news that their favorite Website for video sharing, the venerable YouTube, is testing high-quality video streaming that may debut to the public in February.

Loud cheering. High-fiving. Chest-thumping.

YouTube co-founder Steve Chen confirmed at the NewTeeVee conference yesterday that high-quality video streams are coming soon, telling cnet that these vids will be available to everybody within three months.

Chen said YouTube is testing a player that detects the speed of the viewer’s Internet connection and serves up higher-quality video if the user wants it. Continue reading »

NewTeeVee Live co-hosts Om Malik and Liz Gannes hosted a brief chat with YouTube co-founder and wunderkid Steve Chen.

On the key to YouTube’s success, Chen stressed the idea of YouTube as a platform where the focus is creating a simple experience so users can put whatever content they want on the site and get help from YouTube in syndicating it. Which sounds straightforward enough. Except when you consider one of the other topics Chen fielded: how to handle concerns about copyright infringement.

Chen talked about a two-pronged approach that includes using digital fingerprinting technology to try and identify unauthorized clips, as well as a monetization strategy that entices content owners (think Viacom) to allow their clips to be posted on the site. Legally.

In terms of what’s next for YouTube, Chen talked about a future with easier tools for sharing content and better video quality, especially on cellphones.

NewTeeVee Live host Om Malik moderated a self-described “geeky” roundtable to address what he sees as one of the biggest questions in the online video market: What is the implication on network infrastructure?

The panelists, execs from Cisco, Akamai, Level 3, Verizon and Maven Networks, generally agreed that video is pushing the envelope. Though they all seemed confident in the industry’s ability to rise to the challenge.

Grant van Rooyen of backbone provider Level 3, in particular, seemed more than happy to make upgrades to the network to support broadband video, HD and whatever else might come next. His company has already earmarked in excess of $600 million in network upgrades this year alone.

So, while it’s not the first time that Malik has pondered whether or not the back-end infrastructure is up to the task of supporting continued online innovation on the Web, today’s panelists at least think the Net can take it.

[Ed. Network infrastructure vendors may be confident of the technology’s ability to support Internet TV, but some ISPs are telling a different story.]

At NewTeeVee Live, a panel of venture capitalists that have backed online video startups like Veoh and Heavy.com talked about funding for the nascent market. Depending on who was talking, the outlook for VC investments varied from treacherous to less treacherous.

Entertainment-lawyer-turned-VC Dennis Miller of Spark Capital warned that there are already investors who are becoming “roadkill” and there will be more roadkill ahead. George Zachary of Charles River Ventures generally agreed that there aren’t a lot of Google-like opportunities in video now that will pay mega-dividends to early investors. Instead, Zachary thinks the money isn’t in the content but in the social networks that are built around content. Continue reading »

At NewTeeVee Live, the subject of copyright came up in a roundtable about “crossover hits” between the Internet and TV, and an MTV executive boldly went where other content owners have been hesitant to go before.

Ty Ahmad-Taylor, vice president of product development at MTV Networks, said he thinks the best antidote to piracy is making your content widely available. Apparently, not everyone at MTV’s parent company Viacom shares that exact view, since Viacom’s filed a $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube. Continue reading »

No sooner do I buy my latest piece of hardware — the iPod Touch — my gadget lust moves on to something new. That something is a PlayStation 3.

Already impressed with the device’s next-generation gaming potential, media playback options, and the inclusion of a Blu-Ray player — and further tempted by the recent price drop — today’s news that DivX support on the PS3 will be arriving shortly, may have just pushed me over the edge.

Ars Technica reports:

DivX has announced that the Sony PlayStation 3 will soon support the DivX video codec. We suspected as much when the PS3 2.0 firmware was released, as it includes the ability to detect both DivX and Xvid files. According to the DivX team, full support will arrive with a future software update. DivX CEO Kevin Hell said in a statement, “We are excited to work with Sony Computer Entertainment to bring DivX to PS3. Our technology will expand the multimedia functionality of PS3 by enabling users to enjoy access to the broad library of content in the DivX digital media format.”

Of course that “broad library of content” which Kevin Hall refers to, includes lots of pirated content such as Hollywood blockbusters or PVR’d television programs (which don’t expire seven days after download).

DivX content may not always sit on the right side of the law, but until the big studios deliver their content online in the way that people want, DivX will continue to be the MP3 for video, and to that end, every digital video device needs to support it.

Miro, the free open-source video player, has reached 1.0 and launched a spiffy player for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. Drop what you’re doing and go get it.

Miro is that good.

Miro is an alternative to Joost, Windows Media, and iTunes for downloading, watching, and organizing your video. We wrote on it extensively in July, and since then it has improved even more.

Its advantages are listed on the Miro Website, but to summarize:

• It’s open-source
• It’s DRM-free
• It’s friendly to all content creators, professional and user-generated alike
• It’s high definition
• It’s BitTorrent enabled
• It has 2,700 channels listed in the Miro Guide
• Of those 2,700, about 200 are from commercial broadcasters
• It connects you to all the video-sharing sites like YouTube
• Miro uses the VLC video engine to play nearly every video format known to man

And so on. Continue reading »