How Many Ways To Share Video Do People Really Need?
14th Nov 2006, 23:49 GMT
TiVo's making a lot of news today with the announcement that it's adding more internet video features to its service. Customers can buy some software for $25 that will allow them to convert certain video formats to one their TiVo can handle, then share them from their PC to DVR, and the company says it's adding web video content from several more providers to its TiVoCast service. TiVo's also adding on a $4 per month service that will let users upload their own videos, then share them with friends and family that have internet-connected TiVos in an attempt to jump on the user-generated-content bandwagon, following other recent announcements, like Comcast's launch of its own video-sharing site, Ziddio, or C-SPAN's announcement of a site where it will collect users' uploads. These sites and services riff on YouTube and other similar sites: the supposed benefit of TiVo's service -- that's supposed to justify its price over free web-based services -- is the ability for people to watch the videos on their TV; for Comcast, it's the possibility that uploaders' videos could be screened on the cable company's video-on-demand service. The attractiveness of either proposition is debatable, but a bigger question remains: do all that many people really care about creating and sharing their homemade videos? The success of sites like YouTube is supposed to herald the rise of user-generated content, but how much of that success is built on user uploads of other peoples' content? Despite the popularity of videos showing Mentos making Diet Coke bottles erupt, or a few video podcasters, it seems hard to deny that a significant factor in the rise of the likes of YouTube is all the copyrighted and professional content people have uploaded. It looks like video sharing and other types of user-generated content are hot on the heels of social networking as the latest must-have, and potentially useless trend for content providers. But if these services don't have any of the copyrighted or professional content people have come to expect from other, more popular video-sharing sites, will anybody care? After all, it's not particularly hard for people to share videos with YouTube, Google Video, or any other number of existing services, so it doesn't seem like a lack of options is the barrier to entry -- it's more likely just a lack of interest.
How Many Ways To Share Video Do People Really Need? related news:
- TiVo Brings Broadband Video to Your TV — Gizmodo
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- You've got one minute... GO! — DV Guru
- TiVo to announce new video download services — PVR Wire
- Video Game Portraits (AKA "The Gamer's O-Face") — Kotaku
- Latest Useless Trend: Adding Social Networking To Everything, Including Cab Rides — Techdirt
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