Web is the new TV

Since the inception of YouTube and other video sharing sites, online video has become a dominant factor in the way information is spread on the internet and all over the world. But online video has always been limited by factors such as bandwidth, download speeds and platforms hindering it from becoming the dominant video source (TV is still king). The question is: “What is the state of online video today” and more importantly “Where does online video go from here”?

YouTube suffers from severe limitations: Bad video quality, compression, bandwidth and questionable content. The same goes for most other video sharing services (with the possible exception of Stage 6). Of these, the first three are either being fixed as we speak or will be fixed in the near future. The fourth one – the quality of the content itself is a different matter. In this first article I’m going to focus on the technical issues:

Video quality and compression
Online video has always suffered from bad image and / or audio quality. This is because the files need to be small to be viewable. Several different platforms with different compression standards have competed to find the “sweet spot” between size and quality but so far there is no definite winner (although Flash Video and DivX seem to be the top contenders). The problem is that with no set standard for video compression there are many different codecs and platforms to choose from – all with pros and cons and all vying for the illusive prize of becoming the “standard” format. With YouTube and other similar sites Flash Video (FLV) took a definite lead but this format has severe limitations – especially when it comes to larger files. On the download front DivX reigns supreme but this codec is far less prevalent in the market. But why does this matter?

When people started sharing videos online it was to let other people view them on their computers or to embed them in websites. But the new trend in technology is to port online content into the living room and onto the TV. To put it simply: People are no longer content with watching their videos in little screens surrounded by ads, comments and other text; they want to enjoy them from their couches, on their huge plasmas, in full screen format. And that’s where YouTube fails. You can get away with murky, jittery and pixilated video when it’s in a 480×360 window but when it’s on your 50’’ 1080p plasma it looks like shit. Which is why YouTube is working on an HD version of their site.

Right now the only free online video services that provide video quality that can stand up to the unrelenting standards of a huge TV are Joost, Apple Trailers and Stage 6. And none of these use Flash Video as a base (Joost is proprietary, Apple Trailers is QuickTime and Stage 6 is DivX). Furthermore none of the content that is currently available on Flash based video sites is future proof meaning it can’t be converted into TV friendly quality.

The challenge for newcomers like Microsoft’s Silverlight, Hulu and others is to create a future friendly platform designed with the full screen TV end-user in mind. Though the market isn’t that big right now it will be in a few years and video quality will become a major factor when people decide where to go for their content.

My take: The future Top Dog of online video will be the one that provides the best, most accessible video quality. For free.

Bandwidth
Like I said, one of the major reasons for bad video quality is limited bandwidth: Not everyone has DSL or Cable internet. In fact many people are still on dial-up. But this is about to change. As the internet is transitioning from being a text-based information tool to becoming a full-fledged entertainment source bandwidth is expanded globally. This in turn opens up new possibilities for what kind of content can be shared and how it is shared.

The problem is that the best technologies for sharing such content are those created to subvert the content creators: peer-to-peer sharing and BitTorrent. And because of this the content providers are hesitant to implement their usage thus limiting their own ability to get content off their servers and onto people’s screens.

My take: The future Top Dog of online video will be the one that integrates new technologies like peer-to-peer networks and BitTorrent in their platform to facilitate easy sharing of high quality video content to the masses.

In The State of Online Video – Part 2 I’ll talk about the problem of video content and how it will define and decide the future and viability of online video.