Filed under: Video

Watch streaming TV and more via torrent with StreamTorrent

by Jay Hathaway May 23rd 2009

Torrents have gained some infamy as a way for users to share resources and quickly download large files, but their potential as a way to watch streaming video is comparatively almost unknown. StreamTorrent is a Windows app that taps that potential to let you watch online TV, including HBO, the BBC, and plenty of sports channels. It works the same way torrent downloads work, with a collection of users "seeding" parts of the video to other users as they watch.

It might not be practical unless you've got a lot of people watching and seeding, but you could theoretically stream your own channel over StreamTorrent. Users would only have to search for it to connect. This could prove to be an affordable way of providing large video files when you don't have the cash to pony up for high bandwidth fees, and it can, at least in theory, stream to an unlimited number of users.

[via gHacks]

Tags: p2p, streaming-video, streamtorrent, torrent, tv, video

Filed under: Internet, Video, Yahoo!

How to salvage your videos before Jumpcut shuts down

by Brad Linder May 21st 2009

Yahoo! is shutting down online video editing site Jumpcut next month. This week the company rolled out a few tools allowing users to download their original video files and rendered projects from the site.

The easy part is download your "assets," which includes the original video clips, photos, audio, and other elements you uploaded to the site. Jumpcut is now offering users links for downloading these assets one at a time or in one large ZIP file.

If you want to save the videos that you've already mixed and edited, you'll need to download the JumpOut! movie renderer for Windows. This tool lets you navigate through your saved videos and select a movie that you want to render as a WMV file that you can save on your desktop.

The movie renderer takes a long time to work (about 5 times the length of a video's run time), and it's described as "experimental software" which means that you might run into some glitches. But right now, it's the only tool available that will let you save your edited videos.

You have until June 15th to download your assets and movies from the site.

Tags: jumpcut, jumpout, yahoo

Filed under: Internet, Video

Air developer releases standalone Joost desktop player

by Lee Mathews May 20th 2009

~~Popular video site Joost has just announced the launch of their new~~Developer Paul Yanez has recreated a desktop player for popular video site Joost. To quote our own Brad Linder, "Can haz irony?" Joost started out as a desktop app, which, if you remember, was just killed off in December.

It probably doesn't come as a surprise that this incarnation is built on Adobe Air. As long as you've got the runtime installed, you'll be enjoying the desktop player in mere moments regardless of your operating system.

The player also includes Twitter integration, allowing you to quickly share that awesome video you're watching without leaving the app. I did notice a bit of lag when switching screens, though not enough to ruin the experience.

Sadly, WB Classic's episodes of CHIPs and Brisco County Jr. wouldn't play for me, but I am in Canada - which tends to handcuff my access streaming video services from time to time.

For distraction-free access to Joost's video vault, the standalone player is well worth downloading.
(sorry for the confusion...The proliferation of Joost logos and references is just a tad deceptive)

Tags: joost, streaming, video

Filed under: Developer, Video, Education

Two weeks left to enter MindBites Screencast 4 Cash contest

by Christina Warren May 20th 2009

We're hitting the home stretch in the MindBites Screencast 4 Cash contest! As I discussed last month, MindBites is holding a contest in conjunction with Techsmith's Jing Pro and Download Squad (that's us!). Entrants can submit an original screencast to be eligible to win a Grand Prize of $1000, plus a copy of Snagit/Camtasia Studio. There will also be a People's Choice Prize, determined by popular vote, and the winner will get $500 and a copy of Snagit.

The deadline for entries was extended until June 1, so you still have time to enter in your own screencast. Have some awesome coding or web design skills you want to share? Share them with the world!

Right now, individuals can vote once per week, but starting June 2, you can also vote daily! Even better, for every vote cast, $0.10 will be donated to the Youth for Technology Foundation, which helps underprivileged kids get access and instruction to technology.

If you want to create a screencast but you're unsure of what software to use, peruse our past reviews and tests of web and client-based screencasting apps! Check out the contest page for all the rules and requirements, plus check out the entries that have been submitted thus far.

If you've got a great idea for a screencast, you have until June 1 to enter. Grant and I are two of the judges and we can't wait to see what else gets submitted!

Tags: mindbites, screencasts, techsmith

Filed under: Internet, Video, Windows, Microsoft

Microsoft launches Netflix for Windows Vista Media Center

by Brad Linder May 20th 2009

People have been hacking together ways to watch streaming videos from Netflix using Windows Media Center since early last year. But now Microsoft and Netflix have rolled out an official Netflix application for Windows Vista Media Center.

In other words, Netflix subscribers can browse through the 12,000 streaming titles available in the Netflix "watch instantly" library and watch them from the comfort of a couch using Microsoft's 10 foot interface and a media center remote control.

Users can also manage their DVD rental queue from Windows Media Center. The feature is powered by Microsoft Silverlight, so you'll need to have that installed on your media center system. It won't work with Media Center Extenders, but you can continue to stream movies via an Xbox 360 if you have an Xbox LIVE Gold membership.

Tags: netflix, windows-media-center, windows-vista, windows-vista-media-center

Filed under: Video, Adobe, Commercial, Open Source

Flash isn't going open source, but it may already be more open than Moonlight

by Lee Mathews May 19th 2009

Computer World has published an article asking whether or not Adobe could be gearing up to open-source Flash. That's a question I discussed a while back with Adobe's Dave McAllister, and one that he's continually answered with "the Flash player is as open as I can get it right now."

While most of the inner workings of Flash are already open (The Flex SDK, Blaze DS, and ActionScript virtual machine) there continue to be cries for it to be fully open. Among the stumbling blocks preventing that are the proprietary codecs Adobe licenses (h.264 for video, HE-AAC for audio). "We will continue to open source the technologies that power Flash whenever we have the right to do it," McAllister told me.

Flash is by far the most dominant platform for delivering 80% of all web video and countless browser-based games. Computer World hypothesized that Microsoft's support of the OSS Moonlight project - which has brought Silverlight to Linux - may be putting the heat may be on Adobe to counter quickly.

Adobe sees things differently. Microsoft knows they can't close the gap without help, so getting behind a community effort like Moonlight "Open source can be used as a marketing tool and competitive weapon," McAllister explained. "Silverlight doesn't have the ecosystem that Flash does, so Microsoft is looking at different ways to compete," he continued.

Tags: flash, moonlight, silverlight

Filed under: Internet, Video, iPhone, Mobile

SlingPlayer comes to the iPhone, sans 3G support

by Brad Linder May 12th 2009

We've been waiting for Sling Media to release an iPhone version of the SlingPlayer for a while now, and it looks like the wait is just about over. Engadget reports that the application will be available in the App Store early tomorrow morning for about $30.

For the unitiated, the SlingPlayer is an application that lets you watch live and pre-recorded TV on a computer or mobile device. The catch is that you'll need to have a Slingbox hooked up to your home entertainment system to stream that TV over the internet to your computer or phone. The good news is that while Sling Media had originally indicated that the iPhone version of the SlingPlayer would only work with the latest Slingboxes, it looks like most versions of the Slingbox should work.

What won't work is streaming TV over 3G connections. SlingPlayer for the iPhone will only work when you're connected to a WiFi network.

Tags: iphone, slingplayer, slingplayer-mobile

Filed under: Audio, Video, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Open Source

VLC video player hits 1.0 (almost)

by Brad Linder May 12th 2009

Popular open source media player VLC has almost hit version 1.0. The developers are in the process of pushing out a release candidate for version 1.0 of the cross-platform media player. There's little information about the latest version on the main VLC web site, but you can download the Windows version from FileHippo.

Here are just a few of the latest features:

Instantaneous pausing
Frame by frame playback
Finer speed control
New and fixed audio and video decoders
On they fly zip file decompression and browsing
On the fly gzip and bzip2 file decompression (ecept for on WIndows)
Support for DVB-S and ATSC cards on Windows
Experimental Blu-Ray disc and AVCHD folder support

There are also a number of interface improvements and other tweaks. And as always, VLC can open and play almost any multimedia file you care to throw at it.

VLC is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Tags: vlc, vlc-1.0-rc

Filed under: Fun, Video

Yooouuutuuube turns one YouTube video into a wall of YouTube videos

by Jay Hathaway May 10th 2009

Yooouuutuuube is a fun web toy that turns a single YouTube video into a surreal grid made of copies of itself. It's a little difficult to explain without a visual, but the rows of the grid are slightly out of sync with one another, creating a ripple effect. One of the best demonstrations of how much fun Yooouuutuuube can be is this amazing Alice in Wonderland one that's been going around.

The options you can control include the frame size of the grid squares and the size of the rows and columns. While you're watching, there are pan, track and zoom controls that let you move over the whole bizarre like it was one screen. Even the lamest YouTube videos feel like art when you put them into Yooouuutuuube, but the best ones are absolutely delightful.

And before you ask: yes, it does work with the Dramatic Chipmunk.

Tags: art, video, wall, yooouuutuuube, youtube

Filed under: Internet, Video, Web

Netflix rolls out updated recommendation system

by Brad Linder May 8th 2009

Netflix has been a pioneer in the online retail space by providing automated recommendation services that can help you find items that you might like based on your previous video rentals, ratings, and other data. But for the past few years, Netflix has been trying to make its algorithm at least a little bit better through the Netflix Prize contest, which offers cash in exchange for significant improvements to the company's recommendation engine.

And apparently that bounty has been yielding positive results, because Netflix announced this week that it's changed the recommendation system based on improvements submitted through the Netflix Prize contest.

The new algorithm works better for users that rate movies. The system will now predict how many stars you would give movies that you havent' already watched, and that data will affect the movies that are displayed on different personalized sections of the Netflix web site, including the "Movies You'll Love" section.

[via AppScout]

Tags: crowdsourcing, netflix, netflix-prize, recommendation-engine

Filed under: Internet, Video, Web

Hulu gets more aggressive on geolocation, blocks Hotspot Shield

by Brad Linder May 7th 2009

Hulu is a service that provides access to advertising-supported videos from TV and movie studios. Officially, it's only available to viewers in the United States, because Hulu only has the rights to distribute those videos in the US, and only has the advertising partnerships in place to make money from US views.

But the internet being what it is, a relatively small number of people have been using tricks to get around the geolocation restrictions, using proxy tools like Hotspot Shield for ages. This week, Hulu tightened its grip and started blocking access to anyone using anonymous proxy tools. In other words, Hotspot Shield ain't going to let you watch Hulu from the UK anymore.

I certainly hope this means Hulu plans to roll out international service soon, because the alternative for many users will be to turn to downloading movies and TV shows from BitTorrent or other services.

[via NewTeeVee]

Tags: hotspot-shield, hulu, proxy

Filed under: Internet, Video, Windows, Beta, Web

Standalone YouTube player Sprink removes the need for a browser

by Brad Linder May 6th 2009

YouTube may be the most popular site for watching internet video the world has ever known. But there's sure a whole lot of wasted space on the web site. After all, if you're watching a 480 pixel or smaller video, why do you need all that white space around it?

Sprink is a standalone YouTube client for Windows Vista or Windows 7 that lets you search YouTube and watch videos in a browser that's not much larger than the video window. In other words, you can easily watch YouTube videos while making room on your desktop for other applications like a web browser or word processor.

The application is still in development, and the CoverFlow style feature for browsing through search results is a bit sluggish, at least on my netbook with its slowish 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor.

[via Instant Fundas]

Tags: sprink, youtube

Filed under: Internet, Video, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Open Source, P2P, Web, Windows x64

Tribler and Bitlet offer two takes on torrent-powered video streaming

by Lee Mathews May 5th 2009

BitLet, whose client-free torrent downloader we first mentioned on DownloadSquad two years ago, have been hard at work on a new project. Their torrent-powered streaming video service is now available for a public preview.

There's no standalone download required to use Bitlet, all you need is a browser with the Java plugin installed. As with any other torrent, your playback experience has a lot to do with the participation of your peers. Well-seeded videos buffer quickly and play smoothly while others may sputter and stall. Bitlet has a few example videos for you to try out including the Diablo 3 trailer and Mr. Cropperfield, a delightful animated short.

Right now, Bitlet can only play videos in the OGG format. To try it out with your own clips follow the instructions posted at the bottom of the page on how to convert your video and get it uploaded to a tracker.

Tags: bititorrent, bitlet, streaming-video, torrent, tribler

Filed under: Video, Google, Browsers

Google promotes Chrome web browser with 11 short videos

by Brad Linder Apr 30th 2009

Google has commissioned a series of 11 short films to promote the Google Chrome web browser. If you've ever doubted the power of advertising to make something mundane look pretty darn cool, click the play button above.

On the one hand, a browser is just a portal to the web, and so you'd think the last thing you would really need are a bunch of bells and whistles to make a browser look cool. And Google Chrome, with it stripped down interface doesn't really seem like it would have very much to highlight.

But you know what? A car is really just a vehicle for traversing the road. But most car commercials make the car itself look like the sexy thing, not the road. And the video above really does make Chrome look more exciting than the web pages you'll use it to visit in real life.

You can find the rest of the videos at the Google Chrome page on YouTube.

[via TechCrunch]

Tags: google-chrome, videos, web-browsers, youtube

Filed under: Internet, Video

Disney joins Hulu

by Christina Warren Apr 30th 2009

The rumors have been swirling around for a few weeks, but today the Walt Disney Company officially announced that it is becoming an equity partner in Hulu. Disney, through a subsidiary of ABC Enterprises Inc., will join NBC Universal and News Corp. as an investor and content provider. Full-length episodes from ABC primetime, ABC Family and SOAPnet will be added to Hulu's content library, as well as classic ABC shows and select shows and movies from The Disney Channel. Essentially, ABC.com's streaming content will be coming to Hulu.

With the addition of ABC, three of the four major US television networks are now partners in Hulu. This leaves CBS and its TV.com venture all by its lonesome. As for YouTube, which is trying to get into the commercial content game, let's just say this move won't help the already anemic offering.

Despite the boxee nastiness (which has been mitigated, for now), Hulu continues to take off and is positioning itself as the defacto destination for online television viewing, provided of course, you live in the US. Having one robust platform is not only easier for viewers to navigate, it is easier to sell to advertisers.

The financial terms of the agreement weren't released, though I expect those details to emerge.

[via Mashable]

Tags: abc, disney, hulu, streaming video, StreamingVideo, tv.com, youtube

← Previous Page|Next Page →

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

View more Time Wasters

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

Download Squad bloggers (30 days)

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Jay Hathaway	103	5
2	Lee Mathews	75	20
3	Sebastian Anthony	66	227
4	Brad Linder	35	2
5	Jason Clarke	27	0
6	Paul O'Brien	8	0
7	Grant Robertson	6	3
8	Dolores Parker	6	2
9	Victor Agreda, Jr.	6	1
10	Nik Fletcher	5	0
11	Matt Heerema	3	0
12	John Burke	2	0
13	Download Squad Staff	1	0

More Tech Coverage

Control Shift It's all about the experience
Somewhat Frank Perspectives on tech as it fuses in everyday life
Switched Gadgets, web news and commentary
Urlesque Exposing bits of the web

Download Squad