Microsoft may have added "Internet TV" to Vista Media Center last year, but all you get right now are selected clips from MSN Video. If you want to watch YouTube, MSN Soapbox, and DailyMotion videos on your Windows Media Center system, you might want to check out Yougle, a third party plugin for Vista Media Center.
Yougle lets you search the sites we mentioned, plus Flickr, Yahoo! Music, and several other online audio, video, and image sources. The latest beta version of Yougle includes a number of improvements to the program interface, better parental controls, and an option to enable adult content.
Microsoft has taken its user generated video site and added it to MSN Video beta. The site formerly known as Soapbox no longer exists as a standalone service. Instead, user generated video and professionally produced video will all be part of the MSN video service.
The new version of the site features a Soapbox-like video player and layout. That means you can browse for videos without pausing playback of the movie you're currently watching. If you want to view just user-generated content, there's a new tab labeled "Soapbox User Videos."
Here are a few other updates to MSN Video beta:
Videos you upload will be encoded for online viewing faster
Support or new video codecs and extensions
Updated RSS feed for displaying Soapbox videos in RSS readers with a native embedded player
Fullscreen option for Soapbox Embedded player
In many ways, we think the MSN Video/Soapbox site is easier to navigate than YouTube, and has higher quality videos. But the thing about user-generated video sites is that they aren't much good without content. And as long as YouTube has the largest user base, that's where you'll continue to find most of the videos you actually want to watch.
Microsoft's video sharing site is back up and running. Just over a month after opening Soapbox up to the public, Microsoft returned the site to private beta status in March.
Over the last few months, Microsoft put a system in place allowing copyright holders to find and remove videos that have been uploaded without their permission. This comes at a time when YouTube faces several high profile and expensive lawsuits over copyright violations by its users.
Soapbox is now using digital-fingerprinting technology from Audible Magic to discover copyrighted content.
As of today, Microsoft is officially running 3 separate video site with internet video clips. Soapbox is Microsoft's site for user generated video (it's currently only available with a Windows Live login), and MSN Video is a site for professionally produced clips.
Then there's MSN Video's redesigned page, which looks a lot like a cross between the two. It's lacking in user-generated content, but has the look and feel of Soapbox. The primary thing you can do with Soapbox and the redesigned MSN Video site that you can't do with the old site (or YouTube, for that matter), is search for videos without leaving the current page.
That means if you're playing a video in your browser window, it'll keep playing while you search for other videos to watch next.
Microsoft has decided to put a hold on its video sharing site, Soapbox, while it cleans up a little.
Even though it was just opened for business in a public beta just last month, Microsoft has decided to put a plug in new registrations on Soapbox while it implements some new technologies that will allow for the detection of videos that could have copyright restrictions. The pause in new accounts will allow Microsoft to sift through some 45,000 videos and conclude whether copyright issues might be present. No doubt this has something to do with Google's recent $1billion battle with Viacom. Microsoft will be using a product by Audible Magic that will filter videos, and block those under copyright.
Registered users will still be able to access and utilize the system. No word on how many videos will have to be removed from Soapbox as of yet due to potential copyright violations.
It's been a good week for public launches of beta projects. First Google drops the invite system and opens up Gmail to the public (even though everyone and their grandmother already had an account), and now Microsoft has moved Soapbox from a private beta to a public beta.
If you haven't been paying attention, Soapbox is Microsoft's entry into the crowded user-generated video market. I'd imagine it'll have some muscle, because it's Microsoft, but it doesn't really have much to offer that you can't get from YouTube, Stage6, or any number of other video sharing sites. In fact, many of the videos you can find are readily available on other sites.
One thing that does set Soapbox apart from other services is that you can search, browse, and comment on videos without interrupting the video that you're currently watching.
Sure, there are plenty of ways to grab a video from YouTube, save it as an flv file, and convert it the file format of your choice. But Zunemytube's got to be the simplest method I've seen so far.
All you have to do is install the plugin for Internet Explorer and a little Zune icon will pop up in your toolbar. Then you surf YouTube, Google Video or MSN Soapbox and find videos you want to save. Once you've found a video, all you have to do is click the "Zune It" button in your toolbar and the program will automatically download and convert the video into a Zune-compatible windows media video file. The program creates individual folders for Google, YouTube, and Soapbox videos in your "My Videos" folder.
I have to say, the video quality leaves something to be desired when converting YouTube videos. This is probably because you're taking a highly compressed video and converting it to another compressed video format. I had a bit more luck with Google Videos.
The program only works with Internet Explorer, and I was only able to test it with IE7. Anyone try it with earlier versions?
YouTube is the de facto standard for video sharing on the web, but there are a lot of other options out there. But other features aside, which one offers the best video quality? While Life Goggles doesn't actually answer that question for you, it does gives you side-by-side comparisons of eight major video sharing sites' embedded players so you can judge for yourself. I've been squinting at them for five minutes and can't decide on a clear winner myself, but I will say that Vimeo's scrubber (i.e. seek bar) is by far the best. If you want to put your videos online and quality is an issue, you should definitely check it out. Life Goggles also has a couple handyguides on putting your videos online.
That Microsoft is launching a new video sharing site called Soapbox isn't really news, but somehow it escaped my attention until now. CNet's Rafe Needleman is more on the ball, however, and got to take a look the currently-in-private-beta service. Microsoft has been turning a lot of heads lately with its Live.com offerings, but Needleman is unimpressed by Soapbox. "I found nothing in the Soapbox product itself to propel it past other video sharing sites," he concludes. "It will live or die based on its content and its community." Interestingly, Soapbox is sailing under the MSN Video banner, rather than the Live banner, which seems odd given that MSN Messenger and MSN Search are both being tucked under the Windows Live's waiting wings. You can give Microsoft your email address if you want a shot at the beta, but if you're happy with YouTube or another offering it may not be worth the bother.
Microsoft is planning a YouTube clone to crop up soon, oddly enough on the MSN brand instead of Windows Live spaces. It looks from the screenshot that the service will be part of MSN videos. I can see why Microsoft would want a piece of the action, since YouTube is so wildly popular. I love the name, which for once isn't a particularly bad one, but I can just see Microsoft inspiring a "people-up-on-flimsy-boxes-yelling" revolution. The internal beta is still going on, and no word on release date yet. We'll keep you posted, quite literally I suppose.
Here are the key features as listed on LiveSide: - Upload videos in almost any format-like from your video or digital camera (maximum file size is currently 100MB) - Tag and categorize your videos to make it easy for other people to find them - Watch original videos and browse for new ones at the same time - Set up your own personal RSS feeds for videos you're interested in - Use your Windows Live Spaces profile with Soapbox on MSN Video - Embed a video on your Web site or blog
Microsoft has taken its user generated video site and added it to MSN Video beta. The site formerly known as Soapbox no longer exists as a standalone service. Instead, user generated video and professionally produced video will all be part of the MSN video service.
Microsoft has decided to put a hold on its video sharing site, Soapbox, while it cleans up a little.
Sure, there are plenty of ways to grab a video from YouTube, save it as an flv file, and convert it the file format of your choice. But Zunemytube's got to be the simplest method I've seen so far.
YouTube is the de facto standard for video sharing on the web, but there are a lot of other options out there. But other features aside, which one offers the best video quality? While Life Goggles doesn't actually answer that question for you, it does gives you side-by-side comparisons of eight major video sharing sites' embedded players so you can judge for yourself. I've been squinting at them for five minutes and can't decide on a clear winner myself, but I will say that Vimeo's scrubber (i.e. seek bar) is by far the best. If you want to put your videos online and quality is an issue, you should definitely check it out. Life Goggles also has a couple handy guides on putting your videos online.
That Microsoft is launching a new video sharing site called Soapbox isn't really news, but somehow it escaped my attention until now. CNet's Rafe Needleman is more on the ball, however, and got to take a look the currently-in-private-beta service. Microsoft has been turning a lot of heads lately with its Live.com offerings, but Needleman is unimpressed by Soapbox. "I found nothing in the Soapbox product itself to propel it past other video sharing sites," he concludes. "It will live or die based on its content and its community." Interestingly, Soapbox is sailing under the MSN Video banner, rather than the Live banner, which seems odd given that MSN Messenger and MSN Search are both being tucked under the Windows Live's waiting wings. You can give Microsoft your email address if you want a shot at the beta, but if you're happy with YouTube or another offering it may not be worth the bother.
Microsoft is planning a YouTube clone to crop up soon, oddly enough on the MSN brand instead of Windows Live spaces. It looks from the screenshot that the service will be part of MSN videos. I can see why Microsoft would want a piece of the action, since YouTube is so wildly popular. I love the name, which for once isn't a particularly bad one, but I can just see Microsoft inspiring a "people-up-on-flimsy-boxes-yelling" revolution. The internal beta is still going on, and no word on release date yet. We'll keep you posted, quite literally I suppose.
