online video

The spat between NBC and Apple continues. Yesterday NBC said it would terminate its contract with Apple when it expires in December, to which Apple replied that it would stop selling NBC Universal programming before the start of the fall season.

At issue is Apple's pricing scheme. But while Apple had said that NBC wanted to change the wholesale pricing of TV shows so that individual episodes could cost as much as $4.99, NBC disputes that figure.

What happens when a major content producer like NBC tells a major digital content distributor like iTunes that it wants more money per episode? If you guessed contract negotiations devolve into a hissyfit, you're right.

NBC says it will not renew its contract to sell television shows through iTunes when that contract expires in December. And Apple says that's fine by them, even though NBC is the top supplier of video content for iTunes, with popular shows like The Office, Heroes, and Battlestar Galactica.

NBC and News Corp have announced a name for their YouTube competitor. Hulu doesn't seem to stand for much of anything, but it's "short, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and rhymes with itself."

Since hulu is positioned as an alternative to YouTube, I suppose they're tied with YouTube for syllables, and have a slight edge in the number of letters. As for content, right now, there's nothing. Hulu is accepting e-mail addresses from anyone interested in signing up for a private beta, which will launch in October.

Earlier this year Netflix announced a new service that would allow you to watch a limited number of videos online instead of waiting for the DVDs to come in the mail. The service is free with your regular subscription. If you pay $17/month for access to 3 DVDs at a time, you can watch 17 hours of video per month. If you pay $5 per month for access to 2 DVDs per month, you can watch 5 hours of video online.

There's just one problem. You have to watch on Netflix's terms. The video player is browser based, and the movies are encoded using Windows Media DRM. If you want to begin a movie now and finish it later, you're out of luck. Or if you want to copy it to a portable device for viewing during your morning commute (on the train, not while driving, of course!), no soup for you.

Well, the smart folks over at the Rorta forums seem to have cracked the code, using Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player 11, FairUse4WM, and Notepad. The solution involves finding the URL of the video file, downloading it, acquiring the license key and then stripping the DRM. It's a bit involved, and will probably take longer than just sitting down and watching the movie. But hey, it's the principle of the thing, right?

Keep in mind, this hack will not let you download more than 17 hours of video per month, so it's not exactly going to be a great trick for starting your online video piracy empire.

Update: As several people have pointed out in the comments, you can indeed stop a Netflix "watch now" movie and start it again later, or fast forward to any point in a film to begin watching. Thanks!

[via Brent Evans]

Kind of the whole idea behind internet television platform Joost is that there's a better way to watch internet video than using a web browser. But developer Paul Yanez tells NewTeeVee he was frustrated that every time Joost issued a new beta release he had to download a new application. So he decided to build a Flash-based Joost clone that would run inside of a web browser. He can push out any updates he likes and you'll never have to download a thing.

Of course, he doesn't have permission from Joost to use their graphics. Nor does he have access to the same content Joost uses. But he's done a pretty good job of replicating the Joost interface using web video from sites like YouTube, MySpace, and iFilm.

The interface isn't perfect. For example you can't use your keyboard to navigate the menus, you'll need a mouse. Given that an independent developer was able to put this together in less than a month, it'd be nice to see Joost come out with something similar. Because while the idea of a standalone full screen video player is nice, the truth is people do spend a lot of time sitting in front of a computer with a web browser open. It'd be nice to give them a better way to slack off at the office.

As expected, the BBC launched its online iPlayer service allowing UK citizens to download and watch any BBC program that's aired in the last 7 days. Once you've downloaded a video you can watch it for up to 30 days. The service is not currently available outside of the UK.

The service also only works on Windows machines right now, since it uses Microsoft's digital rights management software to prevent users from sharing files with friends or uploading them to the internet.

The iPlayer is still in beta, but users can sign up for an invitation, and a wider release is expected this fall. Meanwhile, here's a roundup of iPlayer related news:

• BBC online video service launches - BBC
• First look at the BBC iPlayer - Mashable
• BBC iPlayer beta arrives; 10,000 people complain to Gordon Brown - Ars Technica
• BBC launches video download service - After Dawn

Tired of squinting at your PC to watch online video. ABC has updated its online video player to support high definition (720p) video playback.

Right now there's not a huge selection of content available in high definition. You can watch a whopping one episode each of Desparate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, or Ugly Betty at resolutions up to 1300x770.

You'll need a 2Mbps or faster internet connection, and even then you're not guaranteed crystal-clear playback. Just because the player supports HDTV resolutions doesn't really mean you're going to get HD quality over the internet. The faster your internet connection and the better your computer's specs (CPU, Graphics card etc), the better your results will likely be.

[via Lost Remote]

No one has filed a lawsuit against VeohTV yet, but it could just be a matter of time. The service is something of a cross between YouTube and Joost, giving you the ability to surf for online videos without using a web browser.

Many of those videos don't come from Veoh, but from sources like NBC, CBS, and YouTube. That includes full length streaming episodes of shows like 24, Heroes, and 30 Rock. And Veoh's made the intriguing (and possibly ill-advised) decision not to ask for permission to distribute those videos.

Netflix customers know that the company is rolling out a service that lets impatient subscribers watch videos on their computer. But not every movie in your queue has the "watch now" button next to it. So trying to find a movie for instant gratification can actually take quite a long time.

Someone's decided to step in and make the process a bit easier, compiling a list of over 2300 Netlix movies available for online viewing. Most titles include a link to the movie's page on Netflix. You'll need a subscription in order to watch these movies. But now that you know how easy it is to find titles like Gothic Vampires from Hell, why wouldn't you want to sign up?

[via Brent Evans]

We got a little peak at DivX Connected at last night's Digital Life press preview event. While there was a small set-top box next to the big TV showing off the software interface, it wasn't the GejBox that made a brief appearance last month, which shouldn't be surprising as DivX doesn't have plans to sell a set top box. Rather, the company is developing a platform that could be integrated with cable boxes, DVD players, and other set-top boxes.

The DivX connected platform functions much like an AppleTV, letting you access music, video, and pictures from any computer connected to your LAN. It's also internet enabled, allowing you to access online videos from Stage6 and Google Video. Because it's an open platform, expect other online video sites to be added to that list. The plan is to announce hardware partners by the end of the year.

More photos after the jump.

Right now, Internet TV platforms like Joost are basically the ghost of television shows past. Want to watch old episodes of Rocky and Bullwinkle or Babylon 5? No problem. But fresher content is a bit harder to come by.

That's why it's rather impressive to see that Joost has landed a deal with VH1 to premiere the entire season of the new sitcom I Hate My 30s starting July 16th. That's ten days before the show will air on VH1.

The series' eight half-hour episodes follow a group of adults who are turning 30 and dealing with all those things you deal with when you realize your life is about a third of the way over. But you probably guessed that from the title.

TiVo and Amazon have tightened the integration of Amazon's online movie download service with TiVo set top boxes.

In March, the two companies launched a partnership that lets you buy and download movies and television from Amazon Unbox to your computer, and then watch those videos on your home network-connected TiVo.

Now, the companies are eliminating the two step process, allowing you to order and download movies directly from your Series2 or Series3 TiVo. All you need to play is a broadband connection and an Amazon Unbox account. You'll have to enter a 5-digit code on your remote control to order movies, which should keep the kids or house guests from filling up your TiVo.

The update makes TiVo a serious competitor for the AppleTV and other devices that bring internet video to your television set.

It's not even clear yet that there's a market for full-screen applications for watching internet video without a web browser. But companies are coming out of the woodwork to take on internet TV platform Joost. I guess nobody wants to see Joost become the next YouTube when they could have had a chance to get in on the craze at its outset.

Blinkx is the latest online video site to announce a full-screen video player, no web browser required. BetaNews gota sneak peak at Blinkx's upcoming BBTV the other night.

Blinkx is best known right now for its video search engine. BBTV will utilize the same video indexing features as the web service, allowing you to search for specific text in a speech track. This will also help Blinkx to integrate a contextual advertisements.

BBTV will deliver video using a peer-to-peer system, much like Joost.

Who wants to spend their time and energy hacking the AppleTV when you could finagle with the open-source (hacking encouraged) Neuros OSD? Turns out, a lot of people. But that's beside the point.

The Neuros OSD is an open-source PVR that's capable of accessing online media like music, movies, and pictures. It records directly onto removable flash cards, making it an ideal choice for commuters who like to watch recorded TV on the train using a portable media player.

Thanks to the miracles of the modern hacking community, Neuros has just announced a new beta update for the OSD that adds YouTube browsing to the device. You can browse YouTube by categories and ratings, or you can perform keyword searches. A future release will add sharing, subscriptions, and other features.

[via Boing Boing]