Video players Review

Here’s one of the video players or streaming sites review posted recently. It compares Youtube, Jumpcut, Vimeo, Viddler.

To do this review I will use four criteria on which I will base my comments: First, in terms of Video Player we can find different types of interfaces, ranging from very easy to use for the users to others very complicated. A second important point is the quality; while the sound normally is very similar along the spectrum of possibilities, the image is very different. A third point is the community, a very important criterion when thinking about web 2.0 applications. In this case, we need to assess if and how the users are allowed to comment and create social networks around the services. Finally, it is important to assess the financial component: how these services can create a revenue model for those interested in using them to attract consumers.

You could click here the view more details about how the authors said about each service.

In conclusion if you want to be famous with a video you need to upload your video to youtube, if you want to create and edit videos Jumpcut is a good option, but if you are looking for a high quality service you need to try Vimeo.

I would add that other than those sites, we have this new emerging online interactive video market, such as Asterpix, Ooyala, Overlay.tv, etc. Service like Asterpix actually doesn’t host your video. You could still use Youtube and Vimeo to host, and use their free web service and enhance your video and provides interactivity. You could then share with your friends or add to Facebook, Myspace, etc. For example, here’s what you could do with Asterpix:

and here’s their embed player:

from asterpix.com posted with vodpod

Original post here.

Asterpix Interactive Video – Robots inspired by animals

This interactive video from Asterpix is a good demo of how links in video could help giving you more information.  It’s not time-based, which most of the other sites or tools could provide years ago.  This is object tracking, the rectangle or hotspot will try to follow your object pick as long as it could!

from asterpix.com posted with vodpod

Interactive Video Resume

“PR is changing. We’ve already evolved.”

Interactive videos are changing our internet experience one by one, from education, retail, travel, etc. Today I came across this post Not the Social Media Press Release…but the Social Media Video Release, which about how the PR firm Liberate Media located in UK use Asterpix to promote Interactive Video Resume/Biography.

Each of the company directors filmed a video biography, and sourced additional online links referencing the credentials they talk about. These resources included visual cues for Flickr and LinkedIn, as well as downloadable photos that we hosted, and a PDF script for accessibility and fact checking purposes.

Our trials were so successful that we pitched the idea to our client iCrossing (formerly Spannerworks in the UK) for their re-brand announcement. They very much liked the idea but wanted a more polished finish, and more in-depth additional information.

Here’s the post Spannerworks announces iCrossing re-brand, and they distributed an interactive video release of global CEO Jeff Herzog, and CEO of iCrossing UK Arjo Ghosh, discussing the brand integration, and vision for iCrossing and digital marketing as a whole in 2008.

from www.asterpix.com posted with vodpod

The above video is interactive, offering links to other sources of information on iCrossing, our spokespeople, and some of the work that we’ve been pioneering in integrated digital marketing. Hover over the logos as they appear throughout the short film to view a description of the additional resource they provide, and click on them to open-up the information in a new browser. A PDF transcript of the video is also available as a download.We hope you enjoy the video, and continue to support us under our new brand.

I think there could be a lot more potential in this idea of using interactive video as the resume. Maybe pretty soon I will see interactive videos showing up in LinkedIn profiles. If you are interested, you could visit Asterpix to create your own.

This is another post from Asterpix CEO Nat Kausik talking about this idea.

Online Travel Guide – Interactive Videos Gives Travelers Breakthrough Experience

How many times when you as a traveler watch a video clip of your vacation destination like Paris and you want to have more information about Eiffel Tower? And for an advertiser, I would like to deliver advertisement of restaurants on the sidebar when the video is describing food, or hotels when talking about accommodation. Now this dream could finally come true with latest technology like Asterpix, which provides hyperlinks/hotspots in video. Here’s one of the videos I found from their website:

from asterpix.com posted with vodpod

If you don’t know what Asterpix is and how it works, I strongly recommend you to read their learn more page. It’s a free web-based service which allows you to create hotspots and associate notes/hyperlinks/tags. Using their javascript based API, you could create your web page with a tour video and displays extra information of each hotspots when mouse over. Of course you could also display direct targeted advertisement related to the objects it’s showing. Comparing with YouTube’s overlay ads or other time-based ads, Asterpix provides more control on “object” level and improves the user experience with the video content.

Since wordpress doesn’t allow me to play around javascript, I couldn’t get a demo here. However, here’s a picture from Asterpix Pro and could give you an idea how it will look like.

Asterpix Interactive Video – Unbelievable Aerobatics!

Unbelievable aerobatics video! Especially the second hotspot “watch the cup of iced tea on the dashboard!”. Also, clicking on those hotspots will load another video clip too.

from asterpix.com posted with vodpod

Original Asterpix link here

2008 President Election Videos

This probably will be the most discussed topic on the web or blogs this year 2008. Can you imagine how many videos on the web about Clinton, Obama, Giuliani, McCain, etc? How many times when you search Hillary Clinton on viddler or youtube and you end up seeing an unrelated video or Clinton only shows up in the middle of the video for just couple secs?

I have just noticed that Asterpix could help on this issue. Browse the search results of Hillary Clinton on Asterpix, and you could quickly scan through all different hotspots and videos about Clinton.

Also, with Asterpix API, for example now I could post a video of debates from the candidates, and could change my google ads or other web widgets based on which hotspots you are watching. That definitely adds a totally new dimension for online video marketing and provides more fine-grain direct control to advertisement, not just based on video tags like “debate clinton obama” and you have no clue where Clinton will show up.

from asterpix.com posted with vodpod

Asterpix Interactive Video – Assembly of Ford 3d Duratec HE Engine

This is an excellent demonstration about the new web based free service called asterpix. It allows you to annotate or create links inside a video footage, which is still hosted in the video sharing sites like YouTube, DailyMotion, etc. Somehow asterpix could track the object on-the-fly, create the hotspots or area for you to click on, and display the information about the object. I think this tool will be very useful for classroom teaching or for education purpose.

from asterpix.com posted with vodpod

Asterpix Interactive Video – Ronaldinho Video: Touch of Gold

Great video and unbelievable skills from Ronaldinho. Notice that the asterpix embed player has very cool functionality. Click on the hotspots of Ronaldinho and the player will load another video or hotspot without reloading the page and the player.

from asterpix.com posted with vodpod

Asterpix Interactive Video – Struck in tsunami

My first interactive video to share. I am always amazed how Brad Gerlach could handle this surfing at Jaws in Maui. With asterpix, now this video is embedded with “hotspots” and more information will be displayed when you move over it.

from asterpix.com posted with vodpod