Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

One of the greatest inventions in recent times has been the Internet.  It has evolved from something barely being in use, to something that we can’t live without.  We are constantly connected to the net from our phones to our netbooks and we are constantly using the Internet at all times for things much more than email.  Whether or not Internet has taken over our lives is left for another day.  One aspect of the Internet that has become increasingly popular is online video streaming. 

Why Internet video is so popular and its practical uses

Several years ago, video streaming was very limited due to the slow dial-up connections and the occasional cable most people were running.  Nowadays, broadband Internet access is very common and many people have even incredibly fast connections to the Internet with Verizon FiOS or Comcast High Speed Internet - just to name a few.  Now, with these fast Internet connections, people can watch videos from services like YouTube, Hulu, Vimeo, and Metacafe with ease.  If we were still running dial-up, I would not be writing this post about online video right now. 

Aside from streaming TV shows, movies, and homemade videos, people create videos for advertisements that either run in ads or on their main page to get the point across of a product or service they have.  Again, this is only possible because Internet speeds have become so fast, we hardly even notice video ads anymore. 

Streaming TV shows and Movies via Hulu

If you have a nice sized monitor and don’t feel like torrenting movies or TV shows, I’m sure you know about Hulu and other services that provide free to watch TV shows and movies with limited and short advertisements.  While there are many services out there, I want to focus solely on Hulu because I feel they are in the best shape in terms of management, and have the most potential to transform into an even better service than what it currently is.  As long as Hulu plays their cards well, they will be around for a while and they will prosper and become a video giant. 

Hulu is always looking to add new content, so as long as they keep on adding more and more videos and TV shows, their users will be happy and Hulu will be successful. 

Entertaining videos via YouTube

Switching gears now, let’s see what the future of YouTube is like and whether it will still be around in 5 plus years.  There are many reasons it has been highly successful so far, but let’s see what helped shape YouTube into what it is today. 

Google

Back when YouTube was first started, it had received a lot of praise and seemed destined for success.  Google, a powerful company, decided to buy the rights to YouTube and this gave YouTube wider recognition and helped propel it into what it is today. 

Good for all ages

Another main reason YouTube has been highly successful is due to the way the system scans videos to make sure they are all appropriate.  If YouTube contained pornography on it, I can guarantee you it would not be as popular as it is today.  Children to grandma can all use YouTube for laughs, for a music video, or even how-to tutorials. 

Anyway, YouTube will remain a popular video service for years to come as long as they play their cards well.  One thing that could potentially turn off users is if Google decides to overload all videos with ads and such, which hopefully they won’t do.  One problem that many of my friends have is that YouTube deletes their account whenever they create videos with copyright material.  They have no intention of using copyright material, but it just happens and then their personal account with all their friends is permanently deleted. 

Other than that, most people don’t really have any complaints with YouTube.  Personally, I don’t use YouTube that much when compared with other people.  My experience with video editing is pretty limited and I don’t need a YouTube account to socialize with friends and people I meet online.  However, for the person that loves creating videos and being active with how people respond to their creations, YouTube is the perfect place to upload videos as well as socialize with other users.

Vimeo

Another popular video sharing service is Vimeo.  While not as popular as YouTube, it is still a nice service where you can upload your personal videos to share with others.  Vimeo is great for people who like to share their home videos with family members and close friends because you can actually restrict who views your videos.  In addition, they allow HD video uploading and give their users 500MB of memory each week to use for their videos.  I doubt it will become as popular as YouTube, which is a household name in itself, but as long as it stays true to itself, they have a pretty bright future. 

Different types of popular video formats

Adobe Flash

Nearly all types of online videos are encoded in Adobe Flash.  There is no set rule which states what video formats are acceptable and what are not, but the most popular format is Flash.  It doesn’t kill your memory and it is fast to run, which makes it perfect nearly all users.  If you want higher quality video, then Flash might not be the way to go.  But if you are not running the latest version of Flash, a lot of videos may not be able to play. 

Microsoft Silverlight

Another popular online video format is Microsoft’s Silverlight.  Basically this is Microsoft’s challenger to Adobe’s Flash.  While Silverlight works on nearly all popular browsers and works on Windows as well as Mac OS, I doubt it will be used more than Flash.  However, one big video streaming site that uses Silverlight is Netflix.  Even though Silverlight is not as popular as Flash, it may be a good idea to keep your computer updated on Silverlight just in case you come across a video that is formatted using Silverlight.  In fact, version 3.0 was just released a few days ago on March 18. 

H.264: Apple’s favorite format

A high quality video format mainly used by Apple in terms of online video is H.264.  A year or so ago, Apple had updated their Apple TV in which it contained a special YouTube channel.  The problem was that Apple refuses to use Flash, because they believe people should be using the higher quality H.264.  Anyway, YouTube decided to also encode their videos in H.264 to keep Apple happy and to allow all YouTube videos to be shown on Apple TV and the iPhone.  Since Apple likes H.264, this format will stay around for years to come. 

The bottom line

Services such as Hulu and YouTube, and video formats such as Flash are number one among many people.  It is hard for challengers to take over the number one spot because people generally do not like to change.  Hulu and YouTube are in positions of great power and I do not imagine anything bad happening to their services as long as they don’t make any stupid decisions. 

I could be wrong, but the direction of online video streaming looks very positive as the Internet further develops.  If you disagree with something I said, feel free to let me know in the comments.