video streaming

According to a new report DVD sales have declined by 20% in the first quarter of 2011 compared to the same period a year ago.

While the studios explain the trend as a problem of release cycles, it should be noted that Netflix subscriptions rose by 33%. People are increasingly giving their preference to unlimited content.

However, not all is so dull. The start of the second quarter of 2011 showed a 20% in sales.
 

YouTube videos are now served in WebM format as reported by James Zern, Software Engineer, on the company blog. Now the vide site is transcoding all new videos into the WebM format, as well as other supported formats, which include MPEG4, 3GPP, MOV, AVI, MPEGPS, WMV, and FLV.

In the announcement, YouTube says they are working to transcode the rest of the YouTube catalog.

YouTube has launched a new feature to its video editing tool to improve movements on the users’ footages. The video streaming site has announced an image stabilizer and a 3D tool this week. Earlier last year YouTube introduced its cloud-based video editor with basic feature aimed satisfy “majority of people’s video editing needs”. Now users have extended features with a stabilizer. You Tube writes in its blog post: “Ever shoot a shaky video that’s so jittery, it’s actually hard to watch?

Consumers using home WiFi stations may experience 30% slower download speeds than those who use fixed connections according to a new study. The reasons for that are physical barriers and interference from devices like microwaves.

Broadband research firm Epitiro said the differences are rarely visible when surfing Internet, but higher latency and bigger loss of data transferred over WiFi connection could well hurt usage of online gaming, Internet telephony or video streaming. To address the problem the firm gives a simple advice.

Some of Warner Bros films will be accessible on Facebook which creates a new revenue source for the large social network and creates a new competition line for popular streaming companies.

To watch a movie people should pay for them using Facebook Credits, a virtual currency used mainly in social games on the website. 30% of the revenue gained by Facebook comes from sales by third parties via Credits system.

The service will initially be available in the United States, the company said.

A new Digital Year in Review report from comScore revealed that in the fourth quarter US users watched 19.4 billion minutes of video on Hulu, which was twice as much as the how much viewers watched on the websites of the five major TV networks combined. Viewers watched another 9.7 billion minutes of online video on the websites of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and the CW.

According to the latest rumors Amazon is planning a service that will rival Netflix. A holder of a premium account with Amazon posted some screenshots that show that at just $79 per year users can watch movies and shows.

The watch instantly section claims to offer “unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of 5,000 movies and TV shows”, which resembles Netflix’s current offering very much. The resolution advertised was only 480p, but presumably this too might change in time.

Next year Motorola Mobility will be rolling out a product that enables consumers to stream video to mobile devices such as tablet computers and cellphones in their home. The product was announced at the Reuters Global Media Summit and it will be showcased at the Consumer Electronics show right after Motorola Inc spins off Motorola Mobility, which includes its set-top box and cellphone business, from the rest of the company on January 4.

A Korean electronic tycoon Samsung has partnered with four US carriers to start seling its Google Android-powered tablet computer during the coming holiday season.

Samsung on Thursday announced details of its new 7-inch touchscreen Galaxy, to be sold through Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and AT&T, which also carries the iPad.

Apart from this, Samsung has also secured deals with Viacom's MTV Networks and Paramount and NBC Universal to buy or stream TV episodes, full television seasons, and new and old movies.

At the company’s “special event” in San Francisco, California, on Wednesday, the CEO of Apple Inc Steve Jobs unveiled the next two generations of iOS, updates that will bring multiplayer gaming and high-definition photography to iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches next week and wireless printing and media streaming in November.

According to the latest reports Amazon.com Inc is in talks with several media companies to launch a subscription service that gives users unlimited access to some television shows and movies over the Internet, a move that could rival Netflix Inc. The report came from the sources with the knowledge of the situation.

Amazon has approached media companies including Time Warner Inc, CBS Corp and Viacom Inc, these people say. It remains uncertain whether the media companies would agree to Amazon's proposals which are still at an early stage.

Yahoo Japan Corp has partnered with local media companies to expand the scope of video delivery services in Japan with the addition of a pay-per-view shows.

Starting early September, GyaO Corp, Yahoo’s Japanese unit, will be adding dramas from public broadcaster NHK and cartoons and other programs from TV Tokyo Corp to its pay-for-view streaming service, charging several hundred yen per show.

Besides, the partnership with NHK and TV Tokyo allows GyaO to offer programming from all major television broadcasters.

As reported by the Financial Times, YouTube video-sharing website is accelerating its negotiations with Hollywood movie makers over a global pay-as-you-go video service that could be launched by the end of the year.

According to the sources familiar with the matter the new service will likely be first launched in the United States, followed by other countries over time.

Google and YouTube "talked about how many people they could steer to this ... it's a huge number," the newspaper quoted an executive with knowledge of the plans as saying.

A popular video streaming website Hulu is planning an initial public offering which could value at more than $2 billion.

Hulu streams popular shows like "Glee" and "Modern Family," and now it is holding negotiations with investment banks to go public as soon as this fall, people briefed on the matter told the New York Times.

General Electric Co affiliate NBC Universal owns a third of Hulu.com, the most popular U.S. website for viewing television shows. Hulu also is owned by News Corp and Walt Disney Co.

An online search engine for the TV content Clicker has closed an $11 million Series B funding round led by JAFCO Ventures, with existing investors Benchmark Capital and Redpoint Ventures also participating. Clicker’s board will be joined by JAFCO’s Joe Horowitz.

Launched in November last year Clicker doesn’t store content on its servers. It instead streamlines for the users the process of sifting through a great volume of content available on the Internet. The index of the service covers more than 600,000 full length TV episodes spanning 10,000 shows.