Veoh

Veoh.com

Type of site	Video Distribution Website
Owner	Dmitry Shapiro, CEO
Created by	Users
URL	http://veoh.com/
Registration	Free

Veoh is a San Diego, California-based company that has created a peercasting network for video clip distribution.

Unlike other video distribution networks such as YouTube, the company distributes video clip content in its original format, rather than transcoding to a lower bandwidth and lower quality version. Due to this technology, a software download is required to download videos, or view some videos in full quality. The website also offers a YouTube-style Adobe Flash video player that can be run from within a web browser.

The company received media attention after Michael Eisner (ex-Disney chairman) joined the board. In April 2006, he was one of the investors (along with AOL Time-Warner) in the $12.5 million second round of financing for Veoh. The company has received further media attention recently by filing a lawsuit against Universal Music Group seeking an advisory judgment from the Court pertaining to allegations that Veoh is a massive copyright infringer.[1] In turn, Universal Music Group sued Veoh in Los Angeles in September 2007, claiming that the service infringes the copyrights of its artists by inducing users to post unlicensed copyrighted material such as music videos. [2]

History

Veoh was founded in 2004 by Dmitry Shapiro. The company launched an early version of its distribution technology in September 2005 and debuted its full beta service in March 2006. Veoh officially launched (out of beta) in February 2007. Veoh has raised $15 million from venture capital and media investors. Time Warner, Michael Eisner’s Tornante Company, Spark Capital and Shelter Capital Partners are all major investors.

In addition to the user generated content that Veoh broadcasts, Veoh has distributed content from media companies including Billboard, TNT Networks, the CW Network, New Line Cinema, Bennet Media, Paramount Pictures, US Weekly, TV Guide, and others. Independent creators found on Veoh include Doogtoons, Can We Do That?, Goodnight Burbank, and Dave and Tom.

Long videos cannot be streamed over the Internet, but can only be downloaded. A 5-minute streaming preview is available. As of June 2007, this applied to any video over 45 minutes; previously, the limit was 60 minutes.

Similar to other web video sites, content on Veoh includes copyrighted material. Veoh has yet to draw the attention of Hollywood as most of the focus to date in this area has been on bigger sites like YouTube, Google Video, and MySpace.. In a bold move, Veoh has sued Universal Music Group.

Viewing options

Veoh offers two viewing options. The Veoh Player is a peer-to-peer based software application that enables higher quality viewing. Viewers can use a media center remote control with the Player, and connect it (through a PC) to their television. The Player is similar in concept to a digital video recorder. Videos from any website can be downloaded and saved for later viewing. An Internet connection is not required to watch videos saved to the Player. Viewers can also subscribe to RSS feeds, publishers, or channels, and automatically receive new content delivered directly to the Player. The Player can also download BitTorrent content.

Viewers can also watch streaming web video on Veoh.com without the need to download the Veoh Player. Although, somewhat like YouTube, Veoh.com has capped the streaming of videos over 45 minutes to the five minute previews. Veoh.com hosts a range of programming, from user generated content to studio content.

Publishing videos

Publishers can use their PC to upload videos for distribution. Veoh transcodes the video file so the video is available in the Veoh Player application, on Veoh.com, streamed on the publisher’s own web site, in portable devices like iPods and Sony PSP, and on viral video sites. Publishers are able to customize the presentation of their content, automatically publish via RSS feeds, organize video programming into episodic series or complete channels, and offer content for sale.

A free account upgrade to Pro status allows the publisher to access the syndication system, allowing their uploaded videos to be automatically transferred to Youtube, Google Video, or Myspace. Publishers can also see number of views, downloads, and comments from the other sites on their "My Videos" page.

Technology

Veoh uses both peer-to-peer (for its Player software application) and Adobe Flash-based streaming video (for its website) technologies. Veoh claims its use of peer-to-peer in the Player application enables distribution of longer form and higher quality video files at a much lower cost. It also means that bandwidth costs will not rise in direct proportion to the number of users.

According to the official website, Veoh is Free Software, but is, by definition, proprietary freeware.

Recommendations

Veoh’s recommendations engine is intended to enable viewers to find content that interests them. The recommendations engine was built by co-founder Dr. Ted Dunning, Chief Scientist for Veoh. Dr. Dunning also built the music management and recommendation system at Musicmatch (now Yahoo! Music). Veoh recommendations are based on user behavior. As users watch, rate, and download videos, the Veoh recommendation system ‘learns’ what interests the user and presents more video choices that meet similar criteria.

VeohTV

Veoh Inc. currently has a program that is called VeohTV that allows users to view videos from websites without even using a web browser. It is like a combination of Joost and Youtube. It allows you to watch videos from anysite and watch them, download, or more. It has all the features of the Veoh player like downloading and watching full screen videos. But VeohTV has a search feature to search, watch, and download videos from video sites, an interact mode which features the ability to use widgets for things like time,calender, stock market, and even a web browser. The program is currently in it's Beta stage. Previously it was an invitation only beta, but now the Beta is open to the public. There is a version for Windows and Mac.

Veoh Intrusions

Many users have filed complaints about its misconceptions and intrusions by the Terms of Use policy. The program illegally deletes videos off the users hard drive that are copyrighted, even if unknown to the user.

See also

• Internet television
• User generated content
• Viral video
• Web 2.0

External links

• [3]
• Veoh web site
• Interview with Dmitry Shapiro, CEO of Veoh in socalTECH
• Veoh Raises $26 Million