I'd imagine that, for most of you, I don't even really need to go into details on this one. Just reading the phrase 'video on the web' probably conjures plenty of your own experiences fighting with technology to get your dander up. Why? Why does it have to be so damned complicated to put a video file on the internet?
Now, part of my frustration with this comes from the fact that I'm one of 'those guys.' I loathe Windows. I could go on and on about the evils of Bill and the Gang, but that is probably a post for another site. It does bring up one of the most frustrating things we run into when we link to content from the various networks. Requirements to play. You need Windows XP, or Media Player 10, or Flash 6, or IE, or Quicktime, or to stand on your head and chant the namshub of Enki. Good grief, it doesn't need to be that hard.
Of course the Windows and Media Player ones are what really annoy me. Not just because I'm anti-Windows, but because it's just bad logic from the start. I don't get why any content producer would fight Microsoft's fight for them. How do they give the go on using Windows Video? If a company's pitch involves cutting off a segment of the market because they can't be bothered to make their product work, that's not a good thing. That means that their product is either unfinished, a piece of crap, or that they have ulterior motives. Either way, it's not a good choice for distributing your content.
Add to this the insane geographical restrictions. It only works in the U.S., or it only works in the U.K. What the hell is that? It's a brave new world. We can send information to the other side of the globe and back in a flash. Move into the future with the rest of us. And here's a tip. If a bunch of people are actively seeking out your content, and trying to get it from you, as opposed to more nefarious means, that's a good thing. That's a potential customer knocking on your door. They might be knocking with a long digital arm, from across an ocean, but they are still knocking. Answer the freaking door. Those Euros look a little funny at first, but they still spend just like American dollars.
And we can't forget the infrastructure. If you must stream, and won't embrace things like bit torrent for distribution, please do some math and figure out what kind of hardware and connection you will require. A choppy video that has to run in fits and starts because it is constantly buffering ruins the experience. The goal should be giving your customers the same kind of experience over the web that they get when they watch a traditional broadcast.
Part of this comes from the piracy bugaboo. Somehow those that make the content available have got it in their heads that they have to add this layer of cruft to the process in order to thwart those evil patch eyed bastards out to steal their intellectual property. And that is just outright stupid. Let's take the Veronica Mars premiere as an example.
Now, if someone is really set on getting a copy of that episode and distributing it in a way that the producers don't condone, why would they even begin to look at the streaming video as an option? The pilot was already available online, in higher quality, for anyone that wanted to go get it. And if they simply waited a week, they could record it at whatever quality they wanted when it was broadcast anyway. The only way to completely prevent a show from being copied and distributed by those bent on doing it is to never show it in any form. And that just isn't going to work, now is it?
Crazy DRM schemes on your streaming content, and downloads, only serve to generate headaches for your customers that are just trying to watch a video. It does exactly nothing to prevent unauthorized copying. I don't know when it happened, but somewhere along the line 'the customer is alway right' turned into 'the customer is always out to get us.' where the internet is concerned. The fact that the customer is at your website, looking for your content, should be proof enough that they have foregone the unapproved options. Just give them a video they can use.
At the end of the day, all I'm looking for is simplicity. When you say, "Watch the premier of Veronica Mars online!", I want to click a button and see some video. Not a page of hoops to jump through to get to the video. And I want that to happen whether I'm on a Mac or a Linux machine. Even if, for some odd reason, I'm on a Windows machine. Is that really asking too much?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-08-2006 @ 1:50PM
SJ said...
I like the fact that a lot of shows are being offered now online for free, but watching some of them can be annoying. I use Windows mostly so it's not a big problem, but I hate it when tv.msn.com forces me to use Internet Explorer.
I have a complaint about Adult Swim's online 'Fix' too. You can't pause the video...what the hell??
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10-08-2006 @ 4:07PM
brant said...
Ordinarily I would never even think about posting a comment on this site. However, with this go-no-where post about video on the web, I just had to! Did you even proof read anything you wrote? First you're talking about how bad the windows media format is because your anti-windows. Don't give any examples, then go on to talk about the infrastructure and DRM schemes and who knows what else. Did you even have a goal to accomplish in this post? If so, what the heck is it? What does you being anti-windows have to do with anything, and how does that make streaming videos harder?
I don't know of a single person who doesnt have windows media player or quicktime installed. . . making streaming videos a snap. Lets be realistic about being able to download the entire episode for free to your PC in a high res format. Lets save that for the tvrip scene. You should be happy that networks even OFFER it online at all. That should have been the entire news post.
I personally don't stream tv shows, but I think its a great start. Please someone make sure this guy never goes on another pointless rant again.
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10-08-2006 @ 5:21PM
lp said...
I agree with brant.
Your rant seems pointless, you don't like streaming media because you don't like Windows?
Windows Media streaming is as good as the rest (& is a hell of a lot less intrusive than QT or Real) & if you use a codec pack (such as k-lite) then you should be able to view most stuff.
AS for the regionalisation issues, I think the reasons given are pretty reasonable from the point that the networks don't own rights to transmit to other countries via their official sites, doesn't stop you viewing webisodes via youtube or the other usual sites
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10-08-2006 @ 5:16PM
Adam said...
SJ: You can pause the Adult Swim Fix video by clicking on the PLAY button.
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10-08-2006 @ 5:34PM
Shu pa dee dee said...
pooh
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10-08-2006 @ 5:54PM
SJ said...
I'm using Firefox and there are NO buttons at all. Maybe if I click on 'Launch External Player' I would be able to pause it, but I don't want to open the crappy Windows Media Player.
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10-08-2006 @ 5:59PM
Aaron said...
I am constantly bugged by this as well. NBC lately has made high quality copies of their shows available for download, but only to people running computers with Intel Viiv certification. Now, there is nothing about these videos that can't run on a computer running, say, a non-Viiv Intel machine, or an AMD box, but the shows ahve been needlessly restricted anyway. I'm clearly not going to buy a new computer with Viiv simply to download episodes from NBC of shows theybroadcast for free on TV. If anything, these mindless restrictions drive me to find the episodes by more nefarious means! The insistance on proprietary formats and ridiculously complex DRM are detrimental to the network's attempts to fight piracy. I want to watch your stuff! I think they make a good show! Don't fight my attempth sto visit your site and watch your shows!
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10-08-2006 @ 8:02PM
Todd said...
I run Windows XP Home on a Sony Vaio desktop via cable modem and have found that both the ABC and NBC video streams work great. I guess my experience isn't as bad as the author's, though I have encountered the Microsoft Internet Explorer only issue a few times. I'd much rather use Firefox or Netscape as my browser. On the other hand, there is so much available--for free--for TV programs that I have missed or want to catch up on via video capsules that putting up with the technical problems that crop up from time to time is worth it. I imagine the technology will become more user friendly as more viewers turn to online viewing versus "appointment" viewing during the first run over the air, via cable, or via satellite.
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10-09-2006 @ 8:59AM
sipsie said...
What about we Mac users? Talk about feeling left out of the party. Windows no longer supports IE for Mac and content that's dedicated to Media Player isn't available to Mac users. DRM is dropping a big deuce on all of us.
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10-09-2006 @ 10:14AM
John Howard said...
I'm all for people offering content in as many different choices as possible. But if they're going to limit it for whatever resons, of course they're going to limit it to more Windows friendly formats. That's the only logical choice since even most of the Microsoft haters out there still have Windows anyway. They'd have a lot more people complaining if they offered it exclusively in other formats. Even if whatever format you would like it in is far superior, that doesn't make it the right choice for the networks who need to cast a wide net. Again, I'd rather they have as many choices as possible, but if they're not going to, Windows friendly formats are the smart way to go for them.
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10-10-2006 @ 1:48PM
BobMac said...
The Veronica Mars thing also ticked me off, as I, too, have a Mac(Book Pro). However, I messed up Thursday night and The Office didn't record on my DVR. What's a fan to do? I went to the iTunes store and bought the episode. I realize that's not necessarily "video on the web," but (if you have Windows) you can view the web shows in an emergency.
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10-10-2006 @ 6:07PM
Jennifer said...
I have to totally second this. It seems like you have to jump through special hoops for every individual video that you want to watch, and install new crap/upgrades for most of them as well. Sweet Jesus, it is not worth my time to always be upgrading and reconfiguring for every video.
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