Veetle Looks to Jump in on the Live Broadcasting Market
Live streaming isn't a new concept, but the services that are available to consumers seem to be popping up more frequently, i.e.YouTube, Vimeo, Blip.tv, UStream, Qik, etc.
Veetle is a new digital media company based in Palo Alto, started by a team of former graduate students from Stanford University. The Beta website is up and running.
Veetle is a peer-to-peer video distribution system
It provides a live broadcasting platform to deliver streams on a massive scale with surprising quality. This service enables content owners, broadcasters and websites to reach millions of concurrent viewers. By the way, their definition of "broadcaster" is anyone with a computer, broadband connection, and a video source (for example, a video file, camcorder, or webcam). Check out the FAQ section for more details.
This platform is significantly different from all the YouTube-type services. It’s a “live” stream - which means you can’t pause it or record it easily. In that way it’s more like network or cable TV. You need to start watching when the broadcaster starts the feed. Content owners will like this, as it’s a better system for preserving intellectual property. It does retain YouTube-like features like comments and forums and offers embed code option.
Veetle does require a download and install to view in your browser. It currently doesn't work on Safari (Mac OSX Snow Leopard), so they recommend Firefox. This seems odd, as they recommend Safari on the top of the home page, but they claim to be working on it. There is also an iPad compatible player.
The streams are up to 1000 kbps using h264 codec at 960 x 544 (and beyond). When everything is working well on both ends, it’s very nice. The quality is obviously dependent on the computer and Internet speed of the “broadcaster” which could be some guy in his house. In an odd way, it's like watching a DVD someone put in with a bunch of strangers from the web tuning in in real time. Interesting.
There are still bugs and kinks to be worked out and I don’t see this as a replacement for Roku or Netflix real soon. If you really want to watch a movie, this could drive you crazy. But as an interesting alternative to poking around on YouTube, it’s great and I hope they catch on.
Have fun, check it out - maybe you will be the first on your block to be a broadcaster.
Let me know what you think!
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