[Tig] Google buys Youtube

[Bob Friesenhahn]

On Mon, 9 Oct 2006, Dave Pickett wrote:
>
> Google just payed US$1.65 Billion for online video provider Youtube.  The 
> move "catapults the Internet search leader to a starring role in the online 
> video revolution."

Very interesting.

> It seems the infrastructure is being built to continue to provide more 
> content online than on air.  An online video revolution.  I argue that this 
> is a superior choice for home viewers/consumers.  The regional monopolies of 
> Comcast, Time Warner, etc. force consumers to purchase the bundled content 
> with countless poor viewing choices.  Further, to fit all of these poor 
> choices down the pipe, all channels are overcompressed and suffer.  As in

The lack of broadcast/cable/satellite quality has to do with how 
content providers and carriers get paid.  Currently there is little 
incentive to offer more quality to the viewer since the viewer is not 
the one paying for the service and the viewer would likely choose not 
to pay even if he/she could afford it (people are fundamentally 
cheap).  It is difficult to see how Google would change that aspect.

> Hong Kong last year we will see online content providers outgain traditional 
> broadcast providers in viewership.  The google move could also imply current 
> programming as well as ALL past programming be available for purchase.

On-demand PPV would be nice but only if it is better quality than DVD 
(or HD-DVD / Blu-Ray by the time the service is deployed) and 
reasonably priced.  By reasonably priced, I mean that it should not 
cost more than Netflix.  The service needs to be very reliable. 
Customers will not be happy if a movie gets truncated 3/4 of the way 
through a viewing.  This sort of reliability is only possible if video 
servers are on the same network as the customer.

> The question for colorists might be "will delivery of data/video via 
> broadband and displayed on LCDs bring superior imagery to homes, bars and 
> restaurants?"  If it can be uncompressed 1080, 2048x1556 or greater then I 
> think the answer is an emphatic yes.

Currently HDTV is the mechanism in in place to offer high 
resolution video.  How will Google's service match or surpass its 
quality using the (sometimes flakey) Internet?

Bob
======================================
Bob Friesenhahn
bfriesen at simple.dallas.tx.us, http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/
GraphicsMagick Maintainer,    http://www.GraphicsMagick.org/