YouTube To Feature High Quality Video Within 3 Months; Not Really That Big Of A Deal

Image Credit: NewTeeVee

GigaOM Network's NewTeeVee Conference yesterday seemed to be a hit. Even though I could neither be there or watch the live feed on new video-streaming platform Mogulus, I've been busy sifting through the live-blogging done during each of the keynote sessions and patiently waiting for Mogulus to split each speaker into his or her own stream on the platform so I can actually watch the feed. Right now, the entire conference just keeps playing over and over making it nearly impossible to watch the parts you want to see without sitting in front of the computer screen for 12 hours straight.

From the info I've had the chance to sift through, I've found quite a few interesting nuggets, but the one that seems to have the blogosphere abuzz the most is the announcement by YouTube's Steve Chen that we can expect higher quality content from the platform in the next 3 months or so. At the conference yesterday, Chen stated that YouTube was more focused on making the platform's video content available on a global scale and that improving on the currently horrible 320x240 pixel resolution was not a huge priority. That's the impression I got from the live-blogging by NewTeeVee's Chris Albrecht. In fact, Chen even stated that the video quality is "good enough right now". CNET's Rafe Needleman stated however, that Chen told him YouTube is currently testing a streamer that detects the user's connection speed and then provides higher quality content if the user wants it and the connection supports it. He also stated that a concern of YouTube's is that the video buffering will take longer fundamentally changing the user experience. One of the great things about YouTube is that buffering is currently almost instantaneous. Chen then apparently said that higher quality content would be available in the next 3 months.

Personally, I don't think high-def video resolution is a necessary for YouTube. The majority of the content is user-generated and the professional content found on the platform is often the victim of copyright infringement and is eventually removed. Making YouTube a global platform would be a smarter strategy. Also of note is the fact that archived videos are stored in the format in which they are uploaded, mostly 320x240, making streaming them in any type of high-quality video format virtually impossible.

Via NewTeeVee, CNET.com

November 16, 2007

YouTube To Feature High Quality Video Within 3 Months; Not Really That Big Of A Deal