YouTube
Okay, we’ll admit it, this is a total cheat but YouTube has the potential to be everything these on-demand services aren’t.
As a start, YouTube can be quite high quality when the source material is similarly decent quality. HD videos on the service may not be proper HD in the strictest sense, but they are at least quite high quality for web video. Even clips with the HQ enabled are actually pretty watchable on a computer screen. Size-wise, the window is 640x361 for normal video and 853x480 for HD videos.
What’s more, YouTube has a massive advantage over the players from the major broadcasters. It’s available on a multitude of platforms. You can watch clips on phones or enjoy its videos on TVs via a Popcorn Hour or Panasonic Blu-ray player. It won’t be long before every TV sold has a YouTube gadget built-in.
So why fight it? All the broadcasters need to do is make sure their content is geo-IP locked, and they are good to go. Piracy fears are sure to cause some concerns -- but lets be honest, it’s all flash video, and if we can see it and hear it on our PC, there’s bound to be a way to nick it. So perhaps we should abandon all of these specialist players and go with YouTube? As always, your comments are encouraged.
Our verdict: 9/10
All YouTube needs is authorised, high quality content. It’s independent of all broadcasters so regulatory problems aren’t likely. It could very well be the future. That or Hulu arriving in the UK might help.
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