Tag: YouTube
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 105 – LIVE on YouTube
I decided to test out YouTube Live, the new live streaming feature on YouTube that’s currently being rolled out to select YouTube Partners (like me). The test went very well, once I figured out the streaming software. The roughly 80 viewers watching the impromptu “show” seemed to enjoy it as well.
I meant to take a screenshot during the live broadcast, but forgot, so instead today’s photo is of the software I used to control the live video. It’s a free program called Cam Twist, which provides every live video editing feature I could need, enabling me to cut between the live camera, images, videos, and my desktop. I’ll likely do another live video event soon!
New simple and fast YouTube interface being tested
I was sent a YouTube video link tonight and when I pulled up the page in FireFox to watch it, I noticed that the entire YouTube experience had changed to a much more lightweight, user-friendly, and FAST interface.
Here’s a look:
(Click to enlarge)
Fueled by Ajax, clicking any link on the video page resulted in instant gratification. If you want to see more videos from the user who posted the one you’re watching, a quick drop-down menu is available (seen in the screenshot above). Searching for a new video shrinks the video you’re watching on the left side, displaying the search results instantly on the right, like so:
(Click to enlarge)
There’s also the addition of Like/Dislike (thumbs up / thumbs down) buttons.
I wondered if the interface change was global, so I pulled up the same video I was watching in Safari and got the old, standard YouTube UI. I’m not sure why FireFox is giving me the new interface, but I’d like to keep it.
TweetWatch Captain EO in 3D at home
For those of you still thinking about Michael Jackson, here’s a great way to enjoy some of his music along with a fun old movie. I recently discovered that a couple of months ago, a YouTube user posted fairly a high quality copy of the classic Epcot 3-D film Captain EO, starring Michael Jackson and Angelica Houston.
While there are many copies of this now-extinct show circulating the Internet, this one was uploaded to YouTube in HD. While the movie isn’t exactly high-definition, it still looks pretty good. But the best part is that this particular copy uses red/cyan 3-D to try to duplicate the original experience of seeing it in Epcot. The copy is a little dark and one of the colors seems to lag slightly behind the other, but it’s still worth watching on a big screen at home.
I’ve embedded both parts of the movie below with links to watch them on YouTube in HD:
Link: Captain EO in 3-D, Part 1
Link: Captain EO in 3-D, Part 2
But the best way to watch it is to download both parts from YouTube and play them on your TV or home projector. Generally, when it comes to 3-D imagery, the bigger you make it, the better the effect becomes. Here’s an easy way to download HD video from YouTube.
I’d love to see Disney swap out Honey, I Shrunk the Audience for Captain EO, even if only for a day, as a tribute to Michael Jackson’s legacy. But since that is not likely to happen, this is the best way I’ve found to enjoy this show in 3-D.
TweetMONDAY MEDIA: Full Movies and TV Shows on YouTube
This might be old news to many of you but I just recently discovered the fact that I can relive parts of the ’80s and ’90s through the new existance of…
Full Movies and TV Shows on YouTube
In addition to the usual buttons found near the top of YouTube (Home, Videos, Channels, Community), there is now a “Shows” button that takes you to a listing of full TV shows and movies that are now legally available to watch in their entirety directly on the video sharing site.
In browsing through list of TV shows, the ones that stuck out as interesting to me are:
- Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (the cartoon)
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
- Dilbert
- Bewitched
- Alf
- The Tick (Unfortunately, only the live-action version)
While I’m not thrilled with the idea of watching a movie on my computer (regardless of if it’s on YouTube or anywhere else), I think classic TV shows definitely have a big future in the online world. Hulu really began the process by putting so many great shows online and now YouTube is following along.
YouTube has even taken a few pages from Hulu’s playbook including allowing TV and movie watchers on their site to “turn down the lights,” making most of the page turn dark to provide a better video-watching environment. The shows and films can also be displayed in a larger in-browser size than standard YouTube videos (full screen is still available as well).
Unfortunately, unlike most YouTube videos, the TV shows and movies are not embeddable, so I can’t put any of them on this blog or anywhere else. Before each bit of media, a short advertisement is also played, but that’s easily ignored.
Overall, I like the trend of adding classic television to online video sites. I’ve been buying old TV shows on DVD for several years and would be happy to have access to it all on the Web for free, especially if someone can figure out a way to let me watch them on an actual TV.
TweetWEEKEND WEB: Virtual Easter Egg Hunt Roundup
Happy Easter! After searching for a while this morning, I present to you today a…
Virtual Easter Egg Hunt Roundup
Amongst the many lame online Easter Egg hunts that I found, three stood out as inventive, technology-filled, and even somewhat fun to play with:
- GigaPan Troy Hill Easter Egg Hunt - Use the GigaPan technology to zoom and pan your way through a picture to find all of the Easter Eggs (and other random items) hidden within.
- Wieden + Kennedy London PhotoSynth Easter Egg Hunt - Microsoft’s PhotoSynth technology was most notably used to unite thousands of photos taken at President Barack Obama’s inauguration but now W+K has used it to create a virtual Easter Egg hunt throughout their reception area. If you’re on a Mac, use this link instead.
- Interactive Video Easter Egg Hunt on YouTube – I’m not a huge fan of interactive YouTube videos, mostly because it takes forever to load each subsequent video clip on my computer, but if it works for you, this Easter Egg hunt is worth checking out. Here it is embedded for your convenience:
Got any other cool virtual Easter Egg hunts? Comment!
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