It was only yesterday that I was talking about using contextual adverts and google maps within online video as a more suitable advertising method that will provide revenue to smaller video producers. Now by using the Brightcove APIs one of Brightcove's publishing partners has developed an application that brings a "mashup of a video and time-based cue points marked in the video, synchronized dynamically to an embedded Google Map, and also to set of text links."

To see it in action click here, it is a diving video with links to information on the sea creatures as they appear on screen and also a location map with Google video. A little imagination can see how this can be used to insert relevant advertising links.

Screencasts are when people publish the video captures of what is playing on their screens. Something that we plan to do more often on the DVguru podcasts to illustrate a tutorial or something. It works a lot better than say using your camera to shoot the screen.

Most screen-capturing softwares usually offer several codecs, which one is best? This article goes into depth on all of the ones offered in iShowU. [Spoiler alert] The winner is the Animation codec. No surprise. Check out the article for all the nitty gritty.

Daily Reel, a site which prides itself at bringing you the best of online video, has signed an independent web video celebrity to produce original content for the site. No it's not Amanda Congdon (who seems to be everywhere lately), it's Lisa Nova who has become a star on video sharing sites for her popular comedy clips which have received in excess of 6.7 million views.

Daily Reel will be working with Lisa to generate revenue for her videos which will then be shared with Daily Reel. Revenue will come from paid syndication partnerships and through yet to be finalized advertising arrangements. These arrangements will unlikely feature pre roll adverts (I recently touched on the use of pre-roll adverts for web based amateur content creators), but may make use of some form of product placement.

Microsoft is developing a "flash killer" that is supposed be very similar to Flash but better. Microsoft's new flash killer has the not so trendy codename of WPF/E (this will of course be changed later). When it comes to video it will be similar to AJAX allowing a video to be resized without having to reload the page, you can also use the back button to go back and forth between videos rather than returning back to the previous web page like in Flash. This actually sounds like it could be a very good tool for video creators. Microsoft has published more details on the video side of things here.

Gilbert of IPTV Envangelist had an interesting discussion with Ari Paparo of VP Rich Media (DoubleClick) at the New York Video 2.0 Group Meetup. Ari stated that basically there is more video content appearing on the web than there are advertisers, and at the same time advertisers are very concerned over where they place their ads.

His conclusion from this is that "few sites and content creators are going to benefit in the short term from pre-roll revenue from major advertisers". Getting your video onto the web is one thing, but being able to earn money from it is another. Gilbert mentions the use of in-context adverts, such as showing Google Maps with news stories, could be a better alternative that could be used with small time video creators with quality content. This sort of advertising provides little cost in production for the advertiser reducing financial risk. I personally think in-context text based or interactive advertisements will be much more effective than traditional video advertisements anyway.

The New York Times article titled "2006, Brought to You by You" talks about the latest buzz word "user generated content." Content that is created by everyone, distributed sideways instead of the traditional top-down distribution model that Hollywood has cherished for a long time.

I like the article's comparison of this phenomenon to folk cultures: "Folk cultures often work incrementally, adding bits of individuality to a well-established tradition, with time and memory determining what will last. In the user-generated realm, tradition is anything prerecorded, and all existing works seem to be there for the taking, copyrights aside." Which leads to this quote: "The amateurs may seem irreverent, disrespectful and even parasitical as they help themselves to someone else's hooks. But they're confirming that the pros came up with something durable enough to demand a reply. Without icons, what would iconoclasts mock?"

But the problem remains how do filmmakers, those by profession, stand out among all these choices. You have to reach a certain level of popularity before you can be successfully mocked. I certainly do not suggest going back to the top-down model because outside of landing that elusive Hollywood deal, there is the festival circuit which seems to suck filmmakers dry instead of providing them with a platform. The Internet is much easier to build a following but just as hard to reach mainstream.

Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired Magazine, was interviewed by Levi Shapiro of IPTV Evangelist prior to Chris' Keynote address at the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE).

In the interview Chris discusses what he calls silvercasting (the use of a medium such as the internet to reach micro audiences), how video sites are appearing that touch niche topics such as Golf, and how the ability to reach smaller audiences will increase TV viewing and benefit incumbent content creators.

The new video website Vboxx.com is offering aspiring video creators the chance to win $5000 every month for a short video piece. Entries will be judged by the site's users, Tim Fargo of Vboxx said 'Too many video contests are judged by so-called 'experts,''. There will also be an annual prize up for grabs of $50,000. It sounds like the first video contest will be free to enter but after that there will be a $20 entry fee. The first 1000 entries get a free T-Shirt.

Just in case you hadn't noticed, the video sharing website, Revver (you know, where you can make moola) has received a much needed interface cleanup. In addition to the smoother design and easier navigation, new features like an advanced widget editor and accounting reports (to check up on viewer activity for individual videos) nicely rounds out the update to version 1.1. Overall, the website is much more pleasant to work with. Give it a look.

The 2006 Weblog Awards has a special section for the best video of the year. Contenders include The Internet Is For Porn, Mentos and Coke, Asian BSB, Brokeback to the Future and many more. Cast your vote by the 15th and help determine the winner!

Just like Media Convert before it, Zamzar is a free online video (and audio, image, and document, too!) conversion website for files up to 100MB in size. The service supports AVI, FLV, MP4, MOV, WMV, and a few other major and minor formats, or thirteen in total. Unlike Media Convert, you must provide your email address to receive the location of where to find your converted file. I haven't tested this one out myself, but it seems to be worth a try.

(via Camcorderinfo)

Rumors are still flying around the blogosphere that the major TV networks are looking to create a YouTube clone to bring down YouTube and give them back control over the content. Obviously this idea is presented with the problems of fighting a legal battle against YouTube and Google as well as trying to persuade surfers over to the new site, which will probably be considered 'evil'.

TechCrunch has said that Viacom and Disney have already dropped out of the discussions entirely while Fox and CBS are still trying to put a deal together. If the site was to go ahead and became successful I very much doubt it would end up favoring small time video producers as the power would be back in the hands of the big production companies.

Now there is one extra way to promote your internet video online. The online video sharing site StupidVideos.com, which focuses on dedicated to humorous, off-the-wall videos, is offering eCards in time for the Christmas season allowing you to embed videos into online greeting cards. Simply select a video and email the card to your friends (if you have any) with your own personalized message. It's a nice idea and I especially like it that there is a permanent link to the card you make.

Enjoy our special Christmas greetings card from DV Guru right here.

Two years ago back in December 2004 one of the first Viral videos made it's way onto the internet when then-18-year-old Gary Brolsma filmed himself lip synching in front of his webcam to an the Romanian pop band, O-Zone. Of course under the new Australian and UK copyright laws lip-synching is illegal, but despite that Gary received a lifetime achievement award at age 20, for the Numa Numa dance which has been viewed in excess of 15 million times.

Now Gary has his own website, NewNuma.com which is sponsoring a contest with $45,000 in prize money for the best amateur lip-synching videos.

Online video industry analyst Scott Kirsner said that internet video will be moving from amateur content to the more professional and mainstream video that we are used too. Looking back at history he argues that content creation often starts with amateurs and is then adopted by mainstream and professional companies. When the internet first started it was packed with homemade websites about families and people's pet cat, but is now dominated by larger organizations. A similar story has played out with podcasting too with many podcasts from professional, rather than amateur producers such as NPR, HBO, Scientific American and ESPN all of which were well known brands before podcasting and the iPod.

Now that the big name media companies are beginning to see the marketing power and advertising potential of online video we are increasingly seeing these companies appearing with video on the net. This time last year it was a different story. Next year we'll be seeing even more familiar content from the big name media companies. But this won't mean the end of amateur content and semi professional content such as lonelygirl15 (pictured above), it will still be there, just slightly over shadowed by the growing amount of professional video.