2 Months ago I first heard about WiTV – A new Joost contender that offered a couple of cool features including integration with Apple products and being browser based (no software installation needed).
Now I’ve managed to get some more information on these features including some pretty screenshots.
I’m Impressed!
Just take a look at the screenshots and features below and you can see how WiTV is going to give the likes of Joost, BabelGum and VeohTV a serious run for their money.
Channel Selector
A fluid bottom scrollbar for selecting the various channels available complete with thumbnails for each channel.
Video Controls
Basic video controls – nothing complex here.
Video Info Canvas
A short description of the video that is currently playing
Video Selector
A simple system using thumbnails to select individual videos within a channel complete with search feature. Looks a lot more intuitive than the system used by Joost.
Chat
An integrated chat system that allows you to talk using Skype or other Instant Message programs with other viewers.
Advertising
Advertising overlays that show periodically during a video. Presumably can be targeted to each individual video and possibly the type of user.
Watched History
A history of videos that you have previously watched. Hopefully this information will be used so that the program does not show you a video you have already watched when you start a video. An annoying problem apparent in similar software.
Download Videos & Hardware Integration
WiTV allows you to integrate with Apple Devices, Windows Devices, Mobile Phones, Games Consoles and Vista Media Center. Pretty Cool!
WiTV Features
- Channel Manager
- Video Selector
- Advertising Between Video and over Video
- Synchronized Event Focus
- Synchronized Event eCommerce
- Subtitle Multilanguage
- Chapter Management
- Streaming / Progressive Download support
- XML Driven
- Send to friend video features
- Comment video reader
- On Video watcher Chat
- Subscription for PodCast ready
- Subscription for Vista Media Center ready
- Subscription for Game Console Ready
- History watched video
- Interactive User Interface
- Interface Adobe Flash 8 Based
- Liquid interface
- Use in Browser or as downloadable software!
Lack of P2P
Unlike Joost and other competitors, WiTV does not use P2P technology and sends video directly to a user from a central server.
While this eliminates a lot of cross platform incompatibility and also allows it to be used directly within a browser, it does bring up huge issues of salability.
YouTube can get away with its low quality videos being streamed directly to the user, but whether WiTV could actually deliver TV quality (nevermind HD quality) on a large scale is highly questionable.
Lack of Content
When content is already an issue for Joost which has already formed some solid partnerships with content owner, WiTV is really going to struggle especially since it is based in italy.
While it will be better placed to capture European deals, penetration into the U.S. market will be a huge challenge if it can’t get deals with U.S. content owners.
Eitherway I can’t hide my excitement about WiTV.
