Web video is forever increasing in popularity and number, so being able to find what you are looking for is becoming as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack. VideoSurf may soon be able to help.
While Google may have the text search market virtually sewn up, video search is another matter altogether. While there are various competitors, not one has become the dominant force.
VideoSurf Enters The Fray
VideoSurf is a new contender to have entered the playing field, and it offers something radically different from the rest of the crowd – visual video search.
The company has only just launched at the recent TechCrunch50 conference, but it is already gaining a lot of buzz around the Internet for its innovative approach to providing users with a suitable system for searching for videos.
Decent Funding
The company has been funded by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, the latter of which is the chairman of the board. Altogether, the company has raised $5.5 million in venture capital.
The difference between VideoSurf and the rest of the video search market is the technology at the root of its search algorithm.
Multigrid Fast Computation
While most video search efforts rely on meta data to provide the bread and butter of their results, VideoSurf uses computer vision, with a proprietary process called multigrid fast computation helping it provide the most relevant results possible.
While keywords do still play a part, the technology delves much deeper than that. VideoSurf results come in the form of a set of thumbnails from the videos, showing the most unique or recognisable moments from each video.
If you then click on one of the thumbnails, you can watch the video from that point, or even set off on a whole new search related to the people in that scene.
Search Parameters
VideoSurf also allows you to narrow your search parameters either by category, or favourite video sources, including YouTube and Hulu.
In essence, VideoSurf has at a stroke revolutionised video search. Unfortunately, the site is still closed, with invites sent out to people willing to give up their email address.
VideoSurf is a destination site worth watching. A full public launch will hopefully follow, and monetization is already rumoured to be a planned addition in the future.
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