Weather.com launches Brightcove video player
Michael Gay August 6th, 2007
The Weather Channel’s weather.com launched a new video player today they’re calling “Blue Box.” (No, I didn’t get the name at first either, until I looked at their logo.) In a press release, the player is described as being powered by Brightcove and DoubleClick. The player itself has 5 “channels” of video: News/Breaking Weather, Local Forecasts, Lifestyle, Severe Weather, and On the Weather Channel. It also allows you to search by zip code, where I found the weather forecast for my own city. Overall, an impressive upgrade to what the site offered before. Nice work to the team.
5 Comments Add your own
1. Umm... | August 7th, 2007 at 5:30 am
There’s nothing innovative about a Brightcove player…anything you can find on dozens of other sites, regardless of how you brand it, isn’t a winner in my book.
2. Rick Ellis | August 7th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Well, speaking as someone who has used all sorts of video content systems, there is a reason why Brightcove is on dozens of sites.
It’s easy to navigate, and can be at least lightly personalized to match the web site. It’s easy to separate the videos into all sorts of channels, and you can easily share and embed any of the video clips (as well as syndicate a channel or your entire player).
I’m a huge fan. I realize nothing is perfect, but given some of the options I see on a daily basis, it’s tops in my book. Both as a user and a web site operator.
3. Z | August 7th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
I still laugh at “breaking weather”. My wife refers to it as breaking wind.
4. Jonny Stecchino | August 8th, 2007 at 8:23 am
LOL… it is horrible, the player itself looks like it has been put together in 5 minutes! Terrible design and what are those big overlayed boxes with alpha gradient of bad, bad bad taste, visible when the ad is playing? I understand they want to turn some functionality off so users can’t skip the ad but can they find a nicer way to disable that interface?? Amateurs. Please pick “Emotional design & UI” for dummies before you do your players.
5. Z | August 8th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
Plus, I bet four of the channels are Jim Cantore.
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