High-definition streaming demonstrated on new site
Michael Gay November 5th, 2007
There was a lot of reaction to a story we posted last week about AOL and CBS dumping online high-definition plans. At the same time we learned about that, Akamai unveiled a new site dedicated to high-definition streaming called thehdweb.com. It’s a pretty awesome site, with video quality like I’ve never seen online. Now, you need a pretty impressive pipe to watch the video - at least 7.5 Mbps. I can usually access it via Comcast at home, but sometimes it does buffer. Some of the video on the site is from Gannett, including video from WZZM and KARE. Check it out and share your thoughts.
8 Comments Add your own
1. Dan | November 5th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Why do these sites all make you stream?
Why not let you download? There would be no problem
with your “pipe” if you could download and watch later.
Ever heard of iTunes and your auto downloading Podcasts? Apparently these sites don’t understand
their audience. We don’t just want to sit in front of our
computer at home and watch your stuff. We want to
watch it on the plane, during the commute on the train or bus, etc. Once again, it’s companies simply not listening to who their customers are. Just like the
record companies before them. Look how that
turned out.
Dan
2. Dan | November 5th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Geez, I just went to the site. The very first thing that’s played is a Verizon spot that’s the wrong aspect ratio. The video is stretched horizontally and people’s heads are squeezed. In other words a circle is now an oval.
This, you are calling the highest quality you’ve ever seen on the web? Oh my god. Is there anyone who gives a shit about the details of what they do anymore?
This, from Akamai, the supposed leader in streaming.
Dan
3. Dan | November 5th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
All of the content was produced in 16×9, but Akamai
is presenting it 2×1, which means it’s clipping the top off
all the images you see. People’s heads are being cut
off as well as you not seeing the production the way
it was intended to be seen or produced in the first place.
Yippy.
Dan
4. Same here | November 6th, 2007 at 7:40 am
I got that email a few days ago, and experienced the exact same thing the poster above did - way, way less than impressive.
5. Michael | November 6th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Wow. (Okay, I work for Gannett so take that for what it’s worth.)
My worry is that this is likely not even as accessible as HD television for most people. Can we expect concurrent dev with HD television?
6. JoeMo | November 6th, 2007 at 11:12 am
First off let me say that Akamai is no longer king; I have worked with Akamai for the past 3 or so years and they are slipping fast; that being said I am still not impressed. Sure the quality was ok but I have personally converted video that was much better looking at a lower bit rate. What is up with the funky aspect ratios; didn’t they RTFM?
7. brett | November 6th, 2007 at 11:49 am
video looks great to me, but where is the content? Is that front page the only content available? meh. Sigur Ros video was cool though.
8. B1-66-ER | May 23rd, 2008 at 4:57 pm
A company called Blast IPTV has discovered a way to stream high definition fullscreen over a 100kbps connection with no downloading or buffering.
Now that’s what I call the best in the business.
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