Google releases video store

[maxterpiece]

story link

google video

I searched the forums and didn't see anything about this. It seems pretty bare-bones. So far looks like a skeleton of a store. They have some select CBS stuff and NBA games. Interestingly it only requires flash to play the videos.

I'll try it cuz I'm an NBA nut, but it seems pretty boring on the whole. at least right now. I'm pretty astonished. It's not google style to do something so... ill-conceived.

 

[dogbone]

Looks great, just watched a one hour doco from pbs on string theory.

Why isn't flash more popular. I like the way it is so smooth. Once it's loaded scrolling the movie is instantaneous.

Is it possible to somehow save a flash movie to disk. I mean it must be stored in a cache somewhere. It's annoying to have to redownload it to watch a movie again.

 

[maxterpiece]

I know espn.com uses flash to do video and looks pretty nice. So once you paid for your documentary, can you replay it whenever you like and as many times as you like?

 

[satans_banjo]

yeah the videos come in .avi format so you can take them anywhere and watch as many times as you want once you buy/download them

 

[maxterpiece]

apparently anyone can post any video they want and sell it for whatever price they want. I mean I'm sure there are some rules about content, but that's pretty cool as far as making it a 100% level playing field. My home-made iMovie about Roscoe the dog's attempts to catch his first cat can be right next to CBS programming. On second thought, I wouldn't too excited about being next to CBS's crap shows.

 

[steelphantom]

Any time I go to a video, I get this message on the page:

"Sorry, purchasing this video requires Windows 2000 or Windows XP."

Google Video Store officially sucks.

 

[bearda]

yeah the videos come in .avi format so you can take them anywhere and watch as many times as you want once you buy/download them

Really? Everything I've seen on it has implied or flat-out stated that Google has their own format and app for paid-for content. I haven't been able to verify, since Mac users seem to be completely cut out of the entire purchase process.

Were you actually able to get an avi of paid content, or just the free stuff?

Andrew Beard

 

[mduser63]

Any time I go to a video, I get this message on the page:

"Sorry, purchasing this video requires Windows 2000 or Windows XP."

Google Video Store officially sucks.

And one of the (several) reasons why I don't see why people love Google so much. To be fair though, they're claiming that they'll eventually add Mac support.

 

[maxterpiece]

What are the minimum system requirements for playing videos?

TWhat are the minimum system requirements for playing videos?

To play videos through your browser on Google Video, your system must meet the following requirements:

* Macromedia Flash; Player 7.0+. If you don't have a Flash Player plug-in installed on your computer, you can download it from the Macromedia website.
* Microsoft Windows 2000 or higher with latest updates installed, or Mac OS X 10.3 or higher
* Firefox 1.1+, Internet Explorer 5.0+, or Safari 1.0+
* A broadband connection with 500+ Kbps for continuous playback on Google Video.

By meeting these system requirements, you'll be able to watch any videos in the search results that feature a play button in the image thumbnail.

Some videos you download can only be viewed on Windows through the Google Video Player. To play videos through the Google Video Player, your system must meet the following requirements:

* Intel Pentium III 1GHz
* 128MB RAM
* 32MB Video
* Sound card

link

So apparently it is somewhat macintosh compatible - you can stream the flash movies but you can't play the downloadable ones. Anyone know whether certain movies are flash and others are downloadable, or if all movies are available in both formats?

 

[maxterpiece]

And one of the (several) reasons why I don't see why people love Google so much. To be fair though, they're claiming that they'll eventually add Mac support.

There is a google earth mac beta out, no? so they followed through on that promise...

I have to reiterate that I really respect google for making this an open playing field, so to speak. It takes out the middle man and it allows sellers to be as creative as they like without worrying about selling it to a label, and at the same time it doesn't legislate what we as consumers want. It's the same reason why google's web search is so popular - they ignored the whole idea of confusing the consumer by mixing sponsored ads in with real results, and they don't treat you like an idiot by trying to dazzle you with epileptic-fit-inducing flash ads.

It's amazing how novel the idea of allowing people to decide what they want for themselves is when it comes to corporations. Compare this to Microsoft imposing standards and forcing their software down people's throats and you see why people like Google so much.

That being said, I always encourage people to view all corporations with a critical eye. It is only when enough people use their own good sense when choosing products to support that corporations will be forced into making propducts that are beneficial to mankind, instead of taking the short route and ripping us off.