One way or another, the rules are making their way into the world of online video. For example, the video format Ultraviolet recently announced proposed by the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, could bring much needed coherence to the way the video downloads are formatted, delivered and played on everything from PCs to TVs . (If only Apple could come on board, I mean ...)
Now there's another rule in the work, Ars Technica says, designed to handle more traditional broadcasting as we know it. It is designed as a replacement for the CableCARD connector and standard cable box - a connector that will extend beyond the broadcast operations of its cable company, finally opening the portal to television around the Internet, primarily through a plug.
Call AllVid, the new standard would be an adapter allowing you to connect virtually any video source (cable, satellite, YouTube) to any playback device (PC, laptop, television these crazy glasses.) When you find something to see, just look for a program among all of the sources connected to your device AllVid, if that is HBO, Netflix, an online television network, or even the catalog of home video has stored on a hard drive in the basement.
And Hollywood? Well, Hollywood is not so sure of this.
The question is - as always - the specter of piracy. The studios and networks are worried that they will have to compete not only with the authoritative sources of their own content (as they do already), but compete with them for the same connection. It's a reasonable complaint: Front watch "Pit Boss" on the wire against the same program with commercials removed courtesy of a pirate Web site, all on the same TV and with the click of a button, I can understand why many viewers simply take Avenue without advertising.
Of course, the Motion Picture Association of America not only worried about his pocket cares about you, too. AllVid "could expose unsuspecting consumers and their children to unwanted content, such as pornography, viruses and spam," the MPAA said the Federal Communications Commission.
That can be a little more, of course. But Hollywood is desperately trying to protect the rickety fence that still surrounds his backyard - and the mother of all fears is, of course, Google TV, the upcoming made-for television service, which represents perhaps the biggest jump and most notable of Web TV that we have seen so far. Google is a supporter of AllVid.
Will it fly? AllVid is only a concept at this point, and without support from Hollywood to be a tough sell. There is no guarantee even a working idea, either. " But the idea, at least sounds good on paper: A tube for the video, where you want to see it. (Christopher Null/Yahoo!)
Now there's another rule in the work, Ars Technica says, designed to handle more traditional broadcasting as we know it. It is designed as a replacement for the CableCARD connector and standard cable box - a connector that will extend beyond the broadcast operations of its cable company, finally opening the portal to television around the Internet, primarily through a plug.
Call AllVid, the new standard would be an adapter allowing you to connect virtually any video source (cable, satellite, YouTube) to any playback device (PC, laptop, television these crazy glasses.) When you find something to see, just look for a program among all of the sources connected to your device AllVid, if that is HBO, Netflix, an online television network, or even the catalog of home video has stored on a hard drive in the basement.
And Hollywood? Well, Hollywood is not so sure of this.
The question is - as always - the specter of piracy. The studios and networks are worried that they will have to compete not only with the authoritative sources of their own content (as they do already), but compete with them for the same connection. It's a reasonable complaint: Front watch "Pit Boss" on the wire against the same program with commercials removed courtesy of a pirate Web site, all on the same TV and with the click of a button, I can understand why many viewers simply take Avenue without advertising.
Of course, the Motion Picture Association of America not only worried about his pocket cares about you, too. AllVid "could expose unsuspecting consumers and their children to unwanted content, such as pornography, viruses and spam," the MPAA said the Federal Communications Commission.
That can be a little more, of course. But Hollywood is desperately trying to protect the rickety fence that still surrounds his backyard - and the mother of all fears is, of course, Google TV, the upcoming made-for television service, which represents perhaps the biggest jump and most notable of Web TV that we have seen so far. Google is a supporter of AllVid.
Will it fly? AllVid is only a concept at this point, and without support from Hollywood to be a tough sell. There is no guarantee even a working idea, either. " But the idea, at least sounds good on paper: A tube for the video, where you want to see it. (Christopher Null/Yahoo!)
