Davis Freeberg, Author at Zatz Not Funny!

Davis Freeberg’s Top 20 Web Video Creators

One of the complaints that I often read about YouTube is that it’s just a bunch a cat videos. While it is true that the feline community has found their special crazy place on the site, this statement is an injustice to all of the hard working innovative filmmakers who are pushing the boundaries of the web. Don’t get me wrong – there is a ton of junk on YouTube, but there are also some really talented people who are redefining the relationship between an artist and their audience.

So to celebrate TiVo’s support of YouTube, I’ve put together a list of 20 of my favorite web video creators. You won’t find many cat videos, but you will get a glimpse of the future of the entertainment industry. My tastes can be a little eclectic, but hopefully you’ll be able to find at least one or two new shows that are of interest. If you know of any good web series that I left out or if you happen to make your own web videos, feel free to leave a link in the comments.

1.) You Suck At Photoshop – The series is dark and twisted, but is very very funny. You get the feeling that sometimes Donnie is pulling his “hypothetical” examples from real life experiences, but his obsession only adds to the comedy. Even if you don’t like Photoshop, this is worth watching.

2.) PurePwnage – I discovered PurePwnage about two years ago and was instantly hooked. The show follows a pro-gamer around and films him embarrassing himself and others. While it’s shot in an amateur documentary style, it’s clear that Kyle has a ton of talent. The series is cleverly edited and offers a humorous glimpse at the video game sub-culture.

3.) Pretend We Don’t Exist – Most of the videos on YouTube are filmed for the web, they are quick and funny, but they also tend to be unpolished and gimmicky. The videos that PWDE creates are a breath of fresh air compared to the rest of YouTube. Their clips tend to be much longer and are focused on deep and dark subjects. The humor is much more subtle and is driven by the characters in their films. The filming and editing looks amazing and represents cinematography at it’s finest. There are more popular artists on YouTube, but more than any of the other videos, PWDE’s content deserves to be seen on a big screen television.

4.) ./ Shutdown – If you’ve ever wondered what really goes on in your IT department, ./ Shutdown is the series for you. They celebrate all things geeky and offer an entertaining and humorous look at anything nerd related. Their videos can go from quirky to awkward, to just plain mind boggling, all in a single episode. I don’t know how their videos would do with a mass market TV audience, but I’m not surprise that they’ve built a following online.

5.) Mondo Mini-Shows – Not everyone will appreciate the humor in Mondo Media’s videos, but if you like the itchy and scratchy episodes from the Simpsons, you’ll love these animations. By combining the right amount of cuteness with hair raising violence, they’ve stumbled onto a winning formula for the web.

Crunching Feedflix Stats for Netflix Trends

A few months ago, Raghu Srinivasan launched a website named Feedflix that analyzes your customized Netflix RSS feeds to track how you’re using your membership. The site can tell you things like how much you spend per DVD rental or the typical number of days that you hold onto your DVDs before sending them back for new ones.

While having someone automatically calculate this data is helpful to me, when I first used the service it didn’t really tell me anything new about how I use Netflix. Since I enjoy number crunching, I had already been tracking this info and know I’m spending about $3 for every DVD rental.

What Feedflix did offer me, though, was a way to compare how I used the service in relation to other Netflix customers. When it first launched, I didn’t think that Feedflix would have enough members for a legitimate sample size, but with the service growing over the past few months, I wanted to check back and see what it could tell me about how others are using Netflix.

How Long Do Customers Keep Their Rentals?

Feedflix doesn’t answer this question directly because they break the data into separate groups, but if you do a little bit of math, it’s not too hard to estimate the average rental. What I found surprising about the results was that, even with 75% of the user base returning their DVDs within 10 days, the drag from the other 25% of users brings the average rental period to 9.55 days. In the past, Netflix has said that people who don’t rent as many movies have a tendency to churn at a higher rate, but this data would suggest that they contribute to the lionshare’s of Netflix’s profits before they drop off completely.

DivX To Support The MKV Video Format

Good news web video fans. Hot off the presses Doom9’s forums, we learn that the upcoming release of DivX 7 is going to support the Matroska video format! Now I know that many of you are probably asking yourself Matroskwho?, but believe me when I tell you that this is a big deal for both DivX and Matroska fans.

A DivX / Matroska hook up will not only give web video creators even more options over how they want to present their content, but it will also ensure that consumers are able to take advantage of these advanced features with their favorite consumer electronic products. In the past, Matroska fans have had to go through a painful and complicated process in order to get their MKV files to play nice with their DivX hardware devices, but with the 7.0 release, it should be as easy as hitting play on DivX 7.0 gadgets.

DivX Looks Outside The Codec For The Future Of Web Video

DivX reported their 1st quarter earnings on Monday and while I’m still waiting to read the actual 10k before digging too far into the numbers, I did want to comment on what I see as a significant shift in strategy. Over the last 7 years, DivX has done an impressive job of building an eco-system around a single file format. The first time that I came across a DivX file, I actually thought that it was some kind of a virus. It took me two weeks before I worked up the courage to download the DivX media player so that I could play the movie, but once I did, I realized that my fears were unfounded. The file not only offered a superior video experience, but it was a lot smaller than the MPEG files that I was used to downloading. Since I was on a dial-up connection at the time, every little byte made a big difference.

As the P2P networks developed, DivX and it’s open source cousin XviD, became an important resource for file sharers. Initially, my own interest in DivX was driven by it’s technological advantages over other video formats, as well as the wide availability of DivX content on the grey market, but as compression technology has evolved, my reasons for using DivX have changed as well. Since I’m no longer on a dial-up network, compression is less important then what I can actually do with my videos.

As DivX gained in popularity, they were able to forge agreements with consumer electronic manufacturers that allowed you to play DivX files on a wide range of devices. Even though, H.264 is a superior standard for internet video, I still prefer DivX files because I know that I’ll be able to play them on the hardware devices that I own.By creating an eco-system that supports portability, DivX has been able to lock me into their format in the same way that Apple has been able to use iTunes to keep their customers buying iPods instead of MP3 players.

MovieBeam Rises From The Dead. Again?

Just when you thought it was safe to salvage your Moviebeam box for spare parts, there’s new hope on the horizon that Moviebeam may once again be coming to a television screen near you. Like a zombie from a bad horror flick, Moviebeam continues to rise from the dead feasting on the rotted brains of media moguls and venture capitalists with each new incarnation.

According to the Daily Bankruptcy Review, Movie Gallery has asked for bankruptcy court approval to sell their VOD service to Dar Capital Limited at a $2.25 million price tag.

Movie Gallery pulled the plug on its-on-demand movie service, called MovieBeam, in December as part of its restructuring under Chapter 11 protection. Dar Capital Limited has agreed to buy MovieBeam, which had about 1,800 subscribers at the time it was shut down. The service required customers to purchase a television set-top box that allowed them to order films for between $1.99 and $4.99. Movie Gallery said in court papers filed Thursday that it began shopping the MovieBeam business soon after shuttering the service and that 14 parties showed an interest in the company. Dar Capital is picking up MovieBeam’s remaining assets, which include certain trademarks and intellectual property associated with the business.

Stage6, Part Deux?

Over the past few days buzz has been building over the possible launch of a Stage6 clone. According to the DivxIT.net website, a Stage6 âalternative/cloneâ? will be revealed on April 29th. If this is true, it would be an exciting development for fans who still crave the high quality Stage6 experience.

This isnât the first time that someone has tried to hype the launch of a Stage6 replacement. As soon as Stage6 announced their shut down, there was a flurry of fake Stage6 clone announcements. Most of those sites fizzled out before they even got started.

NewStage6.com was the first âreplacementâ? to pop up on my radar. Initially they had a timer counting down until their launch, but today, the site is all but empty. Highlol.com was another website that tried to create buzz around the Stage6 collapse. They promised free HD DivX downloads, but there still arenât any videos on the site today.

Having already been burned a couple of times, you can understand why I tend to be skeptical about these sorts of promises. With DivX Inc. having come out and denied any affiliation with the site, I canât help but wonder how far they will let this get before they try to shut it down. On the other hand, because DivX benefits from having more of their content out there, maybe they are really better off ignoring it. Still, if DivxIT does gain traction, DivX might not be so happy about someone copying their site, especially when they donât seem willing to sell it to begin with. If DivX does try to go the hostile route, I think that they may be up against more than they realize.

Stage6 Moves Into Stage404

Over the past week, Iâve spent a lot of time thinking about DivXâs decision to close down Stage6. When I first heard the news, I wasnât sure how to feel about the decision. On one hand, I believe strongly in the free market system and when DivX choose to go public, they took on an obligation to look after their shareholder interests.

By turning to the public, DivX was able to raise more than $140 million in cash from investors who believed in the future of the company. Having access to this kind of capital opened a lot of doors for DivX, but it also came with strings attached. While itâs easy to blame DivXâs insiders for pulling the plug, without their initial support, DivX never would have been able to create Stage6 to begin with. I disagree with the final decision to shut the site down, but I can at least understand the economic realities that drove the decision to remove Stage6 from the core business.

On another hand, I was a fan of DivX long before their IPO and a loyal member of the Stage6 community. Without DivXâs community, they never would have succeeded in the first place and to abandon their fans over corporate profits speaks volumes about the priorities behind the decision makers at the helm of the company. While the cold hearted capitalist in me has no moral high ground to stand on, the fan in me canât help but be heartbroken by the realization that DivX may have lost their soul in the course of going public.

RaimaRadio – Internet Radio DVR

The RIAA may have given up on trying to outlaw DVRs, but that hasn’t stopped them from trying to interfere with your legal right to record content. And when it comes to recording radio, they’ve drawn a line in the sand. Whether its their lawsuit against XM Satellite radio or Creative’s decision to remove FM recording from their MP3 products, there are plenty of examples where the RIAA has used heavy handed tactics to try and stifle innovation.

The RIAA may have been worried about RadioShark, but it was the radio piranhas that were the real threat. While they were busy suing their partners, the open source movement has been filling the stream ripping wake that corporations are now too afraid to touch. By taking such a strong stance against legitimate companies, they RIAA has driven digital recording underground where they’ve now lost all control over it.

Stream ripping software isn’t new, but the functionality has been relatively limited and the interfaces haven’t been ready for the typical user. Screamer Radio is an excellent open source solution for DVR radio, but it lacks the aesthetic appeal and scheduling features that make traditional DVRs so easy to use.

Luckily, the open source community has been hard at work and what Screamer Radio leaves out, RaimaRadio is now bringing to the table. Raima Radio is a powerful freeware program that fuses features like wishlists, program scheduling, and video support with the traditional features of most stream ripping software.