Yesterday was a big day for HyveUp: we released the first HyveUp video player. The release of the new player came with the launch of Xobni's new video interview. The HyveUp player is basically two Youtube embeds side by side, each displaying half of the video, creating a super wide screen when glued together. Why such a format?
The idea came when I stumbled upon the original Youtube Doubler. I found the idea excellent, and decided to explore this concept.
Of the original Doubler, I didn't like the lack of synchronicity between the two videos. Through my eyes, the format had a greater potential as a support for artistic expression. After emailing the creator of the Doubler to tell him that I liked what he came up with, and that I was going to built something from that idea, I put myself to work.
The HyveUp Doubler is no revolution in terms of programming or video editing. But by tweaking a bit both of them, I obtain a product on which I could build something interesting:
Pros:
1. I host the video on Youtube (free+reliable).
2. The widget commands are hosted on Amazon. A light javascript code displays the doubler.
3. I fully control the distribution, simply because the videos make sense only when my code glues them together.
4. It's a super wide screen experience, and the embed code (we're working on it) will offer pre-set sizes for embeds in skinnier blogs.
5. It's a great tool to promote my site - not my channel.
6. It is unique.
Cons:
1. I wrote about it: I am not sure how Youtube likes the idea of not having control over the distribution (I doubt that the Doubler is mentioned in the TOS). Nobody responded to the post I wrote, so I assume it's no big deal.
2. My dev guy tells me that the Youtube Chrome isn't the easiest horse to ride. Intensive debugging expected.
3. We're only Firefox compliant so far.
One reason online video is a booming media is because we get to watch cats skateboarding. The other powerful attribute of online video is the ability to play with Web programming languages to create new viewing experiences. I love this video for that specific reason. For HyveUp, I needed to be able to show more in a shorter video; to promote the name HyveUp; to centralize my video on HyveUp, and not on Youtube; and I needed a tool upon which I can start building my own revenue generation model, instead of relying on the nonexistent one of Youtube. I believe I am heading in a good direction.
The player is still in early beta, so expect some nice feature integrations as we go forward.
Thank you for reading HyveUp!
Best,
Xavier Vespa
Founder of HyveUp
Technorati Tags: hyveup, youtube, doubler
