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Computers-Hacking Title: Azureus' HD Vids Trump YouTube The file sharing company Azureus on Monday launched a new distribution platform for downloading high-quality video, which the company hopes will become the next YouTube -- but for high definition, DVD-quality video on the internet. Available at Zudeo, users can upload, download and comment on videos in a manner similar to other video sharing sites like YouTube, Metacafe and Revver. But instead of the low-resolution video offered by competing services, the Azureus system promises internet video at better than DVD quality, thanks to BitTorrent's ability to distribute huge video files speedily. "Try watching a YouTube video in full-screen mode," says Azureus CEO Gilles BianRosa. "You can't make out the details of what's going on. We've changed all that." Azureus is best known for its popular file-sharing client of the same name, which allows users to download big files from each other using the peer-to-peer BitTtorrent protocol. BianRosa says his company's video service is more than just another YouTube clone. "Our main target is high-definition video, which is a whole new market online," he says. "People will be able to post any kind of quality on our platform, but on top of that, we also make it possible to post videos that exceed DVD quality." BianRosa says the company, which is based in Palo Alto, plans to add television shows and full-length feature films to the service later this month. Azureus has inked distribution deals with 12 television, film and media companies, he says. Details of the partnerships, including any DRM restrictions to be applied to the licensed content, will be announced in two weeks. The company says it will comply with copyright laws by removing any illicit clips at the rights holders' request -- a policy followed by most other video-sharing sites. BitTorrent has a reputation for being used to distribute copyrighted movies and music (in addition to numerous legitimate uses). YouTube is also well known for hosting television clips and music videos that are sometimes subject to copyright spats. The company plans to give users the ability to attach pre-roll or post-roll advertisements to uploaded videos. Videos are currently shared with no advertising, but an opt in, ad-sharing program is under development. In a demonstration last week, the company showed a crisp, clear, DVD-quality clip that began streaming only seconds after the download was started. The highest-quality videos, tagged with an "HD tag," offer a noticeable step up from the quality seen on other video sharing sites. BianRosa says his company set out to create a double-duty web platform that appeals to professional media companies as well as the web's video junkies. "One side is meant to serve as a distribution platform for filmmakers and media companies," he says. "On the other side, consumers get a destination where they can find entertaining and informative videos, connect with the creators and also post their own content. We've built a platform that connects filmmakers and content creators with the audience at large." The launch of the new Azureus platform arrives one week after Wal-Mart announced its own video on demand and download-to-burn service in a bid to compete with similar offerings from Amazon and CinemaNow. A new research study by Verdict Research predicts the market for legal video downloads will grow from its current $218.4 million to $975 million by 2011. "There's growing consumer interest in HD," says Joe Laszlo, a research director at JupiterResearch. "Online video publishers are looking to stand out from a crowded field these days. Focusing on high quality HD video is a very effective way to do that." With high-definition video cameras available for less than $1,000, and with the rapid adoption HDTVs in the home, it's clear that high-definition entertainment has a future. But the visual clarity of internet video tends to be less than stellar, mostly because the bandwidth costs associated with serving large, high-quality video files is prohibitively expensive. However, the BitTorrent protocol enables content distributors like Azureus to share large files using much less bandwidth. Every user who downloads a file on a BitTorrent network also simultaneously uploads pieces of the file to other users on the network. This distributed file-sharing method reduces the amount of bandwidth required to host a large file such a high-definition video. The file-sharing company BitTorrent, creator of the peer-to-peer protocol of the same name, is also working on its own video distribution platform which will launch in February 2006. In addition, the founders of Skype, Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, are developing The Venice Project, a video distribution platform that uses peer-to-peer file sharing technologies. Azureus users can access the service through the company's website, or they can download a new, web-enabled version of the Azureus BitTorrent client that has the service built in. The Azureus client is a Java application that runs on all of the major operating systems. The client is an open source application, and the company claims that the code will continue to be based on open standards. Users can upload video either to the central server or they can share a video among a select group of friends by creating a private "trackerless" torrent. The videos are served in either the iPod-friendly H.264 format or VC-1, which is used for Windows media files. Once downloaded, users can transfer videos to a portable video player or a PC connected to a television. The company claims that users with a fat enough download pipe -- over 300 KB per second -- can view streaming DVD-quality videos on demand. This is a feature that BianRosa hopes will catch the attention of video producers who are eager to display their creations on a more flattering stage. "Independent filmmakers will also be able to post videos at a much higher quality than is possible on services like YouTube," he says. To that end, the user interface of the new Azureus client reflects the movie theater experience, with video thumbnails displayed in the letterboxed 16:9 aspect ratio against a neutral black background.
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