The Boxee Box does the same, but plugs into your HDTV rather than installs on your PC, which apparently isn’t quite as good for watching HD videos and the like as your £2,000 plasma!

The makers claim that the Boxee Box will play any non-DRM you can create, happily pumping it up to 1080p out of the HDMI port. Boxee is also internet friendly, pulling down media from anywhere on the internet using the special built in browser, including content from BBC, ITV, MTV, CNN, Channel 4, Comedy Central and more.

It’s also the most social of media players, hooking up with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Picasa, all being a breeze to update using the innovative two-sided QWERTY remote control.

How the Boxee Box compares with Apple TV and Google TV

While the Boxee Box has been priced higher than the likes of Apple TV and Google TV’s likely retail, it’s quite a different beast. Apple TV has excellent integration with iTunes for simple rentals, plus AirPlay wireless video playback on your iOS device is impressive.

Google TV brings the Google / Android style web experience to the TV but it’s not yet clear how far its media centre abilites go.

Boxee’s Box, while costing more, is a device more akin to a hub for your networked media, as it does have the ability to play all media without conversion or proprietory software, plus it offers an excellent and well-refined web media interface.

Coupled with the Intel Atom power under the hood and the quirky design, the Boxee Box could well be the media player to put a spanner in the plans of Apple and Google for taking control of your living room!

If you like the sound of it, you can buy the Boxee Box now – don’t forget to tell us your thoughts on it in the comments below, if you do.

TV is going through a transformation the likes of which it’s not seen since the birth of Satellite TV.

New Internet TVs don’t just give you a TV with YouTube – they give you a whole new viewing experience that’ll transform your living room.

To guide you through the minefield of the different technologies available, we’ll take a look at 5 televisions that let you connect to that most social of video sites, YouTube.

TVs with YouTube – making the TV social again

Here at MediaMentalism, we’re all about the social. We’re also about the smart technology, but what really gets the MediaMentalism boat afloat is when the smart technology gets with the social.

Everything’s getting in on the act, from cameras that are Flickr friendly to blasting out your favourite tunes with a HiFi and Last.FM. Now even the TV is getting in on the social action, growing network interfaces and talking to the Internet.

Every TV manufacturer is doing things slightly differently though. To help you choose the best way of watching YouTube on your TV, we’ve looked at different models from different manufacturers, grouped according to the main TV tech being used.

Internet-equipped LED TV

Panasonic D25 LED LCD

While Samsung and LG have cornered the public’s eye with catchy adverts, Panasonic have quietly released their own LED LCD screen, the Panasonic D25 series. Keen AV followers will know that any Panasonic TV comes with an impressive heritage and the D25 is no exception.

Using a top-end LED backlit IPS panel, the D25 comes packed with Freesat HD to flex those HD pixels, 4 HDMI sockets, a very cool USB “HDD PVR” function which allows you to record onto a USB hard drive, and finally the all important Ethernet socket. Through this you have access to Viera Link, Panasonic’s web portal, which includes the usual news and weather, and also social elements like YouTube and even Twitter.

Now you can watch dancing mongoose and tell the world without touching a phone or PC!

The Top End 3DTV

Samsung UE40C8000 3D LED TV

Maybe LED is not enough for you, and you crave something that little bit more. Ok, how about the very cutting edge of television technology from one of the world’s biggest names in TVs?

Samsung’s 8000 series sets are not only the de rigeur LED LCD flavour but these uber-TVs have that trick up their sleeve that everyone wants – 3D. Looking stunning in brushed titanium, the 8000 is loaded with a full HD VA LCD screen (better than monitor-type TN LCD), Freeview HD, 4 HDMI sockets, 200hz motionplus and the all important network connection (WiFi optional).

Samsung’s web service is the very-90′s-named internet@tv and it offers an original take on the whole idea with widgets. You can add new widgets to the taskbar on the screen, from BBC iPlayer to Flickr and from Twitter to YouTube. The 8000 even has a Skype widget for video calls on the big screen, very 21st century.

If you are looking for possibly the most Web-aware and technologically advanced TV, the Samsung 8000 series must be at the top of that list.

The 3D LCD Bargain

Samsung LE40C750 3D LCD TV

While Samsung’s 8000 series is at the high end of today’s TVs, it also has a price to match, so in these somewhat frugal days it’s always worth keeping one eye on the cheaper option. Though it may not have the ultra sleek titanium frame and LED technology of its fancy brother, the latest Samsung 7 series LCD TV (the C750) is still getting plenty of praise for its deep black levels, impressive 2D to 3D conversion and great viewing angle.

Still equipped with a raft of socketry (including the now standard 4 HDMI) and Freeview HD, the C750 runs the same internet@tv as it’s bigger brother, so you still get access to cool widgets like YouTube, Lovefilm, Twitter and more, but big screen Skype is kept back for the big boys toys only.

The C750 offers a taste of the big time for small potatoes, so if you’re on a budget, go check it out.

The Refined Plasma TV

Panasonic G20 Plasma

The Plasma vs LCD/LED debate has been going for some time now and shows no sign of stopping. Both have their advantages and their disadvantages – LED TVs are razor thin with a sharp picture, but plasma sets have better black levels and motion handling. Horses, courses!

Panasonic’s G20 series are plasma-based TVs and are one of the best options if you want both plasma technology and YouTube in your new TV with Panasonic Viera Cast. Using Panasonic’s NeoPDP panels (the closest any panel has come to Pioneer Kuro black levels), the G20 packs in a whole lot of tech for a fantastic, lifelike and vibrant image.

A full 1080p display, 4 HDMI inputs, 600hz motion, intelligent frame creation, Freeview HD AND Freesat HD, the G20 has optional WiFi and it’s THX certified so you know it’s been calibrated to motion picture standards.

Another distinct advantage plasma holds over LCD is how well it handles SD video, with LCD tending to be very matter-of-fact and showing all blemishes and noise. Plasma on the other hand will gloss over much of the issues in a similar way to CRT TVs did with video files, smoothing them out and making them look more like regular film.

With YouTube generally being at a lower resolution, plasma may well be the best way to view it on a 42″ screen. Plasma is often (incorrectly) assumed to be old technology, but visit any decent TV showroom or audio visual forum, and you’ll see the enthusiast’s TV of choice will have a plasma screen.

The Cracking Budget Choice

LG 42LD690 LCD TV

LG’s sets have come on leaps and bounds in the last few years, with excellent budget plasma panels, highly reviewed LCD set and revered top end LED model all doing well. Even though it is the cheapest option here, the LG LD690 is still an excellent HD TV for the money and carries on LG’s good name.

Coming packed with Freeview HD, the LD690 can also boast 3 HDMI inputs, 100hz TruMotion and network connectivity. LG have used that inconspicuous little ethernet socket to give the LD690 DLNA capabilites, allowing you to stream videos from any computers or network drives that are sitting on your home network – no boxes needed.

They’ve also used it for NetCast, LG’s answer to Panasonic’s Viera Cast and Samsung’s internet@tv. Netcast offers the viewer weather reports, photoshare, Skype video calls (soon) and YouTube, all on a 42″ full 1080p high-definition screen.

Significantly, as a majority of Channel 4′s demand service, 4OD, is on YouTube, you can now watch it on demand and in your front room. While LCD may not handle YouTube as gracefully as Plasma, it’s a sharper image with HD sources like consoles and Blu Ray players, and in the LD690′s case, it’s a few hundred pounds cheaper too!

The Clever Box of Tricks

WDTV Live

What if you’ve got a great TV already? Let’s say you’ve spent a few thousand on a 60″ Pioneer Kuro and nothing bests it in your eyes, but you still want to dabble in social media and the web on a big screen, so what’s the answer?

Western Digital’s WDTV Live.

Western Digital’s little box of tricks is not only an excellent networked high definition media player, capable of playing back AVI, WMV and MKV up to 1080p, but it also has the all-important on-line action.

The WDTV Live allows you to access YouTube, Flickr and internet radio from Live365, all up on your big screen. It also has HDMI out and optical digital out to get the best sound out of the little box into your hifi or surround system. The WDTV Live is a great YouTube player with a simple but powerful media player in the package too, and makes a great media hub at a fantastic price.

Summary

Ok, so there you have six ways to get the power of the internet into your front room – and this is just the beginning. The internet and our front rooms are merging, with services like Google TV, Zune Videos on the 360, Apple TV and many more aiming to stream not only YouTube but high definition films into our living rooms over the internet.

Even YouTube itself is going high definition and even 3D, so it’s a very exciting time. The Web can be at your fingertips if you want it – enjoy yourself!

Although MKV files are everywhere on file sharing networks, finding an MKV Player is difficult as there aren’t many available, simply because the format is so new.

So we thought we’d help you with a guide to the best MKV Players on the market at the moment, together with links to where you can buy them.

Why buy an MKV Player?

Without getting too geeky (more details on Matroska can be found here if you do want to geek out!), an MKV Player will automatically play videos contained within an .mkv file, many thousands of which you’ll find on torrent sites.

MKV isn’t just a new format of video, though – it’s a complete multimedia container, containing video (in many different video encoding formats), audio, selectable chapters and menus.

Think of it as a DVD, complete with its selectable chapters and extras, but all contained in a single file, so downloadable – and playable – from a single MKV file.

An MKV player, therefore, is simply any media player that natively supports MKV fiiles out of the box, letting you play them as soon as you download them without having to reformat them into a different video format.

Finding an MKV player can be tricky, though, as the format is still new. So we picked out six of the best MKV players on the market for you, each with its own unique claim to fame (and price!).

The six best MKV players

1). Iomega ScreenPlay Director

The Iomega ScreenPlay Director HD is a cracking media player that streams full 1080p HDTV from hundreds of different sources, and in dozens of different formats – including MKV.

• Watch video from your PC – the ScreenPlay Director comes with Ethernet and optional WiFi, and will stream your videos from your PC. It comes with own onscreen display and remote, which let you navigate through your music, videos and pictures for instant viewing.
• Watch video from the Internet – again via either Ethernet or Wifi, you can stream videos from CinemaNow, YouTube or dozens of other sites
• Watch video from the ScreenPlay Director itself, with its bui;t-in 1TB or 2TB hard drive

You can watch videos in tonnes of different formats, too, including MKV, MPEG, AVI, DivX and Xvid, H.264, WMV, AVCHD and VC-1 (phew!)

Add to that support for Internet radio, more HDTV connectors than you can name, USB support for plugging in and browsing external MP3 players (with support for MP3, AC3, WAV, Ogg, WMA and Flac audio files), and DLNA support for viewing videos and pictures from DLNA-compliant gadgets (including your PC, camera phone or camera), and the Iomega ScreenPlay Director is a strong contender for one of the best connected gadgets of all time – period!

With its suport for MKV though, it’s a downloader’s dream – download any MKV file from the Internet, and play it instantly on your HDTV. Genius!

Best for: The ultimate gadget fiend who wants the ultimate media sharing experience and doesn’t mind paying for it.

See more details and check prices of the Iomega ScreenPlay Director HD

2). ASUS O!Play HDP-R1 Media Player

The Asus O!Play HD 1080p HDP-R1 Live Internet Media Streamer is a similar box to the Iomega ScreenPlay Director, but with a few missing features. Firstly, there’s no Wi-Fi – it’s not even an option. You do get an Ethernet cable, though, which is some comfort, but Wi-Fi would have been better.

There’s also no internal hard drive, so you’re reliant on your PC or an external hard drive (the ASUS O!Play comes with an eSata connector) for stored video.

Fortunately, none of this detracts from an excellent media player. It’ll play just about any type of video you care to throw at it, will read DVD menus from a ripped MKV file, and will pretty much let you watch anything you can download from the Internet.

And one benefit of a reduced feature set is a much reduced price – just $99, which less than half the price of the Iomega.

Best for: people on a budget who want to share their media cheaply, but aren’t too fussed about some of the finer features offered by the other players here.

See more details and check prices on the Asus O!Play HD Live Internet Media Streamer

3). Popcorn Hour C-200 Media Tank

The gloriously-named Popcorn Hour C-200 Networked Media Tank
is another media player, but this time one favoured by the hardcore video geeks – it supports just about any video encoding you care to throw at it, and comes with a built-in BitTorrent client, so it’ll download files from the Internet all by itself without any need for your PC to be switched on.

If your PC is on, then you can still stream any music or video from it, as you’d expect. Alternately, you can also share your media from your Popcorn Hour C-200 to your PC or laptop, as the Popcorn Hour also acts as a file server.

The remote control is based on RF technology rather than InfraRed, which means you can control the Popcorn Hour in any room, regardless of where the box itself is located (obviously more useful for music selection than video!), and there’s even space for a Blu-ray drive.

All of this doesn’t come cheap, of course – but it is the best box of the bunch, especially if you’re a hardcore media freak.

Best for: Hardcore video geeks who want full video support and full control over their media (yet don’t really care about a polished interface!)

See more details and check prices on the Popcorn Hour C-200 Networked Media Tank

4). Lacie LaCinema Mini HD

The Lacie LaCinema Mini HD debuted at CES 2010 a few weeks ago, but already it’s drawing admiring comments. With full 1080p HD, video streaming from your PC, and complete UPnP and DLNA support, which will share your media across your computers, cameras, phones – even your PS3 or XBox 360 – the LaCinema is a media sharer’s dream!

Better still, it doesn’t compromise on features – as well as supporting virtually every video format known to man (including MKV), it also comes with a bui;t-in 500GB hard drive and 802.11n Wi-Fi.

This makes using the Mini HD simplicity itself – simply connect it to your HDTV via HDMI, and choose your source: internal hard drive, an attached USB drive, or anything attached to your Wireless Network. Your content can be navigated smoothly on-screen, and you can even view media stored on non-PC devices, such as a DLNA-equipped mobile phone or camera.

Perhaps what’s most impressive about the Mini HD, though, is its size – it’s just 118 x 118 x 40 mm, which is tiny! Perfect for taking round to your mate’s and watching whatever you’ve got stored on her HDTV.

Best for: Plug n Players who want a small box with minimal fuss, nothing else to buy, and the ability to take it round to a mate’s house.

See more details and check prices on the Lacie LaCinema Mini HD

5). WD TV Live

The WD TV Live is a full-HD 1080p media player that, despite its ugly appearance, really knows how to share your media in style. Its unique user interface adds some nice polish, which is always nice when searching through thousands of videos and tunes, and is welcome relief from some of the more minimalist interfaces from the likes of the Popcorn Hour.

The WDTV does what most media players do – it lets you share video, music and pictures from your PC and the Internet, including YouTube, Pandora and Live365.

There’s an Ethernet connection, an optional Wi-Fi adaptor, HDMI 1.3 connector for connecting to your HDTV, and support for all manner of video formats, including MKV.

As a point of interest, Gizmodo tested a range of media players, and concluded that the WD TV Live was the best at finding and playing different videos from different sources. It sounds like that should be the absolute minimum that a media player should be able to do, but you’d be amazed how poorly some of them performed (not the ones in this list, it has to be said).

Best for: Accessing any type of content without hassle, so long as you can hide the box somewhere!

See more details and check prices on the WD TV Live

6). Archos 5 Android Internet Tablet

If it’s something more portable you’re after, you could consider the Archos 5 Internet Media Tablet. Not only does it support MKV as well as a tonne of other video formats, it’s also got the kind of feature list you normally only dream of.

Based on Google’s Android operating system, the Archos 5 is a Portable Media Player with huge 4.8″ touchscreen, integrated GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and FM transmitter. You can even tether it to mobile phones, letting it access the Internet via your phone’s 3G connection. Very hadny if you want to browse the Web on its splendid Web-kit based browser.

There are a variety of different versions on offer, from an 8GB version to a hard-drive equipped version with 500GB of storage space.

But it’s the media playing virtues of the Archos 5 you’re interested in, and here it shines. With support for AVI, WMV, MPEG4, h.264, MKV, XVid, DivX and Flash video content out of the box, all the way up to 720p, and audio support for MP3, AAC, WMA, FLAC, Ogg, and WAV files, it’ll play pretty most of your content with ease.

It’ll also play video content from the likes of YouTube and Hulu, while music is served wirelessly via Pandora, Slacker, Last.fm, or whatever else you care to throw at it.

And if none of that appeals, just use it as a digital photo-frame – its screen is big enough and clear enough!

It’s not without its flaws, but as an all round media player capabale of playing your precious MKV files, and with a tonne of other features as well, it’s the perfect portable device for video downloaders.

Best for: Gadget fiends looking for the ultimate go-anywhere video player.

See more details and check prices on the Archos 5 Internet Media Tablet

Summary

MKV, although a relatively new format, is fast becoming the video container of choice, particulalrly among file downloaders. If you’re serious about your video, you need a media player that can support MKV, adn the range of media players in this list gives you this and so much more.

It’s great to see media players finally coming of age, as for the past few years they’ve been dogged by flaws, flakiness and poor usability (and just looked plain hideous). This list of 6 of the best shows that they’ve really upped their game, and any of these should suit you well if you’re looking for a great MKV player for your collection.

Know of any better MKV players? Let us know, in the comments below (and yes, we know about the PopBox, but it hasn’t been released yet!).

But I’ll give it a go

First up, the clue’s in the name – CELL TV, which features the CELL Engine processor, a variant of the CELL Processor that powers the PS3. CELL Processors are absolute beasts. The power of the PS3 has always been huge and even now hasn’t pushed the limits of the CELL Processor beating at its heart.

Toshiba, who helped develop the original CELL Processor, have decided that maybe a superb top of the range 3D capable HDTV would push it a bit more.

Turns out it wouldn’t!

To be fair, the CELL Engine offers 143 times the processing power of other HDTVs, so it wasn’t going to get out of breath any time soon. So as well as some incredible HDTV specs, such as a 480HZ frame rate, Toshiba had to add a few other remarkable features to the TV, just to give the CELL Engine something to do!

HDTV Specs

CELL TV offers superb HDTV pictures thanks in part to Toshiba’s KIRA2 LED panel technology. According to Toshiba:

KIRA2 is positioned as “Twice as Bright!” as it has an amazing 1,000 cd/m2 brightness. In addition, KIRA2 also has 512 controllable zones (5X that of previous local dimming models) for precise control over black levels. This allows the KIRA2 to create an unmatched 9,000,000: 1 Dynamic Contrast, creating the ultimate picture quality package.

9,000,000:1 contrast ratio?! That’s incredible! It was only a year or so ago that HDTVs were boasting of 1,000,000:1 contrast ratios!

And if you hate wires, you can use the CELL TV Set Top Box, which streams all the content straight to the ZX900 via Wireless HD.

Enhanced Internet Content

That’s still not enough for Toshiba though, so they added Net Resolution+, which analyzes content from the Internet and cleans it up – in real time. This means you can watch crappy YouTube videos on your ZX900′s 65″ screen and see a clean picture, rather than the mess of pixels you sometimes get.

3D TV

With all that power from the CELL Engine, there was nothing Toshiba could do to exhaust it with simple HDTV. So they decided to throw 3D into the mix as well.

The ZX900 supports MPEG4-MVC, RealD and other 3D formats, and splits the picture into two parts (one for the lef teye, one for the right eye), giving each part 120Hz.

Of course, there aren’t many 3D films or videos around at the moment. So the ZX900 will convert any 2D signal to 3D, again in real time!

Remarkable media features

Not content with making one of the best specified HDTV on the market, Toshiba threw a few other features at the CELL TV, desperate to defeat the CELL Engine powering it. For example:

Internet on your TV

The ZX900 is designed to bring everything you watch, from wherever it’s sourced, straight to the TV. Not only Blu-Ray discs and standard HD TV, but also anything you might have watched on your PC or laptop.

Only you don’t need your PC or laptop, as the ZX900 is equipped with an Ethernet port and 802.11n WiFi, so will connect to the Internet without the need for a PC.

To help you watch things from the Internet, the ZX900 comes equipped with Toshiba’s NetTV, a set of Internet-specific channels that provides instant access to films and content from Netflix, VUDU, and CinemaNow. Movies on demand whenever you want them.

But if you just want to listen to music, that’s OK too, as the ZX900 also comes with Pandora, letting you listen to all the music in the world on Pandora’s glorious music service.

Wireless media streaming from your PC

If you want to view things from your PC or laptop, though, then that’s covered too. The ZX900 is a Home Entertainment Server, allowing you to stream media straight onto its stunning super high-res display.

Terabyte of Storage

Want to store any content you’ve downloaded or streamed? No problem, the ZX900 comes with a 1TB Hard Drive. It also has a BD Player as well, in case you’d prefer to get your content from your existing library of Blu Ray discs

Transmit your content to any other device

As if all that wasn’t enough, the ZX900 can also transmit all your content from the hard disk to any other DLNA equipped device in the home. PCs, laptops, even mobile phones, all can share the content from your ZX900′s hard disk at the touch of a button.

Video conferencing too

And just one more thing (to coiin a phrase!) – the ZX900 also supports Video conferencing, and even cleans up the video signal using its Net Resolution+ system.

The undefeated champ!

Despite all of these attempts, Toshiba still were unable to defeat the CELL Engine. The ZX900 and the CELL TV system powering it are stunning examples of superb technology, and send Toshiba straight to the top of the HDTV league.

It’ll be available in 55″ and 65″ variants later in 2010, probably for a huge price.

[Source: Engadget]

If only it were that easy! Fortunately, I’ve created a guide on how to succeed with online video, which shows you how to use your video camera, the dozens of video upload sites and your own imagination to make real money with online video.

How to succeed as a Video blogger

There are two ways of making money from a video blog: either make yourself the focus of your videos, or create a blog that includes your own videos and those from other people.

Video blogging using your own and other people’s videos

If it’s Internet celebrity status you’re after, such as Robert Scoble, then you’ll need to include yourself in the videos you shoot, even if it’s only behind the camera. A much easier, way, though, is to mix video that you shoot yourself with videos from other producers.

The guys at YouGottaSeeThisVideo.com (left) did this to perfection, and were nominated for best video blog 2007 at the prestigious Weblog awards.

This is an easier way to have success with a video blog, as creating video can be quite time consuming, so combining your own video with videos that other people have created ensures you get more high quality content than you would if you were shooting all the vids yourself. Just make sure the other videos are related to the topic you focus on, and ensure that your video blog has a consistent theme throughout.

For tips on creating a video blog and monetizing it using your own videos and those from other people, check out the following:

• Using YouTube to become a leader in your blog niche – blogging and social media genius Maki (one of Digg’s top superusers) shares his thoughts on becoming a successful blogger by using a successful Youtube user as a case study.
• Make money with a video blog – superb article on how to make money with a video blog. Step by step advice on setting up your blog, choosing content, and even where to position your ads for maximum click-through.
• DigitalPoint forum on making money with a video blog – forum thread that expands on the above article, including more detailed advice for the budding video blogger.
• More top advice from Maki on making money for a video blog – does exactly what it says on the tin. Maki’s posts are so consistently good, you wonder how he has time to sleep!

Video blogging all by yourself

If you want to be YouTube famous, you’ll need to ensure you’re always in the video somewhere, even if it’s only as a voice over behind the camera. This will only work if you have a loud and engaging personality – no-one wants to see videos of dull people.

Look at Perez Hilton (left), for example. His whole site isn’t just about celebrity gossip, it’s about him and his personality.

If you want to be Internet famous, you need to be able to capture’ people’s attention in a similar way (well, maybe not in quite such a similar way! – there’s only room in this world for one Perez Hilton, surely!)

One way to test this out is to start live blogging yourself on Justin.tv. Here you can experiment with a small audience to begin with, and build it up over time, before branching out with your own video-based Web site around you.

If you don’t have a loud personality, or you don’t want to be Internet famous but like shooting video, then consider live blogging important people or events.

The best example of this type of video blogger is Robert Scoble, who scours the world to get the latest scoops on tech-related subjects, and interviews the people in the industry who matter.

You can live blog trade shows, conferences, launch parties – pretty much anything that people want to see. You can do it to generate traffic to your own blog, or to promote someone else’s for money. Effectively, you become a freelance blogger for someone who pays you to cover important events.

If you think this is for you, check out some of these sites on how to become a live blogger:

• Live blogging best practices (note: the page looks like it was designed in 1994, but don’t let that put you off – it was actually written in 2007!)
• How to do conference blogging – excellent set of tips on how to live blog conferences for your own professional development
• Conference blogging for professional bloggers – from Blog Herald, one of the top Problogging sites on the Web
• How to blog a conference – hardware, software and strategy for live blogging like a pro.
• How to Live Blog a conference – conference blogging tips from the experts
• Beth Kanter – prolific blogger for Blog Her, Beth has covered many live events and givdes some top tips for Live Blogging wannabes
• Live blogging the Web 2.0 way – great set of Web 2.0 sites to help you live blog an event
• Live Blogging the WebWorkerDaily way – loads of live blogging posts from one of the top blogs on the Web
• How to use CoverItLive for Live blogging – review of the live blogging site CoverItLive.com
• ProBlogger’s live blogging tips – tips from the expert himself.
• Free 6 page e-book on live blogging – extremely useful guide to live blogging,plus great links to opther experts
• Confessions of a live blog failure – some of the pitfalls to watch out for when live blogging
• The art of live blogging – does exactly what it says on the tin
• TopRank tips on Live blogging – includes strategies,software and top tips

How to succeed with viral videos

If you’re the creative type and love creating your own videos, then you need to make your video go viral if you want success.

A viral video is one that people like so much, they share it with their friends, who in turn share it with their friends, and so on.

The video literally spreads like an epidemic, gaining you maximum exposure.

Be warned, this is not an easy process, but the rewards can be huge.

Finding the killer hook you need to get your video to go viral is the secret to viral success.

It’s a black art, though, and will require much trial and error, but here are some excellent articles with tips and advice that’ll give you a head start:

• Viral marketing with Lisa Nova’s sexy videos – sex sells, and Lisa Nova (in the video, above) knows it, exploiting this age old marketing trick to perfection. She’s created a series of sexy characters that you can use in your own video clips completely free. Called Lisa Nova collab characters, they can help spice up your clips, while promoting Lisa herself – clever! Emulating Lisa’s strategy is one option, but using Lisa’s video clips yourself in your own clips may be a better option if you have the sex appeal of a moose’s arse.
• The secret strategies behind many viral videos – TechCrunch article into viral video promotion from the head of viral video marketing company The Comotion Group. See also this follow-up article, which clears up a few misundertandings from the original post.
• How to succeeed at YouTube – revealing interview with Andrew Nesbitt, who’s had several videos go viral.
• Forrester research’s interview with WillItBlend.com. Video Website WillItBlend.com has had enormous success with YouTube. Forrester research interview the guys behind the site and come up with some top tips for viral videos.

If you’re still looking for inspiration, check out the deeply ironic vid below on how to make viral video clips!

Custom video creation

If you love creating video and want to be paid for your efforts, consider becoming a freelance video producer. Companies will pay you to create videos to advertise their products or services. You need to be skilled in creating videos to do this, but if you’ve got the talent, head to MediaMobz and sign up as a producer. You can then bid for work producing videos for companies looking for creative individuals to produce advertisements for them.

Note that their homepage implies they only sign up advertisers. This isn’t the case at all – when you start the sign-up process you can select whether you’re offering your services as a producer, or whether you’re a buyer. Check their FAQ for more details.

Summary

Blimey, these posts are getting out of hand! If you’re into making videos for the Web, these links should help you focus on your videos’ theme, monetize them, become a YouTube superstar, and ultimately succeed with online video. If you know of any other great articles for online video success, or just want to share your own tips and advice,feel free to comment below.

Meanwhile, check out my other posts on the best gadgets for online video, and video sites that are even better than YouTube.

And don’t just think YouTube is the only place to upload your video. It might be the obvious place to upload your vids, but there are many video sites that are even better than YouTube.

Web video sites that are better than YouTube

• Vimeo – Like YouTube, but offers higher definition, and has the concept of Projects, in which people work together to work on a video project about
• MetaCafe – YouTube clone
• Blip.tv – Can format your video for a wide array of different players, from iTunes to YouTube, even to mobile phones.
• Veoh – Video aggregator site that lets you upload videos, watch videos from Veoh and YouTube, and even watch TV and videos from the major studios (including Lost).
• Viddler – Another simple YouTube clone
• Revver – Can email videos to your friends and fans, submit video to iTunes, or even create your own .tv site. Also has a powerful API for creating your own video-based applications. Best of all, though, you can install a WordPress plugin that lets you publish, track and manage your video all from your WordPress blog. Revver host the videos, so you don’t need to worry about bandwidth, the video is fully embeddable in any other web site or blog, and all links point back to your site (unlike YouTube, which points back to itself). Revver even allows your audience to submit comments via video.
• Flickr – Yahoo!’s famous image site now supports video as well. The potential audience is huge, but each video is limited to 90 seconds (think of it as Twitter for video)

And you thought the only video site on the Web was YouTube!

Actually, there’s too much choice. Video files are huge, and uploading to one service takes an age, let alone to all 7 (and I still haven’t included sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Ovi, Crackle – you get the idea!)

If you’re a blogger, Revver currently makes the most sense, as it’s so much easier to incorporate into your blog (at least if you’re using WordPress).

However, if you really want to be social media rockstar, you need to be on all of these sites. Luckily there’s one simple way that you can do this without having to upload your video umpteen different times. TubeMogul is a new site that will automatically publish your video on most of the sites I’ve just listed, and give you all the tracking information you need so you can see how many of your fans are watching you. You need only upload your video once to TubeMogul – TubeMogul itself will then publish your video on the other sites for you, saving you time and bandwidth.

Once you’ve uploaded your video to these sites, you can then focus on establishing your personal brand by managing your channels, monitoring how often your videos are viewed, and tracking where over the web your videos are being embedded.

Real time video publishing

The sites listed above all let you publish video that you’ve already recorded. What if you’re at some major event, though, and want to publish video in realtime as it happens? Luckily, the Web’s got the answer for you (as always!)

• Kyte.tv – takes YouTube to the next level. The site looks fantastic, you can create your won Kyte channel (perfect for wannabe rockstars with a dedicated audience), and, best of all, it supports live streaming from your camcorder or mobile phone. If you’re at the scene of something interesting, Kyte.tv will ensure your pictures are relayed in real time to a welcoming world.
• UStream.tv – similar to Kyte, put lets your audience chat over your video as well.
• Qik – designed more for live streaming from a mobile phone, but useful if you don’t have your camcorder with you.

Now I know where to publish – but what videos do I actually shoot?

So now you know what YouTube camera to buy for social media superstardom, and where to publish your works of art. Only thing your need to do know is to work out what to film!

Fortunately for you, you don’t have to wait long – I’ll be posting another article this week that looks at the different types of video to shoot to become a social media rockstar – and even make money from it!

So, in no particular order, here’s a list of the 16 next-gen gadgets you’ll want to buy in 2009.

Super-thin and super-smooth HDTVs

HDTVs have suddenly dropped in price and look set to go mainstream by the end of 2008. For 2009, expect the newer models to come super-slim. How slim? How about slimmer than your mobile phone? Amongst the exhibitors were the following tiny TVs:

• Sharp XS1 LCD TV. 65″ viewing screen, just 23mm thick (see pic). Due in 2009, with a huge 131″ screen coming out the year after.
• Sony ZX1 LCD TV. 40″ viewing screen,super crisp picture, and an incredible 9.9mm thin. Available in the next few months, but for a whopping $4,000!
• Philips 32″ LCD TV – just 8mm thin! Only a prototype at the moment, but expected to go into production early next year.

To give you a sense of scale, the first generation Motorola RAZR was 13mm thin!

In addition, new advances in picture quality mean the next-gen of HDTV will look better than ever before:

• Toshiba Regza ZF – uses the same Cell processor found in the PS3 to upscale an existing TV signal to near-HD quality. The TV plays at 24fps, has a contrast ratio of 30,000:1, and will also play full HD (1080p) if you a suitable high def input. Toshiba would rather you didn’t use BluRay, and so their new TVs aim to provide BluRay-esque quality without the need for a BluRay player.
• LG Scarlet LG7000 – with super clear picture quality, the LG7000 features a response time of just 2.7ms,full-HD, and the ability to tweak its parameters to a “professional level”. Better still, it’ll come with Bluetooth, so you can listen to your programmes through Bluetooth headsets, or display photos on the TV from your phone or camera.

Video, Home theatre and DVD

Naturally, BluRay was all the rage this year, particularly after Toshiba dropped the competing HD-DVD technology.

There were many firsts, with competing manufacturers battling it out to shove BluRay into virtually any device in order to secure their own personal firsts.

Among the more impressive gadgets this year were the following:

• JVC NX-BD3 BluRay player with DLNA – the world’s first DLNA-equipped BluRay player,which means it’ll sync seamlessly with your PC and other DLNA-equipped devices such as cellphones and PMPs in order to share music, photos and videos. It also comes with an internal amp rated at 4x55W,and will pump out 200W of bass through its subwoofer.
• Sony Bravia BDV-IT1000 Blu-Ray home theatre system – finger-thin speakers and a devastating 700W of power, this new Blu-Ray home theatre system looks gorgeous and should be capabale of seriously upsetting your neighbours.
• Philips CinemaOne iPod speaker and DVD player (below) – combines a 1080p upscaling DivX-compatible DVD player iwth an iPod dock, so you can listen to yours tunes loudly without needing any extra gadgets.
• The Loewe network media center is a 32″ or 42″ TV with a whole host of internal gubbins that’ll suck up your video wherever it’s stored. Each TV has a built-in USB port, Ethernet port, WiFi and HD tuner, and a new model will be out in 2009 with a hard disk drive as well.

Super-smart Camcorders

BluRay wasn’t just evident in DVD players, either. Take a look at these camcorders coming soon.

• The Sanyo Xacti HD is the world’s camcorder that can record at 1080p (that’s full-HD)
• Hitachi DZ-BD7H, the world’s first BluRay camcorder. With a 30GB hard disk and BluRay recorder, you can record four hours of full HD video, and can even copy from the hard disk to the BluRay recorder internally without using a computer.

Hi-Fi

The Philips Streamium MCi-500H is a new Wi-Fi Hi-Fi designed to stream music from your PC and to other wireless speakers around your home.

With 50Wper channel output, it also comes with a USB connection and a 160GB hard drive for ripping music from CDs.

There wasn’t much in the way of Hi-Fi news at IFA, but that’s because all the hi-fi manufacturers will be presenting at the CEDIA event in a few days’ time.

Portable Audio

Of course, there was a seemingly endless stream of MP3 players, iPod docks and the like, but here are some of the highlights:

• Logitech Squeezebox Boom – the next-gen Squeezebox with its own wireless speakers that lets you stream your tunes to any music in the house. Comes with its own amp as well, so you don’t need to plug it into a HiFi.
• Sony Walkman S series – a 7.5mm thin MP3 player with 2″ LCD screen that also lets you watch content from the BBC’s iPlayer. Top Gear on your Walkman? At last!

Random oddness

As well as the usual lust-worthy gadgets, there were one or two other gadgets that made you wonder what their inventors were smoking thinking when they designed them:

• Compositor media streamer – Take a WiFi digital photo viewer. You know, the small LCD screens that wirelessly pull in pictures from your PC or from Flickr. Then give it the ability to play not just static photos like any old photo display, but er, movies as well! That’s what the Compositor Media Streamer will do for you! They want you to buy dozens and distribute them liberally around the house so you can have your very own set of unremitting attention hoovers wherever you look! Great guys, great idea!
• Samsung UbiSync digital photo frames – not quite so mad as the Compositor frames, the new Samsung UbiSync frames are wireless 8″ and 10″ photo frames with 1GB of memory and the ability to act as a secondary PC monitor. Set one up in your home office with a picture of your girlfriend next to your PC, then use it as a second screen when you’re working. OK, so it is as mad as the Compositor!

Summary

So there you have it – 16 of the most drool-worthy home entertainment gadgets coming up for 2009. Hope you’ve got your chequebooks ready (or maybe even your second mortgages!)

Note: This post is taking part in the ProBlogger writing competition, so feel free to check out all the other entrants.

Nothing But Creative managed to get their hands on a test unit of the Creative Zen X-Fi. They have put together a very nice review, which is well worth a read. I will not spoil anything but the Zen X-Fi looks very nice!

[Source: Nothing But Creative]

I can’t wait to try out the Creative ZEN X-Fi, a series of portable media players with all the usual features but it is the built in Wi-Fi and sound manipulation features which have sparked the biggest interest. The Wi-fi in particular will open up the way into the future of potable media player. Read on to find out more.

X-Fi settings

OK, so I am slightly geeky, but I like the idea of being able to change sound in such a way that it appears to be coming from different locations, that’s why the X-Fi Expand particularly appeals to me. But I am not completely ignoring the other X-Fi setting, the X-Fi Crystalizer.

Starting with X-Fi Expand, this makes the sound seem to move away from your ears so it is no longer coming from the headphones but is in fact coming from in front of you. The official line is “X-Fi Expand gives audio a realistic and natural feel”, but it just sounds like a gimmick to me, a very neat gimmick that I like, but not sure how much it will be used after the novelty dies away. X-Fi Crystalizer on the other hand appears to be slightly more useful. Depending on the compression methods used details in the audio files can be lost, X-Fi Crystalizer tries to combat this by “intelligently” restoring those details, it claims to deliver sound closer to the original quality.

Creative Centrale

Now this is a nice piece of software and is tied in with an online application called Public Home Server. Creative Central will enable you to handle all your multi media, so your music, movies and photos, then you can publish them to Public Home Server that will give you remote access to your media files from any where you can get a connection! This is definitly the trend at the moment, access your media where ever and when ever you like, if you get the right software it won’t even limit you on what device you use to access that media. It is becoming less and less a matter of how big is your hard drive in your device but how fast is your contection to your home PC.

No release date or price or anything particularly useful right now. That would be expecting far too much.

[Source: episenter]