The lifecycle of moving pictures has gone through a series of metamorphoses to reach its present form. The journey started from a movie hall, when a projector would be used to display video images, and then came along the television to make things better. Through a television set, people started getting access to video images personally, in their own homes. Now that we have already entered into the world of Internet, the characteristic of video faces more revolutionary change.

According to Brightcove CEO Jeremy Allaire, the key to success, for the young content company lies in taking reality TV to the next level. Internet video is getting a lot of attention these days on account of the success stories like YouTube. Factors like the emergence of digital cameras, application-development technologies and hosting services, making it easier and cheaper, enhance the growth of online video.

Moreover, pirated content, which is 'just consumers helping copyright holders along' and people publishing videos of their kids' birthday parties and soccer games, has also contributed to the Internet video boom. Cheap and easy accessibility accounts for other reasons comprising its popularity. Organisations like newspapers and magazines are to a large extent dependent on television programmers and video content companies.

The Internet is wonderful
We are living at a moment when media is moving rapidly towards the Internet. If open standards, open source, deep linking, and all other things making the Internet wonderful are matters of concern then what is to be cared about is where video online is headed. Now when we talk of the future of internet videos, speculations remain as in, will internet video viewing be primarily web-page based or will it be primarily RSS based, also that, will Internet video be centralized in huge services like YouTube or Google Video or will it be more broadly distributed, like blogs and web pages to YouTube, blip, rocketboom, and average video bloggers on their own site.
 
If video online is mostly web-based, the biggest centralized services have huge advantages and if centralized services win, many of the wonderful things that can come from TV meeting the Internet will evaporate. So far as the answers to both of these questions suggest, its the wrong direction, which is being followed towards two huge centralized services (YouTube and Google Video) and towards browser-based viewing.

Well, that, however does not mean that video RSS is not doing good. A number of channels are there and more are popping up everyday. YouTube is gigantic in a way that video RSS does not approach right now. YouTube has with time become a visual search engine of human experiences. But the monopoly-like characteristic prevailing in it dragging along people who are not interested in using the service. MySpace is trying to be the next YouTube.

Here's a few suggestions as how online video can be made into a fenced garden like MySpace is, AOL was or YouTube wants to be. For viewers it's preferable to try a video RSS aplication like Miro or Fireant. Both having BitTorrent support, can show high-resolution video, and have built-in video search, whereas creators are to encourage their users to subscribe to their video RSS feed. That way they get the stuff delivered directly to their desktop.

Creation of RSS feeds for everything including users, tags, popular videos, and others, also putting RSS subscribe buttons prominently on every page, thereby explaining the viewers on the meaning should be the task on the part of the hosting companies.
 
The pace with which video is moving over the Internet onto home televisions and mobile devices in ways that will finally allow customers to interact using their television kit just as they have been doing with web sites for the past decade.
 
Dynamic and personal
A newer technology known as Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) made regular TV shows something more dynamic and personal. Basically, IPTV allows multiple layers of video, pictures and text to be mixed with video feeds in ways viewers can control with their remotes. For instance, if the remote is pointed at an actress on screen up comes her name, prior achievements and other related updates, and may be a 'buy me' option for the dress she is wearing.
 
Major telecom companies like, AT&T and Verizon are slowly rolling out IPTV services over high-speed broadband networks. Trials are underway around the country. Microsoft showed off some IPTV software in Las Vegas, and some start-up companies displayed systems for delivering Internet video streams to home computers, bypassing traditional networks owned by cable and satellite companies.

At the same time, Hollywood studios announced new deals to distribute TV shows over the Internet in a mix of new pay-per-view and subscription offerings. And Google and Yahoo, the Web's top search providers, jumped in with new services they hope will give them central roles in helping people find all this Internet-delivered video.

The economics of video distribution may be changing drastically and much sooner than expected. Tom Wolzien of Bernstein Research points out that a 300Kbps video stream already can be delivered at a price as reasonable to millions of viewers as cable services. Bandwidth costs are dropping by 40% a year, owing to intense competition, and compression technologies are improving at the rate of 15% per year.

Thank the pirates
Internet video of the future will be slicker, more widely distributed and more profitable, but the success of this medium to date owes much to pirates, proud parents and people who like to be watched or watch others. The network effect of online video services doesn't just endanger creators and viewers, it also stifles competition. Smaller web video services that don't have YouTube's network effect are likely to become backwaters.

Moreover an easy access to video is effecting the society in an adverse way. Young people are being able to view obscene content, innocent people are harrassed and defamed by criminals, some people are blackmailed, while others are forced into hiding by ruthless marketing schemes.

Not forgetting image quality, which is far worse than "regular" TV and much worse than digital cable, or HDTV. However, the technology exists to deliver broadcast quality video via the Internet for prices competitive with cable, within months.  X