Reviewed this past year are the Netflix Roku and Vudu streaming boxes which have seen hundreds of hours logged to date and without any technical problems specific to the units.

The Vudu has a sturdier form factor and nicer remote in addition to a USB port however, the Roku is less expensive (Vudu box costs $149.00 verses $100.00 for the Roku) The Vudu did come with a better compliment of cables, such as an HDMI standard, with the Roku its extra which could get you up to the cost of the Vudu.

As both will stream content depending on quality level (Vudu HDX content requires a long download period) the Roku was faster* of course depending on your downstream speed (see below).

As to operating costs its six of one half dozen of another: While the Roku requires the $8.00 level of monthly membership with Netflix if you want to utilize its primary mission, the Vudu does not have such an arrangement with say Blockbuster and while it has Vudu labs I really do not care about YouTube on my BoobTube, but that's me.

The UI's they are about equal (maybe a bit slicker on the Vudu) from my perspective however, this is a soft topic and open to personal tastes. As to content I'd have to give the nod the the Roku however, this again is from my perspective and tastes. Both companies are adding new content and building new strategic relationship with other providers.

I spoke with Mike Glickenhaus, the President and CEO of VMIX, a company in the SaaS, software as a service space.
VMIX, headquartered in San Diego recently opened a New York City office and Mike and I met last week before the Nor'easter to discuss his company, the iTV space and how VMIX has seen growth year over year since inception, the company forecasts profitability in Q4 of this year.

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Company Site: VMIX

Recently I spoke with Imad Mouline, CTO of Gomez, Inc. Gomez is involved in the software as a service testing for Internet traffic and more recently streaming media. Imad outlined the company's products and testing capabilities for the iTV on-demand space using their Active Streaming XF product. In a follow up article I will flesh out our results and experiences using Active Streaming XF.

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Gomez Active Streaming XF Demo: Active Streaming XF

Last week IFP hosted their Filmmaker conference in New York City. Among the topics covered was specifically that interested us, Alternative Distribution via the ITV space. The track, The Digital Download highlighted two films, The Cult Of Sincerity and Helvetica and their producers efforts to market in the online space.

While there was useful information specific to identifying a films audience early in the production process and learning how Gary Hustwit, Director of the film Helvetica reached out to a targeted community of graphic designers to market the film, there could have been more practical information. For example, how creatives should attack the problem of navigating the myriad of options for distribution online, the technology issues from shooting for ITV, too an Encoding primer. The difference between aggregators and super aggregators and which work with Indies and the platforms considerations for fixed and mobile devices to name a few. Eric Opeka, Senior Manager of distribution for New Video spoke about his companies services.

After the panel I spoke with Daniel Nayeri, writer and producer of the film The Cult of Sincerity who worked with YouTube to premier their film.

Perhaps the lack of outlining a road map for Indies in the ITV space was due to an industry still in its formative years with people unclear as to what if any formula works? Perhaps its as simple as a lack of eyeballs and CPM which is the bottom line regardless of what strategies are employed? Perhaps there are other factors that are less apparent. Whatever the reasons, I'd like to see a more targeted round table or series of ideation sessions where people dig into these issues going forward.

I spoke with Dakota Sullivan, the Vice President of Marketing at Adap.TV. Adap.TV is a new breed of video advertising platform designed to leverage different ad networks for Publishers as well as Ad networks to reach their target audience. One of the most well know placement is an in-stream banner overlay (max 468x66) which appears with a corresponding contextual link to an advertiser.

Company Site: Adap.tv

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I spoke with David Frigeri, General Manager & VP for Content Delivery at Internap about their CDN and managed hosting business. In addition to our conversation, I've listed some thoughts and issues in the marketplace also worth noting.
 

Adaptive Video Delivery seems to be an important trend for video distribution with next generation broadband video solutions and how it stacks up against true peer to peer delivery

Ad insertion models for media distribution are becoming vital, although there does not seem to be a lot of effort to target ads based on customer demographics

Recent activity in the CDN marketplace and who owns what intellectual property

Forward and store video is something CDN's do not seem to be talking about

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Please note: there may be an issue with this player when using I.E. 6 on the pc, if so please use FireFox or I.E. 7, thank you.

   
Recently I spoke to John Edwards, President and CEO of Move Networks. We spoke about a variety of topics including the companies business focus, why he considers their delivery network superior to tradition open networks, why the company is not a tradition CDN or P2P company, but a vertical in the end too end content delivery space, plus other topics.

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I spoke with Diane Galligan, Executive Producer Yahoo! tech ticker about their video platform for delivering financial news along with user comments. "Tech ticker has its roots in efforts like their Finance Vision platform from 2000 however, they point out their scrolling text field is an innovative design which keeps the video in front of the viewer."

Referring to FinanceVision, Stephanie Arnoldy of tech ticker said "Even now, with broadband far more common, we don't feel users need or want this kind of full live coverage online. We have taken a far more targeted approach, offering discreet single-topic clips that are timely but not live, paired with real-time blogging."

In addition, user comments are seen by Diane as a plus since they are starting a conversation with the audience which increases site stickiness. They do not use pre or post rolls for ad placement.

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Interview with Rob Angelino about Beauty TV. Beauty TV is a 24/7 beauty network and is in pre-production on a daily hybrid syndicated show for traditional broadcast television. Content is focused on beauty tips, hair, skin, nails, cosmetic surgery, spas, health, fitness, insider interviews, beauty news, product reviews and trends. Current advisory board members include John Paul DeJoria, founder of Paul Mitchell Systems and Patron Tequila and former executives from EXTRA TV, 'E!" Entertainment, Sony Television and AOL.

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Levi Shapiro attended Digital Hollywood last week and spoke with Tim Chang, Principal, Norwest Venture Partners

A recent interview with Ken Lowe, VP of Strategic Marketing for Sigma Designs. Ken addressed a variety of topics concerning Blu-ray, the IPTV marketplace over the next couple of years as well as competition from Broadcom, IP and the companies recent financial performance.

Sigma Designs, Inc.

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Interview with Gary Croke, Director of marketing, for Symmetricom's QoE Assurance Division. Gary spoke to the test measurement market specific to IPTV content delivery and quality issues facing Telco's and Cable operator's.

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Anthony C. Naughtin, President and CEO of GridNetworks spoke about his company which is a hybrid between a traditional peer-to-peer and CDN provider. If the company is going to scale to "Nielsen-sized audiences," as Tony has alluded to, the company will need to move swiftly to embed in devices while pushing the limits of HD, i.e. beyond 720p to the home.
 

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Recently I spoke with Dalen Harrison, CEO of Ensequence about the company. Ensequence could be called a hybrid between a tools and a service integration company in the IPTV arena. Their most notable project to date was the platform behind the Spike TV 2007 Video Game Awards with over 20 million viewers.