Want to feel old? This album came out 15 years ago.
Hulu will live-stream a concert for the first time: Dave Matthews Band at New York's Beacon Theater on June 1.
The online video hub, which announced the event Thursday, will be the only place streaming the concert live, at least legally.
Pop culture brush-up: the Dave Matthews Band was really, really, really huge in the '90s, known for lengthy live jams, for a Phish-like cult following that skewed more preppy than hippie, and for "Ants Marching," which was inescapable if you ever got anywhere near a frat house between 1994 and 1997. People generally loved them or hated them back then, due in no small part to the fact that they were the soundtrack of choice for the jocks rather than the indie kids or nerds.
It's a good fit for Hulu's first live concert broadcast--the site's first live streaming event was a presidential debate last October. The Dave Matthews Band's original Gen-X and Gen-Y fan base is exactly the demographic of 20- and 30-somethings--though not necessarily tech-savvy ones--who would tune into a concert stream online. And conveniently, the date of the show is the day before the band's long-anticipated new album, "Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King," hits stores online and offline.
Frontman Dave Matthews was, on an unrelated note, one of the first mainstream musicians to use Twitter actively.
Hulu, meanwhile, is riding the wave of mainstream success in the wake of an edgy TV ad campaign and the big news that Disney would be joining News Corp. and NBC Universal as a partner in the joint venture.
PALM DESERT, CALIF.--Why would a church live-stream in HD?
That's a question that BitGravity--which was the first to present Monday morning here at Demo 09--wants to answer.
Of course, churches live-streaming is only the tip of the iceberg for Burlingame, Calif.-based BitGravity. The company is likely to be putting most of its energy into selling its technology--which can put an HD stream (or standard-def, of course) on the Web with a delay of just seconds--to media firms, such as TV networks, that want a way to put their content online inexpensively and efficiently.
"Next month, we're going to deliver a product that we believe is truly stunning," Bit Gravity CEO Perry Wu said. "Who wouldn't want a higher clarity picture?"
During his presentation, Wu showed off a stream that the company had set up from its headquarters and which it was controlling remotely. And indeed, Wu and a co-presenter were able to change the stream easily and seamlessly--and with an apparent delay of mere seconds.
Wu said the HD-quality stream can be sent at 1.5 megabits per second, all with no client download. That means for any stream, anyone can watch anywhere on the Internet, which is certainly a nice feature for making content instantly and easily accessible.
Further, the technology is quick and simple to set up. Wu and his colleague demonstrated the ability to get a live stream (in standard-def using the built in camera on a Mac laptop) in under a minute. That certainly is impressive, though it's unclear how many people would want to pay significant money to stream live from their computer's camera.
The live stream (in standard-def) from Demo 09, as presented on the CNET News Demo roundup page.
(Credit: BitGravity)Still, the concept of simplicity, efficiency and low cost (relative to competitors) is the point, and it definitely seems that BitGravity has built something that anyone with a budget for live-streaming, whether in HD or standard-def, can afford. In fact, Wu said that BitGravity's service costs about half of what its competitors charge.
For TV networks or large organizations, this is a big factor, especially given the current economic conditions. But cost aside, the ability to get high-quality streams online in just seconds may trump even that.
For an example of the technology, check out the Demo live-stream at the bottom of our Demo 09 roundup page.
Event showcased YouTube's most popular performers.
(Credit: YouTube)YouTube gathered up its viral celebrities to stream its first-ever live event on Saturday from San Francisco.
YouTube sold the event as "part concert, part variety show, and part party." Its Live channel featured three different views of the event--from the main stage, backstage, and "off stage."
According to TechCrunch, calculations via Akamai showed that about 700,000 people were watching the live stream at its peak. It wasn't completely clear who actually did the streaming for YouTube, but TechCrunch felt comfortable enough to assert that it was Akamai itself.
YouTube gained its fame through video uploads, not live streaming. Was this event worth it? Mashable certainly didn't think so. Just wondering what anyone else might have to say.
Update at 5:55 a.m. PDT: Additional TV stations airing the debate live have been added.
This is Hulu's new election hub.
(Credit: Hulu)Last year, it was all about "remixing" debate footage. But this year, it's about seeing it live.
Video content hub Hulu has secured the rights to stream the remaining two presidential debates live on the Web. The next debate is set for Tuesday night.
The news was first reported by PaidContent that Hulu has launched Election '08 hub for the live debate, as well as past election-related footage. That includes footage from political satire talk shows The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, the only two MTV Networks shows currently on Hulu.
This is the first-ever live broadcast for Hulu, a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp.
Cable channel Current, co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, is streaming all presidential debates live on the Web as part of its "Hack the Debate" partnership with Twitter.
Most major television broadcasters and news channels are airing the debate live, of course, including ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, Fox, Fox News, MSNBC, NBC, PBS, and Telemundo.
Hulu will also, according to PaidContent, also be the venue for the debut of Crawford, a documentary about the town best known for President Bush's ranch.
Joost, the video content site that everyone thought would be a runaway success, began offering live TV for the first time this past spring, starting with the NCAA "March Madness" basketball tournament.
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