Yesterday I played with Ustream a little. After Jeff and Chris live show I've decided to give it a try, and when Michael twitted me about his feed, I've joined the wagon.

After opening an account, I broadcasted myself within minutes.

Isn't it just like starting a blog?

Users can connect high end cameras to Ustream, as the Pulver gang did. So, they just need a room with proper lighting and audio, and they have a live show. Simple. Ah, of course, they need to do an interesting show, cause there are so many out there. But this is not different from any other media product, that has to grab the attention of its audience.

So, after blogging platforms democratized written Journalism, YouTube and Bittorrent democratized pre-recorded video distribution, Ustream (and probably the 1000 competitors gearing up as I write this post) democratized live broadcast TV.

BlogTV is an Israeli site owned by Tapuz, one of the biggest Israeli communities portal. It provides similar features and used to broadcast live videos from northern Israel in last summer conflict. In the past, I've played with it a bit, but didn't stay for long. The main reasons were:

1. Poor video and audio quality

2. Nothing interesting to see (for me)

3. Lack of context - as I saw shows in their site only, it was not connected to other types of media by the same creator (such as blogs, websites etc).

It seems that Ustream has better video quality, and allow users to add context to their show by embedding it in other sites. But just like in every other media platform, interesting stories are a must.

Yesterday was the first day of VON, here in San Jose. I spent most of my time at the New Video Summit, discussing the new media world. Most panels were insightful and engaging. Panels were led by Om Malik and Rafat Ali, among others.

If we want to summarize the event in one clear statement here it is:

No one has a clue what will happen in this field.

Here are some of the highlights:

1. Content discovery is the number one problem for video creators and aggregators. Channels is one way to tackle it, and everybody are looking for technology to create them easily.

2. Advertisers are not embracing the new medium yet, though sponsorships are starting to flow, especially on blip.tv (or at least their impressive COO, Dina Kaplan, was the most vocal about it). Targeted ads is what everyone is looking for, but no one knows how to do it.

3. Most panelists stated that You Tube - Viacom dispute would not change the industry, but eventually create new rules of engagement between traditional and new media companies. The general consensus was that "the future is here" and these disputes would not destroy this young industry.

4. Not surprisingly, all site owners support net neutrality. At the same time most panelists agree that Quality of Service is important for industry growth. I wonder how these two views co-exist.

5. In Rafat Ali's panel, two interesting assumptions were made: one is that it will take 3 years to this industry to pick up and bring economic value to its players, and it will mature in 5 years. So, my dear readers , we have a lot of work to do....

6. In the same panel, most panelists stated that Google would find a way to monetize this new medium for local advertisers, and by doing so mature the market. When I sat behind Jeff Jarvis, it seemed like he agreed with them...

More to come....