In the past two posts I've reviewed important features to check in a sub $1,000 cameras for online video and podcasting. Now it's the time to review the cameras out there. Please leave in the comments below which cameras are you interested in. Remember, it has to cost less than $1,000.  If any of the readers has any of the cameras, please note that as well. In couple of days I will start writing the post, comparing the cameras and their capabilities. So let's get this thing going - Which cameras should I review?

Black Dawn

An apocalyptic end of the world series by Webserials.

Why watch it? Nice special effects, and refreshing theme for a web show

Why not? actors are not as good as the special effects

FilmFellas

Taking a note from Scoresese masterpiece, FilmFellas is trying to capture the indie movie makers spirit.

Why watch it? beautiful images and lighting is crisp HD, interesting conversations, and the young guy is getting bashed all the time.

Why not? if you are not into filmmaking and indie movement, you'll probably get bored

Flying Kebab

A Brazilian indie project, about a young guy flying to Beirut following a letter in Arabic about his past.

Why watch it? great art work, good actors, interesting story, very good editing, great storytelling.

Why not? Episodes are not released frequently, as the project is community supported. Also, episodes are subtitled.

What is your favorite Web Show?

After long negotiations, ABC are becoming a stake holder in Hulu, the Internet TV company funded by NBC, Fox and Providence Equity Partners. This deal further strengthens Hulu's position as the leading premium online TV provider, with 27 partners, and newly extended 2 years exclusivity of the main players' content.

Hulu is proving that great content is king. The site, that was launched a little more than a year ago, has shown meteoric growth and is the third largest online video site in the US. However, as Jeff Zucker, NBC's President,  mentioned in his NYC Media Summit interview, the site is still not profitable.

This deal has a profound effect on YouTube, the queen of video UGC. The site, which is losing hundreds of millions of dollars annually, is facing a huge challenge, that puts it in a collision course with the TV networks' prodigy.

UGC videos are less attractive to advertisers, as many of them do not wish to associate themselves with acts of stupidity caught on video. This leads to lower CPM in these sites. However, video streaming is still an expensive operation. This is why I believe that UGC is not a viable business model in the video world, and this equation is the biggest challenge to YouTube today.

YouTube is trying to change the equation, by introducing premium content on its platform. Some of the first moves in this direction was the introduction of HD player, and hosting videos longer than 10 minutes. The company also announced a deal with MGM, a major move in this direction.

After creating the online video revolution, and empowering users across the globe to broadcast themselves, YouTube has to play the big media game.

And in this game it is facing the biggest challenge of all - beating the TV networks in the online market.

Would they succeed to leverage their huge user base? Time would tell...

Video is more efficient in creating emotional attachment than text - if done right. I saw this effect in a course in IDC Media School about online storytelling, which I (along with two amazingly talented lecturers, Noa Morag and Roni Abolafya) delivered last semester.

In the course, the students wrote dramatic stories, that were told via social media tools such as fictitious blogs, Facebook profiles, vlogs, and Twitter.

For example, one story portrayed a quest of an adopted son to find his biological mother. This emotional and strong story was told through his blog, vlog and Facebook profile.

Another story was more of a David Lynch style plot, about a guy who is being stalked, videotaped and harrassed by an unknown person, only to reveal that it was a girl he knows:

Though not intended as a main goal, the course provided an insight to effective emotion trigger in the online world.

One of the most interesting cases was the reactions that vlog post received. In the first story, the students produced personal short vlog where the kid told his side of the story. The video segments in some cases received more responses and views than text posts in the blog. Considering that text is easier to consume, this fact shows that at least in emotional setting, video is stronger than text.

We also learned that if video is done right it increases viewers involvement. But done right doesn't necessarily mean high production value. Our kid's vlog was done with a webcam and still generated a lot of reaction. It seems that a strong correlation between the story line and the production level is more important than the video quality per se. I believe that if some of the videos where better produced it would have harmed the authenticity of the stories - leading directly to a lower emotional attachment.

Martin Lindstorm, the marketing guru, talks a lot about brands value over time. In his book, Brand Sense, he describes how additional senses affect the emotional reactions to brands. Video, with its moving images and sound is by far more effective than text in creating this attachment.

However, as online video search and interactivity are legging behind text based technologies (such as Google and hyperlinks), smart marketers and storytellers should integrate video in a wider multimedia and multi platform strategy.

This post is dedicated to Yaniv Golan. See here why...

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In one word - nothing.

Wallstrip was, for the last couple of years, a success story in the world of Internet TV. The show raised half a million dollars, and was sold to CBS for $5M - a X10 on the initial investment, which is the factor of successful startup exits. This was my favorite example for investors in Internet TV shows.

Today we were informed that the show is canceled, which is sad. However, saying that its cancellation means that Internet TV can't make money is like saying that the fact that some mobile startup closed its doors means that there is no money in mobile innovation.

Sad as it may be, we shouldn't look at it as if this is a clear sign that well produced Internet TV shows can't make money. How many startups are closed every day? Some stats are claiming that startup success rate are less than 10%. But still, no one says that the whole idea of startups is flawed.

Let's put things in perspective. Yes, independent Internet TV, especially high end productions, is still a young market. many production companies will not survive, especially with the latest economic slowdown. But, the vector is positive. We see more and more technologies bridging the gap between the TV set and the Internet. Online video is reaching more people than ever, on more devices. So we are in the right market - we just need cash and air to be there when the market will have enough money for all of us.

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Women in Media Project profiles influential, decision making and visionary women in the new media business. This time we profile Dina Kaplan, from blip.tv. Why is she on the list? Read to find out.

Who are you and what do you do? My name is Dina Kaplan and I am the  co-founder of blip.tv

Tell us a bit your history and background. Before blip.tv I worked in the White House, for MTV News, and as an on-air reporter for local NBC stations.

What is your current position and what is your day to day work? I currently work closely with the three markets that blip.tv serves: content creators, advertisers and distributors. In terms of content creators, I spend time with many of our show creators, whether that means the top Web studios in L.A. such as DECA, Tornante and 60 Frames, or independent producers throughout the country. It’s important that we listen to and learn about what is important to them so we can continue to build tools that serve their interests. I also spend a lot of time with advertisers, including brands and agencies, learning about how we can shift some TV dollars over to Web video. Right now advertisers are looking for additional metrics, such as proof of brand lift and purchase intent from Web advertising, so we are in the process of building and integrating into blip.tv the essential tools that will drive additional advertising revenue from both digital marketers and TV buyers. I also focus on distribution deals for blip.tv, both on the Web and to the TV set, such as TiVo and the Sony BIVL. In addition to nurturing those relationships I manage press for blip.tv and oversee the traditional COO duties such as accounting and our operating budget.

What do you love about your job? What I love about my job is that we are a platform play, and we very much exist in an ecosystem. We are pushing for success for everyone we do business with, and we hope the reverse is true as well. Our world is content creators, advertisers, and distributors, and each market is made up of people who are creative, innovative, and prescient . To spend time with people in each of these fields is a pleasure. Also at blip.tv all of the founders are really proud of the team we have built. We work incredibly hard, but we also encourage camaraderie across each department and at all levels of the company. But on a more macro level I really believe, in a fundamental way, in what we are creating. At its core we are building the first merit-based video network. We are enabling talented people to build up significant audiences for shows, and to have the opportunity to make some money in the process. Coming out of traditional media, this is something I really appreciate; calling up a content creator who has been working on a show for a year on his or her own and telling them we just found a sponsor for the show and are sending them a check is incredibly rewarding.

Why did you chose to focus on new media? I chose new media as a field because it is more merit based than traditional media, and because there is no one who can give you a “green” light or a “red” light for a project – it’s all about building value and proving yourself in the marketplace.

Who influenced you the most during your career? There are three people who changed my life when it comes to new media. The first is my co-founder and our CEO Mike Hudack, whom I continually learn from every day. Mike is not just engaged in all things blip.tv, but he is thinking five steps ahead on copyright and how Creative Commons can and should grow over the next several years; about how government can become more open thanks to the new media; and about how advertisers will buy media five or ten years from now. The second person is Auren Hoffman, who is probably the best connected young person in Silicon Valley. In the early days of blip.tv, Auren was instrumental in forging connections for us with angel investors and corporate partners and also offering valuable advice on both small and significant decisions. Finally, Geraldine Laybourne, when she was running Oxygen, gave blip.tv our first revenue deal. Walking out of the first pitch meeting for the project, Gerry pulled me aside and said: “The most important thing I can do is to enable the next generation of women leaders.” The deal closed soon after that conversation, and it was a turning point in the history of the company. I am forever grateful to Gerry and always looking for opportunities to help the next generation of women working in new media.

Where will you be in 5 years? I expect that I will be doing something interesting and also look forward to being in a position where I can help to support female entrepreneurs in the U.S.

How can our readers get in touch with you? Anyone can get in touch with me at dina@blip.tv. And right now at blip.tv we are hiring in sales, we are hiring programmers, and we are looking for a junior systems administrator.

Why is she on this list? Dina Kaplan is, in many aspects, the face of blip.tv in conferences and industry events. She is doing hell of a job in supporting creators. Besides that, blip.tv is the only company in the online video world that is focused on independent content creators and creating their ecosystem - an area that we believe will gain more and more traction in 2009 and 2010. As such, the importance of Dina's role in the industry will increase in the next couple of years.

Video comments are a tricky thing - they allows users to leave comments in video instead of text, and meant to enrich the conversation in blog's comments. However they are not that straight forward as text comments.

I've been using Seesmic as my Video Commenting system, but didn't really promote it till now. Other sites such as Techcrunch are using the same product.

What's your opinion?

If you support video comments - please leave one! Also - I'd love to see the faces of my readers for a change :)

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LeWeb, the European web conference that took place this week is under fire by bloggers and newspapers alike. I didn't attend the event, but watched part of it online. While some of the reporters covering the event wrote hilarious columns others were attacking its video strategy. Allen Stern, from CenterNetworks wrote:

My beef is that Loic selected Ustream to run live coverage of the conference. There is absolutely no reason that this conference needed to be broadcast live. First, if I paid $2,000 to attend, I'd be pissed that my sister could sit at home and watch it for free.

Allen - content attract people to conferences. However, the main value of events is networking. We can talk about video all day long, but seeing the event streamed over the internet doesn't provide me any business value. Saying it is wrong to stream it for free, is like asking people not to blog about the event.

But the most annoying statement was that Loic LeMeur, the event organizer and Seesmic CEO doesn't believe in his own company, because he streamed it by using uStream. As Allan wrote:

Bottom line: If you don't use your own system, it's hard to get others to do so.

This point was also echoed in VentureBeat's post about the event.

Guys - the only thing in common between uStream and Seesmic is the fact that both are video apps (and have a cool webby name that has the letter S in it).

Seesmic is for conversation, like video twitter.

uStream is for event streaming

Seesmic forces users to do short videos in order to facilitate conversions.

uStream is for event streaming

Seesmic is built around threads - again, to facilitate conversation

uStream is for event streaming

Seesmic doesn't support live streaming

uStream is for event streaming - which means it is all about live video.

Do you see a common line here? Seesmic is not for event streaming, uStream is, and Loic used the right tool for the job.

Could one use Seesmic for events? Yes, especially to create pre and post conference discussions. But from my experience it requires a lot of resources and attention to make it right (we thought about doing so in Rosh Pina Festival as well, but decided to skip it due to time constraints). Could Loic do a better job integrating Seesmic in the conference? Yep, for sure.

But does the fact that Loic LeMeur didn't use Seesmic in LeWeb show he doesn't believe in his own company? NO.

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Women in Media Project profiles influential, decision making and visionary women in the new media business. Our first profile is Kathryn Velvel Jones, from For Your Imagination. Why is she on the list? Read to find out.

Who Are You and What do you do? My name is Kathryn Velvel Jones and I am currently the Vice President of Branded and Sponsored Entertainment at For Your Imagination, a leading online media studio which develops, markets and distributes high-quality original Internet TV and web video series.

Tell us a bit about your background and history: At the core I am an actor. The most misunderstood thing about being an actor in NYC is that the hard part is getting the job- the hardest part is getting the audition. Despite reviews like "spectacular" and "excellent", despite a strong resume and a relatively prestigious education, there were some years I sent out over 1000 pictures and resumes only to get one audition and after ten years of struggling just to get auditions. Therefore I decided it was time to take charge of my own career and create my own opportunities. This new found sense of inspiration and purpose quickly led me to web video, a medium in which for a small amount of money and a great deal of focus and passion, I could greenlight my own projects. In 2006 I began producing and co-hosting a video podcast and quickly became immersed in the world of online video and social media, including serving as a co-organizer for Podcamp NYC. But it was in April of 2007 that I had my real aha! moment. One morning as I perused my twitter stream I saw a tweet by Chris Brogan announcing a live streamed talk show that afternoon with Chris and Jeff Pulver. Chris and Jeff's show was a revelation. The immediacy of the technology was simply amazing to me, and the sense of community that live streaming created was palpable. As I watched Chris and Jeff respond to viewers calls and chat messages in real time my heart began to pound,and I knew that there was something about this specific technology that spoke to me. 5 months later my company, Synchronis.tv premiered the first scripted web drama to stream live on the internet. Utilizing three cameras mixed in real time and streamed live to uStream my cast and crew of 20 produced ten, 10 minute episodes of the original drama "35". Although we streamed all all ten episodes on the absolutely tiniest of budgets, "35" was covered by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Mashable, Truemors, numerous blogs, and was a featured podcast in iTunes. It's hard to say who has inspired me most in the online world of self-starting entrepreneurs, but it was undoubtedly Jeff and Chris' first live broadcast that changed my life.
Most recently, along with my producing partner Charlie Oliver, I produced an unprecedented Live Webathon, Real Women Respond to Palin. This 8 hour online live event attracted over 17,000 unique viewers to the live stream and was covered in The Huffington Post among many other blogs.

What is your current position? What is your day to day work? As VP of Branded and Sponsored Entertainment at For Your Imagination I spend my days communicating with media buyers, brands and artists in pursuit of both sponsorships for our series as well as creating product integration and branded series opportunities for advertisers. What I love most about my job is the incredible team of people I get to work with.

Why did you chose new media as your field? Above and beyond my job at FYI, one of my greatest passions is to help build a much stronger and more accurate voice for women online, especially in online video. To that end I am currently working on a new series, Value Proposition, about an all female, all redheaded tech startup. This funny, moving, smart series chronicles a driven group or female entrepreneurs as they wade through diminishing budgets, unexpected law suits, unscrupulous VC's and ever changing expectations in pursuit of their dreams of IPO success. The series is comprised of both edited and live episodes, is aimed at the extremely lucrative and currently underserved female market as well as at the first adopter/technology crowd, and is currently seeking sponsorships.

Where will you be in 5 years? In five years I hope I have succeeded in more fully harnessing the accessibility and creative possibilities that social media and the web have to offer. I hope that my work will have inspired other women to enter careers in technology and online video, and that I will have participated in making online video more daring, more creative, more community based and more interactive.

How can our readers contact you? If you wish to get in touch with me please contact me at Kathryn at foryourimagination.com .

Why is she a part of the list? Kathryn brings with her passion, innovative storytelling, and extraordinary execution capabilities. As part of For Your Imagination, she also have the ability to execute bigger projects than before. We are looking forward to see what's next on her project list.

Mogulus, the live internet broadcasting platform, announced today a new pro service. The company, that provides superior feature set to ustream and blogtv, revealed a new feature set, including HD streaming, optional ad free service, private channels, white label player. Pricing starts at $350 per month, which includes 25GB storage and bandwidth. Also, all free channels will have ads now.

It is a logical step for the company targeted more professional live broadcasters then their competition. Also, charging per bandwidth brings some business sense to the live broadcasting market.