Tuesday, May 6, 2008

On-line streaming videos:YouTube, Hulu and Fancast

This section of the "Sno-Isle library's 20 for 2.0" was certainly the most fun, most like not working at all section so far. I am familiar with YouTube, having watched multiple clips in the past, including such classics as "The march of the librarians", "The super-librarian" and the spot where a librarian interview committee interviewing a gorilla for the open librarian position. Just the other day I suggested my daughter post the video of her winning race on YouTube so that her grandparents and other interested family members could see it as well-though admittedly I have not posted a video myself yet.

What was new to me were the Hulu and Fancast sites. Now having poked around them a bit, I was pleasantly surprised. Both of them provided good sized screens of the shows I decided to watch, and advertising was amazingly light. Hulu showed a short commercial before the movie started (I chose to watch "Iceage"), but Fancast didn't show even that. I didn't watch enough to see if commercials popped up further into the show, but I wouldn't imagine so since users could just scroll past any such interruptions. I have been totally turned off of watching TV because the shows don't make the commercials worth my time-sometimes even when I watch good movies I get frustrated by having to wait through all the commercials. Hulu and Fancast are excellent alternatives. Two caveats: sitting in front of my computer screen isn't as comfortable an experience as sitting on my couch watching the TV screen (old and smaller than currently standard though it is), and so the experience isn't as sharable. The second caveat is that I don't know how extensive their offerings are. If I heard of a show or movie that sounded enjoyable, I have no way of knowing whether it would be available on one of these sites. On the other hand, I don't get cable anyway so these sites would be an excellent way of watching a particular interesting option without going through the hassle of getting cable just for that one show.

1 comment:

fancastfan said...

Since you were kind enough to note Fancast in a previous post, we wanted you to be among the very first to know that a new and improved Fancast has JUST launched - and it's one we think you and our audience will really enjoy. We will, of course, have the same great content (thousands and thousands of hours of free full length TV programs and movies) but they come in what we think is a much better user experience.

Everything from...
*a new video player
*an embeddable player
*a new movie page
*a new trailers page
*a new clips page
*ability to get/send email alerts to remind you when a TV show or movie is on so you will never have to miss it
...those are just some of the new features we are launching.

We heard our readers suggestions and we made it happen.

We are looking to have everything perfect for just after Labor Day, but, as a Fancast veteran, we wanted you to be among the first to tell us what you think about the new Fancast.

We are very serious about reacting to the ongoing feedback we get, and we think you will be pleased with the new version. But we're not done yet. Take a look at the changes we made and please let us know what you think, and if there's anything we can do to improve it even more.

Thanks again for your continued support on this site!!

Jim for

www.fancast.com