NBC has relaunched its NBC Direct video download service. Honestly, ever since Hulu launched, I haven't thought much about NBC Direct, which I first covered back in 2007. There aren't any videos available from NBC Direct that you can't find on Hulu, and the clunky DRM and download application make NBC Direct much more difficult to use than the web based player.

Still, NBC Direct has two advantages over Hulu or other online video sites:

1. You can watch videos while you're not connected to the internet
2. Videos are available in high definition

There are a few caveats: The NBC Direct player is Windows only. Question number 1 in the FAQ is whether there are plans for a Mac version. NBC's answer? Use Boot Camp to install WIndows on your Mac. And while the videos you download look like normal FLV Flash video files, NBC uses DRM which means that videos will stop playing at some date in the future. And you can only watch videos on the computer you used to download them.

The downloads are pretty speedy. NBC uses peer to peer technology which you can off if you're willing to deal with "standard quality" videos instead of the "high quality" versions that are available to P2P users.
[via NewTeeVee]

The developer of SecondRun.tv, a plugin for Windows Media Center that lets you watch videos from Hulu and other network TV web sites with a remote control instead of a mouse has developed a first public beta.

The plugin works with Windows Vista and Windows 7, but there are still a few kinks to work out. While it's easy to browse for movies in full screen mode, when you click a video it may not play in full screen mode. The developer says Hulu videos will display in full screen, while videos from other sites like ABC.com won't. But sometimes even Hulu videos won't play full screen.

But for an early beta, this plugin is still pretty awesome. In fact, it's something I've been waiting for since Microsoft first announced an "Internet TV" feature and since Hulu launched. It's too bad that Microsoft or Hulu didn't develop an official plugin, but with a little work SecondRun.tv will be just as good.

After years of trying to convince us that, no -- we really shouldn't want a way to watch YouTube content offline, the company has officially confirmed that they are rolling the ability to download YouTube videos. The program is still evolving, but right now, both free and paid downloads are available from a small list of providers.

I'm can't help but be struck by a sense of déjà vu . If you recall, the now defunct Google Video initially offered paid downloads -- it was an epic failure. I don't want to be too quick to judge, but unless YouTube implements some changes, like FAST, it is going to end the same way.

Here are the problems as I see it:

• The partner channels testing paid downloads are, for lack of a better word, unimpressive. I'm sorry, but I really don't want to pay $0.99 for a math lesson, a so-called hacking lesson or to see a new media douchebag. I'm perfectly content to watch that content online if the alternative is paying.
• If the free content from Stanford University is anything to go by, the downloaded quality isn't that great. If I'm going to pay for a download (or even take the time to download a 245 meg file of a free program), at least make it worth my while.
  
• Again, the content selection thus far sucks. What's the use of promoting all this commercial content if there's no way any of it is going to be downloadable, since it appears everything has to be licensed either by the Creative Commons or public domain?
• They hide the stuff you do purchase under http://www.youtube.com/my_purchases. Take a cue from Apple, make it easy to access your purchased content. Maybe put a link in the main YouTube menu.
  
• It's unclear how many times you can download content and whatnot.

Those issues aside, I suppose it's cool that YouTube is finally allowing people to download content. Now, let's cue the flood of YouTube stars desperate to make a buck off of their unique sense of self.

In honor of UNIX time displaying 1234567890 tomorrow, here's the episode about UNIX on Computer Chronicles from 1985. Notice: they didn't warn us about the temporal rift!

If you aren't familiar with the Computer Chronicles series, click as fast as you can to the Internet Archive and check it out. Good times, great oldies.

Hulu is probably the best (legal) web site for finding full length streaming TV episodes and movies. But there's one thing I've been craving ever since Hulu first launched: an easy way to watch Hulu videos on my TV from the comfort of my couch.

Zinc and Boxee have both offered solutions. But Boxee is still in Alpha, and right now it's only publicly available for Mac and Linux users, although a Windows version is in private alpha testing. Zinc's application actually works pretty well with Windows, but navigating the list of TV shows with a remote control can be a bit of a hassle. And there's no simple way to integrate Zviewer with Windows Media Center.

Now there's a new player in town, called SecondRun.tv. And it's designed specifically to work with Windows Media Center. The plugin isn't available to the public yet, but the developer says it's fully functional and he's posted a video to prove it. SecondRun.tv should be ready to release soon.

The plugin will let you browse and watch Hulu videos on any machine with Windows Vista Media Center. Odds are it will also work with Windows 7. And while it hasn't been tested with Media Center Extenders like the Xbox 360 yet, there's a pretty good chance they'll work too.

[via GeekTonic]

The team behind open source internet video player Miro have pushed out version 2.0. The new player features a new interface, improved speed and performance, and the ability for users to add links to online streaming video portals like Hulu and CBS.com to the sidebar.

Unlike other internet video players which are primarily focused on offering streaming video content, Miro is built for downloading videos. This means you can typically watch higher quality videos and you can watch your movies when you're offline. You can subscribe to any video podcast with an RSS feed, browse for videos in the Miro Guide, or download YouTube videos.

When you run across a Quicktime, MP3, Real Media, or other media link on a web site, Firefox typically offers to download the file, open it in an external player, or opens a new tab and starts playing it if you have the proper plugins installed. But what if you like to open all of your files using Windows Media Player or VLC, so that you can close Firefox without interrupting playback?

Media Player Connectivity is a Firefox plugin that lets you assign external media players to file types. So any time you click on a media file, it will be opened in the correct player. The plugin supports a ton of file types, including OGG, MP3, AAC, RAM, WMV, WMA, and playlist files like PLS and M3U.

The latest versions of Media Player Connectivity work best with Windows, but Mac users can download older versions of the plugin which should work with OS X.

[via gHacks]

I love the quote from playwright John Allen, who really understood how "Internet" could connect physically disparate affinity groups. John also says, "there's an interesting kind of restraint that you find. ...There's not a lot of put-downs... not screenfulls of 'go to hell.'" My how times of changed. These days anonymity and "Internet" are synonymous with flame wars and cyberbullying. One can only hope that recent pleas for civility on the web will get us back to these good ol' days of newsgroups and bulletin boards.

We'll keep an eye out for more retro videos and post them here.

In order to download videos from video sharing site Megavideo you normally need a premium account which costs $9.99 per month. But Megavideo Video Downloader will download and save any video on the site for free.

All you need to do is enter the URL of the video you want to download, click the add button to put it in your list of movies to download, and click the start button. Videos are downloaded as FLV files and can be converted and saved as AVI, MPEG, WMV, or FLV files. The utility will also tell you the size of a video file before you begin downloading.

Now, there are many files hosted on Megavideo that have been uploaded illegally, so we of course don't condone downloading or even watching these videos. And if you feel queasy about using software that's designed to get around paying for a legitimate service, you could always pay for a premium account and use the utility anyway. Megavideo Video Downloader allows you to create batch download jobs, which makes it pretty useful even if you're a paying member.

[via TechnoBuzz]

Four Google executives are in court in Italy today facing charges related to a video that was posted on the Italian version of Google Video in 2006.

This isn't the first time that Google has faced pressure because of videos that were illegally uploaded to Google Video or YouTube. But this time we're not talking about copyrighted music videos or movies. The video in question shows four kids harassing a boy with Down Syndrome. Google removed the video after receiving a complaint. But Italian authorities filed criminal charges of defamation and violation or privacy.

The case seems a bit ridiculous. On the one hand, it's horrible that people would make videos of offensive content and upload it to a site like Google Video. On the other, should Google be held responsible, or should the kids who created the video?

What do you think? Is this like suing paper manufacturers for creating a product that can be used to send death threats and ransom letters? Or is it different because Google could theoretically exert more control over the content that's uploaded to its servers?

The BBC iPlayer service allows UK residents to watch full length episodes of recently broadcast BBC programs using a computer or an iPhone. But there's no official client for Windows Mobile. Of course, that hasn't stopped the hackers at XDA-Developers from figuring out how to make the iPhone interface work on Windows Mobile.

There are a few things to keep in mind with this hack. First, iPlayer content is only available to folks living in the UK or people who happen to know a good proxy server that will trick the software into thinking you're in the UK. Second, the application only works witht he HTC Diamond right now, although support for other Windows Mobile devices could be added later.

Finally, you'll need to have a copy of the commercial application CorePlayer installed on your device and associated with MOV files, because it's the only Windows Mobile media player that can handle videos using H.264 and AAC.

If you're cool with all of those requirements, then all you need to do is download and install the iPlayer app for Windows Mobile in order to search, browser, download, and watch iPlayer videos on your HTC Touch Diamond.

MGM, Paramount, and Lionsgate are banding together to form a new TV channel called epix that will show films from each studio as soon as 9 months after the theatrical release. There's just one catch: No cable or satellite companies have agreed to carry the channel just yet.

But here's where things get interesting. The three studios, which are working together under the name Studio 3 Networks, plan to launch a subscription based web site that will stream on-demand movies starting in May. At launch, movies including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Iron Man, Pink Panther 2, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail will be available.

In other words, the new epix web site will be a lot like Hulu, except the films will be more current and viewers will have to pay to watch them. So umm, it won't be that much like Hulu at all. But it does raise an interesting question - if Studio 3 Networks doesn't manage to sign a broadcast carriage, could the group still make money on a subscription based web site? Sure, people are used to getting online video for free, but personally I'd rather pay a nominal monthly fee to watch on-demand movies from a site like epix than pay an arm and a leg to subscribe to a cable channel on top of a monthly cable bill. Or at least, I would if epix had films from more than three studios.

In related news, while looking for any sort of publicity photos of epix, I discovered that epix.com, epix.net, and epix.tv among other web domains are already registered. So it's not clear exactly what the URL of the new page will be.

Update: Turns out Boxee for Windows is still in private alpha. See the comments below.

I've got two good pieces of news regarding media center application Boxee. First up, it looks like the Windows version of the app has come out of private alpha and is now available for anyone to download. Second, a third party developer has come up with a nifty trick for getting Boxee to work with Windows Media Center.

Windows Vista Media Center does a great job of letting you watch and record live TV, but it kind of stinks when it comes to web video. Boxee, on the other hand, provides an awesome interface for accessing web video from Hulu, CBS, and the BBC iPlayer without a web browser. But it doesn't do live TV.

The folks at Missing Remote, along with media center developer Andrew Cherry came up with a solution: a way to use the two apps together almost seamlessly. Basically you just download and run a script and a Boxee icon will show up in Windows Media Center. By default it hangs out in the Pictures and Video area, but you can move it to the TV and Movies section if you like.

When you click the icon, Windows Media Center will be minimized and Boxee will launch. When you exit Boxee, Windows Media Center should come to the forefront. If it doesn't (as was the case several times during my test), just hit the green button on your media center remote control, assuming you have a media center remote control.

This solution isn't perfect. For starters, you have to make sure to exit Boxee when you're done, because if you don't your Boxee videos could keep playing in the background while you're using Windows Media Center. And because this is just a way to launch Boxee, not to actually make it part of Windows Media Center, it won't work with media extenders like the Xbox 360.

You can check out a video of Boxee working with Windows Media Center after the break.

[via eHomeUpgrade]