Monday, March 27, 2006
Democracy: Open Source Internet TV Platform
by
Most of the time I think of myself as a pretty with it kind of guy. An early-adopter. The person that knows the latest online trend before my friends do.
However I can’t seem to latch myself onto the idea of watching videos on my computer. Part of it is I don’t like waiting for videos to download and I also think video should be viewed larger and not smaller. Democracy might just be what I’ve needed in order to hold my interest long enough to get past my hesitancy. It’s like a Tivo for online video and downloads in the background so at the end of the day you have a full queue of videos.
Choosing videos to download is pretty easy. Democracy provides a Channel Guide with over 300 channels to choose from that consists of just about anything you could think of. You can also enter any RSS feed meaning you can subscribe to anything you want. Bit Torrent support is even built in which I haven’t tried out but seems very promising. Just like Tivo you customize how Democracy handles each channel you’ve subscribed to. Want to keep a week worth of Rocketboom but only the most recent episode of Diggnation? No problem, just let Democracy know your preferences and don’t worry about your hard drive being filled with videos while you’re sleeping.
Because the files are downloaded in the background some channels do offer higher quality videos than you’re likely to find online through other sources. Previously I had been using iTunes for the few video blogs I watch but quickly switched to Democracy. My iPod is keeping me tied to iTunes for all the non-video podcasts I’m subscribed to and unless Democracy offers iPod syncing in the future I’m afraid it will stay that way.
The folks behind Democracy really believe in putting the power of the internet behind anybody interested in having their videos seen so they’ve also made it very easy to publish your own channels using their software. They are a non-profit organization that believes it isn’t right that a small number of companies control most avenues for getting video distributed and viewed. By providing Democracy as an open source and free application for Windows, Mac and Linux they hope to build an open medium of internet TV.
Democracy is still in beta so you can expect buggy behavior from time to time but I’ve yet to experience anything to make me stop using it. If you’re a budding video blogger or film maker I would definitely check it out. If you’re like me and want a better overall user experience with your online video viewing I’d recommend it as well. I know I’ll be using it, at least until Apple releases the real video iPod and I’m forced back to iTunes.
