Trial and Error

I know you’ve all been anxiously awaiting the news of how my all-star soap lineup is faring in the SoapNet fantasy soap league. And today I am pleased to report that I did not completely embarrass myself with my soap star choices as I feared I would last week when I joined the league. No siree.

I managed a whopping 230 points on my first full day, Nov. 27. Fine, the average across the league was 430. So what? The good news is I beat the digital media director for SoapNet, who only garnered 118 points that same day.

And there’s even more good news. SoapNet tweaked the rules of the games so you can now change your lineup every day and earn points each day. Previously, you had to set your lineup on the weekend for the coming week.

So I’m going to jettison all my non-performers and add the big guns to my roster.
I boot Lily Synder from “As the World Turns.” I kick off Holden Snyder from the same show. They might have been my fan faves when I was a teenager, but those days are gone and it’s time to get serious and kick some soap league butt.

I pick Kayla Johnson from “Days of Our Lives” and Jason Morgan from “General Hospital” because they are the league’s top performers. I realize this is the equivalent of picking Alex Rodriquez and Derek Jeter for rotisserie baseball, but I’m OK with that.

Let’s see if I hit it out the park.

It’s 9 pm on Tuesday Nov. 28. I keep hitting refresh on my browser. Yahoo TV is slated to flip the switch tonight on a complete site makeover, its first in five years.

On my next refresh, I see a stunning photo of Taye Diggs greeting me on the newly redesigned Yahoo TV page. From a business standpoint, the main features of the redesign are an embedded video player, a dynamic menu with links to TV shows and a personalized TV grid.

But as a consumer, all I can tell you is the site simply looks good. As in gooooood. Of course, I must admit the old site in comparison looks very old school, very 1999, very boxy. The redesigned look in contrast is smooth, current, topical. My eye is immediately, and purposefully, drawn to the centerpiece portion of the site—a box with rotating images of TV stars with four or five tabs for “What to watch tonight,” “Check out Bones,” and “See Top Model Photos,” among other options. I go for the “Bones” tab.

That takes me to a separate page on the Fox show with a prominent link to record the show on TiVo. That’s a nice touch, I think. In the right hand corner of that page is the embedded video player. And the video doesn’t start automatically! One of my pet peeves is video players that launch without asking. I click on the player and watch a short preview of the show.

I bounce back to the home page, where the embedded video player resides in the upper right hand corner, promoting clips such as “Anna Nicole Smith interview,” “Mo’Nique on Michael Richards,” and “On the Set of NCIS.” I choose the “NCIS” clip and then run the usual player tests—toying around with pause, fast forward and rewind. Everything works smoothly.

Next, I fiddle around with the grid. But, like my Comcast grid on the TV itself, it takes too long to jump ahead a day or two. So I lose interest in the grid.

I try one more feature on the site—the menu bar to buzz-y shows. Of course, I click on “Grey’s Anatomy.” On the “Grey’s” page, the embedded video player says it’s got a music video for The Fray song “How to Save a Life,” a popular song for the show.

While that plays, I look around for other videos. And here’s the other issue. I don’t see any other videos. Are there behind-the-scenes clips? Episode previews? I don’t know and I’d like to know.

Still, overall Yahoo has turned in an impressive new look.

Since I got such a kick out of the Borat clip from CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman” yesterday on YouTube—and really, what’s not to like…the guy is funny—I decided to view the whole interview. Conveniently, YouTube has placed a link next to the short video urging viewers to click through to CBS.com to view the whole interview.

And that’s when I think CBS is really smart. That’s good cross-promotion, building traffic to its Web site and all that. So, I click through. But as I look around the CBS.com page, I don’t see any links or clips for the Borat interview or other extended show clips, as promised back on YouTube.

I hunt a bit more, but can’t find the promised interview or anyone like it.

So I decide to go back to YouTube and revisit the CBS clips as if I am just coming to the site for the first time as a regular user, rather than a rabid CBS fan. I’ll pretend that I am just your standard YouTube visitor, bumping around the site for interesting videos.

I go to YouTube.com. I click on videos. Under today’s videos, I don’t see anything from CBS. But I’m not looking for CBS, so I just trawl around some more.

I try top videos for the month. Nothing there either.

Let’s try the link for “channels,” since technically CBS has a “channel” on YouTube. I go there and look around for CBS videos. I don’t see any on the first few pages.

But, looky there. I do spot something from “Grey’s Anatomy Fan.” “Grey’s” is my favorite show. And since I am not pretending I’m a CBS fan right now, I’d rather watch this—five minutes from last Thursday’s epic episode.

So I do.

YouTube and CBS crowed last week about the sheer number of views CBS clips have generated on the popular video-sharing site. We declined to write about the announcement because it seemed like “made-up” news. However, since the two bedfellows are trumpeting their successful tryst, I thought we could have some fun checking out the CBS videos on YouTube.

The partnership kicked off Oct. 18 and the 300-plus CBS clips have garnered about 29.2 million views. That translates into about 857,000 views per day of material from shows such as “NCIS,” “Late Show with David Letterman,” “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” and “The Early Show.”

Now, I don’t dispute the numbers but I am curious if the videos are any good. In the press release, CBS and YouTube provided 10 or 15 URLs to the YouTube videos. I try the first one for “NCIS Catfight,” which generated more than 1.6 million views. The clip lasts nearly a minute and it’s not terribly interesting to me. But mind you, I don’t have a penchant for girls getting all “cage fighty,” as Dr. Izzie Stevens from “Grey’s Anatomy” would say.

Next, I click on a David Letterman interview of Borat. This video, with more than 1 million views, is laugh-out-loud funny. Even though YouTube has built its brand on edgy, user-generated videos some of the most popular viral videos have been outtakes from TV shows – Faith Hill’s silent outburst on the Country Music Awards, a CNN anchor dissing her in-laws, Connie Chung warbling goodbye on MSNBC. So why wouldn’t some CBS clips rank high as well?

I decide to try more videos, but most of the other links don’t work. They bring me to pages that say “error on page.” I try to find the clips other ways, by searching for the name of it, like “Bush drinking again” from Letterman. No luck.

So I go back to the original Borat interview to see if that will link me to some of the other Letterman videos. Then I see a link to watch the complete Borat interview on CBS.com. Now, I am thinking CBS is really smart for driving viewers to its page.

Come back tomorrow and I’ll tell you what happens when I click through to CBS.com.

Google recently introduced a new feature to Google Video that lets college football fans create and upload their football-related videos and antics. The service premiered before the much anticipated Ohio State/University of Michigan game last weekend. I checked out the service quickly for a story that day (Link: http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11094), but I decide to revisit it this week for the blog.

The videos include musings from fans, footage from the stands, coverage of tailgate parties and other fan-created videos celebrating college football. The videos are neatly arranged and load in a relatively fast fashion.

But here’s my big beef with this service. When I first checked it out on Nov. 17 for the Web story, I was able to access it from both the home page of Google Video and from the direct link at video.google.com/touchdown. But four days later on Nov. 21, when I visit Google Video, I spend several minutes on the home page hunting around for it.

I don’t see the videos under home page categories Popular, Featured or Comedy, nor do I spot them under Featured on AOL, Music Videos or Movie Trailers, nor TV Shows, Sports or Education. I try the various pull down menus too and I can’t find the videos there either.

So how would I find the service if I didn’t have the link? Shouldn’t a site promote a new feature on its home page? Finally, I try a search for “college football,” but it returns stock footage from games or vintage clips.

This is not a problem unique to Google. I have found that many portals and TV network Web sites fail to promote their new features and videos.

Why wheel and deal with fantasy athletes when you can swap and barter soap characters? Soapy cable channel SoapNet launched a fantasy soap league online earlier this month. Like fantasy sports leagues online, users can draft soap characters, such as Erica Kane.

The site is located at Fantasysoapnet.com. I log in and select the link for “Set your lineup: Select characters and moments.”

But when I click on that, it jumps me back to that same page. Ah, I realize I have to pay for this service. So I do the standard reporter trick. This is actually the first thing you’re taught on the job. No, it’s not the inverted pyramid, silly. It’s how to ask for free things. I email SoapNet’s spokeswoman and ask for a comp pass to check out the site. I get it and am ready to play.

Now I’m on the line-up page where I select the characters for my roster.

I choose my female characters first, opting for Lily Synder from “As the World Turns,” Laura Spencer from “General Hospital,” and Whitney Russell from “Passions.” Good name, I think.

I pick the male characters next, and then select “Soap moments.” This is where it gets really fun.

How about “Daydreaming?” Hard to go wrong with that one. “Being killed at my wedding.” Hey, it might sound macabre, but my next soap moment will be “Coming back from the dead!” For my final moment, I opt for “transplant.”

After I finalize my lineup, it hits me that I made a big faux pas. I have ZERO strategy here for this game. I am just willy nilly picking characters and moments without thinking about which ones are likely to earn me the most points. I mean, is Lily Synder really going to come back from the dead in the next week? I am probably going up against thousands of others who are diligently researching characters and the mathematical likelihood of said situations occurring.

No matter, let’s check back next week and see if this rookie managed to hit the side of a barn or not.

Video-sharing site StupidVideos became the latest independent video site to give itself a facelift. (StupidVideos.com Announces Upgrades)

I log onto the site, stupidvideos.com, to check out the bigger player and better browse function that the site is touting. Immediately, I notice that the site is tighter and neater and easier on the eye. That includes a series of tabs above the first set of videos, with new, most popular and top rated videos. There’s also a list of video categories on the left hand side, as well as another series of images for three StupidVideos shows, such as Animals Gone Wild. There’s also a tab for Editor’s Picks.

I always like to check out most popular videos first because that’s indicative of what’s popular and, as a reporter, that’s what I am always interested in. One of the most popular is an Evil Penguin video, in which one tuxedoed bird knocks down another. The video lasts about five seconds, but it’s still pretty funny. It’s a penguin swiping another — how could it not be funny?

That jumps right into the next video. I’m not a fan of the loop concept where one video starts right after the next. So I go back to the main page and click “All New Videos.”
Nothing happens and the screen doesn’t change.

In general, I like the site and the redo. Navigation is intuitive and I can quickly bounce around to various types of videos. Even on the Browse Videos section, I can view the Top Rated, Lowest Rated and Most Reviewed Videos by day, week and month.

But I can’t find the one feature that I believe is most important to a viral video site — I want to view the Most Popular videos by day, week or month. But that’s not an option. I don’t really care what most popular overall is and I want to know what’s most popular now.

So tell me.

Reelzchannel.com recently fired up its site, a new online video channel all about movies.

The site includes interviews with directors and actors, behind-the-scenes clips, trailers and a short newsy movie highlight show.

What’s also cool about the site is you can look up listings of movies that are on TV, DVD and video-on-demand. The VOD search service is particularly cool because most cable operators do not include search functionality on VOD, so you have to actually click through various menus to find VOD movies. The Reelzchannel.com menu shows VOD movies all in one spot. The service lets users look up more than 180,000 movies and see if they are on TV, DVD or in theaters.

All in all, it’s a pretty cool site for movie lovers and is rich with video content. I’m not sure it’ll give IMDB.com a run for its money, but what Reelz does have in its favor are trailers, short interviews and original content.

If you’re a movie buff, Reelzchannel.com is worth a bookmark.

Given the massive amounts of video that small and large programmers are serving up on the Internet daily, it was only a matter of time before a new crew of sites emerged to help sort through the clutter. TVTonic is aiming to do that by sifting through podcasts and TV shows.

I go to the Web site and the first thing that pops out at me is a big green button that says “Get Started.” That seems clear enough, so I hit the button and it asks me to install TV Tonic. Right away, I think this will turn off half the visitors. Because who wants to install another program? A Web-based service would be much better.

But I soldier on. The installation only takes a few minutes and then a screen launches with an “Activate” button. I hit that and the next button says “Watch TV Tonic.”

Now, a page opens asking me which channels to add. I choose Looney Tunes, Rocketboom and Yoda Today HD. Maybe I’ll be more flexible if I downward face dog in hi-def.

Next I hit the task bar button to launch TV Tonic. An embedded player starts up with a preview show called “CineKids” playing before my channels. The video is short and I expect it to simply jump right into one of my channels when it’s done. But it doesn’t. “CineKids” keeps playing over and over and over again, even when I click on the buttons for “Looney Tunes” and “Rocketboom.” I shut it down and relaunch the program.

And the same thing happens.

This is really too bad because TVTonic looked like a cool way to watch Internet video in one spot.

Bummer for TVTonic. I’ll probably uninstall it now.

Want a break from YouTube? Eager to get your video fix elsewhere?

Check out Philtube.com, a YouTube look-a-like. The site contains a handful of videos that essentially poke fun at the most popular viral videos, such as the one with the guy who sent out a video resume to look for a job. There are several LonelyGirl parodies on the site, too.

The best one though is Phil’s “Did You say Blogging?” video.

You see, Phil takes blogging very seriously and spends most of the two-minute clip directing staffers to blog. Putting his calls on hold to blog. Advising others to blog. He says, “I have been blogging all morning. Have you guys been blogging?” Then he adds, “Tell Donny Deutsch I am blogging and I will call him back.”

He finishes with, “We put the B in blogging.”

I must admit, I laughed out loud.

My only kvetch is the videos are slow to load. But they are worth the wait.

PhilTube was created by PGM Artists, a company that connects creative artists with advertising agencies and media companies.

Today I’m hoping that three’s a charm. After two top-notch user experiences at ABCnews.com and CBSnews.com, I’m curious if NBCnews.com will make a trifecta.

The video links on NBCnews.com aren’t quite as high up as on CBSnews.com, but the site still does include several video links on the home page. I click on the first one and a window opens with a video player on the left and several links and stories laid out in an L-shape around the player

As I did on the CBS news site, I create a playlist. There are links under each thumbnail image for “add to playlist,” so I choose three videos for my own mini-Webcast and the first one kicks off. I scroll quickly to the end of the first video and the second one is queued up and ready to go.

After the playlist test, I then click on some random videos underneath the player and they all start easily.

And I am quite simply impressed. These news sites are among the easiest and most feature-rich video sites I’ve been to.

Since we checked out ABCnews.com yesterday, CBSnews.com seemed a natural for today.

I’m only interested in video so I search around for any video links on the home page. Right across the top on the menu bar is a link for CBS News Video.

That launches a big fat window that’s poised to play a news story. The window also includes a ton of links to shows such as “60 Minutes,” “48 Hours,” and “The Early Show.” Then there’s a long scrolling list of the latest news stories and also a link for “The CBS Evening News,” which streams online.

I started with the main news story in the player. As that plays, I notice two tabs underneath — one for “now playing” and another for “playlist.” The playlist includes five or so of the top news stories so I click on one and hit play. Then I realize that I can actually create my own playlist. There are buttons to let you move videos around or up or down. You can also delete them from your list. Then the videos in your list all play in order. So basically, you’re creating your own newscast from the selections CBS gives you. It’s a totally cool feature that puts the viewer squarely in control.

I try it out and it works well, even though I do have to watch the same Chevron ad every two minutes.

Next, I try the “CBS Evening News” link. The show plays perfectly.

And it occurs to me that so far, CBSnews.com and ABCnews.com both provide fantastic user experiences. Other sites and channels should look to news as an example. Tomorrow let’s see how NBCNews.com fares.

ABC News reported recently that its Web site grew the number of unique visitors in September by 33 percent over a year ago.

Let’s see if video is driving that growth.

I hop on abcnews.com and see a link for a video report on “Early Halloween for Pigs in Thailand.” Sounds entertaining enough, so I click on it.

A separate window launches and plays a report on zookeepers dressing pigs in tiger fur so they can be reared by a real tiger. Next to the video is a standard menu list of other links to more videos. I choose another news story and it plays, and then I opt for a segment on Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers.

And you know what I am thinking the whole time?

I like this service. It’s EASY. Everything plays and is easy to find. It’s no fuss, no muss. The interface is simple. The player plays the videos. The menu lists the videos. There’s nothing here to trip you up.

This video player proves you don’t need bells and whistles.

AOL Video’s been busy signing deals and adding partners for its download-to-own video service, including a recent deal with Paramount Pictures. The service is also brimming with TV shows, so I go to AOLVideo.com for a look-see.

On the middle of the page, a centerpiece video player is poised and ready to go. Under it are a series of on-demand channels, listing content from Comedy Central, TNT, FX and a host of other networks and providers.

I watch the names scroll by and decide to select TNT. Page not found.

So I hit the back button and then click on the Comedy Central link. There’s an image for “South Park” in the video player screen, so I choose that and it lists a series of “South Park” videos. I’m not really a big South Park fan, but I’ll fork over the $1.99 for the sake of the blog. Yep, I’m that kind if blogger. The non-cheap kind.

Oh, but then it tells me I have to install a delivery manager in order to buy or rent shows. And I’m not into the show enough to want to install a new program.

So I scroll back to the show list and look at the channels again. Before I commit I test out a free show—an episode of “Police Academy.” That works well and I am able to fast forward to the end of the show in a jiffy. Plus, the full screen mode is a breeze to operate.

Eventually, I opt for an episode of FX’s “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” to buy and download. So I do have to install the video manager after all.

I enter the credit card info and the show starts downloading.

A whole hour later, it’s ready to watch.

And you know what?

The video is great, it looks sharp and all the features work flawlessly.

But online TV is about convenience. Instant gratification. And after an hour, I’ve kind of lost interest.

Today it’s time for HGTV.com. I see a link on the bottom of the page for “featured videos,” but before I click on that, my eye catches a link for “8 Fresh Ideas for Kitchen Backsplashes.” This link will actually take me to an HGTV Web series.

I click through to a page on the series that lists all of the episodes. I like that the video doesn’t launch immediately, that the site gives me time to look around and choose what to watch. The first episode listed is “Toon Time” on how to create backsplashes with colorful cartoon characters. There’s a “watch video” button next to the image, so I simply hit that and it launches a smooth-looking embedded video payer

I fast forward to the end of the video and it doesn’t drop me right into the next one. I like that because I want to pick and choose what to watch. Fortunately, there’s a “related videos” tab nearby, so I select another episode. The player operates seamlessly.

So I return to the home page because there’s something that just seemed odd about this experience. And then I realize what it is. The link to the video is placed prominently on the home page. But it doesn’t specify that you’re going to be watching a video. I only knew the “backsplash” link was for a Web series because I wrote a story on it in early October (HGTV to Offer Web-Only Series).

So if you’re going to feature your Web video on the home page, if you’re going to make web video that works easily and well, just make it clear that it IS video. After all, that’s what site visitors these days want—video.

Yesterday we visited Bobvila.com to see if the site posed a threat to cable networks in the same genre. Today we’ll see what those networks offer.

I go to DIYnetwork.com to see what’s available. The site is stuffed with information so I hunt around a bit for video. At the bottom of the page is a button for “Featured Video” on how to organize a closet.

I click on that and about two seconds later, the video starts playing on a separate page in an embedded video player. It’s a Windows Media player, so all the functions are familiar and easy to use. The video lasts less than one minute and even manages to include a “brought to you by Lowe’s” voiceover. The video ends and then loops into another one on building a family photo wall.

I can also choose which videos to watch in the list of videos next to the player. Navigation is a cinch here.

Above the player is a series of tabs on other topics, such as gardening and woodworking. I click on the gardening tab, which brings up a list of 30 or so topics. I figure these must be video links since I am in the video section. But when I click on a link, the site takes me to a page with more text information.

I don’t dispute that DIYnetwork.com visitors want both text and video information, but if I am in the video section, I expect the tabs and links to take me to more videos.

Tomorrow, let’s continue the Scripps tour and check out HGTV.com.

Well-known television personality and home improvement guru Bob Vila has got his own Web home. The site, Bobvila.com, rolled out a number of new features to coincide with the new season of his syndicated series.

What’s interesting to me is whether a site such as bobvila.com could be a competitor to existing properties from cable networks such as the Scripps Networks, which traffics in the home improvement genre.

So if Scripps will face competition from places like Bobvila.com, let’s check out the site. There’s an image in the center of the home page and beneath the image I click on the “watch videos” link. Pretty clever of me, huh?

It brings me to another page, chock full of information on home projects. I just want to see the videos so I click on the “Video Archives” link. That brings me to yet another page.

This one says “Bob Vila Home Remodeling TV Show!” and then has a description of the show that reads, “In addition to weekly updates on the home improvement television show's current project, you can see videos of featured home construction details and practices.” Well, that’s why I’m here, so let me see them.

I hit the link for “view current episode.” That brings me to a page with a photo and text. But no video plays.

Underneath the text is a list of “featured videos,” OK, fine, I’ll try those. That does launch an embedded video player that runs a video on baby proofing. The player contains some cool navigation features—you can click ahead to the start of each new segment, for instance. Still, it took too many clicks just to get here.

Tomorrow, let’s see how the Scripps sites rate.

Video-sharing service Blip.TV redesigned its home page recently (Blip.tv Revamps Video Site) to include top shows and best episodes of the day. The goal is to make Blip.tv an online video destination.

Let’s see if the site accomplished that, shall we?

As soon as I arrive at the home page a video starts from the Web show “Something to be Desired” that chronicles the adventures of deejays at the fictional WANT radio station.

But here’s the big problem. I don’t see any visible controls for the video, such as pause, fast forward or stop. As a Web user, this makes me nervous, even skittish. I don’t like not being able to control the video. So I frantically look around and hit a nearby arrow key, which jumps me to a video about a robot.

Off to the right, I spot a link for “Featured Videos” and quickly select one for the short film “Chasing Windmills,” simply to escape. That does, thankfully, lead me into a separate page with an embedded video player.

There’s even a “click to play” button underneath the player so I can start the video when I am ready.

That’s good because we want to control the experience. We don’t want videos to start without our knowledge, or really with our boss’ knowledge or ability to hear them. For a video-sharing site to succeed, we need to be able to easily start and stop and hide and mute videos.