Google Launches In-Browser Video Player

Google introduced two new elements to its Video Search beta: a plug-in application that lets users watch videos in the browser and access to user-uploaded videos, which the company has been collecting since April.
For the average Web user, the Google Video Viewer is designed to make video accessible in a way never seen before, said Peter Chane, senior business product manager for Google Video.

Google wanted to make the viewing of videos "a very simple, consistent experience," Chane said, adding that the company wanted "to allow people to watch video today and, over time, to watch more video integrated into the platform [with] very interesting, diverse results from users—from TV, from organizations large and small, and from individuals."
The browser plug-in can be downloaded for free from http://video.google.com, and is specifically designed to play content exclusive to Google video. After installing the viewer, users can enter keywords into the search box and the results will show up with still-screen captures and small bits of text next to each.
Those with video available will have a small, triangular "play" icon next to the text. Once a user clicks on the video they want to see, five still-screen captures will be displayed in the browser–the top will be the full video and the rest will capture small parts of video that are most relevant to the specific search.

Click the play button, and the still image will spring to life within the browser. The plug-in currently works with the Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox Web browsers.
Google has yet to report how many user-uploaded videos it has gathered in the past few months, but some of them that the company recommends to users came from UNICEF and Link TV, which include David Beckham helping the organization in Copenhagen, Denmark, and a 25-minute news clip showing Iraqis pulling down a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.
Chane said the user-uploaded videos go through a light screening test to make sure they don't violate submission rules, which bans any kind of pornography or other adult-oriented materials. And he said they've been keeping watch for copyrighted materials as well.

"Surprisingly enough, we haven't seen a lot of that," he said. "We've had a real resonation with organizations who want to upload video and want to get their voice out."
Google based its plug-in on the cross-platform VLC media player, and the company plans to make its code available to the open-source community as part of its Google code project.
"We're generally supportive of open-source efforts and thought the VLC work was especially high-quality and had good engineering," Chane said.
Gartner analyst Allen Weiner said the Video Viewer combined with Video Search expands far beyond being a nifty way to upload and view videos online. Instead, he said, it shows that Google will be a company that can provide an "end-to-end system for an ecobusiness."
"If you upload a video, there is a metadata file that asks whether or not you want to charge for your video," Weiner said. "Then consider the new Google for-pay services announced last week. It's apparent the company is headed to deliver video services that can then be delivered into business models."

Weiner also mentioned that he thinks Google eventually will create a more customized video player, like that used on CNN.com, which will make way for ad-based video content.
"If these videos are indexed well–and they are–you can play very poignant ads in the right content," he said.