Video In

by Charles Fulton
Winter 2002/Spring 2003

Broadband Video on Demand
If you recently treated yourself to the world of broadband Internet, here are a few great ways to exercise, exploit and otherwise put your connection through its paces. Be forewarned: once you experience broadband video at its best, it becomes difficult (if not impossible) to be satisfied with that old dial-up connection. So, curl up with a tasty beverage and get ready to enjoy some great-looking broadband Internet video.

ABC News
[abcnews.go.com]
All the news you can endure, complete with the video you'll see on your local ABC affiliate. It's all here – domestic, foreign, financial, sports, technology, politics, health, even travel news. There's also information on ABC News's usual broadcast fare, including World News Tonight, 20/20, Nightline, Primetime Live and Good Morning America.

NFL Films TV
[www.nfl.com/nflfilmstv]
Now online, you can watch all the bone-crunching gridiron action you've come to expect from the NFL. See footage of your favorite teams, NFL-produced shows (including NFL Films Presents and Under the Helmet), soundtrack footage where you can listen to the players and coaches, and even see some gems from years past.

Broadcast-Live.com
[www.broadcast-live.com]
Broadcast-live.com is a utilitarian guide that gets you to many broadcasts from around the world. Watch feeds from Canada, Japan, Australia, Great Britain, Russia and more at the drop of a hat. You can also pick-up international news, both as broadband streams and as standard newspaper formats. You can even search for streams by language.

Turner Classic Movies
[www.turnerclassicmovies.com]
If you love classic films, you'll definitely enjoy TCM's multimedia offerings. There's a wide assortment of classic movie trailers, clips from films currently playing on TCM, as well as a few selected short subjects, all presented in RealVideo and Windows Media formats. Games, trivia and a photo gallery round out TCM's multimedia offerings.

Launch
[launch.yahoo.com]
This is a great place to find music videos (at least samples of whole videos) and get information on artists. All the latest music news is here, too, including Billboard and CMJ charts. Internet radio links are also here (at press time). Links to Pressplay's premium services are located conspicuously throughout the site.

Hollywood.com - Independent Films
[indie.hollywood.com]
Here lies a veritable treasure trove of independent films of practically any genre you can think of – satire, drama, animation, documentaries, foreign and student films, just to name a few. The site provides a few free samples, but for the entire works, the cost is just $4.95 per month.

MTV
[www.mtv.com]
Home of The Osbournes, MTV also offers a little broadband video. You can see an interesting mixture of download-and-play and the usual streaming video fare, with special attention to clips from Unplugged. All the information you'd expect from MTV on bands and music news is here, too. Chat rooms and on-air schedules round out the site.

Pixar Animation Studios
[www.pixar.com/index.html]
This site showcases a large selection of short films presented in their entirety, along with their feature-film trailers and outtakes (Toy Story films, A Bug's Life and Monsters, Inc.) in QuickTime 5 format. Also provided at the site: behind-the-scenes information (not streaming) on how Pixar makes a film, along with discussions with its artists.