Today, Google officially launched video.google.com. Alongside the new site comes a new browser plug-in based on VLC, the open source video player. With the plug-in installed, users can search and view videos marked with a play button (example). Google describe the service as part of their mission to "organize the world's information, and that includes the thousands of programs that play on our TVs every day". The search technology examines transcript and meta-data associated with the video to provide relevant results for the user. The service also offers information like when the next edition of the program will be screened.
"Just type in your search term (for instance, ipod or Napa Valley) or do a more advanced search (for instance, title:nightline) and Google Video will search the closed captioning and text descriptions of all the videos in our archive for relevant results. Click on a video title on your results page and you can view still images from the video and, where a transcript is available, short snippets of transcript text."
Asides from launching Google into a new search medium, the service cunningly places the company in a whole new market. Google launched earlier in the year a free video upload program; it also allowed people to charge viewers, with going "sharing" the revenue. The imminent Google payment program is expected to bring this system live. When it does, the process will make Google an ever powerful media player, and will also opens up another potentially lucrative revenue stream for the company. One can't but wonder what the plans are with the VLC-based video plugin; potentially, the company could start offering an alternative to the bloaty programs already on the market - time will tell.
In offering a "free", simple service, Google has positioned themselves yet again in a very powerful place. With ever faster internet connections, online video is an emerging but undoubtedly massive new area for the internet; Google has correctly identified this. It is surely only a matter of time before the competition update their offerings.
View: Upload Video | Video FAQ | screenshot
Download: Install the Google Video Player*
