Internet
video enthusiasts now have a powerful springboard to the vast and rapidly expanding
universe of online video content thanks to ZeeVee’s new
Zviewer software — available as a free download in a limited beta starting today.
While the Internet is emerging as the ultimate video on demand service, it has lacked
a simple, consistent way to access the many sites for high-quality movies and shows
without having to open a plethora of browser windows, each having a different user
experience. These websites are generally designed for mouse interaction and up-close
viewing at a computer — hardly an experience suited for viewing in the comfort of
the living room.
Zviewer’s simple,
highly visual graphical interface enables browsing of videos from various websites
through a single browser, all from the comfort of the couch. Zviewer can take you
anywhere on the web, or to the content and applications that you have on your computer,
providing practically unlimited video on demand. Users with Microsoft Media Center-compatible
remote controls will gain TV-like remote navigation using Zviewer, and functions like
Play and Pause will work natively on popular websites such as Hulu. ZeeVee’s ZvRemote
includes additional features such as a Full Screen button, on- screen keyboard for
text input, and complete mouse control via a touchpad — allowing you to operate any
website or desktop application from the couch.
Personalization
Zviewer also lets users select what content they are interested in, and be kept up-to-date
about any new additions. A “ZvPresents” feature automatically discovers and presents
some of the most interesting video on the web today. Thousands of shows and movies
are available for either instant viewing, or tagged for future interest. For example,
Comedy Central’s Daily Show can be added to a personalized MyZv channel — almost
like bookmarking it. Unlike static bookmarks, Zviewer — through RSS — will watch
for new episodes of that content and add it to MyZv when they become available.
Getting the video to the Big Screen
But how do you get computer video to the big screen in the living room? In a smaller
setting, the display of the laptop or monitor may be large enough — simply sit back
and enjoy. Many HDTVs have VGA inputs, allowing for a direct connection with an inexpensive
cable. In a home where the computer is not in the living room or where there may be
multiple HDTVs in different rooms, ZeeVee’s revolutionary ZvBox transforms the computer’s
video output into a new HDTV channel that can be received on every HDTV in the home,
without needing any new boxes at each TV.
Open, user extensible content and technology
Zviewer is designed as an open platform, built on Mozilla technology and delivered
as a Firefox extension. In this initial release, content from specific websites is
integrated by ZeeVee’s developers, and is kept fresh with RSS feeds. Websites not
integrated by ZeeVee can still be bookmarked, but the video content on those sites
will not be available in a visual “tile” format. In the near future, website owners
will be able to create their own plug-ins, making it very simple to deliver a lean-back
experience to their video content without needing to redesign their websites.
Seeking beta users to help improve the experience
ZeeVee is seeking to develop a community of people interested in consuming Internet
video on the big screen — through an open platform that can be easily personalized
to their interests and tastes. The company has a list of ideas for future improvements,
but would like to have user guidance for the most important features to add next.
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ZeeVee’s Free Zviewer Internet Video Browser for the Big Screen
