Dedicated video players for web TV seem to be on the way out, with Veoh now also opting for a web based player. Earlier, Joost also made the move to a web player for all its content, now Veoh is giving up its Veoh TV. Still, Veoh requires viewers to download a plug-in.
Veoh said it has been testing a beta version of its web player and reaction from users was positive. “Since the launch of VeohTV beta last year, we’ve spent a lot of time listening to you and learning about what you want and don’t want when you’re watching videos on Veoh. Many of you told us that you love watching full-length videos and movies, but you don’t like having to launch a separate application in order to do that. To address this, we integrated the best of VeohTV into the Veoh.com experience through the Veoh Web Player.”
Support for VeohTV will be phased out over the next month, with the Channel Guide and Search function will be disabled in the next few weeks. Shortly thereafter, when visiting Veoh.com one will only be able to download videos to the Veoh Web Player.
Veoh.com promises to give a greater variety of content than VeohTV. In addition to videos from YouTube, Hulu, CBS and Veoh, viewers will have access to ones from ABC, Warner Brothers and Sony BMG.
The publish function will still be available in the near term. “We are working on a standalone publishing application that will make it easier and more efficient to publish on Veoh.com.”