EZWebPlayer Plans Live and HD Versions for Early 2012
The unlimited online video service EZWebPlayer is planning an expansion that will make live streaming affordable and simple for small- to medium-sized businesses. In four to six months, according to Clint Pollock, the company's president, EZWebPlayer will introduce new services, including one that will let companies create an unlimited number of live event streams (although each stream will be capped at two hours). That service doesn't have a price yet, but Pollock says the company's offerings will never go above $50 per month.
Besides the live streaming plan, EZWebPlayer will also introduce an option for unlimited HD streaming, as well as a free version.
EZWebPlayer launched in 2009, and made its name by offering $15 per month unlimited live streaming. The service relies on Amazon CloudFront for cloud storage and Zencoder for encoding.
"With power of scale, I'm able to drive down the cost," says Pollock.
The current unlimited plan allows for one encode, creating files that have no more than a 3k bitrate and are 1000 pixels wide.
Pollock is positioning himself as an affordable alternative to online video providers who offer service starting at $50 per month. For businesses just getting by, $50 per month can be a difficulty. He admits, though, that his real competition is YouTube. For $15 per month, EZWebPlayer offers a player with no branding, easy setup, and analytics. His company even helps customers with their YouTube channels, automatically uploading to YouTube, as well as a company blog.
The player can automatically detect the ratio of the playback device, formatting the steamed video so there are no black bars along the top or bottom. Uploaded files can be up to 1.5GB in size.
"This is the unlimited video player businesses have been looking for. No limits on video storage, transcoding, or video delivery, and no surprise streaming bills at the end of the month," says Pollock.
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