Constructive Criticism

[cbruscato]

I see a lot of people that are very upset with the current state of Revision3. While I am not completely a detractor I would rather try to be a little more constructive and whole lot less whiney in conveying my opinions to you.

Things Revision3 does exceptionally well:

1) BitGravity - Someone needs a raise for picking such a great partner, streaming and downloads are super-fast and really give an overall great feeling to the experience; something few other IPTV ventures have ever done. People quickly compare Revision3 to YouTube and Vimeo and the quality is higher; but most of them do not realize the expense and bandwidth it takes to provide such an experience.

2) The Player - The Revision3 Player is one of the best on the internet. I personally prefer Silverlight players to flash, but for delivering flv content it is one of the sleekest, and easiest to use players out there. Everything really works as it should, cross-browser and cross-platform which makes it really easy. Being able to send friends "clips" from shows was one of the biggest internet innovations of this year.

3) Encoding - So I heard you like Episode Pro? Seriously though, the encodes are very sharp across all bandwidth ranges, and though I despise Quicktime; and would rather you use x264, your H.264 HD encoding is probably some of the best HD Encoded Content on the internet period. Please move all shows into 60fps though, it really looked nice on CO-OP. Thank you for not sparing any bandwidth expense to allow us to download this high-quality video.

4) Production Quality - You guys easily are TV-Quality, if not surpassing it. Bravo. I would really like to see the level of your content continue to grow; TekZilla's new set was a great surprise - please continue to keep thing's fresh.

5) CO-OP - Wow. I could honestly not be more impressed with this show; this renewed my hope that people with good content want to be on your network.

6) Site Navigation and Layout - You should honestly be nominated for a Webby, this site is functional and intuitive. It feels like it was designed by people who use macs (*snicker*). No, seriously, I don't even have one complaint about the site to give you; so it belongs on this list.

Things Revision3 needs to work on in the future: (These are not marked as <broken> just <needs some love>)

1) Advertising - I do find some of the advertising to be slightly intrusive, especially when the ads pop up during the video. I do not mind the leaders or trailers at all; however they do not get delivered with the same wonderful experience as the actual show; which detracts from the advertisers. I am talking about the fact that it skips on a constant on almost every video. I think the in-show advertising works best, especially when it is creative - The CO-OP endorsement for SquareSpace made me open a trail account; that TekZilla failed to do. On a more minor note, endorsement by technical people like Patrick Norton do work really well, but it works better in a live demo, not a voice over. In short, I feel that Revision3 should either cut creative promos for their advertisers (like on CO-OP) or get a real commercial from the vendor and insert it. But can we get some HD ads, cause the ads that show on the leader and trailer look like crap.

2) RSS Feeds - I like that the RSS feeds for Zune, Miro, and iTunes are available and they are very appreciated. However, I really feel like Miro is a broken application; it was great of them to create a branded version of their app for you; however I feel it really detracts from your brand to put it there. I think they have an interesting product, but I feel alot about it like I feel about Quicktime. It is buggy, and a resource hog; it just isn't worth the trade-off. What would work better: Create a Revision3 downloader app, that delivers the HD H.264 eps directly to your desktop when they are released or create a torrent RSS feed so those people who are using newer clients can download it. What not to do: Release torrents of low-quality video, if it is going to be torrented; only the highest quality should be released in torrent.

3) Revision3 Beta - This is a great way to show new shows, and get an audience before investing in shows that will never make it. I am interested to see a less "techy" audience come to Revision3; but at the moment I don't see anything very hopeful in the pool. For those of you who don't know, if you have an idea for a show you can create an episode and upload it to Revision3 to have them review and critique to see if it is baked enough to air. This needs better advertising, so people will be inspired to create great content and show it to the world. Revision3 is a TV network, but it is more diverse than any other and should stay that way - what I seem to be really missing when I come here is something Anime\Japan\Manga related. I hoped someone by now would put together a review-format show that would work in real-time as anime is released.

Things that need to die *kill it with fire* -

1) Revision3 Live - No, just no - no one wants to see low-quality streaming versions of shows that they might not be interested in just to sit in IRC and chat with people they don't know.

How to fix it - Delete the feature, *possibly* up the bandwith and find some type of chat feature that can link to a Revision3 platform; so we better know each other.

2) TekZilla Daily Tips - Crowd the site with less than *warm-and-fuzzy-feeling-content* and contain a ton of information that completely misses its audience.

How to fix it - Cancel the show, make room for better content. Do not show "short" episodic content. Keep the show length at 20-40 minutes.

4) Overly Innovative or More of the Same content -

Trend 1: Hak5, TekZilla, Systm, Web Drifter, Diggnation, The Digg Reel, Pixelperfect

Trend 2: Scam School, Totally Rad Show, XLR8TV, iFanboy

How to fix it - Continue for now, and make programming changes; start doing more "preview" or "first look" episodes for new and upcoming shows that lookg promising from Revision3 Beta. Reformat or cancel shows that have too much overlap. We really do not need three Digg shows, Diggnation just needs to have more video and a wider scope of content. Digg Dialogg belongs on Digg, not Revision3.

How to fix it - Profile users and see what KIND of content they are interested in; and make select capital ventures to create shows along those lines, by finding local talent and making use of the studio.

5) Communication -Owey, I feel burned. We find out about things as they happen. I want a behind-the-scenes video of Revision3; show us the studio, show us the people, tell us what is coming. We are your friends, not your customers! You do not have some product you need to hide in R&D and behind a blog.

How to fix it - Talk to us...candidly. Tell us everything, let us get input in earlier. It is win-win; we get input on your "product" and you gain lead time to build an audience and word-of-mouth about how F'n Awe-some your site is!

Thank you for listening and giving me a place that I can tell you how I feel, I hope this has helped you to make the site better for everyone. I welcome any comments or additions to this list. Also, COMMUNITY: Please do not rant and rave about shows getting cut, if you are not willing to come here and tell them what they are doing right. If you want a show to be kept, tell them you like it, and build a bigger audience for it. If you hate a show, let them know; but as I said above unless they know who you are, your feedback isn't very useful to them.

A tech cannot really give Scam School a good review. Some may love it, but you are a better reviewer for TekZilla. That is why they are forced to do Surveys en masse. I would rather see them do target surveys like real TV, where they ask a group of 20 sports fans to tell them how good their new sports show is. They can do that by forming profiles and trends for their users, and then asking them what they think about upcoming content they are getting ready to make a decision on.

[idounix]

good post agree totally , esp the behind the scene's

[heyseuss]

I see a lot of people that are very upset with the current state of Revision3. While I am not completely a detractor I would rather try to be a little more constructive and whole lot less whiney in conveying my opinions to you.

Things Revision3 does exceptionally well:

1) BitGravity - Someone needs a raise for picking such a great partner, streaming and downloads are super-fast

I stopped reading here as you established yourself as a lying asskisser.

[kzap]

2) RSS Feeds - I like that the RSS feeds for Zune, Miro, and iTunes are available and they are very appreciated. However, I really feel like Miro is a broken application; it was great of them to create a branded version of their app for you; however I feel it really detracts from your brand to put it there. I think they have an interesting product, but I feel alot about it like I feel about Quicktime. It is buggy, and a resource hog; it just isn't worth the trade-off. What would work better: Create a Revision3 downloader app, that delivers the HD H.264 eps directly to your desktop when they are released or create a torrent RSS feed so those people who are using newer clients can download it. What not to do: Release torrents of low-quality video, if it is going to be torrented; only the highest quality should be released in torrent.

What wrong with Miro? I've just found it and love it so far, so much so I'm featuring it on the next episode of my podcast, what don't you like about it.

[mavrevmatt]

2) RSS Feeds - I like that the RSS feeds for Zune, Miro, and iTunes are available and they are very appreciated. However, I really feel like Miro is a broken application; it was great of them to create a branded version of their app for you; however I feel it really detracts from your brand to put it there. I think they have an interesting product, but I feel alot about it like I feel about Quicktime. It is buggy, and a resource hog; it just isn't worth the trade-off. What would work better: Create a Revision3 downloader app, that delivers the HD H.264 eps directly to your desktop when they are released or create a torrent RSS feed so those people who are using newer clients can download it. What not to do: Release torrents of low-quality video, if it is going to be torrented; only the highest quality should be released in torrent.

What's wrong with Miro? It's the perfect podcast and online video player for me. Granted, I don't use the channels and whatnot, and rather just use video/audio RSS feeds but still. If you're talking about Miro 2, then yes I can see why you don't like it - I hate Miro 2. But I've never had any problems with Miro 1.x on my desktop.

5) Communication -Owey, I feel burned. We find out about things as they happen. I want a behind-the-scenes video of Revision3; show us the studio, show us the people, tell us what is coming. We are your friends, not your customers! You do not have some product you need to hide in R&D and behind a blog.

There used to be a show called the Revision3 Gazette, which did exactly this. But of course, someone at Revision3 thought it was a waste of time and resources, and that there wasn't a demand for it so it was axed...

[cbruscato]

I don't really see how a person can be lying or an asskisser; when they present both sides of the coin in the same post. tl;dr and move on or if it isn't something you agree with, then say something. You have no reason to be insulting to me, I am just trying to be helpful to a group I care about succeeding.

I am sorry if I appeared gushing about Bitgravity, few people around here even know that they use them; it isn't like the advertise for them. It was a *good* decision on their part, because it saved a ton of money that could go elsewhere. It fell into the category of when the video NEVER buffers how exactly can you complain?

I did actually use Miro 2.0, and it was using SO much CPU I dumped it fast, the Revision3 integration was nice; but I would just prefer something lighter weight. It may honestly be more personal preference, but there isn't any kind of RSS downloader I could find that can take advantage of their Quicktime HD Feed. I just want to be able to toss that in like uTorrent and get the EPs each week; it would make my life easier. HD takes awhile to download, and I would rather just say "hey, look a new EP." Rather than have to watch the progress bar when I get around to wanting to see it. The negative to all this ease as I foresee it though; is that people are going to quit coming to the site, and just watch the shows.

I think there is a serious demand for a Behind-The-Scenes at Revision3 because what they are doing is very "fresh." I think they were wrong to cancel that show if that's what it was, however I haven't seen it, so it may have been in an improper format.

I would also like to add, on a content note, that I completely agree with those people who think Diggnation is turning into an advertisement. This week the splash for Diggnation on the front page actually said "Tea tasting." I just don't agree with that format for the show at all. I mean, are you even getting paid to do that?

Diggnation needs to merge with Digg Reel and the show needs to be more about the top stories\images\videos on Digg, and less about the stories they think are cool. That show never should have taken the path of choosing to stay away from certain stories. It is simple mathematics: if people are digging a story so much, they are also going to enjoy it on the show. I am pretty sure I can speak for the populous in that Diggnation needs to be a community CREATED show. We decide the content that goes on there, you are there to present it. Sorry, if that sounded a bit harsh; but to me it feels like the show detracts from what Digg *is*.

[kzap]

I don't really see how a person can be lying or an asskisser; when they present both sides of the coin in the same post. tl;dr and move on or if it isn't something you agree with, then say something. You have no reason to be insulting to me, I am just trying to be helpful to a group I care about succeeding.

I am sorry if I appeared gushing about Bitgravity, few people around here even know that they use them; it isn't like the advertise for them. It was a *good* decision on their part, because it saved a ton of money that could go elsewhere. It fell into the category of when the video NEVER buffers how exactly can you complain?

I did actually use Miro 2.0, and it was using SO much CPU I dumped it fast, the Revision3 integration was nice; but I would just prefer something lighter weight. It may honestly be more personal preference, but there isn't any kind of RSS downloader I could find that can take advantage of their Quicktime HD Feed. I just want to be able to toss that in like uTorrent and get the EPs each week; it would make my life easier. HD takes awhile to download, and I would rather just say "hey, look a new EP." Rather than have to watch the progress bar when I get around to wanting to see it. The negative to all this ease as I foresee it though; is that people are going to quit coming to the site, and just watch the shows.

I think there is a serious demand for a Behind-The-Scenes at Revision3 because what they are doing is very "fresh." I think they were wrong to cancel that show if that's what it was, however I haven't seen it, so it may have been in an improper format.

I would also like to add, on a content note, that I completely agree with those people who think Diggnation is turning into an advertisement. This week the splash for Diggnation on the front page actually said "Tea tasting." I just don't agree with that format for the show at all. I mean, are you even getting paid to do that?

Diggnation needs to merge with Digg Reel and the show needs to be more about the top stories\images\videos on Digg, and less about the stories they think are cool

NOO! I liked Diggnation and Digg Reel as separate shows.
I must admit that I don't watch Diggnation that much but it is hosted by Kevin Rose the creator of Digg and founder of Revision3 so I'm happy for him to have his own show, when I do watch it though I do like it.
Also it seems to be one of Rev3's bigger shows.

[mavrevmatt]

I did actually use Miro 2.0, and it was using SO much CPU I dumped it fast, the Revision3 integration was nice; but I would just prefer something lighter weight. It may honestly be more personal preference, but there isn't any kind of RSS downloader I could find that can take advantage of their Quicktime HD Feed. I just want to be able to toss that in like uTorrent and get the EPs each week; it would make my life easier. HD takes awhile to download, and I would rather just say "hey, look a new EP." Rather than have to watch the progress bar when I get around to wanting to see it. The negative to all this ease as I foresee it though; is that people are going to quit coming to the site, and just watch the shows.
Miro 2.0 is complete crap, in my opinion. I highly suggest giving Miro 1.2 a try if you want something purely to download from RSS. (Old version is at http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/pculture.org/Miro/win/Miro-1.2.exe), It's how I use Miro, but I don't subscribe to the HD version so I'm not sure if that would make any difference...

I think there is a serious demand for a Behind-The-Scenes at Revision3 because what they are doing is very "fresh." I think they were wrong to cancel that show if that's what it was, however I haven't seen it, so it may have been in an improper format.
The Gazette wasn't always purely behind the scenes, sadly, but many of the better episodes were. I'd highly recommend watching a couple of the best episodes that really show behind the scenes such as the ones about the studio, behind the Digg Reel, Pixel Perfect, and Internet Superstar, the website, and BitGravity. They're almost a year old now of course, but those probably best exemplify what the Gazette should be/was.

I would also like to add, on a content note, that I completely agree with those people who think Diggnation is turning into an advertisement. This week the splash for Diggnation on the front page actually said "Tea tasting." I just don't agree with that format for the show at all. I mean, are you even getting paid to do that?
Oh, they're getting paid. There's no way they'd do anything with Diggnation now without getting paid for it, seeing as they apparently have a large audience.

[cbruscato]

Thanks for the link to Miro 1.2; I really like it. Your right, they completely destroyed that app in 2.0. It works for Quicktime HD with no problems; which makes me a happy camper ^_^. Scratch 1 thing off the list until it becomes unavailable as an option.

I just was never a fan of Diggnation screening the content they show, they avoid topics like Politics; even if we digg them up. They prefer to show really odd or quirky stuff rather than the top stories we digg that week. I would just rather see a community driven show, where it feels like we participate more like Digg Dialogg. Integrating with Digg Reel was just a talking out loud idea, Digg Reel honestly has a higher production value than Diggnation, despite having a smaller fanbase. Notice "value" not "cost," Green Screen ftw.

My original post was created to help spark a dialog that would provide good feedback to Revision3. I do not want my ideas to just be accepted, I really want to hear your input on what you think should happen. And ultimately, I want Reivision3 to TALK TO US. Which their passive relationship with this forum is killing me.

[guytheninja]

2) TekZilla Daily Tips - Crowd the site with less than *warm-and-fuzzy-feeling-content* and contain a ton of information that completely misses its audience.

How to fix it - Cancel the show, make room for better content. Do not show "short" episodic content. Keep the show length at 20-40 minutes.


9 Months ago Jim Louderback said that Tekzilla was more popular that Diggnation. Now the question is 1. Is that still true and 2. Are the dailies just as popular?
Ref:http://twit.tv/145

I know that the Tekzilla dailies are on CNET.com
http://cnettv.cnet.com/?tag=hdr%3bsnav#

So theoretically, they could be a bigger cash cow than the actual show. Of course, I don't have the download numbers, so I don't know.

Other than that i fully agree with you. I especially agree that Revision3 does not need 3 shows with digg in the title.

[cryptic]

JimL said Tekzilla had more downloads, not more popular.

[cbruscato]

Those things don't sound to be mutually exclusive. Don't you measure the popularity of a show by the number of people who download it?

OK, so we don't drop Tekzilla's daily tip; let's at least change the format to maybe include a random website of the day, free download of the week; top tech news for the day and get some of these little things off the actual show. Then give the Daily Tips their own channel, so they don't look like they are episodes of the show. Maybe a snazzy new name like "Tekzilla QuickDose" (I know that sounds horrible it was thought up during this paragraph.) I don't mind micro content, honestly, The Feed is about the only part of Attack of the Show that I watch.

In keeping with the format change, Tekzilla should do more reviews and live demos, and answer fewer questions. *sigh* I miss the Screen Savers so much. Tekzilla, like TWiT keeps feeling more like a less thought-out "replacement" than a new an innovative idea for a show. But it is like someone who liked the Screen Savers kept getting shot down from someone who liked Call for Help more. I wish it would pick one of those and really try to be the best it can.

This is beginning to feel like Twitter, I am talking to everybody and nobody at the same time. Just hoping that the right people hear me.

While I am at it: Shameless Plug - -=edited: put your twitter link in your signature. Please don't spam=-. Not that I am that interesting.

[cryptic]

JimL said Tekzilla has more total downloads, which includes all the dailies. If he said that Tekzilla's weekly show had more downloads than Diggnation, then you could say it was more popular. Otherwise, it isn't.

[cbruscato]

Please accept my apologies I misread what you were saying there.

[kzap]

JimL said Tekzilla has more total downloads, which includes all the dailies. If he said that Tekzilla's weekly show had more downloads than Diggnation, then you could say it was more popular. Otherwise, it isn't.
What about streaming online does that not count towards popularity or is that under downloads?

[tokenuser]

What about streaming online does that not count towards popularity or is that under downloads?I seem to recall that one of the backend Rev3 folks said that the metrics counted unique IP address hits of over "x" secs in length as being a hit for streaming content.

One of JLo's bug bears at a media conference was sites that embed themselves as a clickable thumbnail playing on another site, and counting that as a download/hit, and falsely inflating their numbers. He was all for better metrics in measuring viewers for online content, since there aren't really any defined standards because of the variance in delivery methods.

[aaronsaund]

PLEASE GET RID OF THE ANNOYING GO DADDY ADS WITH CANDICE W/E THE HELL HER NAME IS BEFORE THE VIDEOS START IN THE FLASH PLAYER!! I AM ANGRY AND AND TYPING IN CAPS FOR A REASON!!!!!!!!!!!!! I go to watch on the site sometimes and I immediately press the back button because of these annoying and long ass ads!! I'll never stream again if it's going to be like this, along with the annoying pop ups.

[mavrevmatt]

While I don't have a problem with a preroll ad, the fact that you can't turn the volume of it down, pause it, or do anything for that matter during it is bullshit. If it's an annoying ad, I'll turn the volume down, but no for some reason we're not allowed to. I don't stream shows just for this reason. If you can, download the shows - they don't come with a preroll like this.
PLEASE GET RID OF THE ANNOYING GO DADDY ADS WITH CANDICE W/E THE HELL HER NAME IS BEFORE THE VIDEOS START IN THE FLASH PLAYER!! I AM ANGRY AND AND TYPING IN CAPS FOR A REASON!!!!!!!!!!!!! I go to watch on the site sometimes and I immediately press the back button because of these annoying and long ass ads!! I'll never stream again if it's going to be like this, along with the annoying pop ups.

[heyseuss]

Kinda funny that during the recent times of many members of the audience complaining about the amount of advertising versus show content, the advertising time actually increases. Survey says !?!?!?!?. . . . more advertising.

[aaronsaund]

It's certainly ok to have ads but I come to the show's page and the ads goes off and Jesus Christ, shutup! I'm not even here to watch the show and I'm getting bombarded with some stupid Go Daddy ad. I don't even like Go Daddy, they suck! Sometimes I just like to stream but the stupid ad is just so blatantly forced I get aggravated and leave the website.

[phatlip]

I wouldn't mind the Go Daddy ads if they didn't freeze every 10 seconds. I swear, every time I watch a video that happens, but once the show starts it doesn't do it. Only during the ad.

[cbruscato]

Seriously guys, the point of this thread was to form constructive crticism; not to tell Revision3, man the preroll ads suck so much I won't even stream your video.

Hows about we just say that the pre-roll ads are ineffective because they don't stream properly, do not present their sponsors in the best light (like the in-show ads do.), and create playback issues that sometimes break the player.

I don't actually think they should give you a skip button, or let you turn the volume down. This is a site that is run for monetary gain, can you seriously not watch a 30 second ad to support them? But past that, give them a better idea; what would help you buy something from a Revision3 show?

Examples:

Samovar Teas on Diggnation

SquareSpace on CO-OP

Michelob on Diggnation

GoDaddy\Gamefly\Netflix (Regular in-spots)

Which one of these methods work the best for convincing you that a sponsor's product is worth buying?

[kzap]

Seriously guys, the point of this thread was to form constructive crticism; not to tell Revision3, man the preroll ads suck so much I won't even stream your video.

Hows about we just say that the pre-roll ads are ineffective because they don't stream properly, do not present their sponsors in the best light (like the in-show ads do.), and create playback issues that sometimes break the player.

I don't actually think they should give you a skip button, or let you turn the volume down. This is a site that is run for monetary gain, can you seriously not watch a 30 second ad to support them? But past that, give them a better idea; what would help you buy something from a Revision3 show?

Agreed about the 'constructive' criticism point.
Unfortunately most of the sponsors are US only and the only ones that arn't (Godady and Squarspace) I don't need. When and if I do get a new domain Godady will be an option but at the end of the day I will go for what is the best vaule for money for me (Including the copion codes) I don't want to overpay for my hosting just to bring a little money to the show.
Now if they could have to some UK adds that would be amazing, maybe using a proxy to detect were you are or just have one which is specfic to UK veiwers, I tried creating a netflix acount if only for the watch instently but I needed all my hosue details and I found a house in the US that was for sale (not to buy) just to add in the details of but then thought it might be a bad idea. :)

[mavrevmatt]

My only problem with the volume is that it's usually at least twice as loud as the actual show. If they'd tone down the volume to begin with, to the level of the show, I'd be fine with it.
Seriously guys, the point of this thread was to form constructive crticism; not to tell Revision3, man the preroll ads suck so much I won't even stream your video.

Hows about we just say that the pre-roll ads are ineffective because they don't stream properly, do not present their sponsors in the best light (like the in-show ads do.), and create playback issues that sometimes break the player.

I don't actually think they should give you a skip button, or let you turn the volume down. This is a site that is run for monetary gain, can you seriously not watch a 30 second ad to support them? But past that, give them a better idea; what would help you buy something from a Revision3 show?

Examples:

Samovar Teas on Diggnation

SquareSpace on CO-OP

Michelob on Diggnation

GoDaddy\Gamefly\Netflix (Regular in-spots)

Which one of these methods work the best for convincing you that a sponsor's product is worth buying?

[cbruscato]

I agree with you on the volume, but because the source is playing a completely separate clip from a different server or directory it is kind of hard to levelize them against each other. The idea is that you want to drop the ad in, so you can change advertisers, without having to re-encode the show. It is more the advertisers problem than Revision3's. Though I don't see why they are encoding them so high on the audio to begin with. Also the quality of the ads is horrible compared to the quality of the video; why can the sponsor not send Rev3 a DVD, have them rip it to H.264; and then do some sort of playlisting, to get the ad to playback correctly.

As for UK Sponsors, I see no reason why they couldn't do that, but remember that Rev3 isn't hosting the video, so they can't just setup some proxy that gives you a different stream; they could, but it would make the CDN setup overly complex. Maybe you should ask some sponsors in the UK if they would be interested.

Send them to this link: http://revision3.com/advertise/

I am sure Revision3 would love to carry more advertisers, and considering the interest\quality\audience it is well worth what they charge. Someone needs to send an email to Microsoft\Apple\Sony. I can't imagine they wouldn't be interested in advertising on this network.

Even if you can't buy from their sponsors, there are tons of ways to help out Revision3. I already have Netflix, Gamefly, and Squarespace, and bought my domain through GoDaddy. So now as I refer people, rather than taking money for myself for the referral I give them the Rev3 codes from the show to signup with. I already had two friends signup for SquareSpace\GoDaddy and a few for Netflix as well. Also to answer a few before, hosting the content on certain networks COSTS them money, like Tivo. Whereas, through streaming, the ads offset the cost. I actually through this thread found out about Miro and I love it; but I can't help feeling like I am somehow leeching, because I am now not getting any ads. I honestly in this case alone, don't mind the ads, because 1. they are targeted at techies like me anyway, and 2. the content is actually worth it.

If you can take one thing away from this entire thread take this:
I want to see Revision3 continue, but I want its audience to care enough about the product, to help them continue to build on it. I don't want to be the only one who cares about this stuff. However, I do not want to encourage you to flame them. I like these guys, I have alot of respect for what they have done. Insulting their thought process pisses me off. It isn't like these guys don't have meetings and try to do what they think is right. I wish we could have a forum of just Essay Quality critiques on decisions Revision3 has made that didn't explode into flame wars about every little thing they do wrong. Then I remember this is the internet.

[phatlip]

Seriously guys, the point of this thread was to form constructive crticism; not to tell Revision3, man the preroll ads suck so much I won't even stream your video.

Hows about we just say that the pre-roll ads are ineffective because they don't stream properly, do not present their sponsors in the best light (like the in-show ads do.), and create playback issues that sometimes break the player.


What's the deal with everyone wanting to sugar coat everything here? I didn't say the ads suck. I explained exactly what was going on. I think it was pretty clear that the ad isn't effective by saying it freezes every 10 seconds.

[cbruscato]

What's the deal with everyone wanting to sugar coat everything here? I didn't say the ads suck. I explained exactly what was going on. I think it was pretty clear that the ad isn't effective by saying it freezes every 10 seconds.

I was actually replying to a couple people before yours, I think you presented the problem fine. As for sugar coating, that isn't the point, the point as I think I have made pretty clear, is to be constructive. Tell them what will make it better, not just whats wrong with it. As I said at the beginning of the thread, no one died and made me boss, I just don't think they are listening anymore. I was hoping, that maybe if we contributed something of more value, they may.

[cryptic]

I've always wondered why people feel the ads have to be tech related. Like in the case of Tekzilla or Hak5, they would be better off going with more universal appeal sponsors. I'd rather they pitch Mountain Dew or the like instead of tainting the credibility of their opinions on tech products and services.

On another note, I am curious about the rate of return on these ads. Some of these sponsors have been around for a while. For example, once signed up for Netflix, you're not likely to sign up for another account. With the audience basically the same week after week, Rev3's revenue share has to be little to nothing after some time. If Rev3 is dependent on the audience making a purchase, then a shake up in the type and number of sponsors might offer me an opportunity to help keep Rev3 operational.

[cbruscato]

I think the answer to that falls back to the number of people that are interested in advertising on Revision3. I mean if you really think about it Netflix\Gamefly are not tech-related they are both entertainment related. Also it must take a few EPs for me to notice a new sponsor 'cause Tekzilla has a new sponsor for some sort of drink, and I can't even remember it. I found myself replaying episodes just to remember SquareSpace's name at first. I think it is natural that tech-savvy companies are going to be the first to invest in an IPTV company.

In short, I don't think the ads need to be tech savvy; but as I mentioned before the best defense for that is to go tell business' ad departments that you think Revision3 would be a good advertising investment. I have to imagine that most advertisers on Revision3 are just friends, and word of mouth right now. I mean would it be that much of a stretch to get Apple or AmazonMP3 on here?

I don't think they are really pushing for these bigger companies yet, or perhaps these companies don't realize the potential here. If we had tech ads on here I would expect to see more Dell\HP\IBM\Cisco; and we don't. Also SquareSpace is not aimed at tech-heads, it is aimed at the average person who finds web design intimidating. RackSpace, GoGrid, Mosso, or Amazon S3 would be more tech-savvy web companies that may want to advertise. But they would be more interested, if Revision3 carried a show similar to Pixel Perfect but focusing on Web Application Development.

But if Revision3 wants to move forward I think I would push them in the direction of carrying a show about something like Extreme Sports, or something equal that would appeal to the masses. Realistically, we all need to take a reality check, and realize that at its best: Revision3 is a great startup, that will be bought eventually or go public. When it does much more will open up for it. The industry as a whole needs Revision3 to get bought, because then IPTV can start being accepted. To me, I think the model at Revision3 is worth way more than Youtube or Hulu. I think carrying REAL content, that is easily licensed, and not already on TV; will be much more useful. But I would love to hear your thoughts on that.

[aaronsaund]

Making it so the ad doesn't start out as soon as I load the website. Sometimes I don't even come to see the streaming video but it just plays automatically. They have enough ads IN THE SHOWS. We don't need one before the show starts unless it's a little cross-promo. Just set it to stop automatically and make it so I have to press play. Seems pretty obvious.

[cbruscato]

http://revision3.com/diggreel/shwood/?autoplay=true

removing the autoplay=true at the end would stop the autoplay.

I do see your point though, if someone just wanted to download an EP, they have to sit through the ad while the download link loads. I'm not really sure why autoplay is necessary, maybe they feel people won't download the EP when they see the quality of their streaming? But a pre-roll ad, really doesn't get that across.

Also why can't we have a sym-link for something like:

http://revision3.com/diggreel/latest

Then set a ref that if you didn't click a link to get there (i.e. bookmark) it wouldn't autoplay. That way if you click directly on a particular EP it will stream, but if you go there to grab the latest EP it wouldn't. At the moment they have each EP in a separate directory which keeps you from bookmarking straight to the latest EP. I really can't visualize an instance where Autoplay would be neccesary, ever. Unless you were doing some type of custom site to site streaming and wanted it to like auto-play full screen on the other end for like a simulcast on a projector or something.

Why would it be so difficult to have a Revision3 townhall so we can address some of this stuff? Seriously, Prager, are you listening; go tell Louderback the public would like to ask you guys some questions. I can probably write at least 10, just off of this thread.

I got it. Lets do a Digg Dialogg with Revision3 CEO, Jim Louderback. It would raise awareness of Revision3, and what their future motivation is.

[kzap]

http://revision3.com/diggreel/shwood/?autoplay=true

removing the autoplay=true at the end would stop the autoplay.

I do see your point though, if someone just wanted to download an EP, they have to sit through the ad while the download link loads.

Link loads??? Do you mean episodes download? The links are just text wouldn't they load before the video?
I think of my Internet connect as slow but if you have to wait for the links to load? Is there something I'm missing.
Anyway thanks for the tip on changing the autoplay= in the address line I didn't think of that.

[cbruscato]

Link loads??? Do you mean episodes download? The links are just text wouldn't they load before the video?
I think of my Internet connect as slow but if you have to wait for the links to load? Is there something I'm missing.
Anyway thanks for the tip on changing the autoplay= in the address line I didn't think of that.

LOL - No I mean when you click the download link, it takes a second to establish a connection to the download server; like maybe 3-5 seconds. It is enough that the ad starts playing even for the fastest mousers.