P2P Is Coming To YouTube
It looks like the idea of a P2P-powered YouTube is finally becoming reality, albeit without any contribution from Google. Singapore Shanghai-based P2P start-up PPLive, which we previously covered for its hugely successful P2P video platform, is experimenting with a P2P accelerator for Flash video streams. The application, which is dubbed PPVA, essentially distributes the stream of any popular Flash video from sites like YouTube via P2P without any involvement of the hosting server.
PPLive began a Chinese-language only beta test of PPVA in June, and says it already clocked more than 10 million downloads, with the maximum number of simultaneous users being as high as 500,000. We tested PPVA with some popular YouTube videos, and the results are intriguing — especially if you consider what this could mean for online video hosters and content delivery networks alike.
PPVA, which is so far only available for Windows, is essentially a small plug-in that just sits in your task bar until it detects a Flash video stream. The app then finds out whether other PPVA users have accessed and cached the same clip; if that’s the case, it will request some of the data from them. A small status window shows where the data for each clip comes from, as well as other details.
So how well does it work? That really depends on the popularity of the clip in question. Access one of YouTube’s most popular videos, and only the first few bytes are requested from the server. After that, P2P distribution kicks in and that number quickly rises to 100 percent. Other popular videos show P2P distribution rates of around 30 percent, whereas more obscure stuff comes straight from YouTube’s servers.
PPVA also seems to work quite well with popular CollegeHumor videos, but there was no P2P distribution available on Vimeo or Blip. In fact, in some cases the plug-in seemed to make things worse, causing noticeable stuttering during playback of some clips, while crashing with others.
Those beta woes aside, the potential implications of something like PPVA are huge. Google could save a whole bunch of money on YouTube traffic without actually doing a thing, and smaller hosters could avoid embarrassing server downtime that so commonly occurs when a clip suddenly becomes popular. PPVA could also make P2P CDN offerings like BitTorrent’s DNA obsolete. After all, why would anyone pay for P2P content distribution if users can do it for free?
Of course, some content providers might be uneasy about not being asked whether they want their videos distributed via P2P. This becomes an even bigger issue when advertisers start requesting more detailed statistics about online video usage. PPLive told us that every video gets an initial request from the hosting server, which should allow video hosters to keep a tally of requests and viewers. But Google is reportedly moving towards a more detailed statistical analysis that looks at which parts of a video are being watched and which are skipped. PPVA could seriously distort these statistics.
Does that mean Google will get upset about PPLive’s experiment? Only if they’re hypocrites: Google invested $5 million in a Chinese P2P startup called Xunlei in late 2006. And guess what? Xunlei’s download manager is doing for files pretty much the same thing PPVA is doing for video streams, speeding up http downloads through P2P without consent of the original hosting provider.
PPLive has told me that an English-language version of the plug-in will be available in about a month. Asked about ways to monetize PPVA, PPLive’s James Seng had this to say: “It’s new. It’s cool. We will figure out the rest later.”
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(I am from Singapore tho which may be the reason for the confusion)
If you interested to try, PPVA can be downloaded at
http://download.pplive.com/ppliveva/ppliveva_setup_0.2.13.0007.exe
James Seng on September 14th, 2008 at 5:02 am - Permalink
[...] La noticia, en NewTeeVee [...]
despuesdegoogle » Blog Archive » PPLive experimenta aceleración P2P en vÃdeos Flash on September 14th, 2008 at 11:03 am - Permalink
[...] this seems like a good idea, the guys at NewTeeVee who uncovered the story are being cautious, mostly because of the beta nature of PPVA. The other issue with this [...]
Startup Marries Flash Video with P2P - GigaOM on September 14th, 2008 at 11:31 am - Permalink
“We figure out how to make money later”… Idiots.
There are some ideas you simply cannot monetize well. Look at Twitter. What a waist of any money put into that.
Maybe Google would be happy to pay for it, but once it exists. Why should they..
End users.. well it does work without it.. so why borhter again..
CDN’’s will hate it..
Content producers.. Umm. would be interested but thats a conflicted model. Bandwidth and who pays for it etc. Plus no standards..
I just like this as it makes the PIPES work better and so makes more room for other data.. It nice but not something I can live without.
James
James Gardiner on September 14th, 2008 at 3:09 pm - Permalink
Great site a shopping search engine just check out
http://www.oxyshopping.com or http://oxyshopping.com
Ritu on September 14th, 2008 at 6:22 pm - Permalink
It’s not a new idea. AOL did it first with their now-defunct HQ (hi-def video distribution) software almost two years ago - where the heck has Google been in that time?
Google Originality Score: 0
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051114-5566.html
Marah Marie on September 14th, 2008 at 7:28 pm - Permalink
Marah, AOL used Kontiki to distribute its own videos via P2P. PPVA isn’t related to Google at all, and it works for any flash video file, not just the ones on Youtube.
Janko on September 14th, 2008 at 9:44 pm - Permalink
[...] Open-source desktops need a facelift NewTeeVee: P2P Is Coming To YouTube Mary Jo Foley: About those Windows Live Messenger outages… Josh Taylor: iPhone 2.1 first [...]
Between the Lines mobile edition on September 15th, 2008 at 1:01 am - Permalink
[...] P2P Is Coming To YouTube It looks like the idea of a P2P-powered YouTube is finally becoming reality, albeit without any contribution from Google. Shanghai-based P2P start-up PPLive, which we previously covered for its hugely successful P2P video platform, is experimenting with a P2P accelerator for Flash video streams. The application, which is dubbed PPVA, essentially distributes the stream of any popular Flash video from sites like YouTube via P2P without any involvement of the hosting server. PPLive began a Chinese-language only beta test of PPVA in June, and says it already clocked more than 10 million downloads, with the maximum number of simultaneous users being as high as 500,000. We tested PPVA with some popular YouTube videos, and the results are intriguing — especially if you consider what this could mean for online video hosters and content delivery networks alike. PPVA, which is so far only available for Windows, is essentially a small plug-in that just sits in your task bar until it detects a Flash video stream. The app then finds out whether other PPVA users have accessed and cached the same clip; if that’s the case, it will request some of the data from them. A small status window shows where the data for each clip comes from, as well as other details. So how well does it work? That really depends on the popularity of the clip in question. Access one of YouTube’s most popular videos, and only the first few bytes are requested from the server. After that, P2P distribution kicks in and that number quickly rises to 100 percent. Other popular videos show P2P distribution rates of around 30 percent, whereas more obscure stuff comes straight from YouTube’s servers. PPVA also seems to work quite well with popular CollegeHumor videos, but there was no P2P distribution available on Vimeo or Blip. In fact, in some cases the plug-in seemed to make things worse, causing noticeable stuttering during playback of some clips, while crashing with others. Those beta woes aside, the potential implications of something like PPVA are huge. Google could save a whole bunch of money on YouTube traffic without actually doing a thing, and smaller hosters could avoid embarrassing server downtime that so commonly occurs when a clip suddenly becomes popular. PPVA could also make P2P CDN offerings like BitTorrent’s DNA obsolete. After all, why would anyone pay for P2P content distribution if users can do it for free? Of course, some content providers might be uneasy about not being asked whether they want their videos distributed via P2P. This becomes an even bigger issue when advertisers start requesting more detailed statistics about online video usage. PPLive told us that every video gets an initial request from the hosting server, which should allow video hosters to keep a tally of requests and viewers. But Google is reportedly moving towards a more detailed statistical analysis that looks at which parts of a video are being watched and which are skipped. PPVA could seriously distort these statistics. Does that mean Google will get upset about PPLive’s experiment? Only if they’re hypocrites: Google invested $5 million in a Chinese P2P startup called Xunlei in late 2006. And guess what? Xunlei’s download manager is doing for files pretty much the same thing PPVA is doing for video streams, speeding up http downloads through P2P without consent of the original hosting provider. PPLive has told me that an English-language version of the plug-in will be available in about a month. Asked about ways to monetize PPVA, PPLive’s James Seng had this to say: “It’s new. It’s cool. We will figure out the rest later.” From: NewTeeVee [...]
P2P Is Coming To YouTube - P2P Talk! on September 15th, 2008 at 1:17 am - Permalink
[...] streaming is another area where P2P content delivery could play a role as well. NewTeeVee reports that YouTube might get on the P2P bandwagon, as the makers of PPLive are experimenting with a P2P [...]
BitTorrent to Speed up Game Distribution | TorrentFreak on September 15th, 2008 at 8:05 am - Permalink
Anything that requires install is doomed plus the p2p only makes a difference to the distribution side not the consumer. Unless Flash comes out with built in p2p this will not spread.
azmajus on September 15th, 2008 at 8:22 am - Permalink
From the YouTube Terms of Use: “Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only and may not be downloaded, copied, reproduced, distributed, transmitted, broadcast, displayed, sold, licensed, or otherwise exploited for any other purposes whatsoever without the prior written consent of the respective owners”
…
“B. You may access User Submissions solely:
for your information and personal use;
as intended through the normal functionality of the YouTube Service; and
for Streaming.
“Streaming” means a contemporaneous digital transmission of an audiovisual work via the Internet from the YouTube Service to a user’s device in such a manner that the data is intended for real-time viewing and not intended to be copied, stored, permanently downloaded, or redistributed by the user. Accessing User Videos for any purpose or in any manner other than Streaming is expressly prohibited. User Videos are made available “as is.” “
Smells like a Terms of Use violation to me. But I am not a lawyer.
Joe on September 15th, 2008 at 1:09 pm - Permalink
[...] P2P Is Coming To YouTube, NewTeeVee [...]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 15, 2008 on September 15th, 2008 at 2:54 pm - Permalink
[...] P2P Is Coming To YouTube, NewTeeVee [...]
SEM News: SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 15, 2008 - Search Engine Marketing on September 15th, 2008 at 3:18 pm - Permalink
Does this plug in also support the Justin.tv and Mogulus streams? If so that may solve the buffering you get with popular live streams like soccer matches. Any news about this?
Henk on September 16th, 2008 at 2:14 am - Permalink
[...] some innovative new features to spruce up its offerings. Another company, PPLive, is innovating by helping to deliver Flash videos (like those on YouTube), and may be a good example of the possibilities left in P2P. However, Navin [...]
BitTorrent picks up $17 million as it shifts gears » VentureBeat on September 16th, 2008 at 2:24 am - Permalink
[...] some innovative new features to spruce up its offerings. Another company, PPLive, is innovating by helping to deliver Flash videos (like those on YouTube), and may be a good example of the possibilities left in P2P. However, Navin [...]
BitTorrent picks up $17 million as it shifts gears | Internet Startups on September 16th, 2008 at 4:04 am - Permalink
Sure, makes perfect sense.Get the bandwidth off of their servers (saving millions) and pass it on to the users. Logical indeed.
Jiff
http://www.datools.net.tc
Jiff Jones on September 16th, 2008 at 10:01 am - Permalink
No problem with google’s servers…..So what’s the need for one?
design on September 16th, 2008 at 10:34 am - Permalink
[...] September 16, 2008 at 12:46 pm · Filed under Web [From P2P Is Coming To YouTube « NewTeeVee] [...]
P2P Is Coming To YouTube « NewTeeVee « The other side of the firewall on September 16th, 2008 at 10:46 am - Permalink
@design google may not need it as much as the other would-be competitors of youtube.
PPVA works for (hopefully) any flash media player. As of today, our trackers recorded over 30M videos across hundreds video sites.
James Seng on September 16th, 2008 at 4:53 pm - Permalink
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Ep. #51 9-17-08 - No Illness will bring the show down. | Geekazine.com on September 16th, 2008 at 5:05 pm - Permalink
cannot access www[]pplive.com[]en[]about.html..
it’s “en” right ? chinese character shown
totem on September 16th, 2008 at 10:14 pm - Permalink
ough, i know it : next month..
totem on September 16th, 2008 at 10:17 pm - Permalink
[...] streaming is another area where P2P content delivery might play a significant role in the future. NewTeeVee reports that YouTube might get on the P2P bandwagon, as the makers of PPLive are experimenting with a P2P [...]
BitTorrent to Speed up Game Distribution - Zwartbaard on September 17th, 2008 at 2:44 am - Permalink
Xunlei is nothing more than a bandwidth hogging tool for downloading pirated content used primarily for downloading pirated Chinese media. It is widely used among all Chinese speaking peoples. What is fascinating about Xunlei is that it is not affected by ISP blocks on P2P.
goldenscreem on September 17th, 2008 at 7:50 am - Permalink
This could save them millions in bandwidth cost, so why not.
Spore Guy on September 17th, 2008 at 8:23 am - Permalink
[...] streaming is another area where P2P content delivery might play a significant role in the future. NewTeeVee reports that YouTube might get on the P2P bandwagon, as the makers of PPLive are experimenting with a P2P [...]
BitTorrent to Speed up Game Distribution at IDTorrent Blog on September 17th, 2008 at 8:36 am - Permalink
[...] NewTeeVee // [...]
The Inquirer ES : P2P en YouTube on September 19th, 2008 at 1:49 am - Permalink
[...] Janko Roettgers, do blog Newteevee, a idéia de um P2P do YouTube está finalmente se tornando realidade, embora sem qualquer [...]
Querem transformar o YouTube numa rede P2P? - Google Discovery on September 21st, 2008 at 10:28 am - Permalink
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Il Peer to Peer arriva su YouTube « 0.2 on September 29th, 2008 at 5:01 pm - Permalink