The video sharing site Veoh says it's built an Internet TV service that is better than Joost, and a real challenger to YouTube.
Veoh describes the new VeohTV, which begins beta Thursday, as a "single interface to search, browse and view all video on the Internet, from major television networks such as Fox and CBS, to independently-produced content available on sites such as YouTube, Google Video, Veoh.com and MySpace."
The company appears to be mixing several different Internet TV models -- providing search to free content all over the Web (like Google Video), providing licensed content from partners (like Joost), and keeping on with the whole viral video thing (like YouTube). What's new is that VeohTV has more DVR features--you can tell it to record something and then watch it later. Veoh also claims to have a patented "smart recommendation engine" to help you scour the Web for something to watch.
The company says the video streams come directly from the sites of the content owners, not from Veoh servers. (That's different from Joost, which has already had its share of server overload issues.) How can they do that? Open video interfaces, says Veoh CEO Dmitry Shapiro.
Right now you have to have an invite to try the VeohTV beta. I will soon be doing a hands-on, and I'll give you my impressions then.
