No amount of economic bailouts will apparently be enough to save Wavexpress' TVTonic portal, as President Michael Sprague announced today that the service is coming down so the company can restructure. If you're currently using it to subscribe to video podcast RSS feeds to their PC / media center, don't worry, thing will continue to function but everyone else can go ahead and punch the uninstall button because it's gone, man. Goodbye TVTonic, we'll always have Beijing.

One thing's for sure: Verizon is well aware of the importance of online video, and it's doing everything within its power to make sure it stays one step ahead of the curve. Hot on the heels of its recently announced Starz Play deal comes this, a similar agreement with a UK-based digital asset-delivery network provider. The agreement with Velocix puts Verizon in a position to "offer content owners and video distributors a competitive choice in delivering their services to our broadband customers." More specifically, the two have worked together to "offer content owners and video distributors a competitive choice in delivering their services to broadband customers," which leads us to believe that all sorts of new internet-based content could soon be coming to FiOS / FiOS TV customers. It's okay to be a wee bit giddy, we won't tell.

It's a feature we've been clamoring for as long as we can remember -- high-def on YouTube -- and it's about to happen. Thanks to a few curious YouTube browsers, a simple URL hack revealed that the online video site already has the ability to host and play back 720p clips, and better still, some users are reporting that surround sound is also in the works. Wired is claiming that YouTube has confirmed that this discovery is part of the site's efforts to test out different video formats, and with rivals like Viddyou already up to 1080p, it's about flippin' time. We can't say for sure when YouTube HD will roll out in official form, but you should definitely hit the read link and check the embedded vids; the top one is 720p, the bottom is the standard pixel-fest. We dare you to not be amazed at the difference.

[Via NewTeeVee]

If the term GridNetworks seems vaguely familiar, it's because it is. After being invested in by Cisco back in March, the outfit is finally pushing out a quasi-tangible product in the form of GridCast TV. You see, the service actually relies on other boxes to handle the dirty work, meaning that content owners have complete control over how their material is distributed and via what channels. By leveraging UPnP technology, content owners can beam out programming to anyone with an internet-connected PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and HDTV (for example), and we're told that online video mainstays Revision3, IndieFlix and havocTV have already begun using it. Good luck out there -- with a space this crowded, you're bound to need it.

Remember that totally forgettable PoD that popped up and vanished back in June? You know -- that minuscule box (around the size of two cigarette packs) that plays back practically anything (torrents, web videos, etc.) on your TV without a PC in between? Yeah, that very unit has finally secured a legitimate release date and price, and we can safely say that we're riveted. For those needing a refresher, the wired / wireless unit scans your local network and detects any type of multimedia stored anywhere; from there, it streams content directly to your TV without any fuss -- much like the Neuros-powered WhereverTV, but with far fewer limitations. If you're intrigued, get set to pony up $99 on December 15th to quell your curiosity.

YouTube has been dabbling in full-length professional content for a good while now, and as it seeks to compete more directly with the likes of Hulu, today it has landed a real big fish. Soon, a number of films and TV shows from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's archives will pop up on the video sharing site including episodes of the original American Gladiators and films like Bulletproof Monk and The Magnificent Seven. For all content added, it will obviously be free for anyone to view, though advertisements will be running "alongside the video." Now, if only we could convince Google to offer YouTube HD (or anything close), we'd be set.

At this point, there are simply too many online video viewers to count, but Recast Digital is doing something pretty special. Just spouting off about the technology is a real yawn-fest -- after all, it's not like you really care just how proprietary its "proprietary method of optimizing playback performance of HD video within Flash is, you just want it to look great. The outfit has established a "video showcase" site which shows off just what its technology can do, and at least on the surface, the results are fairly fantastic. Hard to say exactly where you'll see the tech end up (ads, trailers, etc. are our guesses), but you can have a peek at the showcase site by checking out the read link. Full release is after the break.

For Apple TV owners who don't shy away from tinkering, we've got some excellent news. As of today, video viewers can now catch Hulu.com content from within Boxee (and by extension, on their Apple TVs). No need to wipe the sleep from your eyes -- Hulu accessibility has arrived on Apple's set-top-box, as the embeddable player has been ported over to Boxee. Additionally, Boxee has added CBS.com to its list of viewable internet video sources; head on down to Boxee's website for more, and jump past the break for the full release.

If you're going to watch online content, it may as well be in high-def, right? But what if you're on a lousy connection, or even a PC built pre-Stalin that just can't handle the load? Enter Dailymotion HQ, a middle ground of sorts that looks distinctly better than the SD player yet doesn't demand all that the HD player does. The app delivers content based on the H.264 codec with audio using AAC at 96kbps; as for resolution, you'll get 512 x 384 at up to 30 frames-per-second. Reportedly, Dailymotion HQ requires any broadband connection, Flash Player 9 and a computer with a dual-core CPU. If you're interested in seeing what the fuss is about, hit the read link and surf over to the comparison vid (pictured above).

TV Worldwide, which was founded way back in 1999, is gearing up to open what will become America's largest internet TV studio. Hot on the heels of a report studying the importance of community in TV viewing comes this news, which explains that the outfit will be expanding its current Washington, DC-based facility to "support its growing network of internet TV channels and programming." It seems it'll be using the additional space to bulk up its offerings in the professional / commercial realms, but who knows, maybe it'll start serving up more general content when it can't find anything else to do with all the fresh space.

Almost all experts agree that internet viewing is growing in popularity, be it TV shows or just random clips to escape from reality, but we've all wondered just how viable the world wide web was as a standalone source of programming. An insightful writeup over at The Daily Cardinal got us thinking even more, as it points out one advantage online TV has over standard TV in almost every instance: community. As the author stared into the 900+ options in a satellite EPG, he at first "marveled at the number," but soon he found the overload to be "just annoying." From there, he noted that internet TV brings near-instant viewing on anything you have a mind to search for, and while he couldn't remember the last time he and his pals had a great time hovered around the traditional tube (Super Bowl notwithstanding), he vividly remembers the first time his posse checked out the "Charlie Bit Me!" clip on YouTube. Frankly, we still don't think internet TV will be eating into pay-TV anytime soon -- if anything, it'll act as a complement -- but for those thinking the former had zero advantages over the latter, should you not think again?

We're not sure who is in charge of marketing over at Discovery Communications, but no sooner did the company go public than two fairly substantial promotional deals were announced. Right behind the tie-up with Sony comes this, a content partnership with the worldwide leader in online video. The deal will see the creation of nine dedicated YouTube Channels which feature a "robust collection of clips from Discovery's family of world-class network brands." Leveraging the "global" nature of the source, Discovery is planning to introduce "a series of targeted international Channels showcasing localized and native language content for specific regions around the world." Check out all nine URLs in the read link.

We hear you loud and clear Roku -- now go prove to someone other than Netflix that your box is worth toying with. At the recent Streaming Media West conference, Roku CEO Anthony Wood reiterated details that we already knew: it really, really wants to work with companies other than Netflix. Said Wood, "We're opening up the platform to anyone who wants to put their video service on this box," and he continued by stating that "we're going to release the software developer kit, so anyone can publish any channel, and users can access web content on their TVs." Of course, both Netflix and Roku knew from the get-go that the relationship would involve other partners, though it remains to be seen who's willing to call for seconds at Roku's shindig.

[Via CNET]

While the competition is stiff (and all but dominated by YouTube) in the online video sharing space, Vimeo is still finding a reason to celebrate. Last week, the site announced that it had surpassed one million video uploads, and potentially more amazing was that a full 10% of those were of the HD variety. According to it, that figure makes it the "largest repository of high-definition video anywhere in the world," though we'd be interested in seeing just how far behind Viddyou is. Also of note, IAC chief Barry Diller stated in a recent interview that it didn't see anything particularly huge in Vimeo's future, though it did plan to "keep tending it and letting it grow." So, is one (or more) of your videos one (or more) of those 100,000 referenced here? Or are you rushing to Google "Vimeo" in an effort to find out what this service even is?

[Via NewTeeVee]

Viddyou already took online video sharing to 1080p... if you were willing to pay. Now, however, the distant YouTube competitor is bringing higher quality to the masses with the launch of its High Bitrate service. The new feature gives users the ability to "share near original-quality video from their digital camcorder or camera without the quality degradation typically seen in online video." We'll let you be the judge on which is which in the comparison shot above.