ZeeVee announced today the Beta 5 release of
Zinc, its award-winning Internet video manager. Zinc, now available on
the cloud, helps users find and enjoy high-quality Internet video
through an easy to use "big screen TV" living room interface. Zinc
provides a simple, consistent way to browse and manage over 100,000
professionally produced videos, including over 60,000 mainstream TV
shows and 20,000 movies from hundreds of different Web sites like
Amazon, Netflix, major broadcast networks, and many others.
Zinc is a Media RSS (MRSS) fed program guide that comes
pre-populated with video channels and content from many sites. Users
can also add content from any MRSS source. New Zinc Beta 5 features
make creating and accessing a personalized content experience easier
than ever before.
The ‘Favorites’ tool lets users bookmark shows and videos making it
easier to stay up to date with favorite content. The newly-added
‘Queue’ feature helps users manage what they will watch next.
Cloud-based for anywhere, any device access
The Zinc Internet video manager is now hosted in the cloud, allowing
users to login from anywhere they want to access their personalized
Zinc experience. Users can access popular Zinc features such as
personal Favorites, the new Queue feature and their Zinc History on any
Zinc-enabled device. For instance, users can add content to their Queue
from their PC and it will ‘automagically’ show up in their account on
any other Zinc device.
"The ability to access Zinc via the cloud is significant for our
users as they often times are not at their PC but still want to watch
their favorite Internet videos from a different device when they have
free time," said Vic Odryna, CEO of
ZeeVee. "This release of Zinc gives them that flexibility and a
continuous on-ramp to their preferred Internet TV shows."
Zinc Beta 5 includes Zinc TV Widget on Yahoo! Connected TV
Also included in Zinc Beta 5 is the new Zinc TV Widget for TVs and
other consumer electronic devices powered by the Yahoo! Widget Engine –
the first example of enabling connected devices to reach the Zinc
ecosystem. The Zinc TV Widget allows access to a world of Internet
video on a new generation of Internet-connected televisions. TV Widgets
enhance TV viewing by offering consumers on demand access to their
personal selection of movies, TV shows and Internet services including
Web videos, photos, shopping, games, lifestyle content and more. Yahoo!
is enabling an ecosystem of developers, publishers, device
manufacturers and advertisers that will benefit consumers by bringing
the best of the Web to television.
"Yahoo! is the trusted partner for a worldwide ecosystem of
publishers and advertisers focused on developing new and innovative TV
Widgets," said Arlo Rose, senior
director of product management and design, Yahoo! Connected TV. "The
Zinc TV Widget offers a compelling IP video experience with plenty of
video content for users to enjoy."
Harmonizes existing in-home "connected devices"
Rather than develop software to access each unique Web property, a
single connection to Zinc delivers an enormous amount of video content
in a user-friendly experience where Zinc then intelligently displays
the content for playback.
"There are many ‘connected devices’ in the living room, including
TVs, satellite and cable set top boxes, Blu-Ray players, and game
consoles," continued Odryna. "We’ve come up with a way to use these
devices to significantly expand the amount of personalized Internet
video viewed in the living room by a simple protocol connection to the
Zinc ecosystem." Zinc has had tremendous positive feedback due to its highly
intuitive interface, substantial content library and ability for a user
to browse anywhere on the Web for additional content.
"Zinc’s capability to create a seamless user experience across
devices is particularly important. It promotes stability and the smooth
evolution of services as devices improve and business models mature
throughout the industry," said industry executive Shai Benmoshe,
managing director Content ID Group, LLC, a firm that addresses
strategic business issues surrounding digital content and connected
devices. "Zinc’s brilliance is that it harmonizes the consumer
experience in what is otherwise a fragmented sea of content sources and
device types. It offers the shortest time to enjoyment for consumers,
content providers and device manufacturers alike."
Availability
Zinc Beta 5 is available immediately. Users of Zinc Beta 4 will automatically receive the update.
