Wizzard Media Launches the Wizzard Media Player at the New Media Expo in Las Vegas

Wizzard Media (AMEX:WZE), the world's largest podcasting network, will be showcasing its new Wizzard Media Player based on Adobe's Flash(R: 70.63, -0.74, -1.03%) technology this week in Las Vegas at the 2008 New Media Expo (NME). The show is the industry's annual convention for professional podcasters, online video publishers and bloggers. Under the tag line, "Get Your Content to Go," the Wizzard Media Player is expected to attract video producers with its innovative functionality and highly customizable features.
"The Wizzard Media Player allows for unprecedented producer control and customization. It incorporates all of the best features I have seen in other web video players and several that are innovative and unique," says Jeff Macpherson, producer and star of TikiBar TV. "I expect a surge of content producers moving to this media player. It has been my pleasure to work with Wizzard in the development of a media player that exceeds my own lofty expectations. It is exactly what I was looking for."
The Wizzard Media Player was designed with various unique features to appeal to both producers and advertisers with the expectation of increasing audience growth and advertising revenues. The Wizzard Media Player, launched in beta mode in July, is currently in use on content producers' web sites around the Internet and is already being used successfully in the fulfillment of advertising campaigns. With the ability to offer interactive advertising units, the Wizzard Media Player can not only display advertisements, but can transport audiences to advertiser's websites where additional product information can be found and purchases made on the spot. This interactivity is highly desirable to advertisers.
The Wizzard Player allows content creators to embed video imported from an RSS feed on web sites, blogs and social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter. The player is highly customizable, streamlined and supports the latest video technologies (H.264) with auto-detection for the highest quality playback. Built with a robust set of audience behavior statistics, the Wizzard Media Player will be a great asset for monetizing online video content. Video views are integrated within the statistics on Wizzard Media's hosting platform, Libsyn, and videos running advertising campaigns are captured and tracked with Nielsen NetRatings for third party verification.
Various versions of the Wizzard Player are available for producers for distributing individual episodes and entire shows, and one specifically designed for audiences to be able to share video with their friends. Virtually every aspect of the Wizzard Player is 'skinnable,' allowing for a range of options from basic color changes to custom menu and button options. A sophisticated set of user controls and options such as sharing via email and embed codes, version selection (high resolution, low resolution, and HD when available), full screen and mouse-over have been carefully considered to provide the best viewing experience possible.
The Wizzard Player simplifies the workflow process by providing an easy and automated method for importing RSS feeds for use with the Player. Once the initial set-up is completed by the publisher, video files are distributed to embedded Wizzard Players around the Internet, around the world.
"The goal for Wizzard is to bring the latest, cutting edge video technologies to video producers and their audiences without sacrificing backward-compatibility for legacy users," said Dave Mansueto, Wizzard Technical Futurist and Co-Founder of Libsyn. "And, in doing so, we are simplifying the video producer's workflow to one upload that enjoys all the benefits of total distribution."

REVIEW: World First Blu-ray Player Recorder An Expensive Beast

In reviewing this product, I have taken a look at what alternatives there are to this product because at $2,199 this is one expensive beast particularly as the 25GB rewritable discs are $119 for a pack of three and in digesting this cost remember that the cost of an external 1TB hard drive which is 1,000 gigabytes can now be purchased for less than $500.
There is one thing that I will agree on and that is that Blu-ray is the ultimate in content quality but having said that it is very hard to pick the difference between a 1080i HD recording to a hard drive and one recorded to an expensive Blu-ray recorder similar to the BW-500.
The core features of this Blu-ray player are dual TV tuners that allow you to record two programs at one, a 500GB hard drive that delivers around 72 hours of HD recording and the ability to record directly to a Blu-ray 25GB removable disc.
It also has the ability to pause live TV at the push of a button and replay within 30 minutes.
The seven-day electronic program guide (EPG) is pretty ordinary as it is the one broadcast by the TV networks. However, it does have an ability to capture captures which is excellent if you want to run the TV without sound.
Output or playback is at 24 frames-a-second which is the best you can get as well Blu ray delivers excellent vision and sound quality up to 7.1 using the new Blu-ray Profile 1.1 software. A weakness is that the software is not upgradeable and this will be a big disadvantage going forward.
However, 1.1 Blu ray profile supports additional content like the making-of documentaries, and cast and crew interviews. This means that any player with the BonusView feature supported can process two audio streams at once (for overlayed interviews during movies). In addition, this means that menu sound effects and other incidental noises can be played during the soundtrack of the film if needed.
For those who want to use the player as a storage system you simply plug in your SD card into the player however you can only transfer AVCHD format only discs to the device. Transferred content can then be edited using the supplied remote.The Blu-ray burner allows any recording stored on the hard drive to be transferred to a disc in both Blu ray quality and downscaled to traditional DVD quality.
The DMR-BW500 from Panasonic is a standout performer however for me it is way overpriced for what you get. For example, a basic Blu-ray player can be purchased for less than $600 add a 1TB hard drive to your network or entertainment system and for less than $1600.
Or alternatively, there is the Beyonwiz DP-P2 which at $900 comes with a 320GB HDD. It also allows users to pause and rewind live HDTV and record over 30 hours in HD or 80 house in SD. It also has the Ice TV electronic program guide. A new line input capability allows users to connect almost any AV device including their Foxtel iQ or iQ HD as well as a Tivo unit and record to the DP-P2's internal HDD. The benefit of this say DPG is that when a viewer is using their PayTV service via the Beyonwiz "Line Input" the Beyonwiz will automatically hold a buffer of up to 2 hours so you can pause and rewind Live PayTV.
The Beyonwiz DP-P2 also doubles up the amount of storage available allowing users to offline storage to the Beyonwiz. Users can also connect the DP-P2 to their home computer network and playback movies, pictures and music directly from their PC, External HDD or from a variety of supported memory cards. If a user owns more than one Beyonwiz unit they can even playback recordings from one unit to another, so if you record a program in the Lounge Room on your first Beyonwiz you can play it back in the Bedroom on your second.
So at the end of the day, the issue comes down to price VS what your naked eye picks as the difference between Blu-ray and a Full HD file which is 1080i Vs Blu ray 1080p. For me, the difference is not worth $1,000 and $119 for 3 25GB discs. For those who don't have a problem with price this is a monty of a product.