Someone just gave me a tip that Google's new video initiatives that will be announced tomorrow around VP8 will be called the "WebM Project" and they pointed me to the domain of www.webmproject.org which doing a registar lookup shows the domain is owned by Google Inc., registered only 20 days ago.

Between all the details that are starting to come out about Google's announcement tomorrow, it's clear that Google's going to be doing a lot more than just open-sourcing the VP8 video codec. And if the rumors I heard from earlier today are true, and Google does in fact have or will have hardware support for VP8, then their announcement is going to be a really big deal.

I don't know what the "WebM" stands for, but one could imagine that Google thinks of this as much bigger project than just video content and is using the M for media to encompass all kinds of web based content.

In addition to a long list of video ecosystem vendors who will support Google's announcement tomorrow of their open-sourcing of the VP8 codec, I'm also hearing from content owners who have been working with Google in an effort to make their videos available using the VP8 codec. While it's not at all surprising to have vendors support the codec, for Google to have already convinced some content owners, and some large ones at that, to support their VP8 codec could be a very big deal.

But even more important, numerous sources are telling me that Google plans to announce hardware support for VP8. If true, and VP8 does what it On2 claimed it could, the possibility does exist for VP8 to seriously challenge H.264 over time if Google can get enough hardware support, which I think they have a good shot at doing. If that happens, we could see a push away from H.264 if Google approaches the market correctly. Without hardware support, VP8 can do well, but it will never disrupt H.264. So the thing to watch from Google's announcement tomorrow is any hardware deals they mention or any future talk of companies providing hardware support for their VP8 video codec.

After a very busy and successful Streaming Media East and Content Delivery Summit show last week, I'm out sick this week. I'll be back to blogging next week and emails sent to me this week will take me longer than usual to respond to.

It’s that time of year again when we partner up with the NY Video Meetup group to co-host a special mega-session in conjunction with our Streaming Media East show at the Hilton hotel in New York City. Tonight at 6:30pm, five local online video startups get five minutes each to demo their new products live (no PPT) in front of hundreds of local peers. After the demos, join us at the Bridges Bar in the hotel lobby for drinks (cash bar) and networking. Head on over to NYVideo.org for all the details.

At the Streaming Media East show on May 11th and 12th, we've got a panel on "HTML5 And Web Video Standards". As video becomes increasingly important on the web, content providers,
browser developers, and end users can no longer afford to have the
primary video delivery mechanisms locked up in standards that cannot be
adapted to new environments. This is especially true for emerging trends
such as mobile video and cross-device video technologies.

HTML5 Video might be the answer, and we'll discuss what it is, the challenges it's facing, and how it affects other formats such as Flash and Silverlight, as well as how leading platforms and web giants such as Google, Mozilla, and Apple are supporting it.

• Moderator: Tim Napoleon, Co-Founder, President, Alldigital
• Jennifer Taylor, Director, Flash Content Creation and Distribution, Adobe
• Monty Montgomery, Director, Xiph.Org Foundation (Theora)
• Justin Eckhouse, Senior Product Manager, Video and Mobile, CBS Interactive
• Greg Harris, Chief Creative Officer, Daily Interactive

It's not too late to get a pass to the show and readers of my blog can register using my own personal discount code of DRF1, which gets you $200 off the ticket price.

For all the buzz about online video advertising, most content owners have yet to be able to turn their online video from cost center to profit center. Still, strong signals suggest that video monetization is around the corner, provided content owners don't pull back in today's tight economy.

At the Streaming Media East show on May 11th and 12th, we've got a great session entitled "Monetization And Video Advertising Formats". Come hear what it will take to reach the tipping point and what kind of ad formats have the greatest ability to help content owners monetize video.

• Moderator: Matt Timothy, President, VINDICO Group
• Mark Marvel, Senior Director, Video Monetization, MSNBC.com
• Larry Gelfand, SVP, Media Sales, NHL
• Chris Johnston, Director, Technology Partnerships, Brightcove
• Beth Doyle, Innovations Associate Director, VivaKi
• Lynn Bolger EVP, Advertising Solutions, comScore

It's not too late to get a pass to the show and readers of my blog can register using my own personal discount code of DRF1, which gets you $200 off the ticket price.

While video consumption and distribution has grown exponentially in the past few years, converting and preparing this content for the digital realm was largely a 'black art' until recently, when several enterprise-grade solutions came onto the market.

At the Streaming Media East show on May 11th and 12th, we've got Troy Dreier, Senior Associate Editor at StreamingMedia.com moderating a panel on "Automation And Workflow Solutions For Transcoding Your Video Content". From high definition to mobile, this session will talk through the hardware and SaaS based services in the market today and the cost associated with using these products.

• Moderator: Troy Dreier, Senior Associate Editor, StreamingMedia.com
• Robert Levy, Production Operations Manager, Executive Producer, Discovery Digital Media
• Brian Joe, Video Network Planning, Verizon
• Jeff Malkin, President, Encoding.com
• Eric Manchester, Manager, Digital Media Distribution, Time Warner Cable

It's not too late to get a pass to the show and readers of my blog can register using my own personal discount code of DRF1, which gets you $200 off the ticket price.