Who is JW? The Documentary

Jeroen "JW" Wijering is an online video pioneer, Chief Digital Architect of LongTail Video and the creator of the Internet's most popular and ubiquitous media players, the JW Players, which have generated millions of downloads since their launch in 2005. The unassuming Dutch internet entrepreneur helped changed the face of the online video industry with his open source JW Player which can be found on tens of millions of websites. Even YouTube ran on the JW Player for the first 18 months of its existence.

While the huge number of website owners running his player may have never heard of him, Jeroen is considered a rock star within the online video industry and is the subject of a new full-length documentary titled, WHO IS JW? Through interviews with his parents, colleagues, university teachers and voices from the online video space, the documentary uncovers the secrets behind the success of one of Holland’s most viewed and yet least-known export products, to answer the question, “Who is Jeroen Wijering?”

WHOSIJW? from PictureThis.tv on Vimeo.

Jeroen graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven, with honors and began programming the JW Player in 2005 when he was a student. He could not have imagined then that five years later he would be co-owner of LongTailVideo.com in New York thanks to his product. In addition, Jeroen has developed several other projects including Sync.nl, an online magazine for entrepreneurs and professionals as well as a SaaS-based an online video platform Bits on the Run, which was acquired by Long Tail Video in 2010.

LongTail Video is headquartered in New York City with a developer team based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The company is headed by Dave Otten, Jeroen, Brian Rifkin, and Doug Cunningham who together have over 30 years of online experience from blue-chip companies such as 24/7 Real Media, About.com and Nielsen/NetRatings.

Here's a sampling of industry voices featured in the documentary:

• Eric Rasmussen – OnlineVideo.net, "The JW Player is one of those best kept secrets online..."
• Stef van der Ziel – StreamZilla.eu, "It's a good player, it works!..."
• Dan Rayburn – StreamingMedia.com, "Every industry uses it..."
• Merien ten Houten – Ilse.nl, "Jeroen combines technical skills with creativity. These people are very rare..."
• Larry Kless – OnlineVideoPublishing.com, "He is a rockstar in online video..."
• Merien ten Houten – Ilse.nl, "I think it's a success because it's simple..."
• Dave Otten – LongTail Video, "He knew the player was big, but he also realised the potential was much bigger..."
• John Luther – Google (WebM), "It's pretty phenomenal what he has done..."

For more information, visit the website: http://www.whoisjw.tv/
Follow this documentary on Twitter: @whoisjw
Follow jeroenw (jeroenw) on Twitter
Follow LongTail Video (longtail_video) on Twitter

See this related post: Larry Kless' Weblog: Jeroen "JW" Wijering: HTML5 Video Is Not Quite There Yet

Jeroen "JW" Wijering: HTML5 Video Is Not Quite There Yet

Earlier this year, Mark Robertson and I met with Jeroen "JW" Wijering, Chief Digital Architect of LongTail Video at his office in New York City, to talk about the growing interest and hype around HTML5 video, and the most pressing issues facing its adoption. Jeroen is an online video pioneer and the creator of the ubiquitous JW Media Players, which have generated several million downloads since their launch in 2005.

In a post on the LongTail Community Support Blog (and also a guest post on Reel SEO), Jeroen noted that Apple's launch of the iPad along with Steve Jobs' arguements with Adobe over Flash accelerated HTML5 video development. He wrote that there's a lot of video tag euphoria within today's tech industry and the practical side of HTML5 video development has been overlooked and faces a major threat.

"The video tag is still in its infancy and misses certain core functionalities. As developers demand these features, browser vendors are tempted to implement incompatible solutions instead of agreeing upon standards. These hasty developments, already underway, are setting HTML video up for the same chaos as HTML styling in the pre-CSS era."

Jeroen says, the most pressing issues facing HTML video development are:

• Codecs - H.264 versus OGG debate is ongoing, but all browsers have placed their bets - Firefox and Opera favor OGG, Internet Explorer and Safari choose H264. Chrome plays it safe and does both. Today's HTML5 video format is H264.
• Streaming - HTML5 does not specify a streaming mechanism yet. While this is being worked on (W3C: Fragments, Media Multitrack API), it means that live, DVR and long-form video content cannot be played using a video tag.
• Fullscreen - While a small feature at first sight, fullscreen playback is essential to the success of HTML5 video. Without fullscreen, HTML5 video is mostly useful for presenting short clips.

Jeroen suggests that the addition of both captions and fullscreen support would be big steps forward for HTML5 video. He says that cross-browser support should be practical and compatible, or we risk web development regression.

"Browser vendors should be stringent when building solutions that are both practical and compatible. If not, crossbrowser HTML5 video will be too difficult, not to mention expensive, to implement. This presents the risk of web development regression.

In favor of its advancement, we cannot allow this to happen. Online video will go mobile and big screen. It also needs to become accessible and searchable. HTML5 video will advance the progress in these areas, if developed carefully and intelligently. However, without compatible solutions, online video is in definite jeopardy of a setback."

While Jeroen says that HTML5 video is not quite there yet, as the year comes to a close, there are signs of the maturing market:

• Google's release of WebM  (VP8 royalty-free video codec) several months ago which Jeroen says they'll be keeping an eye on, 
• Support for HTML4 in beta versions of all the major browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera HTML5
• Advertising solutions from mDialog, Brightcove and FreeWheel, MeeFeedia and Yume coming to market for Android and Apple iOS 
• Longtail's release of its JW player HTML5
• Adobe teaming up with Kaltura for its HTML5 player
• YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion all have HTML5 players, and Blip.tv is readying HTML5 to be its standard video player

These are but a few of the many innovations and growth of HTML5 video within the online and mobile video industry. As we move into 2011, we'll continue to see the technology evolve at a rapid pace, as well as the debate.


What is HTML5? (reprinted from HTML5 - Advertising FAQ)

• HTML is the mark-up language used for the World Wide Web. Almost all web pages you visit on the internet are based around HTML code. HTML5 is simply the fifth and latest iteration of this mark-up language that allows for more dynamic, animated and interactive web pages. Up until now web pages have had to embed content or plugins like Flash for items like video players or interactive animation. HTML5 allows for lots of this functionality to be done without an embedded file. This doesn’t mean the end of Flash however because Flash too continues to evolve - it is an alternative. See more on the W3 website. 

Resources:

• Dive Into HTML5 
• HTML5video.org
• HTML5 Video - IEBlog
• Introduction to HTML5 video - Dev.Opera
• 4.8.6 The video element — HTML5'
• HTML5 video Tag  
• HTML5 Rocks

Related:

• HTML5 vs. Flash: How will the battle play out in 2011?
• Why rivals Google and Apple agree on HTML5
• Dive Into HTML5 Video With The Masters – HTML5 ReelSEO Webinar Replay Video
• Apple Didn’t Kill Flash, HTML5 Did
• "The World is Moving to HTML 5" and Other Flights of Fancy
• Lift SEO with HTML5
• Top 5 Security Threats in HTML5

Updated 12/22/2010: Added my buddy Mark to post