YouTube Rolls Out 3D Converter (NewsFactor)

You can watch 3D movies, watch television in 3D, and even play 3D video games, so why not watch 3D video clips on YouTube? You may find more 3D video popping up on YouTube in the near future, now that the viral video site has launched new features that make it easier for producers to transform regular videos into 3D.

"Creating 3D videos was pretty tough before," admitted Shenaz Zack Mistry, product manager at YouTube. "You had to set up two cameras, combine the footage from each, and use special software to make the effect look just right."

YouTube aims to change all that with 2D to 3D conversion. Here's how it works: Once you've uploaded your 2D videos to YouTube, you can convert them to 3D by clicking a button. Of course, you'll still get the best results with a 3D camera, but Mistry said it's a good way to let viewers enjoy video. There's only one catch: Users have to wear 3D glasses to get the effect.

The Limewire of Video?

Beyond the 3D converter, YouTube has rolled out two additional capabilities that allow content producers to get more imaginative with their video productions: long-form video publishing and new video-creation platforms.

Remember the 10-minute length limit in the early days of YouTube? Last year, that got bumped up to 15 minutes. Now, users in good standing can upload long-form videos. That means you can upload an entire feature-length movie that you've produced.

"This puts YouTube into a whole different competitive space" said Zeus Kerravala, vice president at Yankee Group. "But they have to be careful of piracy on the site now from people bootlegging movies and uploading them,

"YouTube doesn't want to become the LimeWire of the video space," Kerravala said, referring to the file-sharing service halted by a federal injunction last year for alleged pirating. "As long as they can manage the [digital rights management] they should be OK, but it's hard to do because there are so many bootlegs that call the film something else that it's hard to even find it up there."

Resumable Uploads

YouTube understands the danger. That's why the company is making it clear that users must have a clean track record and complete an account verification -- and continue to follow the copyright rules set forth in YouTube's Community Guidelines -- to upload movie-length footage.

"To help you get those longer videos online, we also recently launched resumable uploads, which ensures that you won't lose any of the minutes you've uploaded if your Internet fails or your computer dies during the upload process," Mistry said. "You can resume uploading right where you left off once you're back online."

Finally, YouTube rolled out two additional video creation platforms for users to improve their videos. Mistry said one, Vlix lets mobile-phone users spice up videos by adding cool effects and text to the video intro and closing, while the web-based Magisto takes unedited video and automatically edits it into short, fun clips.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/videogames/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20110922/bs_nf/80307

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