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Video podcast (sometimes shortened to vidcast or vodcast) is a term used for the online delivery of video on demandvideo clip content via Atom or RSS enclosures. The term is an evolution specialized for video, coming from the generally audio-based podcast and referring to the distribution of video where the RSS feed is used as a non-linear TV channel to which consumers can subscribe using a PC, TV, set-top box, media center or mobile multimedia device. Podcasts have always contained audio or video content, so the terms 'vodcast' and 'video podcasting' are redundant.
From a web server, a video podcast can be distributed as a file or as a stream. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. Downloading complete video podcasts in advance gives the user the ability to play the video podcasts offline on, for example, a portable media player. A downloaded version can be watched many times with only one download, reducing bandwidth costs in this case. Streaming allows seeking (skipping portions of the file) without downloading the full video podcast, better statistics and lower bandwidth costs for the servers; however, users may have to face pauses in playback caused by slow transfer speeds.
A podcast client may work with a separate, or integrated player. One such example of the latter is iTunes, which is an unusual case of a web feed aggregator being added to a media player rather than vice versa.
Unofficial video podcast logo
Unofficial video podcast icon
Video Podcast Icon
An official icon for video podcasting has yet to be established. This has led to the proposal of several independently created graphics. Most of them are available under a Creative Commons license.
Timeline
On 31 October 20031 Canadian film collective Rocket Ace Moving Pictures launches the serialized web-based video zombie comedy project Dead End Days at DeadEndDays.com while referred to by its creators as a "web-serial" throughout 2003 and 2004, it is adopted by the podcast community as a progenitor.2 The creators retroactively add RSS features to the site.
On December 16, 2006, Time magazine named its Person of the Year as "You", referring to independent content creators on the web and video podcasters in particular. Crash Test Kitchen, a video podcast begun in April 2005 by home cooks Waz and Lenny, was featured in the magazine as an example of this phenomenon. The magazine itself was a distinctive issue that featured a flexible mirror on the cover.
Another British panel game, QI, also announced that it would create a vodcast, starting in Series E. However, this was changed into a set of "Quickies", not downloadable and only viewable from the BBC website.7
On November 25, 2007, Neil Fairbrother was featured in the Sunday Observer's Courvoisier Future 500 for creating pod3.tv, a web TV channel that creates and distributes TV shows as video podcasts.