A popular misconception about Internet TV is that it will immediately bring dollar signs to the creators and not to the consumer. I’m sure many people are thinking:

” Internet TV sounds like a great idea, but how can I get involved? It seems that only high-profile investors, world-renowned thinkers, entrepreneurs, and programmers can get involved. I mean, just look at the IPTV World Show at NAB 2007 Las Vegas. It costs hundreds of dollars just to get my foot in the door. ”

What if every person in the world could live stream video and sound with high quality? What if internet video was not synonymous with low quality archived video clips? What if it was free, and not reserved for the privileged and/or tech-savvy few?

NEOKAST will create brand new industries and opportunities, not for us, but for you.

A very good reference list of the players in the video space has been put together according to nine video categories. Check it out.

Appropos the preceding posts, Merriman Curhan Ford, a SF investment house is holding a conference today - IP Video 2007: The Killer Application for Internet and Communications. To hear the audio podcasts of the various presenters such as Akamai, DivX, and ROO just register here.

Within the next two weeks, we will be posting an email submission form for those of you who may want to participate in our expanded beta test release of the Neokast live streaming technology scheduled to begin next month. Please check back periodically, and look for the beta test email submission form on the Neokast Blog site. We hope you’ll sign up and take a look this dramatic new technology.

Also, everyone who registers for the Neokast Blog will automatically be included in the pool of potential beta testers!So, register for the Neokast Blog today!

The are currently at least 5 to 10 groups hyping their “TV on the Internet — Worldwide” technologies. Some have already released their technology locally, as in the case of Zattoo. There are quite possibly many other teams attempting the same thing behind the scenes. However, none of these companies have come forward with an official worldwide release.

Is there an unspoken race to be the first? The current Internet TV climate and hype gives rise to a popular notion that the first group to do so will provide an unparalleled and lucrative video solution to the world. While the idea of getting real Internet TV out there is a great idea, there is much more to providing such a service than meets the eye. The next generation of Internet Video will require much more than a simple proof-of-concept. The services Neokast will provide go far beyond “let’s try this out and see what happens.”

Does the beginning of 2007 mark the start of an Internet TV “Space Race?” For the older crowd, this quote can be reminiscent of the epic competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. For the younger crowd, it’s similar to the Ansari X-Prize. But what exactly are we racing towards?

Is it true that the first group to put “TV on the Internet, the way it should be” becomes the next “killer app,” the next “it” company that created the next “big thing?” Maybe, maybe not…

The Neokast team is thinking past the concept of “let’s get TV on the Internet as soon as we can, then see what happens,” and are developing the solution to the following problem:

“OK. We finally have TV on the Internet. We’re satisfied with the quality, user interface, and overall speedieness. What do we do with it now? We’re all enjoying the video, albeit passively. It is getting a little boring.”

Neokast will allow any user to live stream their own videos with high quality for no cost.

I ran across talented Robin Dean, a “Stickam Entertainer,” from Chicago. He’s an example of the great talent looking for a medium.

Will the Wal-Mart movie download site be incompatible with Firefox, Mac, and Apple? I doubt it, but it’s still interesting. More likely that Wal-Mart simply wanted their site up ASAP. I just checked on IE and got this message:

“The Wal-Mart Video Downloads store is currently unavailable due to temporary site maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Please try again later.”

“Digital media is now integral to everything we do. It is not an add-on, it is not a novelty, it is the present reality as well as the future,” Mr Scott said.

Possibly the biggest announcement is their intention to pursue revenue through digital offerings like podcasts and video. Already one of the biggest producers of quality digital content, they have until now not charged for it. It seems they may continue to not charge for most of the material, but rather archived audio or video content would be available to download at a cost.

 Update: “ABC announces digital media strategy“

Vincent Dureau, Google’s head of TV technology, has sparked a lot of talk recently about Internet gridlock as a result of video downloading. But his words were, “The web infrastructure - and even Google’s - doesn’t scale - it’s not going to offer the quality of service that consumers expect.” The question is - What is the quality of service that consumers expect? If it is 50 inch HD screens which combine video on-demand maybe not yet. But then again, maybe it’s not that far off.