Pulver Launches An Online TV Guide In The Form of a Cube (PrimeTimeRewindTV)

primetime-rewind-logo.pngNow that all the major TV networks are streaming prime time shows on the Web we are starting to see sites and applications that bring all of that video to one place. Instead of going ABC.com, NBC.com Fox.com, CBS.com or Hulu, why not create a uniform interface that organizes and streams the videos from all of those TV network sites? That’s the idea behind Fancast, desktop app Veoh TV, NewsClipper for network news (which I wrote about earlier), and Blinkx is finally about to launch its own BBTV. Today, Vonage founder Jeff Pulver throws his hat into the ring with PrimeTimeRewind.tv.

Like the others, PrimeTimeRewind.tv attempts to put a consistent skin on what is fast becoming a disjointed experience. Pulver’s contribution to this user-interface challenge is to turn the TV Guide into an interactive video cube. When you go to PrimeTimeRewind.tv, you are presented with a cube filled with video thumbnails on each face. Spin the cube horizontally and each face shows the Web video offerings of a different TV network ((ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, TNT and USA). Rotate it vertically and each face shows a different category (action, comedy, reality, drama). Click on any one thumbnail and you are taken to another page in which the full player opens up. Really, it just frames the original site (each with their own player) with a PrimeTimeRewind.tv sidebar that lets you rate, comment, and share videos. It is still a compromise, but a step in the right direction.

Pulver has more details here on his blog. (This should not be confused with his other Web video projects, pulver.TV for aggregating original Web video and Network2.tv, his original effort at creating a guide for video on the Web, which seems to be down right now).

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