Viddyou, a video sharing site that launched almost a year ago as a platform for video bloggers, today rolls out support for high definition video and adds a $35/yr premium membership option for power users.

On the surface, Viddyou looks like many of the other video sites out there. But it has so far managed to foster a community that seeks refuge from the masses over at YouTube. Co-founder Aaron Wadler says that Viddyou’s contributers enjoy the site’s extensive privacy controls and lack of both advertisements and trolls. It’s a place where they feel comfortable sharing videos of their children and grandparents, or posting more personal video blogs for and about their friends.

Today’s additions are meant to continue that focus on quality over quantity. The high definition video comes in both 720p and 1080p, a first for video sharing sites we’re told (Vimeo provides only 720p). Both look great to the untrained eye, and 1080p might be too processor intensive for most computers anyway. We’ve embedded a 720p video from Viddyou below since 1080p would probably chug and skip for many readers.

ViddYou users who want to upload in HD will need to pay for the premium membership, which will also let them download copies of their videos and upload videos of unlimited length (the free version only allows 5 minutes each).

Competitors include Motionbox, Vimeo, and Mydeo, three other services that focus on video sharing for friends and family.

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ViddYou just launched their video blogging network today. According to Mefeedia, the majority of vlogging is taking place on people’s personal sites, which tend to be web shows like the late-great Ze Frank. The other, more personal, half is captured by social video sites. ViddYou is focusing on the latter category, enhancing and promoting the “Personal and Blog” section normally buried in social video sites like YouTube.

The site is based on a simple social network design, consisting of vlogs and communities. Vlogs keep track that users latest videos, friends, interests, and personal profile video. Communities bundle vloggers of similar interests together. Currently communities can only be created by the company, and are limited to the general, travel, music, and confessions.

The overall user experience is streamlined and straightforward. You can post videos to your vlog by recording them within the site’s widget on your webcam, or uploading them from a hand-held or mobile phone camera (via emailed MMS). You can even watch videos on your mobile phone if you have a 3GP video player installed. They’re currently limiting the videos to five minutes to discourage posting content illegally. Each video you upload can be rated, replied to (video or text), embedded, and accompanied by a set of Flickr photos placed below the recording.

We’ve seen a variety of other personal video services before: Vlip, Ustream, Stickam, Blip.tv, and the plethora of other social video sites. ViddYou focuses solely on vlogging instead of web shows; this helps differentiate it from these other services. Vlip consists of video comment threads (a bulletin board for video comments). Ustream and Stickam support live show streams. Blip.tv catalogs web shows, and other social video site tend to bury vlogs in a mountain of other videos.

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