GUBA is expanding its offerings by starting a free video upload and sharing service. The service even handles automatic transcoding to different formats, including iPod and Sony PSP.
GUBA has distinguished itself by offering a subscription-based search, transcode and download service for video and digital image searches through the Usenet, one of the oldest parts of the Internet. Now the service is expanding into video uploads independent of the Usenet.
GUBA’s new Upload service lets content creators upload short films, video clips and home movies, all hosted on GUBA’s own servers. Those videos are then made available to GUBA subscribers and non-subscribers alike; they can view the videos at no cost. Initially, the service will be limited to 200MB uploads — that threshold will be raised to 1GB in April, according to the company.
GUBA Upload embeds content with information you provide, including name, tags, categories and date. An individual URL is provided so you can share uploads with friends and family. GUBA restricts uploads to user-generated content; the service will not allow users to index feature-length films, for example.
GUBA users who want to download the content can subscribe via Really Simple Syndication (RSS), and the service handles on-the-fly transcoding to ready the content for playback through iTunes, on an iPod, Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP), or in instant playback on the Web browser using Flash video.
GUBA plans additional video upload features in the second calendar quarter of 2006 — those features will include reporting tools and viewer tracking, comments, and “monetization capabilities.”