Here on the Windows Experience Blog, I use Soapbox on MSN Video to embed and share all my videos for my blog posts. Tonight, the Soapbox and MSN Video Team has launched MSN Video V4 with new features to Soapbox worth taking note of:
- Enhanced Copyright violation. Soapbox users will now be explicated told one of their videos has been flagged for copyright violation versus previously the video would simply not show up without any sort of message.
- Improved encoding time. This is a HUGE plus for me because it lets me get videos uploaded faster when writing a blog post. Previously, it took quite a bit of time to get a video completely uploaded to be embedded into a blog post.
- New Mini-Showcase. The Mini-Showcase is a new area on the landing page where the video team editors can show you what’s hot on the site. I’m hoping to get one of my videos flagged for the Mini-Showcase sometime in the next few months.
There are a few more notable changes to take into account. When going to soapbox.msn.com – you will be directed to MSN Video. Soapbox is now directly part of MSN Video. In the menu you will see a new addition of “Soapbox user videos” where you can access user generated content from Soapbox including your profile via a new drop down menu. Also: you will note that MSN Video now consumes the most out of the browser window instead of being a fixed width at the center.
Congratulations to the MSN Video Team for pushing out an excellent new release of MSN Video and Soapbox and I look forward to continuing to use the service to share videos with my readers.
Users using the new Windows Live Photo Gallery beta can also now publish videos directly to Soapbox on MSN Video. This feature continues to work absolutely wonderful for me especially with the improved encoding time from tonight’s release.
Be sure to keep your eyes peeled on the Soapbox on MSN Video Blog for more on tonight’s update.