Legit Reviews

PORTLAND, OR (September 15, 2010) - Dovie, Inc. today announced the beta launch of dovie.tv, an enterprise-grade online video platform (OVP) with built-in HTML5-ready players, Flash-free playlist embeds, analytics and advertising.

The super-simple system was designed with one goal in mind: create a video control cloud with enough power to launch an online TV show, channel or network from a desktop computer, and make it simple and affordable enough for almost anyone to use.

The small SaaS startup hopes to fly above the already overcrowded OVP airspace by offering an array of innovations that make online video management and monetization accessible to everyone–from mom-and-pop shops, to mid-market entrepreneurs, to enterprise-level professionals.

With introductory plans priced at $29 a month, all features are available to all users with no contract or set-up fee. From the first login, Dovie’s free trial delivers adaptive bitrate streaming, advertising, analytics, encoding, hyperlinks, overlays, playlists, revenue sharing, ad targeting, white labeling and the freedom to fully style player and playlist embeds with custom CSS.

The system seamlessly supports delivery of channel playlists and multiple forms of advertising including text and banner overlays to popular handhelds and notebooks like Apple’s iPad and iPhone.

The control cloud’s innovative interface creates a full-screen workspace with intuitive icons that make video management and monetization feel like kids’ play. Bottom and top-locked navigation and plainly-labeled preference panels make managing videos a breeze, even for beginners.

A major innovation of the hatchling service is that its cloud controls a complete HTML5 player and playlist channeling system that plays on all platforms without using Flash or iFrames. Embeds come in a selection of basic templates that can be fully styled with custom CSS to match the look of any website.

Content managers can swap out branding on white-labeled players and update all forms of advertising on the fly, even after embedding on remote sites. Channels of videos can be completely reprogrammed in the cloud and feed updates to live embeds anywhere on the web. Like all other actions, channel management is a point-and-click process that requires virtually no learning curve.

The system uses state-of-the-net adaptive streaming playback to secure source files, track audience engagement and automatically deliver the right format and bitrate. Viewers can fast forward and rewind instantly, and use dynamic playlists to skip straight to any video in a channel.

Dovie comes plugged in to major ad networks and ready to run CPM-optimized pre-roll video spots.The system shares network ad revenues equally with account holders, and automatically applies income to account costs, making the service free for many, and potentially profitable for popular content creators. Unlike some systems, Dovie welcomes commercial content and doesn’t require video producers to relinquish any rights to use the system.

The cloud also includes its own overlay advertising controls, ideal for e-commerce, fundraising and netroots activism. Advertising managers can upload, schedule, cap, pace, and prioritize and target ads on a per-video basis. All account levels include unlimited impressions of hyperlinked banner and text overlays.

Direct-sale video spots can be uploaded to the cloud for encoding and put into rotation with the same fine-grain controls available for overlay ads. Video ad impressions that include encoding and bandwidth are available at rock-bottom rates with ad plans that empower users to set their own CPM and keep all of the margin. Account holders also have complete control to cap bandwidth overages, activate automatic billing, or schedule email alerts for manual advertising management.

Dovie will meet the market with an animated intro video produced by Ephipeo Studios, a group of digital storytellers who have helped companies like Facebook, Google, and Yelp! launch popular new features and products.

For more information, go to Dovie.tv.


Michael Millard, Chief Technical Officer

“I watched local radio get gobbled up by big business and jumped at the chance to put a pro-grade tool on the market that could help prevent the same kind of takeover of online video,” said Michael Millard, chief technical officer of Dovie, Inc. “Dovie was developed to empower the non-technical user to deliver online video to all platforms and make money at it. We worked really hard to find the right balance between simplicity and power, so new users and experienced pros will both have a tool they can really use. While we didn’t reinvent the wheel, we did create a new class of video web app that is much more than a website full of forms. We saw HTML5 coming, so we didn't develop Dovie with Flash as the center of our embedding system, but as one component of a larger solution built on HTML5, CSS and Javascript. The result is a system that allows users to completely customize their embeds and delivers the same experience to every platform.”


J.R. Storment, President/COO

“Moving pixels have come a long way since my first Commodore 64,” said J.R. Storment, president and chief operating officer of Dovie, Inc. "Video is taking over the web and changing the way we share information. A generation from now, online video will be remembered like the Gutenberg press, something that gave life to a totally new era of communication and inspired a bottom-up approach to media. Like desktop publishing did a generation ago, video web apps are empowering an emerging market of media entrepreneurs to connect advertisers with the first truly measured and targeted audiences. Audiences are no longer like cattle, they are picking what they want to watch, when and how. They are even creating their own content to add to the mix. The control cloud was created to be an affordable, accessible and powerful mid-market OVP that doesn’t break the bank or require a geek to get it running. Think of Dovie like a TV station in a box, only without the box.”


Alex Bilmes, Design Director

“Dovie was designed to work the way people work, intuitively,” said Alex Bilmes, design director of Dovie, Inc. “My philsophy is to make technology feel natural. Entry-level users have an easy time learning the system. Actions such as uploading a video take a click or two. The control cloud breaks the browser in a good way, giving the feel of a dynamic workspace instead of a static webpage. Big buttons for everything you need to do are always on screen. Go full screen, and the control cloud floats above the typical grid of templates and form fields. Dovie is a bright, bold video playground over a powerful codebase that makes managing online video easy, and hopefully enjoyable.”