Gizmo Guy: Comcast bets on Share to outduel app video streamers

The DIY streaming-video apps Meerkat and Periscope have generated lots of buzz in tech and entertainment land the last few weeks, for reasons good and bad.

Jimmy Fallon and Ellen DeGeneres have invited fans to watch backstage shenanigans using those services, all sent and received on mobile phones.

On Monday, Comcast joined these game-changers with a make-'n'-send-your-own video variation called Share, announced at the INTX 2015 Internet and cable-trade expo in Chicago.

What's different about this "Designed in Philadelphia" technology?

For starters, Share will be available at first only to Xfinity Triple Play customers with X1 DVR capable set-top boxes. And Share video streaming is robustly engineered to "blow up real good," meaning:

"We're not just giving our customers the power to share special moments in their lives as they happen - a child's baseball game, a graduation, or just a beautiful sunset," explained Patti Loyack, vice president of communications for Comcast Cable. "Share lets users broadcast to the biggest screen in the home, the TV set."

Meerkat and Periscope returned to the center ring over the weekend as unauthorized free conduits to watch the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao championship fight. At least one person did a shoot-and-stream from the MGM Grand Las Vegas arena, reported tech watchers at the Verge website. Many more content re-transmitters simply pointed their Meerkat and Periscope app-loaded cellphones at the on-demand fight they'd paid $89 or $100 to watch on TV. App creators attempted to take down the copyright infringers, but it was a whack-a-mole effort. New streams popped up with each round.

Comcast may impose a 30-minute time limit on Share streaming, and claims methods for dealing with infringers. So users might not be able to zap a complete high school musical (or whatever) to Granny in Florida. And, honestly, if Share ware proves as power-draining as its rivals', your smartphone will be running out of steam within that half-hour time frame, too.

To stream Share to a TV, users must first download the Xfinity Share app from the Apple store for iOS devices or from Google Play for Android devices. Then open the app, select "Stream Live," and indicate where you want the content sent - to the home TV, to the telly of another X1 customer, or to a mobile phone.

At the receiving end, an X1 box user gets an on-screen notification that a special private video is available for viewing, then agrees (or not) to let it in, to occupy the full screen or just a corner thereof. (Wobbly pictures aren't quite as annoying in a smaller display, but almost all video beamers we've "tuned in" on phone apps need a lesson in holding camera phones steadier.)

Like Periscope, Share invites users to send previously recorded (and cloud-stored) content, as well as live stuff, and still images as well as videos.

At the moment, Share enables only one-to-one transfers. So this is not how Jay Z will be distributing his forthcoming "semiprivate" concert. By contrast, both Meerkat and Periscope can push content as Twitter alerts to one or many followers. (Periscope is owned by Twitter.)

Later this year, Xfinity Share options will expand a bit. Content will be deliverable to upward of five recipients at once, including to non-Comcast subscribers. Trick playback functions (stop, pause, and rewind) are coming.

Philadelphia's cable giant has additional innovations to spring Tuesday at the Internet/cable show. One involves content customization, another is a hardware refinement. But Share is likely to earn the loudest and most positive feedback from tech tastemakers.