2006 has been a really big year for video on the web. Whether you were one of those guys who got attached to video blogs on YouTube (like a certain writer on the SMH tech site) or just wanted to sit back and watch FIFA World Cup matches at your office desk you were able to do it. Here is a look at my top five picks from ‘06.

5. HaK.5

HaK.5 started in 2005 however took mainstream interest this year from tech magazines and television networks. HaK.5 deals primly with do-it-yourself instructional footage and doesn’t worry about the masses - they know that the hardcore viewer is watching so they don’t skimp on the details, whether it be in the video or on their website. Unlike some IPTV shows (I’m looking in your direction, Revision3), HaK.5 manages to keep to a consistent release schedule, so a new episode will always be out on the 5th of the month. As a result HaK.5 members have appeared on Call For Help while the show has been mentioned in Wired Magazine and even the Adventures of Superman comic. Recently HaK.5 managed to air advertising from Hitachi in an episode showing that companies are interested in advertising on web television programmes. Clearly things are going up for the HaK.5 gang.

4. Pure Pwnage

Pure Pwnage came about in 2004 as a mocumentary style show about a professional gamer. In the last year it’s taken a few twists to become more of a fantasy drama to the disgust of viewers. What makes the show is the somewhat idiotic lead character Jeremy with his slightly more grounded friends who’s tales we see. Pure Pwnage started off via distribution on the web and Bit Torrent but has expanded to iTunes and YouTube. However unlike most web shows, Pure Pwnage has had several public screenings and meets with characters in Canada and was able to sell episodes of it’s show on their website to great success. Creator Geoff Lapaire has said that already another two seasons of the show are in planning along with a possible feature film. With a strong fanbase obsessed with discussing what is coming next, it is not hard to see continued success to the Pure Pwnage crew.

3. Bill Fillmaff’s Secret System

Kevin Bowen was some guy who sung badly. Then he created Bill Fillmaff and the rest is history. Okay, that doesn’t really explain a lot. If you have watched the World Series of Poker on ESPN then you probably have seen professional poker player Phil Hellmuth in action. He’s best known for winging and crying like a little baby. Inspired by these actions, Kevin created Bill Fillmaff’s Secret System, a parody of the player making a series of instructional poker videos on how to play the game right.

Like any decent parody, both the character and the show are completely over the top providing laughs by the plenty. With that said, you really need to be into poker and the poker scene to follow what is going on. But it isn’t all bad for Bowen as without the series, he would of never been able to work with the real Phil Hellmuth on a viral series for Hellmuth’s endorsed poker site, Ultimate Bet. Plus he put out a great DVD of all his episodes, something which many have not done yet.

2. TVU Player

Suffering from World Cup Fever in the office along with a few other employees in the office, I came across TVU Player on Digg. While TVU Player isn’t a video but rather a piece of software, it transformed watching live streaming video in the same way YouTube transformed watching short video clips. The software is pretty simple to use (click on a channel and start watching) and seemed to be based on a back-end of Bit Torrent technology mixed with VLC, so unlike past video streaming technologies where the person uploading the video need a huge pipe for many users to watch the video, each viewer both downloads and uploads data meaning the more people watching, the better quality the stream becomes.

The two big pluses when I first came across it were the channels available (live streaming ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC) and the quality of the video (on par with a VHS tape, aka great quality for streaming video). In the last few months many more channels have been added from across the world including American network TV stations, kids programming, news and weather and more and more sports. Recently a fair few big name channels (mainly those from the States) were taken off suggesting that the end was near but the release of the TVU Broadcast Software has seen many of the viewers start up their own stations. Only time will tell on what happens with this nifty little program.