What is DTube, How it Works and Can It Ever Replace Youtube?

Blockchain, cryptocurrency and decentralization are a few buzzwords of 2018. Even if you are not an expert to talk about these topics, chances are that you might have heard about these words atleaset once in the last few days. Due to the Facebook data breach and Youtube demonetization issues, lots and lots of DApps (decentralized apps) are being developed on the blockchain based mainnets. The biggest social media app is Steemit, which has gone viral in a few months. On the other hand, there is an alternative or a blockchain based Youtube too, called DTube which again has been gaining popularity with the passage of every single day. So let’s talk about what is D-Tube and why it is needed.

Before I go further, I would like to write that this post is written for the #blockchaincontest.io, which is a platform to spread the words about latest blockchain technologies and startups to the masses. Don’t forget to visit their website “blockchaincontest.io”.

Well, let’s get back to the topic — DTube:

What actually is D-Tube?

In simple words, I can say that DTube (decentralized tube) is basically a Youtube running on blockchain based mainnet. It is just like Steemit where any one can earn rewards by posting content, engaging with other content creators and actively using the dapp. If you have used Reddit before you will understand it very easily. So, when people create and upload videos, unlike Youtube, here viewers can watch, comment and also VOTE for their favorite videos. If a video is getting too many upvotes, it will get more and more money in the form of Tokens called Steem.

How it is different than Youtube?

Well, when you open the website https://d.tube/#! it will essentially look exactly like youtube, having the same interface. I am quite not sure if Youtube can take some sort of legal action on that (well, not my concern) but for a few seconds, you won’t see the difference between both of the platforms.

But there are a lot of things in which both the platforms differ from each other.

1. Since DTube is made on the blockchain, just like Bitcoin, it follows the same rules of secure, decentralized, list of record keeping.
2. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. In the same way, What gets uploaded on Dtube, stays on Dtube :D Since it is on blockchain where data cannot be tempered, a user has to be 100% confident on what he or she is uploading as once the video gets uploaded, it can’t be removed or edited.
3. Unlike youtube, there won’t be any sort of Ads :) Feeling lucky right?
4. No censorship! It doesn’t matter you are under 18 or living in China, everyone can have access to all the data on Dtube, as there is no one central authority controlling it.
5. Everyone earns Money! Well, this probably must be the best part of DTube. On Youtube, only a bunch of people make money through Monetization program. But on DTube, content creators and content watchers, everyone will be able to earn rewards in the shape of tokens, that can be later on exchanged in the open market.

6. You can also see who liked and disliked the video :D

Where are the videos stored?

One of the things that differ DTube from other block chain based social media platforms are that on #DTube videos are not uploaded onto the blockchain. Rather, a link to the video is stored on the blockchain. The actual video file, in the .mp4 format is stored using IPFS.

IPFS is not a blockchain technology but it is a decentralized one. It is a protocol that stores decentralized data. It works on the principle that follows “Distributed Hash Tables (DHT)”. In a similar fashion of other cryptocurrencies using asymmetric cryptography, DHT networks will have hash content to identify a file. This hash is basically the identity of the record, and it is so easy to repeat data and ensure that the hashes match to ensure that the file sent to us is the original.

How Much Users Can Earn?

Before talking about the money part (which I know every one of you might be interested, don’t forget to visit http://www.blockchaincontest.io and find out a lot about the new opportunities and upcoming blockchain projects. You can also search the hashtag #blockchainusecase and know more about Blockchaincontest.

DTube is developed on the STEEM blockchain and operates in a similar way, just like Reddit, as far as posts, upvotes and comments are concerned. Just like Steemit, not only the content creators but everyone participating actively (watching, commenting, giving thumbs up, thumbs down), literally, anyone can make money. Yet there are a few things which differ DTube from both Youtube and Steemit.

Pros compared to Youtube Monetization

Youtube pays you for the number of views you have, higher the number and subscribers, higher the money will be (after meeting their monetization policies). But on Dtube, people upvote your videos and you get steem dollar and steem power based on how popular your videos are.You can easily get a few bucks to a hundred bucks overnight — depending on who upvoted your video.
Let us assume a beginner upvotes your video, then the vote will get you around 0,001$. If you get an upvote from a whale (or any block producer with a lot of steem power and high reputation) a vote can be worth several dollars.

Cons compared to Youtube Monetization

But one drawback compared to Youtube is that on Youtube you can keep on making money untill your video is there and keeps getting traffic. But on Dtube, videos stop being monetized after 7 days. When the seventh day has passed, you will never ever get a penny off your videos.

Alexa Ranking of D-Tube:

Currently the Alexa global rank of Dtube is 27,602 and in USA it is ranked at 13,575

But one thing to note is that 3 months ago it was ranked at114,728. It can definitely be assumed that DTube visits’ rank are multiplied by 7 every 3 months, showing that its popularity is increasing day by day and very soon it will be the ‘next big thing’

My Review On Using D-Tube:

Once again this review is written for the BlockchainContest.io — #blockchainusecase

Just like the co-founder of Ethereum said, “There are always problems with early technology. It takes time.”. DTube is currently in its starting phase so users are experiencing lots of problems while using the app. I also faced a lot of problems while uploading a simple video of 3 minutes, but still, after continuously trying for 2 days, I am still in vain.

Uploading a video:

In order to uplaod the video, simply click the cloud shape icon on the top bar. Later on drag your video or simply click on the centre of the screen and browse your video. Just make sure that the video is in .mp4 format.

Adding description:

Just like youtube videos, you can add a title, upload a custom thumbnail, add description and tags. But one thing to note here is that you can have a maximum of 4 tags.

Adding subtitles and getting hashes:

In the subtitle tab, you can add subtitles while in the advanced setting, you can get hashes of all the different video formats.

Uploading is tooooo slow!

Well if you have uploaded any video on Youtube, you really need patience when trying to upload a video on DTube. Serious it took around 15 minutes to upload a video of 3 mins.

Even after everything, I kept on getting error:

Well, I followed all the things that were required, but at the end kept on getting “Unknown Error”. I still can’t figure out the issue so I thought to take the help of Mr. Google. While searching I found out that there were lots of people who were also in the same boat as me. Lots of people are facing the same “Unknown Error”. Some people say that it will take around 1 week when users eventually be able to start uploading stuff. Well, who knows!

Conclusion

Anyways it is such a nice platform, although still having lots of pitfalls, but you better start using it as it will revolutionize the way video industry works. Its a great platform to make some bucks from your hobby — whether it is content creation or just watching other videos :)

Let me know what do you think of this platform. Once again don’t forget to check out the hashtag #BlockchainContest.io and the website BlockchainContest.io to know more about the latest blockchain technologies.