Zync plug-in: Watch videos with a friend
February 27, 2009 on 1:49 pm | In 9.0 version | 46 Comments
There’s an updated version of the Zync plug-in that now supports sharing videos from Yahoo! Video, Flickr, and YouTube in Yahoo! Messenger 9.0.
If you’re not familiar with it, the Zync plug-in lets you watch an online video together with a friend right in the IM window. While Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 has always had the ability to view online videos within the IM conversation window, the Zync plug-in takes it a step further by allowing you and your friend to watch the video in perfect sync.
Here’s how it works. When you paste a video link from Yahoo! Video, YouTube or Flickr into an IM, the video player appears in the conversation window. Below the player is a button that says “Watch With Me”. Click it and your friend will be asked to load the Zync plug-in.
One you both have the plug-in loaded, a side panel will appear on your IM window with the video in it. From there, you can start, pause or close the video and your friend will have the same experience. Similarly, your friend can control the video from their side. You can even go full-screen with the video.
Zync is great when you want to discuss a video while you both watch it. The two of you are always at the same point in the video so your friend can’t spoil the big ending by jumping ahead (if they do, you jump ahead too).
Thanks to the team at Yahoo! Research for updating the Zync plug-in. Want to try out more of their creations? Head over to http://sandbox.yahoo.com/.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
I see a great possibility of using this as a support tool as well, You can use this along with the hundreds of various tutorial videos available out there. Looks to work out in 8.1 If you still use that, but I have yet to really try this out, It did let me install it in that version. Pausing the video for your chat partner is probably the best part, especially with instructional videos.
Comment by Cliff (User) — February 27, 2009 #
I would like to check this out
Comment by nancy ann peters — February 27, 2009 #
[...] has just released an updated version of the Zync plug-in that allows the sharing of videos from Yahoo Video, Flickr, [...]
Pingback by Yahoo Zync: Watch Videos with a Friend | Blippitt — February 28, 2009 #
hey im not sure how to invite my friend lexy
cuz she has verizon……………help
Comment by krista — February 28, 2009 #
[...] more details on the offical announcement We Recommend : Click here to run a Free Performance scan var authorId = [...]
Pingback by Watch Videos with friends on Yahoo Messenger [ Sync and Real time ] — February 28, 2009 #
The blog says “You can even go full-screen with the video.” That would be great, but I haven’t found any way to do that, and my friend hasn’t either.
We are both using 9.0.0.2136. He’s on Vista and I’m on XP SP3. He gets a “watch with me” button. I don’t. Is it possible that we have installed the old plugin into Yahoo! Messenger 9?
Comment by Neil — March 1, 2009 #
this is great… video would be a great option..
Comment by sparkzspot — March 2, 2009 #
@Neil – Sorry I wasn’t more clear. Only some of the services’ video windows include a full screen option. Links from Yahoo! Video and Flickr include a full-screen button in the Zync player window. However when I tested Youtube videos, that player did not include a full-screen option.
Sarah Bacon
Comment by Administrator — March 2, 2009 #
Bah… the real question is why can’t anyone else submit plugins!!!!???
It’s been years now and so my plugin is still test only.
Comment by Gerry — March 4, 2009 #
[...] | Yahoo Messenger Blog Enlace | Zync [...]
Pingback by Hola PO! » Zync plug-in, mira vídeos de YouTube con tus contactos de Yahoo Messenger — March 8, 2009 #
[...] | Yahoo Messenger Blog Enlace | Zync [...]
Pingback by Zync plug-in, mira vídeos de YouTube con tus contactos de Yahoo Messenger | Planeta Tecnologia — March 8, 2009 #
[...] | Yahoo Messenger Blog Enlace | Zync [...]
Pingback by Zync plug-in, mira vídeos de YouTube con tus contactos de Yahoo Messenger « Tecnologia, Actualidad,y mucho mas…. — March 9, 2009 #
[...] de información | Yahoo! Messenger Blog etiquetas: amigos, compartir, contactos, messenger, sincronizar, vídeos, Yahoo, youtube, zync [...]
Pingback by Mira vídeos de YouTube con tus contactos de Yahoo! Messenger como en Messenger TV - Dos bits — March 9, 2009 #
why cant i see the button to click after the videolink that i copy pasted to my IM window…I can only see the link but not the video itself..please help me out, im new with YM 9.0 and i guess this willbe so cool…thank you very much
Comment by mary — March 9, 2009 #
@mary – it’s possible that the video window is just not expanded/displayed. When you send the link and see it in the conversation part of the window, look for a grey, round icon to the right of the link with a little down arrow on it. Click that to expand and show the video window. Hope that helps
Sarah Bacon
Comment by Administrator — March 9, 2009 #
Hi Sarah Bacon,
I would like to know if it’s possible to support also videos from Trilulilu (www.trilulilu.ro).
Y!M is the number one instant messaging program used in Romania, and Trilulilu is the number one Romanian video sharing site used in Romania (here you can find traffic sources http://wall-street.ro/sati). I think most of Romanian users will be more than happy to use this feature, and I think it will make a lot of buzz.
Please contact me if you can help us with this feature.
Thank you
Comment by Calin Biris — March 11, 2009 #
For me is match better yahho video and embed very easy nice and beautiful other to site or blog or forum
the better demo sample ever
canfindonline
Comment by BLEDAR — April 2, 2009 #
[...] | Yahoo Messenger Blog Enlace | Zync plug-in Written by admin in: yahoo | Etiquetas:messenger TV, msn, Windows [...]
Pingback by Emsn.cl » Zync plug-in, mira vídeos de YouTube con tus contactos de Yahoo Messenger — May 27, 2009 #
Why cant i get videos from sites other then yahoo! videos and youtube to play in the sync player?
I tried watching a korean movie with my boyfriend who likes far distance and we couldn’t!
will this be updated soon?
Comment by Katlyn — June 12, 2009 #
Thank you for helping us with the inline video player feature.
(trilulilu.ro)
Best regads
Calin Biris
Comment by Calin Biris — July 15, 2009 #
Ah, you discovered that already!
We just added it last night. I’ll post to the blog about it as well. Cheers,
Sarah Bacon
Comment by Administrator — July 15, 2009 #
uhm, only youtube videos are available for video sharing?
Comment by Horace Ho — August 14, 2009 #
@Horace – We support inline video sharing from many sites. In fact we just added more: http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2009/08/04/more-video-and-photo-sites-now-supported-in-9-0/
The Zync plug-in however only supports some video services like YouTube, Yahoo! Video and others. Their support does not necessarily map to those we support in the inline media player.
Sarah Bacon
Comment by Administrator — August 14, 2009 #
Please please PLEASE let Hulu be supported.
Comment by Sarah — September 23, 2009 #
I wish the buffering worked better with zync and youtube. i can watch a youtube video and it rocks, but if i play it with a friend in Yahoo/Zync, it hangs all the time on most youtube videos.
Comment by Larry C — November 5, 2009 #
this some nice upgrade loving t..by the way can u upload videos from ur pc to watch them on the yahoo zync??that would be cool tried but cant work
Comment by tyrone — December 13, 2009 #
it`s posible to use it with 3 people? like in a conference ?
Comment by lilthuglady — January 31, 2010 #
it would be great to see myspace video also supported on here since its also a powerful force in online videos
Comment by kyle — July 15, 2010 #
hi sarah i m so happy dat u people added support for so many sites…
thanks
i wud also like u people to add support for google vidoes and megavideos as these sites are greatly shared among a lot of people….
Comment by dr shailesh sharma — August 17, 2010 #
I’ve been pulling my hair out with the same problem. I’m in a long distance relationship and me and my girl liked watching movies and videos via Zync. Now all it does is what I call the Pale Screen of death. I have no idea what’s up with this. Did you know that Zync is a sort of prototype from Berkley University? Maybe not enough people are using it, so they’re getting rid of it, or maybe they’re installing something that regulates what you can watch and what you can’t watch, who knows? All I know is that it’s one of the only sources of entertainment that me and my girl have and I MISS OUR GOD DAMN MOVIE NIGHTS!! Anyway..that’s my 2 cents. YOU ARE NOT ALONE, LOL. We’re in this pickle together, guys. I think we should amass and report this to Yahoo administraters. We need a damn answer.
Comment by Mac — September 23, 2010 #
Thanks for this useful app, Zync is a great plug-in.
Comment by Contactos — February 1, 2011 #
Is it possible to upload videos and watch them on zync plug in? That would be cool.
Comment by Video Simplified Joe — February 23, 2011 #
it used to be good, till about a month ago when suddently it stopped playing videos correctly. It doesn’t sync any longer and lags horridly on my screen. nothing on my computer changed so it has to be the program that isn’t doing what it used to correctly. my girlfriend and i can’t use it anymore together because its not entertaining to watch a video while you constantly move the mouse over the video to keep it from freezing. it needs to be fixed because it used to be the only reason we used ymessenger, now there’s no point to it, especially since yahoo doesn’t seem to care about trying to stop SPIM either.
Comment by Lunar — April 14, 2011 #
cannot get it to work. video does not appear in side pannel
Comment by landifl — June 4, 2011 #
I used to be able to watch videos in synch with other users using zynch video sharing but lately
i can hear the video on my end but not see it. what is strange is that by accident i found out that if run my mouse over the commands over and below the video i get a video and movement but only if i constantly move my cursor over the words above and below where the video should be playing. i have been online with the yahoo technicians but they could not find a solution to the problem. i run windows 7, have the lastest adobe flash, and direct x. i don’t know what else to do. thanks.
Comment by william c. — June 10, 2011 #
Mine suddenly just doesnt work right. The video freezes then suddenly jumps up further and if anyone is talking the talking is fine just the video isnt working. Started 3 days ago.
Comment by Mandy — June 11, 2011 #
I used to watch videos every single day with friends, and all of a sudden, it no longer works. I’ll get sound with no video, or vice versa, and only works when i move my mouse over the commands at the top. Appears to be happening across the board, need some help here, Yahoo.
Comment by SarahBeth — June 12, 2011 #
My videos stopped suddenly too I got the same problem what’s going on!??! I miss having movie night with my friends
Please fix it yahoo asap
Comment by Audrey — June 18, 2011 #
Why dóesnt my zync sharing option working anymore ?
Comment by Annie Nguyen — June 21, 2011 #
There is a message that I like yahoo.
Comment by Buy MBT — June 25, 2011 #
I have been using the application now for 2 years with my best friend in the states.
Now since the latest update on youtube, we have issues with some of the videos. Has anyone else had this problem? We can watch the video’s individually on the site itself, but we cannot share it through yahoo zync share. Also, where we used to be able to copy the share link now we have to copy the browser address into the messenger.
It’s frustrating and cumbersome. It was much easier before now it’s just discouraging.
Any suggestions besides give up?
Comment by Angel — July 4, 2011 #
I have been having these issues too. Yahoo gives me all of these fixes but it doesn’t work. I do not know what to do.
Comment by Courtney — July 8, 2011 #
this is bullshit, only yahoo video, flickr and youtube? they arent the only video hosts out there, YAHOO!
Comment by ColdnessIncarnate — July 27, 2011 #
i tried to use the zync video sharing, and for some reason the video on my part freezes, but the i hear the audio, my friend can see and hear it well. When i move my mouse towards the video portion and click on random areas the video starts to work, but freezes when i stop using the mouse. whats the issue?
Comment by Francis — September 9, 2011 #
This has been happening to be since June. I’ve yet to find a solution. Yahoo is sleeping I guess…
Comment by Toan N. — September 14, 2011 #
chat and vedio
Comment by ahmed — January 28, 2012 #