YouTube buys Irish firm Green Parrot Pictures

March 16th 2011
Silicon Republic

Google-owned online video service YouTube has acquired Dublin-based video technology company Green Parrot Pictures for an undisclosed sum.

Green Parrot Pictures specialises in delivering intellectual licensing and high quality picture manipulation technology. Anil Kokaram, an associate professor at Trinity College, founded the company in 2004.

YouTube uploads 35 hours of video every minute. As many of the videos are shot by amateurs, video quality is not always perfect. Green Parrot can sharpen images, reduce visual noise and make video quality better while the video is being uploaded.

In a blog post, Jeremy Doig, director of Google Video Technology, said, “some of YouTube's most popular or moving videos are shot using low-quality mobile phones and video cameras".

He also discussed the videos of the recent protests in Libya saying, "Although emotionally captivating, they can be jerky, blurry or unsteady”.

Doig announced he was pleased with the acquisition saying, “In the last six years, (Green Parrot Pictures') small team of engineers has built cutting-edge video quality improvement technology that has been used in major studio productions, from Lord of the Rings to X-Men to Spider-Man. Their technology helps make videos look better while at the same time using less bandwidth and improving playback speed”.