DaveTV mixes YouTube with American Idol

Post your videos and get prizes--that's part of the idea behind DaveTV, the latest entrant into the video space.

The site lets members post their videos and watch the videos of others. Participants also rate the videos, but in a twist, the company also holds contests. Right now, the company is holding its Summer BBQ Cook-off Video Challenge where participants submit their own cooking videos. The winner will get their own show on Dave.TV, a grill and a year's supply of rubs and sauces from Texas Rib Rangers.

Other contests are on the way, threatens CEO . Karaoke is one of the strong possibilities, he said during a brief meeting in late May. (Dave.TV came out of stealth mode and moved into beta in June.).

Start-ups have rushed to the consumer video market en masse in the past year. Some are backed by venture firms and alumni from collapsed Internet firms. Others are just guys winging it. It's tough to say who will survive.

If anything, Wong can boast of a good track record when it comes to building start-ups. Wong founded Applied Semantics which Google bought for over $100 million in 2003. The technology is now a crucial part of AdSense.

An advertising engine is also integrated into the service that promises to be able to deliver targeted ads to consumers. (Granted, ads can be annoying, but--personally--I'd rather watch a ten second clip from Country Time Lemonade than listen to idealistic chatter about how these services are about the people and community and whatnot.)

There is no Dave by the way. It stands for Distributed Audio Video Entertainment.