The BBC is so hip!

TUAW reader Matthew alerted us to the fact that the BBC is getting ready to launch their new Motion Gallery... a massive archive of video clips four times the size of the industry standard, utilizing the new QuickTime H.264 video codec. Not only that, but the footage will be contain a rich body of metadata searchable via Spotlight.

The website says "we will be able to deliver mouth-watering 720x486 (NTSC) or 720x579
(PAL) previews with stunning video quality at low data rates, which means crisp, clear video in much smaller files. Our goal is to not only deliver remarkable previews, but to make certain that our footage fully integrates with your digital pre-production workflow — perhaps in ways you never imagined."

You can register for the BBC Motion Gallery here.

Please let this be a new trend that catches on like wildfire across the globe.

[Thanks, Matthew!]