The mysterious delay has ended and Google Video Marketplace is a reality. To some extent, Google has mashed together user-submitted content with video licensed by major providers such as CBS and the NBA. So, the long-awaited promise to monetize amateur video content is finally realized. At first glance, the prices for this home-grown content are ... well, optimistic, to put it graciously. Unrealistic or inflated, to be harsh about it. A short description and a 30-second clip are the only audition clues you have to decide whether to plunk down ten bucks (to pick a random example) for Segment '76, an 84-minute comedy set in Poland.

Filters enable browsing by provider, paid or free, and long or medium or short. Or "all," in each category.

The big providers have special pages for browsing. CBS is the service's anchor (so far, at least), and I sat straight up in my chair when I saw that Deep Space Nine and Star Trek Voyager are both represented. But only three episodes of each! The hell? Are their digital converters driven by gerbils? What's the freakin' problem? I have no idea where the bottleneck is, but man, I cannot stand meaningless delays. Each one of these series should be converted in its entirety within a day, and should be wholly available. Don't tell me to be patient; I've been patient for 10 years waiting for on-demand entertainment to reach the online space. Lame on CBS; lame on Google; lame on whoever--it's just lame.

CBS is offering three Primetime Shows and seven Classic Shows at this time. Two of the Primteime Shows have one episode each! (Lame.) Survivor: Guatemala is available in 11 episodes, but with gaps in the series. (Lame.) Uniformly, episodes are priced at $1.99.

A bunch of Charlie Rose is available; it looks like randomly scattered episodes originally aired over the last 10 years, priced at 99 cents each. A couple of old Ed Sullivan shows for ... $9.99 each? Is that a  joke? It is not a joke. Hey, look at this--episodes of PBS's Nova, but surprise! They are not episodes; they are clips of less than a minute. What on earth for? Old basketball games are four bucks each. Whatever. Music videos? Five of 'em, for $1.99 each.

Man, this thing is painfully disappointing. I understand now why Google bragged that new content would be added daily; when you start with so little, there's only one direction to move. By the way, where is the video player client that was promised, and that has been removed from Google Pack? No mention of it on the Google Video blog, which, in fact, does not acknowledge Video Marketplace in any way.

Patience, patience, I say to myself. The personalized home page started out pathetically, and it turned into something interesting. You've got to love these Google launches, in a way. The company has a college-student sensibility. It's late to deliver, it throws half-baked stuff into public view, and it continues to work on the assignment after it is due. The end result is usually better than anything else around, but the first iteration of Video Marketplace is almost completely uninteresting and even infuriating. Patience, patience.