Archive for the ‘Media’ Category

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I cancelled DirecTV and am now watching 100% Internet television

Saturday, November 24th, 2007

Last week, I cancelled my DirecTV service. The three months of “Vacation” from DirecTV that I arranged over the summer proved to me that I can successfully live without cable and satellite television. The WGA strike’s affect on the more random, transient programming I watch didn’t hurt either.

Don’t get me wrong, I still watch television shows — and, lucky for me my favorite “Must Watch” network shows are programmed and provided by NBC, FOX and ABC and not CBS.

I say lucky for me, because the video quality on CBS’s “Innertube” service has left me feeling that CBS hates the Internet, hates their viewers or both.

Today, I decided to check out that much-hyped CBS reality show where the show producers abandon 40 or so kids in some ghost town with a hope that they go all Lord of the Flies on one another.

I notice a change almost immediately in CBS’s feed. Maybe they dumped the Real Networks-based streaming service and its constant “buffering…” messages that annoyed me the last time I wrote about Internet televsion?

CBS replaced the “buffering… buffering… buffering… ” with — well… — I’ve recorded a 30-second audio sample (yes, the video was just as poor as the audio). Various press releases state that move networks (the service that really impressed me with their ABC and FOX stream delivery) now includes CBS as one of their clients, so this quality problem would appear to be CBS-originated rather than a move networks problem. Which is good, because I really like the other stuff move networks delivers to my house.

Anatomy of an Internet Television Show

NBC (Ignore the downloadable shows, they’re only for Microsoft owners using the Windows-only version of the Internet), FOX and ABC place complete episodes of most of their interesting shows on the web.

Most of the network streaming services make you watch the same commercial five or six times in the place of the twenty minutes of commercials you’d normally see during a one hour show, with ABC being the only network mixing in their own show promotions with the commercials.

I actually prefer this approach to traditional advertiser-supported television. If an advertiser wants to pay a network some money in exchange for me to view an episode’s worth of tv, even if there’s no chance in hell of me ever buying or using that product, then good for them and great for me. I’ll take six 15 second commercials in exchange for twenty minutes of random interruptions any day.

So, what do I watch?

NBC

FOX

ABC

CBC
(the trick is to click pause and let the show download first)

Shows I can live without, but wish were available online:

Bravo

  • Project Runway
  • Top Chef

FX

  • The Riches

Local News

I live next to the foothills in Boulder within an apparent RF deadzone (ask any cab driver trying to bill my credit card at my house). I wish there was one local Denver TV station that streamed or allowed the download of local news rather than splitting their stories into tiny clips as added “multimedia rich media extras” linked from Web pages.

Posted in IP Media, IPTV, Media, Uncategorized | Comments

Voice Blogging?

Thursday, July 26th, 2007

This seems to be a solution to the problem of not being near a computer to post something really important to your blog — right now.

Yahoo, Google and several others have connected IVRS (Interactive Voice Response Services) proxies to Live Journal and other Blogging systems for years. It’s a really neat trick and provides an extra interface into “The Conversation”.

I just can’t get over feeling like I’m listening to someone else’s voice mail.

Posted in Blog Stuff, Community, IP Media, Media | Comments

“The Internet’s for old people”

Thursday, July 26th, 2007

The above statement was said by Mark Cuban at the CTAM (Cable Television Association for Marketing) Summit. Multichannel News reports he also declared, “The Internet’s dead. It’s over” and states that the only “new application” to emerge is YouTube.

Now, I realize that Mark was in a room full of cable industry execs and it would seem a likely place for him (or anyone) to announce that the Internet is dead and cable supreme, but what was he thinking?

There are dozens of new services using peer-to-peer technologies — like Joost, Grid Networks and Vuze to name just three. Pre-Internet, these services would not have been allowed to exist in a cable environment unless:

  1. the peer points existed on closed cable-owned and operated boxes
  2. used software owned and installed by the cable company
  3. only transfered media content that the cable company allowed subscribers to see (i.e. was compensated by media owners to deliver to subscribers)

There are dozens of new services that enable interactivity in the television-like world of broadband video distribution, for example:

  1. viddler (timeline tags — your own personal MST3K)
  2. brightcove (create a “channel”, monetize the channel and analyze statistics)
  3. Digg Video (influence the video zeitgeist)
  4. podcasting (be the tv)

Cable has done a really poor job of growing beyond their passive media delivery roots (of replicating the original passive over-the-air public broadcast in a private wire-bound spectrum).

It’s not coincidental that the number of “Interactive Television” startups exploded simultaneously to the acceptance and popularization of IP, the Internet and WWW as a communications and interactive media. The cable industry facilitated the creation of ITV Hype 2.0 (in the early 90s, ITV Hype 1.0 didn’t go so well) because if they didn’t they would have lost even more ad dollars and eyeballs to the Internet.

We’ve seen ten years since the mainstreaming of the Internet (and ITV Hype 2.0) and the open Internet is well into “Web 2.0″ while cable is still struggling with delivering the promise of “Interactivity 1.0″ (beyond pointing and clicking a remote to select a PPV on-demand movie — yay interactive tv!).

On the other hand, if Multichannel News misquoted Mark and his statement was restricted to the distribution and use of passive high definition television — he is correct, the Internet doesn’t enable the sustained distribution of 19.2mbps MPEG2 transport streams to the home in 99.99% of the world’s cities.

But the number and quality of pixels displayed on a television set does not equate to the sum total of the visual media experience. At the 1999 National Association of Broadcasters show, my team proved the acceptable visual media experience is flexible and will adapt to low quality if the subject matter is exclusive, informative and/or compelling.

The Internet allows for a much wider variety of exclusive, informative and compelling media. The Internet delivers this media to an ever increasing number of devices and network architectures.

Cable offers… Pay Per View… to your television.

Posted in Consumer Electronics, Gadgets, IP Media, IPTV, Media, Rants | Comments

Status: Buffering… Buffering… Buffering… …

Friday, July 20th, 2007

I’ve been watching quite a lot of television on the web since I put my DirecTV service on hiatus for the summer.

Thus far, I think the winning implementation for delivering on-demand television to the web is Move Networks. The shows (sometimes) available from my local Fox station are next to flawless and really enjoyable experience.

In contrast, the worst experience by a wide margin can be found on CBS’s “innertube”. The CBS television experience features hundreds of “Buffering… Buffering… Buffering…” waits between random akamai/doubleclick errors* and dozens of CBS web server-based “slow script”** errors. When did Akamai and Real Networks begin to suck so much?

And what is up with the web television commercials that have the audio cranked to 11? One word for you web television services: “NORMALIZATION”. Seriously, the audio on some of these commercials is at least three times louder than your programming content. Computer users should not have to leap to their volume controls in an attempt to prevent their speakers from being destroyed every time a commercial starts streaming.

I can’t wait until web television/IPTV content aggregators decide to apply some quality control to their products. This industry technology left the experimental stage more than ten years ago.

Peer-to-peer television holds great promise, but the most popular solutions all seem to require Microsoft Windows or Intel CPUs at this time. I wonder if Broadcast TV would have been as popular if NBC programming was limited to General Electric TV sets and shows on ABC were only compatible with RCA sets?

Web Television has a long way to go.

* “RealPlayer: Connection to server has timed out. You may be experiencing network problems. rtsp://a1770.v219276.c21927.g.vr.akamaistream,net/ondemand/7/1770/21827/v7201400/
cmscomstor.download.akamai.com/8605/_!/g2demand/entertainment/primetime/bigbrother8/
rebroadcast/ep05/bigbro805d.rm?auth=daEcObMbEb.dwbkaWb1cLbncHaadMcsddai-bgOq2X-buy-EaEncVlg&aifp=v07201400”

** “A script on the page CBS.com - Innertube http://www.cbs.com/innertube/player.php?cat=140205&vid=&format=&auto=1 is making Safari unresponsive. Do you want to continue running the script, or stop it?“

Posted in DRM, IP Media, IPTV, Media, Rants | Comments

My ideal communications device
(AKA Jenn’s Communications Device Manifesto)

Monday, July 2nd, 2007

All the hype about Apple’s iPhone has me thinking about a device so cool and useful that I would do just about anything to own one. These are the features such a device would have:

Form factor

  1. The device would be about the size of an iPhone and weigh no more than 4oz.

Interface

  1. A high-definition screen, larger than 240×320 pixels — preferably 480×720 at 180dpi or higher. It would work in both portrait and landscape orientations.
  2. There would be on-screen virtual keys and also connect to a bluetooth keyboard.
  3. It would accept voice commands, including voice dialing.
  4. It would be capable of connecting to a bluetooth headset
  5. The video could be output into an external monitor (think airlines / desktops / tvs)
  6. The OS and Applications windowing API would allow for slick and reactive experience.

Memory and Storage

  1. There would be at least 2GB of RAM
  2. There would be at least 20GB of stateful storage (disk or solid state).
  3. There should also be a USB2.0 or Firewire port for external storage
  4. There should also be an API available to connect to WebFS or some other remote IP-based storage service.

Power

  1. The battery should be removable, with spares sold as accessories.
  2. Battery life should average 8-10 hours, regardless of voice or video use.
  3. There should be modular mains connectivity for worldwide AC options.
  4. There should be an option for Car, Boat and Plane DC power connectivity.

Multimedia

  1. There would be a camera with a resolution of at least 2MP. This would be used for taking photos or capturing video.
  2. It should be able to receive streaming video from files or broadcast
  3. It should be able to address my home media server(s) through a tethered sync or from any IP network
  4. there would be a stereo microphone.
  5. There would be sound input (line and mic) and output jacks (line and headphone).
  6. There would be a hardware OpenGL 3D render engine.
  7. There would be hardware H.264/MPEG 4 encoding and decoding. A FPGA/Media ASIC for future codec compatibility

Applications

   Productivity

  1. Email should be compatible with IMAP(S), POP3(S) and Exchange over IP
  2. Calendar should sync over IP with Exchange, .Mac, Yahoo or Google calendars and also have the option to sync via tether to my local Outlook/iCal
  3. My address/phone book, notes and lists should also sync over IP and/or tether.
  4. I should be able to plug in a GPS USB key and tie location into meetings/events in my calendar
  5. There should be an option to perform the above securely (OpenSSL, MSFT VPN and Cisco VPN compatible)
  6. The geek in me also wishes an SSH client — because my productivity often relies upon a command line.

   Internet

  1. There should be a full featured web browser with Javascript, Flash and a full Java Runtime Environment
  2. There should be freedom for developers to develop for the device platform, release open source applications or commercial applications as they desire
  3. There should be freedom for consumers to use open source or commercial applications upon the device as they desire
  4. There should be an open API that Internet software can utilize to plug into the camera, microphones, USB and A/V ports.

   Voice Calling

  1. 100% Voice over IP.
  2. Roaming and Long Distance constraints and rules would not be tied to the device.
  3. The phone number or network address should be temporarily or permanently assignable to other IP-based devices

   Video Calling/Conferencing/Receiving

  1. 100% Video over IP.
  2. Compatible with other IP-based video calling and conferencing standards as they are adopted
  3. Compatible (and addressable at no extra cost) with my IP Video Television services and subscriptions

Network Plan

  1. Membership/Subscription/Identification/Access Control should be performed and verified at the personal level rather than the device level. I should be able to replace my IP Communications device freely without pre-notifying the network operator and having to negotiate new device credentials.
  2. The communications device will never ever register itself on a cell/mobile operator’s voice network. Ideally, there will be no “Home Network” registration required and therefore no need to roam.
  3. The network service will actually be a network access aggregator who, through relationships with WiMax and WiFi network operators, will ensure that I have a near-seemless worldwide access experience at a flat rate price.
  4. There is no mandatory application or service feature bundling requirement from the network operator or aggregator. I am free to form application delivery relationships with anyone I wish, worldwide (including VOIP and Television).
  5. I am free to use any network-delivered applications or device-based features I wish without network owner/operator/aggregator interference.

Price

  1. The base device MSRP should be US$700.00 or less.
  2. The network subscription fee should be US$100.00/mo. or less.
  3. Alternately, network subscription fees could be subsidized by ads or traceable in-network affiliate-like purchase agreements or gifting by other services
  4. Application subscriptions should be US$20.00/mo. or less — or ad supported, or free.

Posted in Consumer Electronics, Gadgets, IP Media, IPTV, Media, Movies, Music | Comments

The World eBook Fair

Wednesday, June 13th, 2007

This morning, I had this note in one of my mailing lists I’m on. If you have one of those new shiny Sony Readers or any other eBook capable device, this seems like a screaming deal:

Give the world eBooks in 2007!!!
July 4 to Aug 4 go to http://worldebookfair.com
2/3 million free eBooks, 110,000 commercial eBooks
787,000 total eBook files available

Michael S. Hart
Founder
Project Gutenberg

100,000 eBooks easy to download at:
http://www.gutenberg.org [coming up on 25,000 eBooks]
http://www/gutenberg.cc [already passed 75,000 eBooks]
http://gutenberg.net.au Project Gutenberg of Australia 1500+
http://pge.rastko.net 65 languages PG of Europe ~500

Posted in Found, Media | Comments

The End of DRM?

Wednesday, April 18th, 2007

There are two consumer electronic DRM stories bubbling to the Internet consciousness recently.

The first has to do with Sony Pictures deciding it was time to start encrypting their movie content with a new DRM scheme that their own Sony Electronics DVD Players (not to mention any other DVD player made until maybe a month ago) cannot decypher.

This can’t be too good for Sony, as they are still struggling with the poor “goodwill” created when they started installing malware onto their customer’s PCs.

If at first Sony doesn’t succeed, try again. And again. This is clearly a protracted example in how to piss customers off, permanently.

The second involves the reprogramming of more recent HD-DVD and Blu-ray “high definition” disc players that, unlike their DVD playing hardware cousins, were actually meant to be “field re-programmable.”

AACS LA, the DRM licensing authority for all your favorite take-home HD media needs has determined that it is time to release new DRM keys for your favorite take-home HD media players.

This is all fine and good, in an ideal world where hardware keys and locked media are defined and matched dynamically, you expire the old key and activate the new key at the same time you expire the old lock and activate the new lock.

The problem with hardware is, once it has left the factory (or store), you are purchasing a device with a defined key. The problem with take-home media is once it has left the factory (or store), you are purchasing a piece of media with a defined lock. The lock and key have to match before you are allowed by the media producer and the hardware manufacturer to enjoy your content.

If one side of the key holder and lock builder scenario diverge, consumers of keys and locks (because this is where the consumer media marketplace has evolved) are left with locks, keys and no content.

Field-programmable devices (such as HD-DVD and Blu-ray disc players) can accept their new keys by an automatic update included with all new locks er media, simply include a special header in the media handshake process that forces the player to avoid the content on the disc and install the new keys from the disc instead and then reboot. For device manufacturers, this is the ideal key distribution case. The other common hardware/firmware update can occur through manufacturers requiring consumers to download software from the Internet onto a CD-Rom and have them turn on their DVD/CD player with the disc inside (this is less ideal, as it requires alot of action from a consumer).

Where the funkiness begins is when key expiration is required. What happens to the old locks in your collection that needed this key to play? Well, they don’t unless they are allowed to work, only on media produced before the revocation date (when the new key and lock set were published).

The second amount of funkiness starts when lock makers (media companies), decide it is time to make, design and distribute a new lock. Not simply filling the distribution pipeline with new locks generated from the same algorithm the previous key could unlock but creating a new algorithm. This new algorithm needs to be installed along with new keys inside your DVD player or computer so that the media encrypted with the new lock. But what about the old keys and locks? Well, they don’t just go away either. They stick around anyway.

Requiring a media player to store and understand all these keys and algorithms is fine when it’s a PC, but sooner or later an “untethered” device will start to slow down or simply stop working because it can no longer handle all of these firmware changes.

The media companies have already defined a path, stating that it is the consumer equipment manufacturers’ responsibility to keep consumers up to date with the keys required of the media companies’ locks, even when these locks are non-standard and proprietary (and breaking the media format specification).

I predict two things will happen. Consumer electronics manufacturers will tire of their devices’ becoming randomly but eventually disabled by media companies’ drm policies. And, consumers will get pissed off that the lifetimes of their electronics and purchased media no longer means life-time it means time-to-disabled.

DRM can not last.

Posted in Consumer Electronics, DRM, Gadgets, IP Media, Media, Movies | Comments

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