Ryan Greene: Entertainment

Tue, 28 Jan 2003 03:48:00 GMT

Basically, they have been taking enough of a beating in the market to know that they have to do something if they want to survive. Let's hope this way works out well for the customers.

From [Google Top Stories]

Mon, 13 Jan 2003 12:39:42 GMT

SonicBlue Says Development of New Devices on Track Yahoo News

It seems that SonicBlue is actually holding off on releasing some products and features due to copyright concerns. This is a huge shame as I'd love to see just what this innovative company could do if left unfettered.

Mon, 13 Jan 2003 12:36:38 GMT

TiVo Gets Networked.

This is pretty sweet, although you will not be able to share or archive shows to your PC.

PC World - Owners of TiVo's Series 2 Digital Video Recorders will soon be able to add their unit to a home network, so they can share content among PCs, Macs, and other networked TiVo units in the home.
TiVo pitches DVRs as home network hub The Register
TiVo Enters Home-Networking Space Yahoo News
allNetDevices - Hollywood Reporter - and 9 related » [Google Technology News]

Tue, 07 Jan 2003 13:13:42 GMT

I'd love to be able to order a custom compilation CD in general, be it my own choices of a band's greatest hits, or just he music I'm listening to at the moment. I think this is a good start, and I hope to see more of it in the future.

New Service Offers Made-to-Order CD's From TV Show. Sony Pictures Television and a CD duplication company will allow fans of "Dawson's Creek" to create and buy customized CD's. By David F. Gallagher. [New York Times: Technology]

Man Alive This Makes me Angry

Mon, 06 Jan 2003 03:26:21 GMT

It seems that they are at it again...

Entertainment Cartel Gearing Up to Ban Time-Shifting TV. New York Times: Studios Using Digital Armor to Fight Piracy. Lying dormant in virtually every digital cable box in America... [Dan Gillmor's eJournal]

"We need to put in speed bumps to keep people honest," said Jack Valenti, the president of the Motion Picture Association of America, which is lobbying federal regulators to require many devices to incorporate technology that prevents consumers from sending digital media files over the Internet. "If we don't, our future is bleak."

Oddly, Jack, the courts found it to be legal for end users to tape programs to watch later, so why do we need speed bumps?

Sometimes I wonder if his middle name is Ass... Regardless, dig this next bit of info:

Gary Merson, who reviews equipment for consumer electronics magazines, found last week that his state-of-the-art high-definition television system would not display several channels, including HBO and WCBS. Instead a message flashed on the $8,000 screen: "Notice — Copy restrictions prevent the viewing of this program in the high definition format. For more information see the owner's manual for your satellite receiver."

DirecTV, Mr. Merson's satellite provider, said no one was available to comment on the company's policy on copy restrictions last week. But Mr. Merson said he was told by a customer service representative that the message was intended for television studios that want to activate anti-piracy measures.

If DirecTV detects that a customer's equipment would allow certain shows to be transmitted over the Internet, the viewer is informed that the material can be seen only in standard format. In Mr. Merson's case, the message appears to have been a technical glitch, which did not make him any happier.

"These copy-protection schemes are a bill of goods," said Mr. Merson, who wrote about the experience in his Internet newsletter, The HDTV Insider. "The program providers get the higher profits and we get stuff that doesn't work right."

I imagine I'd be pretty steamed if I had just spent $8000 on my TV and found out that I couldn't watch the shows I wanted to because of a glitch. How would that make you feel?

Fri, 03 Jan 2003 16:02:23 GMT

This is nice. Especially the resolution (1920 x 1080), which would allow you to use it as a computer monitor as well as to watch TV. Price has not been announced at this time, but I i8magine that it will knock a few grand off the cost of current (smalller) LCD screens once it ships.

InfoWorld: Samsung to unveil 54 inch high-definition LCD at CES. [Hack the Planet] [lawrence's notebook]

As an aside, I spent new years day watching the Court TV NYPD Blue 3rd season marathon. What a great show. During the commercial breaks I flipped t to ESPN2's World's Strongest Man marathon. I was in heaven. My wife, on the other hand, was wishing that I had the TV in the bedroom working so that she could watch one of her shows. This brings me to my point, many of the HDTV units that are on the market now have a dual tuner built in that allows you to display two channels side by side. If you can adapt to having two shows on at once, I imagine this could end the disputes over what show to watch, as well as allow one person to watch two shows at the same time.

I better order this soon then

Sat, 21 Dec 2002 02:44:27 GMT

Hollywood targets DVD-copying upstart. The movie industry is training its legal guns on a new target: small start-up 321 Studios, which lets people make copies of their DVDs. [CNET News.com]

Pretty Sweet

Tue, 29 Oct 2002 19:51:55 GMT

Panasonic is making a combination PVR and DVD recorder, solving the problem of archiving shows when the hard drive gets full. Now it just needs OpenCable support. [Hack the Planet] [lawrence's notebook]

No ethernet though, so you'll have to have it connected (via firewire) to your computer in order to get the shows off your Replay or Tivo units.

The Aging Demographic

Mon, 14 Oct 2002 12:03:56 GMT

Article in the Times today about how the 18-34 demograophic is, in essence, crap form the perspective of marketing. They don't have the lion's share of cash to spend (that's the 50+ market), and in the case of Ford, they aren't even counting on them to buy anything now:

''These younger folks may not be big-ticket purchasers now,'' says a Ford spokesperson, ''but they may one day be. Ford wants to form a relationship with these younger buyers now and grow them up into our various brands.''

In other words, "Hey, we know that you don't hae the cash to spend now, but keep us in mind when you do, OK? Thanks! And hey! Here's your show!"

At the same time, consider what Doc was saying the other day about Tivo:

She just asked how many people in the audience own a TiVo. Not that many hands went up. At Digital Hollywood, nearly all the hands went up.

88% of ads in TiVo households don't get watched.

The goal of a market economy itslelf is to facilitate signals from customers to supliers... The problem is that moving that signal up the chain is like the game of "telephone."

I'm curious as to what the tipping point will be where it is no longer feasable for advertisers to bother with 30 second spots on shows. The first episode of the next season of 24 is running without any ads, and is being "Brought to you by Ford". While that makes watching the show with a six pack impossible, it is a pretty cool move for them to be making.

I Know I'm Obsessed. So What?

Wed, 09 Oct 2002 03:18:27 GMT

Thought for the Day - Use this with the optional camera and firewire attatchments, and this, and you can now archive your daily TV show, or Jackass-like Gonzo program quick and easy, then take the latter to the editing suite (or your laptop) for final production work.

I Need A Bank of These

Mon, 07 Oct 2002 17:01:26 GMT

Rack mounted if possible. Then again, if the latest copyright buill goes through, they won't work with the newer TVs that will be coming out. Details of what I'm yammering about below:

My TiVo woes continue. Last week, my TiVo lost it's programming guide. All efforts over the past week to reload it haven't been successful. One thing we did find is that without the programming guide, TiVo is essentially useless. It doesn't have simple VCR controls that allow you to pick a channel, a time, and a recording length.

My friend recently set up his Replay TV to connect to his PC over Ethernet. He allocated a 120 Gb drive on his PC to his Replay device. He also spent a couple of hours converting a couple of dozen of his DVDs and tapes he owns over to this PC hard-drive. This now makes it possible to play them on demand.

This is getting closer to what I want: a simple device (and remote control) that connects my entertainment center to my PC. Nothing fancy, just hardware and some light software. This would allow me to easily store all the content that is delivered to my house or any movies/music I play on my DVD/CD player on an inexpensive drive for personal use later. I could select from a variety of extremely low cost programming guides via the Internet (this competition would allow the guides to get better, faster, and more powerful quicker). The interface doesn't have to be that different than a standard PC interface (on HDTV at 1080i, a PC interface is extremely nice and 30-40"!). If this was built into a home theater receiver, that would probably work too (it would only require that a couple of input jacks -- for all three major modes of input -- that route through the computer's PVR hard-drive). [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

The Music Industry, and Why We Should Sic Washington On Them

Wed, 02 Oct 2002 13:53:17 GMT

Two stories that I find, interesting, to say the least:

Dan Gillmor: "The music industry, denying it's done anything wrong, decided to pay $143 million in cash and contributions to settle a price-fixing suit filed by two states."[ lawrence's notebook, 10/2/2002; 8:22:12 AM.]

MusicDish: "In a shocking statement made by Back Street Boy, Kevin Richardson, he testified that they have never received a royalty check." [ Scripting News, 10/1/2002; 9:00:18 PM.]

Hmmm, so on the one hand, we have price fixing, and on the other, we have artists getting ripped off. Dig into that second story for more of just how the labels have lied to and stolen from their artists, as well as the arcane audit process that is in place. Hey, the IRS seems to have more time on it's hands since it had to go all nice nice a few years back, let's get them to audit the books of the labels. An entertainment tax code, if you will, that labels will have to follow.

A Vision of an Ideal Geek World

Mon, 30 Sep 2002 20:28:33 GMT

Yesterday my wife and I were trying to find a restaurant to go to that we had not yet tried. I brought up Yahoo and looked to see what restaurants were in the are that we were going to be in, as well as to see if they were open, The first restaurant was remodeling and opening tomorrow, the second answered with voice mail, had me press one to make a reservation, and then told me that they didn't take reservations via voice mail.

Silly really.

What I thought as I was heading into the place we finally settled on, was that it would be great of I could synch my Clie with an iCal community that consisted of the entertainment section of my yellow pages, and then use my phone to either IM or email reservations, as well as the tickets to the movie that we watched (The Tuxedo). Lastly, in my ideal little geek world, it would be nice if we could reserve/prepay for the snack,s so that all we would have to do is walk into the theater, get our tickets form the machine (which then prompts the snack bar to make our order), and then proceed to our seats. I was reminded of this by the CNET story below:

Apple releases iSync beta. update The Mac maker's latest "i" application can be used to synchronize contact and calendar data with Palm handhelds, the iPod music player, and a number of Bluetooth-enabled cell phones. [CNET News.com]

Dan Gillmor Rocks the Mic

Mon, 30 Sep 2002 13:13:01 GMT

My Response to Jack Valenti [Dan Gillmor's eJournal]

Tivo Meets the Nielsens

Fri, 13 Sep 2002 17:17:26 GMT

Nielsen, TiVo Try Ratings Game. The famous TV ratings company links up with the real-time recorder to come up with a new way to measure a new audience. By Steve Friess. [Wired News]

No mention if it will log commercial skipping or not. Still, it's a good way to see what people are watching and when. While it is limited to only 20 families at the moment, I imagine that it could be rolled out quickly to all combo Nielsen/Tivo families if either party was interested.

Go Cringely!

Fri, 13 Sep 2002 14:51:33 GMT

Open Source TV [Slashdot]

Robert X Cringely describes his plan for NerdTV. Pretty cool, he'll be shooting on some JVC PAL miniDV camcorders, with progressive scan CCDS. That streamlines the conversion process and saves on frames per second for when they go go stream it out.

Additionally, the show is coming out in three versions, Nerd, Suit, and Raw, allowing end users to choose which show they want to watch (This Program is rated N for Nerds, by the Open Source Broadcasting Network.)

Um, Go Verizon!

Thu, 12 Sep 2002 15:31:20 GMT

Finally, a Fair Fight with Big Music [Business Week: Technology]

The RIAA and Verizon are going at it hammer and tong over the issue of revealing a users identity, who was accused of trading music files via a P2P network. To Verizon's credit, they won't do it.

In a Sept. 10 "friend of the court" brief filed by the U.S. Internet Industry Assn., the ISPs argue that "what the RIAA is really seeking, at the end of the day, is to shift the burden of copyright enforcement from its own members -- who apparently would prefer not to alienate potential customers by suing them outright -- to an ISP that does nothing more than provide an Internet connection to the customer."

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

OK, Cool, Naaaw, Fuck.

Thu, 08 Aug 2002 20:17:51 GMT

FCC pushes digital TV adoption. CNET Aug 8 2002 12:22PM ET
FCC requires all-digital TVs. MSNBC Aug 8 2002 12:30PM ET...
FCC to add anti-copy tech on digital TV. ZDNet Aug 8 2002 12:50PM ET...
FCC pushes piracy-proof, digital TV. ZDNet Aug 8 2002 1:04PM ET...

... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Broadcast flags, bad, Beeer Gooood.

Thu, 08 Aug 2002 17:29:43 GMT

Get ready to buy a new TV [USA Today : Front Page]

The gist of the article is that the FCC is going to require that all TVs be digital signal compatable, which is fine by me, as long as the it caries over to VCRs and DVR machines as well, and there is no steenking rebroadcast badges incorporated into the technology.

In advance of Thursday's decision, Jenny Miller, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Electronics Association, had said, "We believe there's going to be a mandate for the inclusion of a digital broadcast television tuner in all television sets."

But she also said she felt the manufacturers might challenge such a ruling in court, if necessary.

Miller said the requirement would cost $250 for each set, amounting to an annual "TV tax" on the industry and consumers of about $7 billion. She said that with most consumers receiving television signals by cable or satellite, putting the tuner in all TVs would make people pay for a device most won't use.

Economy of scale - if the chipsets are put in every TV, VCR etc as I described above, it simply can't cost that much to implement, as someone will be either designing or making them for cheap.

Doc Knocks Another One Out of the Park

Thu, 08 Aug 2002 16:59:12 GMT

Memorializing one of the few times that copyright paranoia lost the day

You gotta read Jack Valenti's testimony against the VCR back in '83. That's when Jack famously said, I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.

But there's more. So much more...

But now we are facing a very new and a very troubling assault on our fiscal security, on our very economic life and we are facing it from a thing called the video cassette recorder and its necessary companion called the blank tape. And it is like a great tidal wave just off the shore. This video cassette recorder and the blank tape threaten profoundly the life-sustaining protection, I guess you would call it, on which copyright owners depend, on which film people depend, on which television people depend and it is called copyright...

Because unless the Congress recognizes the rights of creative property owners as owners of private property, that this property that we exhibit in theaters, once it leaves the post-theatrical markets, it is going to be so eroded in value by the use of these unlicensed machines, that the whole valuable asset is going to be blighted. In the opinion of many of the people in this room and outside of this room, blighted, beyond all recognition. It is a piece of sardonic irony that this asset, which unlike steel or silicon chips or motor cars or electronics of all kinds -- a piece of sardonic irony that while the Japanese are unable to duplicate the American films by a flank assault, they can destroy it by this video cassette recorder...

Now, I don't have to tell anybody in politics -- I have spent most of my adult life in politics and you learn one thing. Nothing of value is free. It is very easy, Mr. Chairman, to convince people that it is in their best interest to give away somebody else's property for nothing, but even the most guileless among us know that this is a cave of illusion where commonsense is lured and then quietly strangled. That is what it is all about...

And my favorite exchange:

Mr. VALENTI. Now, let me tell you what Sony says about this thing. These are not my words. They are right straight from McCann Erickson, whom you will hear from tomorrow, who is the advertising agency for Sony and here is what they say. They advertise a variable beta scan feature that lets you adjust the speed at which you can view the tape from 5 times up to 20 times the normal speed.

Now, what does that mean, Mr. Chairman? It means that when you are playing back a recording, which you made 2 days or whenever -- you are playing it back. You are sitting in your home in your easy chair and here comes the commercial and it is right in the middle of a Clint Eastwood film and you don't want to be interrupted. So, what do you do? You pop this beta scan and a 1-minute commercial disappears in 2 seconds.

Mr. RAILSBACK. Is that all bad?

What got me started on all this was a signature in an email this morning:

Jack Valenti is to the American film viewer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.

Heh.

[Doc Searls Weblog]

Anyone have an opinion on the HRRC?

Thu, 08 Aug 2002 15:56:26 GMT

More Remote Control? Try a Dish. While cable companies try to exercise as much control over their content as possible, satellite companies like EchoStar and DirecTV give the consumer more options. But that kind of freedom might not last. By Brad King. [Wired News]

Here's hoping the FCC doesn't mess this up for DVR owners. Aside - 1996 Telecom act was supposed to get cable companies to open up their networks, in terms of allowing conumers to buy their own cable boxes, much like you can do with satellite. That hasn't happened. But if I could have bought a DVR/cable box, I'd probably have both digital cable and an iMac with a superdrive right now, as well as the software that would let me burn the full length movies that I had recorded. Not to sell, or give away, but so that I could archive my favorite shows and flicks that I recorded, which, last time I checked, is legal.

Hmmm, reading the above link, according to Nov 1991 legislation, your digital cable box is illegal...

Wed, 07 Aug 2002 11:41:29 GMT

TiVo Might Rue Arrival of DTV. Hollywood's latest attempts to prevent consumers from copying shows takes place in the arena of digital TV. Owners of TiVo and ReplayTV might want to pay attention. By Brad King. [Wired News]

More FUD From Valenti -

If Hollywood gets its way, recording won't be as easy as it is today.

Jack Valenti, the head of the Motion Picture Association of America, has said that without proper security measures, the industry won't allow its movies to be broadcast. The reason: Digital signals create perfect copies that won't degrade. Executives fear they would deliver perfect copies to millions of viewers.

Just like VCRs destroyed the movie industry, right Jack? Because why would anyone go to the movies when they could watch them at home, Right? Riiight. And God forbid that the end user have a perfect copy of a film that they ahev the right to record, because, well, that's the first seal that will open the apocolypse, Right Jack? Just like selling movies for less than $89.95 will lead to massive piracy, Right Jack?

The Death of Internet Radio

Thu, 01 Aug 2002 18:30:40 GMT

Doc rocks the keyboard with a scathing piece on the role that legislation has played in killing internet radio.

Thursday Must be TV Day at the NYT

Thu, 01 Aug 2002 10:56:49 GMT

Four articles about television on The New York Times today:

TV Magic, Made More Magical Still. Imagine a gizmo so amazing that everyone who bought it turned into an evangelical fanatic, extolling its virtues to anyone within earshot. Such a machine exists. By David Pogue.

Pouge loves of life with a DVR.

The Desktop Computer as Live-TV Recorder. A PC-based personal video recorder, which is much less expensive than TiVo, can completely change your television viewing habits. By Neil Mcmanus.

Mcmanus cheaps out and plays with PC based DVRs.

TV's That Reduce Cable Clutter for Xbox Aficionados. A new line of televisions from RCA may help game players reduce the snarl of dusty wires behind the set. These 11 new models have a special connection, the RCA VPort, that allows Microsoft Xbox owners to plug in with a single cable rather than three. By Ian Austen.

New TV's that work directly with your Xbox. Oh, you don't have an Xbox? Me neither. Small market and I wish them luck.

Skipping Commercials? Not So Fast.. TV executives are positively hysterical about the prospect of viewers skipping ads using digital video recorders, and they're contemplating solutions some of them are scary. By David Pogue.

Pouge again, this time warning that commercial skipping will be the end of TV as we know it, and maybe not for the better. I still maintain that if I have to record the commercials aloing with the shows, that's the same as watching them, since I'm losing programming time to store the things. Then again, I was a geekbaby and would program my VCR to record Robotech every morning from 7:00 AM to 7:30AM, but I had it skip the commercials. It cut off and on partway into each commercial break, insuring that if the show started late, I'd have a buffer on either end. As I said, geekbaby.

Entertainment Tools Wish List

Thu, 01 Aug 2002 05:13:09 GMT

Innovate Away, Sonicblue!.

Sonicblue Revenue Up 80 Percent

"The consumer-electronics maker meets analyst earnings expectations, reporting that second-quarter revenue increased 80 percent compared with the same quarter a year ago." [CNET News.com]

See - it's true. "Those who can, innovate. Those who can't, sue." (As noted earlier today.)

I'm going to have to order another ReplayTV now, just to show my support.... ;-)

[The Shifted Librarian]

I was talking to friend tonight about how there are three shows on this friday that he wants to tape: Monk, Farscape, and the Comedy Central Rollins special: Up For It. THe problem is that they are all on at the same time. He wanted to know if there was a TIVO/Replay device that could tape all three at once. I told him, unfortunately, no, that you would need multiple units in order to do that.