It was disclosed this week at Appleinsider that Apple filed a patent in Oct. 2006 over what appears to be DVR functionality. Apple’s interface design and usability brought to the DVR could be the killer app for the AppleTV.
From the monthly archives:
March 2008
Interactive Video + Blu-ray. Notes and Stuff.
Worthwhile: Saving the HDi platform for non-HD DVD media.
MS Don’t Kill HDi! An Open Letter from Format War Frontline
On a technical implementation level HD-DVD was farther along than Blu-ray, even at the time of its death. HDi comprised a powerful tool and a competitor that raised the stakes on its rival, especially because it was accessible earlier. HD-DVD specialists took advantage with Advanced Features on HD-DVD releases, powered by HDi. Warner’s In-Movie Experience and Universal’s U-control presented a new quality of viewer experience.
Without expensive AACS requirements, HD-DVD appeared to be taking off on its own as a favorite among producers who didn’t require strong copy protection, such as independent producers and international distributors. HDi’s common heritage with Ajax-style web development in its use of XML and ECMAScript (Javascript) attracted a new fleet of HDi specialists, inspired by the format capabilities and potential to take viewer experience to new levels. This low barrier to entry made the labor for HD-DVD production cheaper than Blu-ray Disc, and the formation of the AIC emboldened this community to invest in their education and skills. (We still offer a fine library of HDi modules at metacommons.org.)
Playing with HDi on your Xbox. Free HD DVD emulator for Xbox 360.
The Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator is a development and test tool that allows you to run complete HD DVD projects - video, audio, and advanced interactivity - on your Xbox 360 from an external USB drive or networked PC.
Interested in exploring BD Licensing? Start here. Good luck with that.
Some nice demos of advanced BD interactivity.
BD Live demo.
No BD in the Xbox? Microsoft says no Blu-ray for Xbox 360.
Bob Cringley has an interesting, and somewhat inaccuate, piece on Apple’s implementation of Blu-ray. There is absolutely no way that iTunes is going to compete with BD, regardless of the compression efficiencies of H.264… and Macs can’t play 1080p? Seems like my new iMac 2.4GHZ can do it in most situations, though it’s probably at the upper-bounds of it’s abilities. It does play back 1080p Matroska files fairly reliably. Introducing hardware H.264 decoding to Macs is interesting though, and speculation about that is old news.
How about iTunes/BD-Live integration? A section of the iTMS for BD “extras”? games, expanded content, etc… in addition to providing some insight into what type(s) of advanced/extended content consumers actually want, it would allow producers to extend and differentiate value-added content, most likely creating additional revenue streams or at the very least, another marketing channel. Duh.
The new Old Media—Lionsgate to include iPod-enabled versions on it’s releases. Wal Mart clearing out DVDs, as sales decline.
Retail giant Wal-Mart is making less room for the back-catalog DVD titles that help widen studio profits while more customers either download high-definition films or order them on-demand from cable companies, according to one analyst.
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YouTube + Hulu
Some action this week.
YouTube wiped some sweat off it’s brow, with a ruling in US District Court denying punitive damages in Viacom’s infringement suit.
Also this week, YT bumped up video quality, killed the YT watermark, and announced an expanded API to begin to position itself as a video distribution and services platform. No word yet on YouTube HD.
Hulu finally went live with some new content partners, including the NFL, NHL, Warner Bros. TV division, movies from Lionsgate, and web-originating content like Wine Library TV. Complete list of Hulu partners at NewTeeVee.
After playing with the beta, I was pleasantly surprised with the user experience. The ads are a little obtrusive, but the player has some really slick features—for example, the ability to play the video in a separate pop-up while maintaining the current viewing/playhead position. Video quality is good, but a little disappointing I think, given the high-profile nature of the project. The content library is a little light, but I can see this as an excellent way to distribute/aggregate obscure, old, Long Tail content from partner’s libraries. I haven’t confirmed, but it appears the site is hobbleware—restricted to the US only. This reeks of Old Media.
I think it’s going to take some really creative thinking for Hulu to be a success. The most profound hurdle is the owner’s inherent conflict(s) of interest in providing exclusive content. Why give Hulu a cut when you can create/utilize your own web properties? Silicon Valley Reporter has some good analysis: Hulu Launches: Great Product, Still Screwed and Why CBS Keeps Dissing Hulu—And Why This Reveals Hulu’s Achilles Heel. The numbers don’t look too promising.
RELATED: Bob Iger, Disney CEO: Computer Replacing TV as Primary Entertainment Source
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links for 2008-03-15
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With the HD War Over, Why Aren’t We Seeing Blu-ray Drives in Apple Computers?
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Friday. Some music tidbits.
The Avant Garde Project is a series of recordings of 20th-century classical-experimental-electroacoustic music digitized from LPs whose music has in most cases never been released on CD, and so is effectively inaccessible to the vast majority of music listeners today.
Nine Inch Nails launches Ghosts Film Festival.
The concept is for you to take whatever tracks you feel inspired by from Ghosts and create what you feel should accompany them visually. You will be able to see all of the submissions, and a team of us (including me) will be sorting through them and setting aside ones we feel are exceptional. Eventually (within a couple of months?) we will present a virtual “film festival” with me and some special guests presenting selections of your work.
MTV Uses P2P Data for Playlist Selection. Six-Word Reviews of 763 SXSW Mp3s. More ex-Hot Snakes goodness. Download the SXSW showcase torrents. Music Industry Proposes a Piracy Surcharge on ISPs.
Download: This Will Kill That - Nailed Out
The debut cassette from this early 9o’s Wellington band. Toured with Bailter Space, but relatively unknown. Pretty cool noise-rock stuff
The Beatles are still not coming to iTunes. Not that I’m complaining.
Be sure to check out Seth Godin’s talk on the future of the music industry. (PDF)
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Conferences: FITC
FITC Toronto: Design and Technology Festival
Toronto, April 20-22, 2008
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Vista.Ooops.
From the NYT.
Then there’s Mike, who buys a laptop that has a reassuring “Windows Vista Capable” logo affixed. He thinks that he will be able to run Vista in all of its glory, as well as favorite Microsoft programs like Movie Maker. His report: “I personally got burned.” His new laptop — logo or no logo — lacks the necessary graphics chip and can run neither his favorite video-editing software nor anything but a hobbled version of Vista. “I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine,” he says.
It turns out that Mike is clearly not a naïf. He’s Mike Nash, a Microsoft vice president who oversees Windows product management. And Jon, who is dismayed to learn that the drivers he needs don’t exist? That’s Jon A. Shirley, a Microsoft board member and former president and chief operating officer. And Steven, who reports that missing drivers are anything but exceptional, is in a good position to know: he’s Steven Sinofsky, the company’s senior vice president responsible for Windows.
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Saturday. Buried in Snow.
Film+Video
Future Shorts is a World-wide short film label.
Music
The Microsound Scene: An Interview with Kim Cascone. Husker Du poster archive. Download: Tortoise Live 07-10-1998. John Ries’ new band, The Night Watchers: Who’s Lady R U? (.mp3). Julianna Barwick: Sanguine
Books
Noise/Music: A History
Visual
United Visual Artists. Terrorist organization logos. Dark and Fleshy: The Color of Top Grossing Movies.
@ Flickr. The Long Exposure pool. On expired film. The Expired Film pool. The Polaroid Abuse pool. Awesome Holga/Diana/polaroid shots. A History of American Graphic Design.
Golan Levin: The truly soft side of software—
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links for 2008-03-08
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developers!developers!developers!developers!developers!developers!
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Conferences: Streaming Media East
Streaming Media East
May 20-21, 2008
Hilton New York, NYC
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iPhone SDK. Names have been taken. Asses will be kicked.
iPhone ready to take on BlackBerry with enterprise push
iPhone announcements exceed mobile experts’ expectations
AOL has also created a version of AIM for the iPhone in five days despite its developer’s lack of experience for the Mac. Users simply swipe to change active chats.
BBC iPlayer Beta now available for iPhone
Developers excited by iPhone SDK, but questions linger
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