Cable TV looks into new video recording method
If the nation's largest cable TV operators have their way, the home digital video recorder could soon become a relic. Leading the way is Cablevision Systems Corp., which plans to roll out a system in early 2009 that will let viewers record any show without a DVR, only a digital set-top box. Shows will be stored on Cablevision's servers instead of a home DVR - a shift the company said could save it upward of $700 million.
Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. of New York and Charter Communications Inc. in St. Louis are also interested in deploying network DVR - as the technology is known - but are further away from implementation. The four companies serve about 45 million TV customers - or 70 percent of U.S. cable subscribers.
CBS Debuts "EyeMobile" Citizen Journalism iPhone Application
CBS on Monday announced the launch of "EyeMobile," a new application for Apple's iPhone that lets users upload newsworthy photos and videos for potential use by the company's news organization. Users may also view content uploaded by other citizens, leave comments, and embed uploaded content to third-party sites. While CBS is the first broadcast news organization with such an application, CNN's iReport and Fox News' uReport offer similar services.
Online Video Syndication Service Voxant Acquired By Anystream
Online video encoding and content management firm Anystream has acquired another small vendor in its sector: it has bought out online video syndication service Voxant. Financial details were not disclosed. Both of the companies are based in Virginia, and share two venture investors SoftBank Capital and Court Square Ventures, which probably helped in the deal.
AT&T To Offer Three HD Streams - Reduce HD bandwidth consumption from 6-8Mbps to 5Mbps
AT&T just began offering two HD streams to customers, something that forced them to adjust their TOS so it was clear that customers too far from the VRAD could struggle with capacity (oddly somehow confusing many news outlets into thinking AT&T was following Comcast's throttling lead in the process).
Skype Shutters Personal Broadcasting Service
Unobserved by mainstream journalists, Skype quietly closed its popular Skypecast personal broadcasting service late last month. The decision is setting off howls of protest from loyal users, who are ready to bolt to competitive services.
In a brief missive on Aug. 26 entitled “Goodnight Skypecasts,” Skype announced it was closing the service as of Sept. 1. The program allowed anyone to broadcast to up 100 people, all of whom could join in and comment. While the service only supported audio, video — one of the most-requested features by users — was supposedly in the works as well. Skypecasts covered everything from lonely hearts to computer technology to stuff that’s inscrutable to me because it’s in Arabic.
World's First Skype Video Phone Disappoints - Asus should've stuck with just the Eee PC
Asus and Skype have teamed up to create what they have called the world s first Skype video phone. At first glance, it seems like a neat new product. It s a small device with a webcam, speaker, microphone, USB port and Wi-Fi which lets you make Skype video calls without requiring the use of a PC.
Opinion: The future of the Web is 3-D, not video
I would like to offer a counterpoint to Hurley's vision. While I don't dispute the impact of online video and its growing importance to the way people produce and consume media, I believe that online video is limited in several important ways and will have difficultly competing with emerging graphics technologies that allow better interactivity, customization and visual appeal. I am talking about sophisticated computer-generated 3-D environments, delivered in a variety of formats and serving many different types of customer needs, including entertainment, news and community. These formats will use advanced computer graphics to deliver photorealistic, three-dimensional representations of real and imagined spaces to a vast, online audience, and allow audience members to interact with these environments and one another in ways that are simply not possible with video.
Verizon FiOS TV Going Interactive
Verizon FiOS fiber-based TV service is taking another major step into the interactive TV game, this fall, with a significant upgrade of its HD DVR software. During an informal party inside Verizon Communications CIO Shaygan Kheradpir's swank, 38th flr, Manhattan apartment, Verizon execs demonstrated new tools that will let FiOS TVcustomers use applications tied to live television shows, Internet widgets that access online news and interactive accounts on Facebook (you would have to enter your user name and password through the box), the ability to digest endless YouTube videos, technology that automatically discovers media content for all networked PCs within the home, community-based content filtering and the ability to remotely control the DVR via cell phone.
Boost for Joost?
Last week, when Joost finally unveiled its long-awaited Web-based version, it was greeted by the following headline on the social media-focused blog Mashable: “Joost Re-Arranges the Deck Chairs on the Titanic.”
Indeed, deep skepticism reigned last week as the onetime tech-media darling looked to revitalize its flagging business with a more user-friendly, social-networking-infused video site. This, as the company and its partners insist it’s far too early to name winners and losers in what they believe is online video’s toddler stage.
More on TV Time Growing Faster than Web
Time spent watching television will rise faster than leisure time spent on the Web through 2012, while a major audience for Internet video could take even longer to develop, consultancy Bain & Co said on Thursday.
According to data exclusively released by Bain at the Reuters Media Summit in New York, U.S. viewers on average will spend nearly two more hours per week watching television by 2012, fueled by growth in video-on-demand choices and the use of digital video recorders.
Are these findings true across Europe & Asia? yes, on average there has been a steady increase (1% annual) in European viewing over the 2001 to 2005 period. This compares to 2% annual growth rate in US market. There is some regional variation - for example, viewing times in the UK & France are declining. Another interesting tidbit - Europeans watch less TV than North Americans: US viewers watch about 32 hours a week on average; UK and France, about 24 hours; Austria & Switzerland, 19 hours.
PS3 Video Store provides more reason to avoid DRM
It took awhile to shake out, but the DRM nastiness associated with the Sony Video Store is becoming an issue now that those tiny PS3 hard drives are beginning to fill-up. Turns out that if you delete purchased video to free-up space then you'll have to place a call to Sony customer service to authorize a one-time only re-download from your PSN download list.
CNN's Live Webcasts During Commercial Breaks: Undermining Own Advertisers?
An interesting take on webcasts between commercials, something CNN has been doing recently during Anderson Cooper's AC360 daily news program on the news channel. CNN's Erica Hill has been webcasting takes in between the show segments, and Cooper has been encouraging viewers to go to the website during commercial breaks to watch and interact with them
Houston TV Web Sites Draw World Viewers to Ike Video
the four local stations in Houston used the Internet to extend their reach, streaming their exhaustive coverage online and drawing viewers around the world by providing an alternative to the chatter on cable news.
Overseas viewers as well as evacuees from Houston watched streamed video on the sites of local TV stations, like KRTK, for detailed hurricane coverage.“The reach of local broadcasters has never been greater,” Keith Connors, the news director for KHOU, the CBS affiliate in Houston, said in a telephone interview Saturday night. He said the station’s Web site had seen “incredible amounts of streaming.” Examining Comcast's New Throttling System - Heavy users to be placed on special QoS 'Bus'
The new plan is to -- for a change of pace -- actually target the users causing the congestion. According to Comcast, they'll be deploying new hardware and software close to the company's Regional Network Routers (RNRs). This hardware will flip a user from the standard "Priority Best-Effort" traffic (PBE) to lower quality of service (QoS) "Best-Effort" traffic (BE) if a particular CMTS port is congested, and if that user has been identified as a primary reason why. What's Comcast's definition for one of these users?
Tweet @Obama and @McCain During Debate
Instead of just detailing mundane thoughts on everyday moments of their lives, Twitter users will be able to have their political opinions featured as part of the upcoming presidential debates. Both C-SPAN and Current will integrate and display “tweets” during their debate coverage.
Gomez Adds Video Stream Monitoring
Gomez Inc. added streaming video monitoring to its suite of services, allowing publishers to determine the quality of the end-user experience and to quickly address problems when necessary.
The new Active Streaming XF service supports real-time monitoring of Windows Media, progressive Flash, and Flash streaming. The service works by testing typical stream activity from multiple geographies with multiple scenarios and recording the results, including start times and buffer times.
Have you created a video poll yet?
Toluna now allows you to embed a video clip, directly from YouTube, into your polls and opinion topics! You can use videos to illustrate a point or as a focal point for the discussion; the possibilities are as endless as the choice of videos on YouTube!
Google Public Policy Blog
Earlier this year Google co-founder Larry Page was in our nation's capital to talk about Google's vision of "wi-fi on steroids." At an event sponsored by the New America Foundation, he explained that the unused airwaves between broadcast TV channels ("white spaces") have the potential to provide affordable, nationwide high-speed wireless Internet connectivity. This Wednesday, September 24, Larry will return to Washington to address lawmakers and urge action on white spaces.
"Broadband for the Future Event"Wednesday, September 24, 2008
11:30 am - 1:00 pm ET
Room SD-G50, Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Larry will join white space supporters from across the U.S. to discuss how these airwaves hold the potential to spur innovation, deploy affordable broadband, and create new applications for all Americans.
