Digital Technology for Digital Living.
November 01, 2007
The Technology Behind the First Live Broadcast from the North and South Poles
When considering some of the most extreme environments on the planet, surely Antarctica, one of the coldest, driest and windiest places on earth (average temp of -56º F) comes to mind. Now imagine trying to conduct a live TV broadcast there. Sounds crazy right? My Direct-TV dish can’t even get a clear signal when it’s raining outside let alone an Antarctic blizzard. But on Nov. 5th & 6th the Today show will try when Ann Curry and Matt Lauer report live from Antarctica and the North Pole in a segment the Today Show calls The Ends of the Earth. This will be the first live simultaneous broadcast in history from the top and bottom of the globe.
When facing some of planet’s harshest conditions, how do you even begin to coordinate a live TV shoot? Well, it might not seem like such an insurmountable feat when you consider that there are 1,000-4,000 people living and working in Antarctica on any given day (mostly scientists and their support staff). In fact, there are several year around permanent research stations in Antarctica. According to this article, the Today Show recruited the help of one such research station supported by the National Science Foundation. The NSF’s established base in Antarctica has advanced technological capabilities including a pre-set data circuit that show was able use for transmission. Using this system paired with a software program called Qvidium, there was no need for satellites. So no matter what the weather is like, NBC will still be able to broadcast live.
The actual equipment in use for this shoot is pretty straightforward. The shoot will be a single camera shot using the Ikegami HLV55 with it’s feed hooked up to a laptop computer that runs the Qvidium software to stream live video. The Qvidium system transports and/or captures live video feeds for IP networks, including High Definition video. It enables this high-quality video transport over unconditioned IP networks, including wireless links and the Internet. It can operate on a single path due to the limitations of bandwidth.
As far as other equipment, goes it was all very standard. Nothing special was used with regard to the microphones, batteries, or the like. It seems as though Antarctica is pretty advanced for a giant desert of ice, especially when considering the fact that NBC’s director of production operations was easily reached on his cell phone down there.
Ironically it looks like the biggest challenge of this shoot won’t be technology, but rather making sure that the production crew stay warm. Also, the Antarctic Boomerang won’t make it an easy trip home.
You can track Ann Curry’s progress online here: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/21487444
Brrrr voyage Ann!
[Sources: CaptClicker.com & Wikipedia]
methodshop | Comments (0) | Digital TV
May 31, 2007
YouTube Coming to Apple TV
Wish you could watch YouTube videos on your Apple TV? Sometime in June, all Internet connected Apple TV boxes will accept a free software patch that will enable wireless streaming of YouTube videos. YouTube is making thousands of clips available each week until thier full catalog is accessible later this fall.
You’ll be able browse the YouTube content on your Apple TV in a variety of ways including: featured, top viewed, recently viewed, history, and even by search. I’m dreading the search option. If you haven’t used the Apple TV yet, there’s a USB port in the back of the device, but you currently can’t use a keyboard for some reason. Entering text on the Apple TV is the equivalent of typing in your initials for the high score screen in an arcade game. Very painful without a keyboard.
So how chewy will these compressed YouTube videos look on your HD TV? I’ve already ripped a bunch of music videos off YouTube, converted them to MPEG-4 videos and saved them in iTunes. Honestly, the Flash encoded YouTube videos look like crap on a HD TV. YouTube doesn’t even look good when stretched out to its default 480 x 360, let alone 640 x 480 or HD. But YouTube does have thousands of clips and can provide endless hours of entertainment. Fuzzy, but fun.
Apple also announced a new Apple TV model with a 160 GB hard drive for $400. You’ll still be able to buy the old 40 GB version for $300, but personally, I think $100 for 4x the storage is a great deal.
You can read more about the Apple TV here: Apple TV Review
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methodshop | Comments (0) | Broadband, Video, Digital TV
May 15, 2007
How NOT to Ship a HDTV
The person who packed up and shipped this TV must have been a professional… idiot. They might as well have shipped this HDTV using bowling balls or, I dunno, hammers as padding.
For future reference, here’s a photo tutorial on how NOT to ship a Plasma or LCD HDTV.
More Photos: How NOT to Ship a HDTV
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methodshop | Comments (0) | Digital TV
May 09, 2007
Earl is Baby Cooking Crazy
In the May 10th season finale of American sitcom My Name is Earl, Joy’s future lays in the hands of deaf lawyer as her trial finally arrives. It’s “baby cooking crazy”!
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methodshop | Comments (0) | Video, Digital TV
ESPN Producing Gascasts for GSTV
Wish you could get sports scores while you are gassing up your car? According to LA Times.com, now you can.
ESPN, the American sports news network, announced a partnership with Gas Station TV (GSTV) to provide 45-second broadcasts for thousands of TV screens located at gas pumps across the United States.
“It’s another opportunity for fans to be able to watch us,” ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys said.
ESPN will slowly ramp up production of the gascasts. The network will initially just produce one segment per day for GSTV. But eventually ESPN hopes to produce multiple segments everyday.
Where can you see these gascasts? Right now only in Atlanta, Dallas and Houston. But next month GSTV hopes to install more screens at gas stations in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.
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methodshop | Comments (0) | Digital TV, Geek
April 26, 2007
Top 10 Awkward TV Interviews
Maybe it’s something in the air. Maybe they were just having a bad day. Or maybe it was the handful of painkillers they swallowed moments before going on air (right Paula?). But whatever the explanation, weird, awkward interviews seem to be occurring at an ever more frequent rate. The website Double Viking has gathered the top 10 most awkward interview moments of all time.
The list includes such gems as Barbra Walters asking Katherine Hepburn what kind of tree she’d be and Tom Cruise attacking Matt Lauer about Scientology. But by far, my favorite moment is when Vanilla Ice grabs a baseball bat, destroys part of a TV set and makes Jon Stewart crap his pants.
Want to watch these YouTube clips on your iPod? Then check out this tutorial: How to Copy Files Off YouTube and Convert them for your Video iPod
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methodshop | Comments (1) | Video, Digital TV
April 24, 2007
Should Sci Fi Green Light Outer Space Astronauts?
Sci Fi.com and Sci Fi Magazine are asking Internet users if they should pick up a new sci-fi comedy called Outer Space Astronauts.
Visitors are given access to 5 vignettes from the show on the SCI FI Pulse Broadband Network and asked to fill out a survey explaining what they think. Sci Fi says it will also take traffic into account when deciding whether or not to pick up the show.
Think you know how to program the American Sci Fi Channel better than NBC Universal? After they started airing wrestling on the Sci Fi Channel… who doesn’t.
You can watch the Outer Space Astronauts clips here.
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methodshop | Comments (1) | Broadband, Video, Digital TV
April 20, 2007
Apple Asks Video Podcasters to Increase Quality
Last week Apple sent out an email (screenshot courtesy of TechCrunch.com) to video podcasters asking them to increase the quality of their productions and start formatting their videos for the big screen. Since the launch of the Apple TV (full review here) in March, Apple TVs have been selling like hotcakes and video podcast subscription numbers have skyrocketed.
Apple TV owners, who don’t necessarily want to spend lots of money in the iTunes Store, are gobbling up video podcasts like never before. Even though there currently isn’t any HD quality videos for sale in the iTunes Store, the Apple TV is capable of HD video playback. So several popular video podcasters, including The Washington Post, TWIT (MacBreak), Revision3 (Diggnation) and Vintage Tooncast, have decided to fill the void of HD content by distributing their podcasts in HD or hi res quality.
Why hasn’t everyone started distributing their video podcasts in HD? Money. Not only does producing an HD podcasts require extra hard drive space (roughly 4 times more), special cameras and editing software, but just hosting these giant video files on the Internet can be enough to bankrupt your entire production. For example, the iPod Video version of MacBreak episode 63 is 21 MBs. The HD version is 93 MBs. To help alleviate increased HD production costs, many podcasters have reached out to HD television manufacturers like Samsung and Panasonic to get them to sponsor their new HD podcasts.
For video podcasters who are still producing content at 320×240 but want to do something to increase quality, there is an intermediary step before going HD. Podcasters can start by migrating their productions to 640×480, or even 640×360 (letterbox). This way their video files will still be compatible with portable media players like the Zune and iPod, but will also work on the Apple TV. If the material is carefully encoded, it will look as good or better than typical TV.
methodshop | Comments (0) | Video, Digital TV
April 18, 2007
Top 5 TV Shows that Should be Canceled
Here is MSNBC.com’s list of the top 5 American TV shows that should be canceled. I have a feeling that a lot of people aren’t going to agree with the top three.
Let the fireworks begin…
Disagree? Want to talk about it? You’re not alone. Head over to the MSNBC.com Message Boards and join in the discussion.
“The Simpson’s stopped being funny years ago.” ~ Ghazi
“Lost needs to start getting down to business. It’s losing it’s appeal. Start answering questions outright already and get to the damn point.” ~ primehifi
You can see the MSNBC.com list here: Top 5 TV Shows that Should be Canceled
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methodshop | Comments (0) | Video, Digital TV
April 07, 2007
$1 Million Dollar Apple Remote Control For Sale on Amazon
Amazon.com is currently selling a $999,999.00 1/2 ounce plastic SiK rex remote control that works with the Apple MacBook Pro, iPod Universal Dock, Apple TV, Front Row, iPod Hi-Fi and is Front Row compatible.
No joke. You can see the SiK rex Amazon page here.
Sound too expensive for a little piece of plastic? What if i told you that the remote can be stored in the ExpressCard/34 slot of your MacBook Pro…
Yeah, I’m not convinced it’s worth it. But if Bill Gates is reading this…. hurry dude, there is only one left in stock!
This is obviously a just a typo. So I took a screenshot of the million dollar SiK rex remote page and posted it here on flickr in case Amazon takes the page down.
If you are still interested in the SiK rex remote control but not the million dollar price tag, you can also purchase one used or from a 3rd party on Amazon.com for only $25.
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methodshop | Comments (0) | Music, Wireless, Video, Digital TV, DVD
March 26, 2007
Sony Adds TV Shows to iTunes
Last week Sony Pictures Television made its programming available for the first time in Apple’s iTunes Store (US).
Episodes from current shows “‘Til Death” and “Rules of Engagement” as well as from classic series including “Starsky & Hutch,” “Charlie’s Angels,” and “NewsRadio” were added to iTunes’ offerings for $1.99 each.
Season 1 from Spiderman, the animated series, was also added to iTunes. The series features Neil Patrick Harris (Starship Troopers, Doogie Howser), Ian Ziering (Beverly Hills 90210) and singer-songwriter Lias Loeb.
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methodshop | Comments (0) | Music, Digital TV
March 22, 2007
Apple TV Unpacking Photos
Guess what showed up in the mail today? You can see more Apple TV unpacking photos here.
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methodshop | Comments (1) | Music, Digital TV
March 20, 2007
Apple TV Shipping
I got an email from Apple this morning at 4 A.M.. Guess my Apple TV is on its way. And it looks like they gave me a discount. I only got charged $281. It’s listed for $299 on Apple.com. I pre-ordered my Apple TV the day it was announced. Maybe I got the discount because it got delayed a month?
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methodshop | Comments (0) | Music, Video, Digital TV
March 15, 2007
TiVo CEO Promises Cheap HD TiVo
Think paying $800 for a Series3 HD TiVo box without service is insane? You are not alone. Consumers weren’t exactly excited about coughing up that much $$$ for the Series3 and TiVo sales have slumped. In fact, TiVo just reported a Q4 net loss of $18.7 million.
With products like Apple TV and a Windows Vista CableCARD coming out soon, TiVo has to do something before they are quickly phased out of the digital living room.
So what’s their solution? Just make it cheaper I guess. TiVo CEO Tom Rogers had this to say in his quarter results commentary: “We will be highly focused this year on launching a lower-priced, mass appeal High Definition product.”
That vague quote doesn’t exactly guarantee a cheap HD TiVo during 2007, but hopefully they can come up with something during the next 9 months. Whatever they are going to do, they better do it quick. I already pre-ordered an Apple TV and if it lives up to expectations, my Series2 TiVo will be making a brief cameo on eBay before it leaves my living room.
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methodshop | Comments (0) | Digital TV
February 27, 2007
Apple TV Delayed
Crap. I was really looking forward to getting my Apple TV ($299) this month. I guess I’ll have to wait a little bit longer.
This morning I got the following email from the Apple Online Store regarding my Apple TV pre-order. Apparently “wrapping up” took ” a few weeks longer” than they expected… whatever that means.
To Our Valued Apple Customer:
Thank you for ordering the new Apple TV, an easy to use and fun way to wirelessly play all your favorite iTunes content from your Mac or PC on your widescreen TV.
Wrapping up Apple TV is taking a few weeks longer than we projected, and we now expect to begin shipments in mid-March, not in February as originally anticipated.
You may check the status of your order any time by visiting our online order status website at http://www.apple.com/orderstatus.
A shipment notification, with tracking information, will be emailed to you as soon as your order is shipped. There is no need to contact us unless you choose to change or cancel your order.
We appreciate your business and thank you for shopping at the Apple Store!
Sincerely,
The Apple Store Team
As you can see, the “letter” from Apple is some of the most uninformative collection of words ever assembled. Apple doesn’t even try to explain why shipments of the Apple TV are being delayed. Pete Mortensen from the Cult of Mac blog sarcastically summed up my disappointment pretty well: “Wow. That’s a stunningly insightful piece of news. Anyone upset that your new toy isn’t showing up Wednesday?”
When I do get my Apple TV (hopefully next month?), it should be an easy setup. Apple is promising true plug-and-play installation. Just connect Apple TV to your TV (even HDMI is built in) and start iTunes, which will automatically detect it. A few clicks on my remote and I should be in business.
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methodshop | Comments (0) | Music, Video, Digital TV
February 22, 2007
Dwight Shrute Army of Champions
As an early adopter of gadgets and technology I sometimes get labeled with the “g” word… Geek. But thank God there are people around like Dwight Shrute from The Office (US) to take the heat off.
I like my iPod and listening to music. He likes to sell paper and fight evil. I’m happy in a nice temperature controlled office. He has a desire to be frozen and possesses the strength of a grown man and a little baby. We both work in offices but Dwight apparently leads an Army of Champions. He also has his own theme song and music video..
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methodshop | Comments (0) | Video, Digital TV
January 10, 2007
Apple Announces iPhone, Apple TV
Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. Apple, a company known for innovation, has been very fortunate in this regard. In 1984 they introduced the world to the first Macintosh and changed personal computing forever. Then in 2001 Apple introduced the first iPod and redefined the music industry.
Today Apple introduced 3 revolutionary products: widescreen iPod, mobile phone, and internet communicator. But there’s a catch… these revolutionary products aren’t 3 separate devices. They are all rolled into one product called the iPhone ($499 4GB, $599 8GB).
The iPhone (GSM+EDGE) has a touchscreen interface with multitouch capabilities. That means you can use multiple fingers at the same time. How can such a small device have an advanced multitouch interface? The iPhone runs the Macintosh operating system OS X. How did Apple fit an entire operating system into a tiny phone? I don’t know. Magic?
The iPhone syncs to your computer just like your iPod. All your media (music, videos, podcasts, etc.) as well as contacts, email amd calendars will sync to your iPhone. You can even add any any IMAP or POP email account. Yahoo users will like this next perk. Yahoo is giving all iPhone owners free IMAP email. You normally have to pay extra for this feature.
Web browsing on a mobile phone was probably one of the worst user experiences you’ve ever encountered. Well those days are over. The iPhone uses the Safari browser and can smoothly navigate complicated sites like Google Maps.
And if all this iPhone business wasn’t enough, Steve Jobs also announed Apple TV ($299) - a way to enjoy your media on your big screen TV. Anything you put into iTunes (content from iTunes, DVDs you’ve ripped, videos from YouTube, etc.) can be wirelessly transmitted to your Apple TV box.
The Apple TV has 802.11 WiFi (b, g + n) and will automatically sync from your PC.
More Apple TV specs:
- 40GB HD
- 720p HD video
- componet
- RCA
- USB 2.0
- ethernet
- WiFi
- HDMI
methodshop | Comments Off | PVR, Music, Wireless, Video, Digital TV, Software
January 04, 2007
Copy DVDs for Your iPod
Did you get a lot of DVDs for Christmas? Want to watch them on your iPod? For years, the best DVD ripping program, Handbrake, was only available for Mac. But the unthinkable has happened. Handbrake has been ported for Windows. It’s still in the experimental beta stages, but you can download a PC version of Handbrake now.
If you are unfamiliar with Handbrake, it’s a GPL’d multiplatform, multithreaded DVD to MPEG-4 ripper/converter. Here’s a MethodShop.com tutorial on how to use Handbrake.
Features:
- Can encode directly from DVDs (even encrypted ones) or from VIDEO_TS folders
- Supports AC3, LPCM and MPEG audio tracks
- Outputs MP4, AVI or OGM files
- Outputs AAC, MP3 or Vorbis audio
- Supports 2-pass encoding
- Supports encoding of two audio tracks
- Includes a bitrate calculator
- Supports picture deinterlacing, cropping and scaling
Links:
PC users looking for a super DVD-to-iPod easy solution should use DVD Copy by InterVideo.
methodshop | Comments (2) | Portable, Video, Digital TV, Software
September 28, 2006
Free on iTunes: Battlestar Galactica The Story So Far
With the premiere of season 3 of Battlestar Galactica just two weeks away (October 6th), the Sci Fi Channel (US) has released a free retrospective episode of the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica on iTunes. They hope to entice new viewers to the show, as well as remind current fans just where the series left off.
I found this official press release on ScFi.com:
SCI FI Channel and its sister NBC Universal networks will air a one-hour recap special of the original series Battlestar Galactica in advance of the show’s October third-season premiere. Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far will incorporate footage from the original SCI FI miniseries and the previous two seasons of the Peabody Award-winning series. The special will be narrated from the point of view of Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), the resistance leader on Cylon-occupied New Caprica.
Throughout September, The Story So Far will also be made available for download via iTunes and XBox Live and will be distributed at Best Buy as a bonus DVD with the Battlestar Galactica season 2.5 DVD set and other genre titles from Universal Home Video. The DVD will also be distributed to visitors to the Universal Studios theme parks, and snippets of the special will be available on YouTube.com, Google Video and other video portal sites.
Here’s the iTunes link for: Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far
Why not? It’s a great show and the price is right (free).
methodshop | Comments (0) | General, Portable, Video, Digital TV
September 13, 2006
New iPods, iTunes and iTV
Apple saved the music business with the iPod. Can they do the same for Hollywood?
In the five years since the iPod’s rollout, Apple has locked down the online music business. 1 in 5 Americans owns or has owned an iPod and consumers have downloaded more than 1 billion songs from Apple’s iTunes music store. Riding on the heels of that success, yesterday, Apple founder Steve Jobs fired his first shots in the battle to revolutionize the movie industry. In a special event called “It’s Showtime,” Apple unloaded new gadgets like it was Christmas morning.
In this single event, Steve Jobs announced the following new products and preannounced a new wireless video router called the iTV:
- new versions of both iTunes 7 and QuickTime 7.1.3
- bigger Video iPods including an 80GB iPod
- new multi-colored iPod Nanos that go up to 8 GB and don’t scratch
- a matchbook-sized iPod shuffle
The new version of iTunes (iTunes 7) sells more than just music and TV shows. iTunes now sells movies and games. The movies are priced starting at $9.99 and include new releases such as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, as well as older classics. If you were disappointed at the quality of some of the iTunes videos you’ve downloaded in the past, then you will be happy to know that the video quality has also gotten an upgrade. Any movie you buy is at “near” DVD-quality, 640-by-480-pixel video, and in Dolby Surround sound.
WARNING: While I was writing this blog post, 4 MethodShop.com readers reported that iTunes 7 erased their iPod. So you might want to wait and backup your iPod before you upgrade to iTunes 7.
When you’re not watching movies on your iPod, you can always check out some of the new games Apple is selling in iTunes 7. Each game is in full color and uses the Click Wheel as a controller. The selection of games include addictive classics from Tetris and PAC-MAN to a few newer games like Vortex and Texas Hold’Em.
Games, movies and new iPods are nice, but what is going on with the iTV? In a major break in Apple tradition, Steve Jobs only preannounced a new wireless router product called iTV (screenshots). Apple usually likes to have products ready to buy the day they announce them, so this preannouncement caught everyone off guard. According to CBS MarketWatch, the iTV can attach to a television and wirelessly receive and play digital content from any computer (Mac or PC) running iTunes software. The iTV will also feature a HDMI port for high-definition digital televisions. You can expect to see the iTV sometime during the first quarter of 2007 for around US$299.
methodshop | Comments (0) | General, Broadband, PVR, Music, Portable, Video, Digital TV, Software
