[opendtv] Re: 20051017 Mark's Monday Memo
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 08:42:41 -0400
At 11:08 AM -0400 10/18/05, Mark Schubin wrote:
>The problem is that the shows being offered are being produced for
>one audience. If that audience is expected to be watching HD, the
>iPod people will be in touble.
No doubt, as is the case for the poor NTSC viewer, who get's less
resolution and a 4:3 crop of the widescreen content. Fortunately,
since the NTSC audience is still more important than the HD audience,
most of these episodic shows are produced to be optimal for the NTSC
screen.
My wife and Father-in-law still tune to the analog versions of ESPN
and CBS, despite the fact that Many of the shows are available in HD,
and are just a button click away. They say it does not matter to them
to see side panels and the added detail...
I tend to agree about the pre-produced content; sports is another
matter, which benefits from the big screen experience, especially now
that many events are produced for HD without compromising the
coverage for the small 4:3 screen.
The iPOD viewing experience is another matter. I too have
reservations about watching a feature length TV show on a tiny
screen. But the quality is much better than I would have imagined. If
you have a fast Mac or PC and a godd broadband connection, take the
time to download QuickTime 7.0 and watch some of the Apple special
event where Steve introduced the new iMacs and iPods.
http://stream.apple.akadns.net/
The first thing you will notice is that streaming video has come of
age. With H.264 this stuff is VERY watchable. The next thing you may
notice is that this is an integrated strategy across the computer
that runs iTunes and downloads content from the iTunes store, and the
new iPOD that allows you to "take it with you."
I am far more impressed with Front Row, the software for the new iMAC
that works with the new remote control, to allow navigation and
playback of your content from viewing distances that are more TV like
than PC like. I was reminded of the navigation carousel used by Time
Warner in the Full Service Network trials that took place in Orlando
in the mid '90s. The STB for those trials was high performance SGI
computer. Front Row allows access to your music library, slide shows,
videos, and DVD player.
http://www.apple.com/imac/frontrow.html
And the new video iPOD can be connected to a TV producing playback
quality that is comparable to NTSC.
>
>See yesterday's New York Times article about producing specifically
>for mobile-phone screens:
>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/17/technology/17mobisodes.html
First, I would say that the video iPOD is not a mobile phone. It is a
hard disk drive with a simple computer optimized for playback of
content that is cached on that hard drive. The mobile phone business
model is built around the concept of using the wireless network to
stream content in real time. Most video enable phones do not have any
internal storage to store the video files. The iPOD business model is
built around the concept that you will use your computer to download
content you want to keep to your computer, where it can be viewed, or
moved to the iPOD so you can take it with you. Clearly there is some
overlap in the business models, but they are different. Epsecially
with respect to the quality of the video delivered by the iPOD versus
that which is seen on most video enabled phones. You need to watch
the Apple special event to fully understand what I am saying, By the
way, the U2 music video that was used in the event was widescreen,
displayed in letterbox on the iPOD, and was still of very good
quality.
I'm not certain that Apple is going to cause a revolution in portable
video, based on watching TV shows. However, as the NYTimes report
illustrates, mobile video can be complementary to other products. I
see the mobile venue as the place where promotion and peer-to-peer
"sharing" will take place. By sharing I do not mean file sharing; I
am talking about "the water cooler effect" - Peer-to-Peer promotion.
Mobisodes help build the value of other content franchises; I do
believe that people will watch short promotional videos, news clips,
and Podcasts on portable video players. Podcasts could be the real
sleeper in this whole thing. They are already revolutionizing the way
audio content is distributed and consumed. Now Apple has created a
distribution platform for video podcasts as well, and ANYONE can get
into the game.
Perhaps in the not too distant future, Mark's Monday memo will be a
video podcast...
I'd bet that most people on this list will watch a video of the
testing of a 10th generation ATSC receiver in Mark's apartment!
Regards
Craig
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