Digital
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Switched On: Bringin' da noise brings in da funk
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a weekly column about the future of technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:At next week Photo Marketing Association show, all eyes will be on the viewfinders, LCDs, and output of digital cameras. As growth of these cameras slows in the U.S. within the next few years, though, manufacturers need to continue to increase their appeal. One feature that has improved dramatically in the past few years is digital video capture. Many digital cameras can now capture 30 frames per second of digital video until they fill their storage media, and conserve space with advanced codecs such as MPEG-4 used by Kodak and DivX used by Pentax. Legacy limitations such as not being able to zoom while recording video are also starting to fade to black.The expedience with which consumers can now capture high-quality digital video clips with their cameras is spurring a wave of digital video sharing services such as Google Video and YouTube, where consumers can share their amateur porn precious memories. Paradoxically, though, in this online video renaissance, the previous champion video capture device -- the camcorder -- has been left holding the accessory bag. While increasingly popular DVD-based units have greatly simplified the path to playback on the television, they've done little to bridge the online gap or shrink the size of the devices. Here slim flash memory-powered digital cameras have a great advantage.
Learn how to stream HD to your 360 on Xbox Live Marketplace
Sure we could just tell you that streaming HDTV content wirelessly to your Xbox 360 is best achieved with an 802.11a connection, but some people need video evidence. (Oh wait, we've got that too!). For the unlucky few who have an Xbox 360 and have not yet found their way to HD Beat (thats HD Beatdown for all those who want to face me in DOA4), Microsoft posted a new video on the Xbox Live marketplace letting people learn about high def streaming.....in high definition. It's like a mobius strip we don't even want to get out of.The video is pretty well put together and should provide a good base for people who may have heard about the 360's multimedia capabilities but don't know where to start. Surprisingly it doesn't say anything about how to stream DivX to your Xbox 360, but perhaps the boys from Redmond decided some news is only for the privileged.
HANA is that you? Nope, it's tecStream
It will be some time before we see an of HANA's envisioned 1394 connected devices, but if you want a peek at the future, there is always UStec's tecStream home networking platform. Due to the array of devices which will connect to both your older analog sources or newer digital products via IEEE 1394.tecStream is designed to work over Cat5 cabling, basically wiring your whole house via Ethernet back to a 1.6 Gbps central switch, and allowing you to share and view content with a single remote control, no matter where you are. They claim it can handle up to 15 streams of 30Mbps or higher.With HANA and federal mandates hopefully combining to increase 1394 support, this sort of network may be right on time.
Cable downconverting illegal under new bill
As reported by 1080eye, Congress' DTV bill would not allow cable companies to downgrade digital channels to analog broadcast, meaning cable customers with analog televisions would need to upgrade to digital set top boxes as well. My reaction to this is it's a real non-story. The cable companies don't want to broadcast in analog, first of all it's insecure, (look at all the "special" boxes you probably get email offers for daily) and it uses a lot of bandwidth they'd love to have for more Internet, VOD and HDTV offerings. Plus it's cheaper for them when a customer wants to upgrade/downgrade service, you just flip a switch instead of sending a technician out to the home to change the filter at the pole.Take a look at the next flyer you receive, in most areas the cable company is offering a discount over analog cable pricing in order to move digital boxes and their assortment of additional features into the home. They are more than ready to pull analog support as soon as possible. This could be reported in multiple ways, if the bill did not have such a provision, I'm sure there would be an op-ed column ranting about how Congress is in the cable companies pocket by forcing people with older TV's to get cable TV. I think it's better that it be across the board to avoid confusion, DTV is coming, and you'll need a new digital set, or a set-top box of some kind to get television reception, period.[Via HDBlog.net]
CES: RCA ATSC tuners
The date for the digital takeover is approaching and the cost of ATSC tuners is still out of each of some Americans. RCA introduced two new tuners (halfway down the page) and one of them is aimed at the non-hd consumer. Priced at $199, it has no high definition interface, but rather just a composite and S-Video connection. I still think the price is too high for some people, but I am sure it will come down in price. The second receiver, MPC5000, is priced at $399 and is aimed at the high def consumer. It has both DVI and HDMI to connect it to your HD set. This unit seems overpriced too. Last time I checked, most ATSC tuners with HDMI outputs are going for $249, give or take 20 bucks.
Disney helps take another step bringing the theater/home theater experience closer
But not from the side you may think. On Thursday the mouse & Co. put its money up, along with Christie Digital Systems (cameras) & Access Integrated Technologies (software) to not only distribute it's movies digitally, but to put up 150 new digital screens by the end of the year, and up to 4000 more by 2007. Theater operators have the same thing to gain by going to digital that we did coming from tapes, no more reels breaking or wearing out as they are repeatedly showing, plus it will lower costs of getting the movies to the theaters. As many other large media companies continue to hem and haw on standards for digitally showing their films, it's good to see Disney take this step, although they really need to upgrade their facilities.They also haven't answered the most important question of all in getting me back to the movie theater, when am I going to be able to get a two tickets, two sodas and tub of popcorn for less than $25? If it happens, you won't need to check HD Beat, just look outside for the pigs flying.
