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Broadcast television engineering topics and rants.

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Category: rant

Hello Mobile DTV. Goodbye HDTV.

24 August, 2008 (23:30) | Analog Transition, DTV, HDTV, MobileDTV, TV, rant | 1 comment

Regardless of what some liberal arts students or free-love hippies may tell you, you don’t get something for nothing.  Or, better yet, as the redoubtable Robert Heinlein coined, “TANSTAAFL” (There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch).  This simple truth frames the cold, hard realities about to face broadcasters after the current mobile DTV [...]

Dr. Horrible Tops In ‘TV Shows’ On iTunes. Only It’s Not A TV Show…

21 July, 2008 (13:29) | Computers, TV, rant | No comments

As broadcasters continue to face eroding audiences, lousy programming, declining ratings, a lackluster fall line-up and pending changes in FCC rules regarding ‘localism‘; here comes another punch in the gut.
Joss Whedon of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Firefly and the Serenity movie fame created a three part mini-musical (!) video netcast called “Dr. Horrible” that only [...]

Local Broadcasters Can’t Catch A Break. Mostly Their Fault.

26 May, 2008 (17:14) | Computers, TV, rant | No comments

A writer’s strike, shitty programming and the Internet. Oh my!
Viewer’s are leaving appointment television by the droves and broadcasters are scrambling to do something, anything to keep them firmly planted on the couch during prime time. I’ve covered the topic of declining viewers in the past, but the trend in hemorrhaging viewership of [...]

Competition for Cable & Satellite? Says Who? Sezmi.

25 May, 2008 (15:08) | Analog Transition, DTV, TV, rant | No comments

Sezmi is a startup out of Belmont, California that hopes to win subscribers from cable and satellite providers by providing a cheaper, on-demand and real-time television viewing service for a select selection of the more popular broadcast and “cable” channels.

This new company is born from the ashes and founders of the defunct USDTV service that [...]

Breaking the chains. Dumping my cell phone contract.

17 May, 2008 (11:35) | rant | No comments

First, let me say that this will not work for everyone and those teenagers that have their parents footing the mobile bill, unfortunately, will not feel the financial pain of owning a cell phone. At least, not yet. However, many people are in the same boat as myself carrying a work cell [...]

NAB 2008 In Review.

4 May, 2008 (14:00) | Analog Transition, DTV, HDTV, NAB, TV, rant | No comments

This year’s NAB had a bit more energy among television broadcasters than the NAB show last year and almost all of it was around the mobile DTV plans and testing currently going on. Despite the interest in mobile DTV and the NAB claiming ~105,000 registered attendees, the North and Central halls were only mildly [...]

How the format war has changed my purchasing habits.

5 March, 2008 (16:00) | HDTV, TV, rant | 1 comment

To be succinct, I simply don’t (and won’t) buy as much as I did before. For the past few years I didn’t think too hard about buying the week’s more popular DVD release of the latest blockbuster (or near blockbuster). This is why my DVD collection sprang to over 400 titles! I [...]

Is the NAB Show going the way of COMDEX?

17 February, 2008 (14:07) | Computers, NAB, TV, rant | No comments

For those that don’t know, COMDEX was a computer centric convention that ran in Las Vegas from 1979 to 2003 before lagging attendance from competing conventions and the convergence of consumer electronic devices ultimately made it uninteresting and killed it off.
Back in November of 2007 Avid, currently facing too much competition from Final Cut software [...]

TV Broadcasters struggle to remain relevant. Probably too little, too late.

15 February, 2008 (01:12) | Analog Transition, DTV, NAB, TV, rant | No comments

Traditional, over-the-air TV broadcasters are pretty screwed. Time and technology are rapidly shooting past and only now are they collectively looking for ways to recapture a lost audience. Only now are they, as a majority and as part of a coordinated effort, actively promoting the DTV transition, by way of shutting off the [...]

Why media ownership caps are important. Censorship in action.

21 January, 2008 (12:41) | TV, rant | No comments

I’m a dedicated Capitalist. I work for money. Money pays my mortgages and rent, keeps my fridge full, and house warm in the winter. Obviously, money is important and I want to earn as much of it as I can before I decide I’ve had enough of this “work” thing.
That said, there [...]

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