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…
Not yet. And after the latest debacle with the June 18th firmware, maybe not ever. My old, original xbox softmodded to run XBMC is still more polished and faster than this little guy, despite the glowing reviews I read which led me to purchase the Popcorn Hour NMT in the first place. As everyone knows,…
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 major…
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…
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 busy.…
No “film at 11” drama here; yes, it works and it works surprisingly well for a $60 piece of electronics ($20 after the $40 coupon is applied). For those that don’t know, this Insignia brand NS-DXA1 DTV converter box is one of a few available devices which are part of the US government’s effort to…
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 didn’t always buy…
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…
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 analog transmitters…
Not many people get inside Sutro Tower, so I consider myself pretty fortunate. My current employer doesn’t have transmit facilities or other interests at Sutro, so I was escorted through the gate and into the facility by a contract engineer, John Buckham, that our SF station has who also maintains a radio station there for…