Whatever happened to "convergence" and the digital TV revolution?

[alxian]

in regards to computers the internet and television.

 

wasn't this supposed to be the year of the digital television revolution?

 

there aren't even that many 1080p sets, or even 1080i projectors under 3000$

 

after many failed attempts by single entities (MS UltimateTV) to bring this to the table, it almost seems like they've given up.

 

at least temporarily.

 

MS and Sony both intend to rock our digital entertainment worlds again next year, but in the meantime what are we to do with ourselves? analogue cable is so last year...

 

 

i for one have no intention of waiting for IPtv or PS3 to usher in a digital entertainment revolution.

 

i'd rather build it myself.

 

if you have a omputer, relatively close to a TV (preferably an HDTV), i recommend the following. [and roughly a grand burning a hole in your pocket].

 

 

getting a TV capture card, S-video or HDTV if you can spare the money and have access to hdtv broadcasts.

 

a PC able to actually play hdtv content on its own, or through an attached hdtv. if you aren't able to play hdtv content, such as http://www.wmvhd.com, perhaps you should consider a light upgrade to the minimum specs to play hdtv content. [cpu and ram]

 

once you are able to record television to your PC you can dump your old VCR, you shant be needing that relic from a long dead era any longer. for fun you can digitize your VHS collection and burn them to dvd, they are practically giving away dvd burners these days.

 

if you are lucky enough to have component connectors on your television you can consider a video card or pci daughter card that has hdtv out. even if its just 480i the picture quality far exceeds RF or s-video. once you're used to it looking at anything else is torture.

 

 

simple ways to have fun with DIY convergence include the mundane, like using your computer as an hdtv recorder. watching iternet video on a 40" hdtv screen as though they were television broadcasts, and creating slideshows out of all your collected pictures on your TV as though it was a wall hanging, changing its picture at preset intervals.

 

 

for kicks i set up windows media player 10 to cycle pictures on my TV every 10 seconds. (since it sits right next to my monitor i can glance at it now and then admiring the shifting images, even small pictures pumped through component cables look awesome at 480i), or i could preload urls into media player 10 [by microsoft] and watch content streamed directly from the internet as though it was a television channel i created with content that i want to watch.

 

parts to consider

 

p4 2.4ghz processor, genuine intel not celeron. [<140$]

1 gig of ram pc-3200 [<80$, i recommen 2 gigs, if you are running 64 bits 3 gigs]

250 gigs of hdd space [~100$]

VIVO video card with HDTV-out (or any ATI AIW paired with the HDTV wonder daughter card) [~250$]

"surround sound 5.1" sound card with surround speakers.

 

an HDTV and subscription to hdtv content either through satelite or cable, or over the air for free in some areas.

 

as an upgrade mobo capable, if not tack on 80~100 for an intel 865 or higher motherboard. 9xx series will do, the above isn't cheap and for most people is overkill with a steap learning curve... but wholly worth it to go fully digital. and in some cases can squeak under 800$ for an upgrade or a little higher for a new system.

 

the hdtv may cost a pretty penny now, and so isn't worth it if you don't already have one. just having component connectors is good enough. you'll be able to see top notch quality out of your video card. even portions of your desktop if you set it up right. with an hdtv you'll be able to full replace you dinky monitor for a 1920x1080 desktop on the hdtv. they sell for less than 2000$.

[UncleAl]

When there were three TV networks everybody was guaranteed a pretty profit. When there are 1000 channels the audience/channel doesn't create advertising revenues. The Web has enormously more content production - planetwide - than consumption. In a remarkable redux of Maxist economics, content has become a disseminated cottage industry and centralized company towns are going broke.

 

You can see Federal Communication Commission-sterilized TV with all sorts of clever special effects, or you can see a 40-year old Ohio housewife with a Webcam slowly cutting her clothing off with a pair of scissors. I maintain that the houswife will be making grocery money long after the TV program abandons its expense accounts.

[alxian]

a good point. there is money to be made in direct market and direct to viewer broadcasting over the net. but out of a thousand such sites very few if any turn a profit.

 

advertisers though don't seem to care, as long as they get click throughs or nielson ratings they pay out money.

 

even if people forsake broadcasters and go all digital as in net content they still deal with advertising, for the profit of the content producer and as an annoyance to the person trying to access the content.

 

 

personally i like free content over the internet. and if like listening to the radio (not-for-profit surviving on donations) that need click throughs for advertisers to pay them the onus is on me to clickthrough i may.. but only by accident.

 

is it wrong to surf the net avoiding paysites to visit ad sponsored sites and not click on the ads? if in 2 years real internet broadcaster like hollandoc start distributing free content over the net would it be wrong to not click through and generate revenue for them?

 

i don't think so. just like commercials and TiVO you have the choice not to watch commercials and should not be compelled to ever hit oneof those blasted ads, further there are tools to block those ads from even appearing, often disabling content on some sites.. a small price to pay for free content.

 

so, while those broadcasters refuse to DIE, the net broadcasters will more than likely take their place. such that current content over the internet will increase in quality but will require more money to do so, more annoying ads, and more incidious means to make you see them no matter what tools you have at your disposal.

 

question

 

since the internet is largely unregulated, and the US claims to own its brains heart and spine, and which for it to remain unregulated.... what happens when such digital content distribution methods come of age?

 

will we see raw uncensored content on public websites? subliminal advertisements hidden within the programming itself?

 

how could you censor an interactive program when most of the information is stored on some server hidden away in the belly of the beast? they could modify it in anyway they choose so that regulating it would be impossible.

 

the trend of product placement will only continue to grow, in movies, television shows, games etc, but more than that culture in some cases could be influenced through interactive mediums such as MMO games. currently the big thing for some, those games allow the content producers to immerse their audience in a world of their own creation, if they become as realistic as a TV show who knows how much they will influence behaviors and personalities of persons who get too involved in them?

 

like japanese anime manga hentai subcultures if MMO and interactive TV become influencial enough distribution through an unregulated medium like the net will only mean that no one will be able to control it.

 

scarier still perhaps is that many nations have the ability to make content as uncle al stated. we've seen the effects of the anime invasion. what if their is an interactive hentai invasion? (it would only affect a few perhaps but through an unregulated medium like the internet any 7 y/o could pick up a copy of the next sexy beach game... share it with his friends.. further what happens when this reality TV concept hits the internet? if convergence will enable real people sitting at home to play games on their big screens like survivor... for longer than a 1 hour period? when TV itself becomes interactive and you not only control part of the show but become part of it?

 

popculture will continue to evolve, people will continue losing their inhibitions, TV will keep becoming an integral part of our personalities.

[geokker]

I think current and proposed digital broadcast formats suffer from 'really, seriously bone-headed' syndrome. Currently in the UK, the BBC (a tax funded broadcaster. Yes. A tax funded broadcaster. No, really. Seriously. Tax funded.) with the government aim to switch off the analogue transmitters forcing everyone with a telly (and let's be realistic, that's everyone) to buy a digital tv receiver of some description. The implementation is flawed and everything to do with digital broadcasting and media is flawed. Here are some examples:

 

1. The data compression for digital video broadcasting (DVB) is high, resulting in heavily pixellated, stepped artifacts. If you enjoy clear analogue reception, you will be worse off.

 

2. There are currently no removable media recorders with built-in digital decoders - so you cannot watch and record 2 separate digital channels.

 

3. Switching between DVB channels is slow.

 

4. Switching digiboxes on is slow.

 

5. Widescreen TV's are dumb. They are not 16:9 so they aren't widescreen. TV is not broadcast in the same ratio, so even on a 'widescreen' telly, you'll have black bars top and bottom.

 

6. Widescreen tv's distort tv. circles become ellipsed and supermodels become chubsters. If you prefer reality, get used to unnatural looking vertical black bars either side of the picture.

 

7. Virtually every programme on the BBC is in quasi-widescreen forcing you to have black bars or choose to lop off the ends to fill the screen. On my 4:3 (proper) tv, a third of the screen is black yet the BBC will not reduce my license fee (tax) by a third.

 

8. There are no digiboxes that support digital audio broadcasting (DAB).

 

9. I can listen quite happily to Radio 4 FM at 50% quality. I cannot listen to Radio 4 DAB at 85% quality.

 

10. DAB radio's are absurdly expensive. Still.

 

11. DAB portable radio's are virtually unusable.

 

12. DVD movies sometimes force you to watch disclaimers, trailers etc. You cannot skip or fast forward them.

 

13. DVD recorders are soul crushingly slow. 'Ejecting'. 'Stopping'. What the hell?

 

14. Additional channels used to incentivize buyers are rubbish.

 

I'm sure I can think of more, but I'm getting depressed.

[alxian]

adding a computer with a TB of hdd to your media life will solve some of those problems

 

 

as for the content of television and its format... hells more likely to freeze over before they are homogenized.

 

although i've yet to try the PVR function the recording quality is as good as it looks patched through. (pixelated and ghosty), once ATI adds HDTV in on the AIW cards that problem will be resolved, but without enough hdtv broadcasting to record its not a big deal for now.

 

 

i still don't get that widescreen bit either, why have 4:3 strechted into a wider ratio?! sheer idiocy.

 

lastly, and possibly the only good thing to look forward to is consoles, they will make use pixel per pixel the HDTV screens we're currently wasting money on. ps3 more than any other. even some PC games and google earth support HD resolutions.

 

i'm not sure if the PC can access the digital content directly but if it could you could record two channels at once.