Recent Comments:
Is the future of Windows Media Center with Windows Home Server? {Engadget HD}
May 28th 2009 4:17PM I think what you've said would have been awesome 3-5 years ago but I do think we are moving slowly away from the model that content is delivered to your set at a given time on a given day of the week. Recording television and maintaining the storage for those recordings is a burden I would rather not bear. There are already multiple (too many) platforms for me to receive media that don't put the burden on me recording it (hulu, network websites, iTunes, Amazon, Netflix, etc). And when all else fails there's always bittorrent (which can have a very high WAF if implemented properly).
The eventual "winner" in the content distribution battle will be the one that notifies me when my desired programming is available, streams it to my TV in HD, and doesn't require me to buy a ridiculously expensive STB to do so.
The only fly in the ointment to this model are live events that a user would like to see in near realtime. The best example I can think of is sports. I have a high interest in sports while the game is being played but once the game ends and I know the score my interest drops to almost nothing. I think CBS has a clear winner with its MMOD system. If the NFL would adopt that model they could make a fortune charging folks to stream games. Sports is the only reason I haven't cut my cable. ESPN360 is a nice attempt but the quality was not very good last I checked.
The other smaller issues are the TV-as-background-noise and there's-nothing-on-so-let's-watch-crap. Some nights the TV is truly an idiot box. I think a lot of the marginal cable channels make a living showing programming a person would never set out to watch but might land on if nothing else is on. That type of market would be lost completely and I might never have seen that special on the world's longest bridge. I'm ok with that.
Sony says it has no plans for revamped XMB, Netflix service {Engadget HD}
Dec 11th 2008 3:26PM I think Sony is so confident after finally winning a format war (BluRay v. HDDVD) that they won't acknowledge the fact that physical format is just one (small) piece of the current pie. Why use a delivery system created by another party when they can spend $100's of millions of dollars to build their very own square wheel?
Thank god Sony can build a decent TV.
Canon cleared to resume work on SED TV (now that the world doesn't care) {Engadget HD}
Dec 2nd 2008 4:09PM I just bought a 9th gen Pioneer Kuro. There isn't an LCD in the world that can touch the picture quality. Plasma might be going out of favor but it's not because of inferior picture quality.
If SED can deliver on the promise that it made at CES a few years ago then no one will be laughing.
Apple's iTunes store breaks the 200 million TV episodes / 1 million HD sold mark {Engadget HD}
Oct 16th 2008 11:57AM Downloadable HD is not the same as BluRay HD. I think it's unfortunate that HD is considered anything that's 720p with zero regard with bit rate. However, downloads are fine for the people that think their over-compressed HD cable looks "awesome".
ZeeVee's ZvBox spotted, demonstrated on video {Engadget}
Jun 26th 2008 10:04AM I, for one, see a lot of potential in something like this. I have a lot of video on my PC and trying to re-encode it to work with whatever device (Xbox 360, PS3, Apple TV) that is hooked to my TV is PAINFUL.If this thing works the way I think it does, I can just plug it into a coax drop and as long as all of my TVs have ATSC tuners then I can watch my videos from any TV in my house. My two big concerns are how it's going to scale the resolution from 1280x1024 to 1080i and whether or not the broadcast channel is assignable. I guess I'm also concerned about signal strength too. Oh, and price. Maybe a couple of other things too.That's more than two, isn't it? I'm still intrigued.
America ranks the Top 12 (after they performed) {TV Squad}
Mar 12th 2008 4:30PM I like David C. a lot but he sang the verse in the wrong key and it was awful. The chorus was much better but finishing a song well does not a good performance make.
I was surprised when Carly said she was going to add a twist and then sang the full on kareoke version of Come Together. Maybe she added a bit of a rock anthem twist but I'm not sure that's an improvement. Yeah, she sang it well but it wasn't earth shattering.
Brook is growing on me. Even when she misses the note it still sounds right and I like that about her.
Survivor Micronesia: He's a Ball of Goo! {TV Squad}
Mar 7th 2008 3:40PM Seriously, you feel bad for Chet? You feel it's Joel's fault that Chet laid on his ass during the obstacle course? Perhaps they should have taken a moment and talked through their feelings, I mean, they had a whole minute to work that out. Trying to compare Chet and Joel at challenges is like comparing apples and thermonuclear weapons.
I am surprised at how easily these guys roll over when a Cirie or Tracy puts up the least bit of resistance. When Cirie informed Ozzie of what he was doing he should have informed her that if she didn't go his way that he would see her voted off; he could have easily sold that to the rest of the tribe. It just goes to show you that a successful Survivor has less to do with holding one's breath for 5 minutes and more to do with being able to sniff out out a bargain at a Marshall's on Black Friday. If you don't get that analogy...just think about it. Still not coming? Try holding your breath for five minutes...maybe you're just too superior an athelete.
American Idol: Top 16 Revealed {TV Squad}
Feb 29th 2008 11:11AM So...in mathematical terms...you're saying that 16 year-old Idol wannabe > John Lennon? I'm sure a Clear Channel representative will be reaching out to you shortly to pick your please-tell-me-what-I-like brain.
I don't hate the kid. I think he can sing. I do think he missed the point of the song and his effervescence is starting to trigger my gag reflex.
Let me ask you this...if you owned a 65 Ford Mustang, would you add some shiny spinners and a wicked flame down the side to jazz it up a bit? Clear Channel eagerly awaits your answer.
Survivor Micronesia: That's Baked, Barbecued and Fried! {TV Squad}
Feb 29th 2008 10:50AM Joel has now conspired to cast off the strongest woman and perhaps second strongest man on his team to keep the likes of Kathy and Chet. I don't really see Kathy or Chet being good at any challenges (they don't seem too s-m-r-t to me) and they don't do much around camp.
Next week...
Tracy: Joel, I think you're a threat and we should vote you off?
Joel: Duh?
Tracy: You have massive arms and a cunningly crafted array of tattoos and everyone knows that behind that mass of unfortunate hair lurks the mind of a champion.
Joel: You're right, I am a threat. I'll have everyone vote me off.
American Idol: Top 16 Revealed {TV Squad}
Feb 29th 2008 10:31AM David A...really? I thought John Lennon was rolling over in his grave after the kid's adaptation of "Imagine". The power of the song is its simplicity, not its power notes and runs (of which there are zero). The kid has a mature voice but his charm is wearing thin and he's quickly becoming this year's Melinda Doolittle ("me? really, me? you like me?") except he stands there and giggles. It was cute two weeks ago. Now it's, "ok, stand there and articulate a thought". Soon it will be, "If you don't stop giggling like a school girl I'm going to be forced to make you watch Bambi over and over until some brevity returns."
