Archive for the 'New Media' Category

07
May

HD-DVD is dead. Blu-ray might die with it.

By Joshua Nard 0 Comments
Categories: High Definition and New Media

After a tumultuous battle between two HD formats, HD-DVD and Blu-ray, the war was declared over in January this year when Sony’s payout to Time-Warner pictures shifted the balance of studio adoption into Blu-ray’s favor.  Toshiba, the major hardware supporter, announced they would stop production of HD-DVD players.  The consensus appeared to be in favor of a single format.  After stores have offered rebates on the return of HD-DVD players, Blu-ray sales numbers should reflect an increase.  This is not the case.  The problems is that manufacturers have actually raised the prices to double the cost of a mid-level Toshiba A-30 HD-DVD player over Christmas pricing.  In return, they have alienated consumers migrating to HD televisions and severely affected their chance  at global adoption.  This could have been easy swept up during the media attention in January/February by offering a reasonably priced alternative.  Unfortunately, Sony still has not learned their lesson from the Betamax wars of yesteryear that I recall in the early 80’s.  Just because you have either a superior format - in the case of the former Betamax, or a victorious format of Blu-ray, doesn’t mean you have won.  Victory is true market adoption by overwhelming market share.  Judging from the numbers, Blu-ray has a long way to go.  They are quickly losing the game with overpriced players.  Numbers show that the sale of HD-DVD players have actually increased while Blu-ray players have decreased.  The talk of a recession has not appeared to move the price down and consumers only get smarter with their money.  The clarity in the Blu-ray is outstanding on an HD television and would be a shame to see it disappear.

What will become the next format?  What ever fills the void within cost reach of the average consumer.  It’s too late to develop another removable media format.  Most likely it will be a media device such as the Apple TV or VUDU priced in the cusp of consumer adoption of under $250 dollars.  Rentals will once again become a dominate player when low price, usability and day and date availability is accessible to the average consumer.  These media players, if they move aggressively while Blu-ray becomes docile in pricing, will leave Sony with another Betamax format.

05
May

We need to stop calling the internet - the internet

By Joshua Nard 0 Comments
Categories: Internet, New Media and advertising

We internet as we knew it, is dead.  The idea of sending bytes of data back and forth for what it was originally intended for, has passed.  Today it has evolved into many different forms.  The definition of what it was, metaphysically, no longer applies.  We certainly don’t say “answer the television” when we get a phone call.  Although some congressmen insist on juvenilely describing it as “pipes,” today it could be described as dynamic channels with networking crossover.  While it’s potential form is still shaking out, it continues to evolve before anything is truly established.

Although it appears unformulated, there really is no confusion as to what it is.  What is familiar within the web as we view it, is various forms of television, radio, telephone and print.  As much as we want to spin the once-formerly-known-as-internet as a new model, it is still very much the same in micro blocks of content through associations that we are easily familiar with.  While youtube and video podcasts appear on the surface to be a craze considered a by some as a revolution, it is still very much television with more channels than your cable tv.  It is a viable medium.  Both advertisers and futurists have struggled for a long while to figure out what the net is to consumers and how it can be formulated into a diplomatic sentence.  In reality, it is nothing more than another channel for us to view or communicate.  A communication tool that is very much apart of the average consumers lives.  It’s television. It’s radio. It’s a telephone.  It’s a newspaper.  Therein lies the identity to advertisers today.  Whether it is Nielsen ratings or CPM’s, advertising is very much a viable driving force for monetary support for content providers.  It’s important that advertisers understand.  Advertising is just as powerful online as it is in traditional media.  Some studies suggest it’s even more captive online - but that’s for another blog entry.

As much as we have improved and attempted to re-invent a “car of the future,” it still has four wheels, an engine and a steering wheel very much akin to the Model-T.  We still call it a car.  Just like a car, whether on a back road or super highway, we, as consumers still drive it.

17
Apr

Will networked distribution break capsulized media?

By Joshua Nard 0 Comments
Categories: Broadcast, Internet and New Media

There is a convergence in media today that happening but has not quite taken a polished form.  You might have heard about internet citizen journalism growing in popularity.  The problem is that these streams can be easily lost in the endless world of RSS feeds within the internet.  Consumers have to know where to look in order to find the media.  Podcasts for example, which use RSS feeds are great but again, you need to subscribe to the feed in order to get updates.  If I could imagine the greater use of the future internet is the ability to move within clouds of data with user voted page ranks and trusted source ranking.  Have I lost you?  Let’s imagine there is a breaking news story where a fire breaks out at a nearby factory.  The media breaks the story with a reporter on the way to the scene.  Meanwhile, a person near the scene begins a streaming video from their cell phone with a cloud tag of: breaking news, factory, fire, Chicago, north-side, Broadway & Addison, Date, Time.  The media could immediately be alerted to the stream and start feeding the source.  A bulletin would be broadcasted: is this a trusted source? - with a page rank alerting the status of user submissions.  News media uses phone call-ins frequently for this but a connection needs to happen between the two parties.  Another video stream opens covering the scene with a higher trusted rank and now you can have more coverage.  While you’re listening to the broadcast, you click on the history of the factory with articles on prior news that extends to that area’s neighborhood history.  The user has more control of how much or how little they want to learn.

Let’s takes that same concept and apply to a network where an aspiring journalist or even a concerned citizen records their own account, and after editing the media could submit it to multiple feeds within the internet and broadcast channels for them to review and publish in parallel.  If the network decides not to broadcast it, you still have he option to float to the other media articles for more information.  All of this comes from recent media management software that opens the accessibility of information.  Although the big networks may at first shy away, the need to stay competitive in today’s market may lead to this adoption.  The benefit for the larger networks is that they could also get a higher visibility from the smaller social media as well.

When I worked in broadcast news, we had thousands of archived news stories on tapes with a database to source that information.  Now with new media management tools and a tapeless workflow, there is greater access to a larger network of media for better information.  The next step is opening that access further into the internet pool of relevant, user submitted experiences for greater insight into our world.  A tapeless world is just the first step.  Capsulized media is on the brink of non-existence, as we once experience it.  When we get there will be determined by both the consumer and the networks.

This is just one example of the de-regulation of media and can even apply to consumer generated advertising and social consumer shopping as well.  It’s going to be an interesting future when you stand back and look at the larger picture.  Will the larger players sit back and wait for it to happen without their support or will they embrace it with open standards?  Let’s hope for everyone involved, it makes for a greater knowledge and user experiences.

15
Apr

Will new media overtake broadcast?

By Joshua Nard 1 Comment
Categories: Broadcast, Internet and New Media

Yesterday at NAB 2008 in Las Vegas, Red announced their new 5K Epic and 3K Scarlet camera continuing to push the industry in a direction that is very exciting.  Although they are not taking pre-orders, with a delivery of early 2009, the rumor is the 3K Scarlet camera price is going to hover in the 3-4 thousand dollar range.  If you need a catch up:  That’s a rather inexpensive camera that hovers above the quality of an HD image and just below a Film 4K image.  Having seen the amazing 4K clarity of Peter Jackson’s Crossing the Line last year at NAB on a 4K projector, I can understand how film celluloid is going to be replaced.  Less people are going to the theater with their new HD home installations. You also have pro-sumer and professional content developers that will soon have the capacity to raise the quality of their production beyond HD for a reasonable price.  The question I raise is this:  Will HD broadcast networks and film studios be able to compete in a few years?  Today’s television SD and HD standards obviously are created to keep compliance with consumer products that have been established and maintained by the industry NTSC and FCC governing board.  Two things can happen in the next two years:  A inexpensive introduction of a 37″ or higher computer display that displays resolutions that exceed HD 1080p (the highest ATSC standard). The second is a higher efficient codec that can delivery lossless quality within manageable download times.  This is going to happen eventually.  The thought is that the film and television industry may not have an advantageous quality edge in the future.  Perhaps this is why organizations such as the MPAA as so freaked out.  If consumers in the future witness the ability to see films in 4K and the costs are affordable, the phrase “Keeping up with the Joneses” is going to take on a whole new meaning.  Story is still king and I am left baffled why people send me links to youtube such as a skateboarding dog.  As the dusto of what I describe as “internet awe” clears, decent content with well written subject matter are emerging.    The near future may be that your future movie trailer could be saying “coming soon to your 4K home theater” and possibly “starring Mr. and Mrs. Jones.”  With the ease of posting to a growing youtube community, will the dominate streaming video posters in the adoption of this not too future technology create a standard over the regulation of the networks and film industry?  Will the mass market create a better market?

11
Apr

Has Broadcast growth lost to the Internet?

By Joshua Nard 1 Comment
Categories: Broadcast, Internet and New Media

For ten years, I have devoted my career to the profession of content creation in television and new media.  New media, to clarify how I am defining it, is spot media on a non-traditional network of remote public displays: digital signage, DCNs (Digital Content Networks) or kiosk displays are terms thrown around today.  Today, I am looking for the next big opportunity in my career after a recent merger regrettably did not come together as promised.  This recent opportunity has allowed me to create Flash interactive media for clients.  Seven years ago when I was freelancing and 56K modems were king, I worked on a few HTML projects with limited flash components.  Although there was endless opportunity for dynamic content, the lack of default browser adoption and limited internet transmission held the industry back.  Recent broadband adoption has enabled the viability of the medium.  Not surpisingly, the job boards are full of senior creative jobs that require internet knowledge.  It is an exciting time for dynamic media and the industry in general.  It’s been seven years, and it’s quite possible my job hunting search term skills may be lacking.  What is surprising is the minute or absolutely vacant postings for art or creative directors with broadcast/spot production skills.  I am beginning to wonder after three months if the internet is not just the growing trend, but the only developing norm.  Has broadcast as we know it has reached an industry growth plateau or is it just a temporary flux?  It’s far to early to tell, after all my search has only covered the last three months of the Chicago market.  I have done my best to kept my career experience open to a more holistic approach to media, from broadcast production, new media and interactive.  I believe spot production, telling a good compelling story, is very relevant even in today’s dynamic and streaming media.   I am enthusiastic as I re-engage myself back into dynamic, interactive content or broadcast.  I am just a bit surprised, perhaps befuddled, and even a bit concerned, at the early thought that there is potentially a growth omission in a medium that has ruled the industry for decades.  My hope is that both mediums, that are not too far akin in my belief, will continue to be healthy and show growth in parallel.  I guess we can only wait and see.

09
Apr

is MySpace the anti-christ or the redeemer?

By Joshua Nard 1 Comment
Categories: Internet and New Media

This is a difficult subject to write about but I thought it was important to discuss it from a media angle.  Being a parent, and having been bullied as a kid, my heart goes out to the parents who had their daughter savagely beaten by a group of peers.  Aside from the obvious social issues that are at so prevalent in schools today, there is a media issue.  During the interview with the parents, the father vents his frustration with “these internet companies” stating that “MySpace is the anti-christ for children.”  There are alot of obvious issues in sites such as MySpace that are of great concern for parents.  The social issues ranging from child neglect to teen pressure have placed impressionable character traits on some disturbed teens clearly evident in this video.  Most of this behavior gets overlooked by parents today whether by sheer ignorance or perhaps neglect in having to work two jobs in today’s economy.  The burden of neglect is also on the institutions of today - our educational system.  As I mentioned earlier, I was bullied in Jr. High by a group of kids that came from broken homes.  It was a hard time for me to balance the embarrassment let alone the school’s frustrating, passive approach to the problem.  I remember the social councilor seemed to be concerned, yet without proof of these incidents, could do very little and the school continued remain confident that they did not need to get the school’s parents involved.  Looking back, I wish technology would have been there to shed some light on this subject and force the schools and parents to start talking.  The video captured is very troubling for any parent, or morally upright person to watch. The anger and disturbing behavior of these girls were not fueled by this current access to internet technology we have now.  I don’t remember picking up my parents Super 8mm camera when I was younger and suddenly thinking - man, if I could just beat a person senseless and film it.  The father of the young woman, to his credit, has a right to be angry and horrifically disturbed.  Yes, it is true that teens do have easier access to media that contains violence and aggression.  We have to be better parents in this increasingly confusing world, and it’s not easy at all.  There is no manual that comes with child birth.  My son, who just turned four, is crazy infatuated with Star Wars and Transformers.  I worry about where his threshold needs to be at his age.  I try to make an effort to watch Star Wars I, IV and V and explain that this is all make believe.  I steer him away from the darker sequels of II, III and VI that have too much fighting.  I even watched a behind the scenes Star Wars DVD with him to illustrate that there is only fantasy in this.  I was four and a half when Star Wars first came to the screen in the 70’s.  I remember it fondly and don’t consider myself a violent person today, or growing up.  Parents have to open up and talk with their kids daily.  The girls who created this horrific event, were not born dangerous.  Somewhere, along the way, they developed issues that they couldn’t deal with as a youth.  For some unknown reason, the parents didn’t keep a daily, open dialog for their kids to talk about what they are dealing with.  It’s a hard thing to swallow as a parent.  You want to believe that all of your hard work at the end of the day is enough.  My wife and I remind ourselves during the frustrating moments that parenting is total zen work.  Being a good parent yesterday cannot justify neglectful behavior today.  It’s how you cope and properly address their issues that they have at that moment.  Technology doesn’t fuel aggressive behavior, it only records it.  We as parents, as a society, we need to monitor these mediums daily to keep our community and our families in check.

08
Apr

Is NAB becoming NABT? (Not Applicable Beyond Today)

By Joshua Nard 0 Comments
Categories: Broadcast, Internet and New Media

I’ve been going to NAB for years now.  I started attending in 1998 just before my graduation to start networking as a junior artist.  Much has advanced over the years, especially eliminating the need to bus between the Sands and the unexpanded LVCC.  For many years NAB has been the place to attend for Broadcasting.   You can spend four days and still not see everything, something I don’t recommend.  I swear I’m an inch shorter after two days and have never been into sensory overload on slot machines.  Regardless, I have usually taken something away that was interesting.  Although NAB will continue to serve the broadcast medium for years to come, I found myself disappointed with the convention speaker engagements last year.  There was a clear disregard and lack of recognition in new media including podcast and streaming media.  I was baffled by the ridiculous display of egotism by a NAB lawyer during a keynote presented by Sling Media CEO Blake Krikorian.  After years of never having to fight for technology dominance in media delivery (i.e. a viewing screen), now more than ever, broadcasters are losing viewers that are turning to laptops and cell phones for content.  NAB should be using their clout, while they still have it, to position themselves as the door front to the revolution that is happening now.  Think about it this way, which came first: the Apple, or the AppleTV?  I find myself disappointed about today’s announcements that the focus, once again, will be about DTV.  Last time I checked, I have two HDTVs in my house, one that I’ve had for five years.  I just can’t seem to justify flying out to NAB this year as much as I would like.  The senior members of NAB should be working endlessly on positioning the television as the center piece of the living room for the foreseeable future.  The committee should be harvesting the current, unconventional media platforms.  Why?  Advertising funds every show produced.  As consumer interest continues to grow rapidly into new media, there may come a time when the balance shifts to a computer.    Consumers are using computers today to surf the internet, play games, send email, video chat, view family photos and video, watch youtube and get news from around the world - oh yeah, and they can even view OTA and unencrypted QAM stuff too (with the proper equipment).  Television, by itself as most people use it provides cable, OTA and satellite programming.  So where is the future going?  Will the future of the living room look like today’s current setup of a computer table and television or will the TV get the boot?  What will happen when consumers realize they are enjoying their favorite youtube and podcasts more than the television?  NAB appears to bloster that the future will be HD.  HD is already here.  The future is appears to be more about convergence.  I see nothing in today’s press release that positions NAB as the leader of innovation, a role it has had in the past.  I believe that standards are necessary for obvious reasons, so long as they don’t cloud one’s openness to new ideas.  It was the idea that life could be transmitted and projected onto phosphors, beyond the radio standard, in the first place that created the industry as it is today.  That same openness allowed color frequency to be piggybacked onto the B&W signal so people could watch MASH and Johnny in technicolor.   No one knows the future.  Here’s what I do know:  Growing up, we bought a B&W television on the dinner table to watch our favorite show at dinner.  Eventually, our habits changed as we started using T.V. trays to watch our color television in the living room.  Will the computer desk become the next T.V. tray in a unforeseen form?  Of course for most NAB members, they can write always off as the future, just like some of them did with HD.