Slashdot Mirror
Trimming Television to Sell More Ads
gambit3 writes: "Tech TV has an article about a device called a "Digital Time Machine", that does something called "Time Trimming", which is basically a way to cut single frames from different scenes in TV programs, which, over the course of a 30 minute program, can add up to 30 seconds, which is, incidentally, the perfect length to add ANOTHER commercial."
What pisses me off is that Fox went to all the trouble to pay for Futurama and The Simpsons, and then they keep running the "NFL Postgame" over the Groening time slots. Sometimes they "join the program already in progress," i.e., roll the last scene and credits for the show that "Howie" has blathered over for 25 minutes. Retarded. Shut up, Howie. We all saw the game already.
The one hour of TV I want to see during the week, and they fill it with redundant lip-flapping that contains no new information. Fucking football.
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
I have no problem with advertising. If I get something of quality for more or less free, i expect to have to watch something I may or may not find interesting (And i'm of the mind that i'd rather it be targeted, than not.) Now, i'm not an expert on economics or anything, but it seems to me slashdot is a -tad- too jumpy when it comes to stuff like this. As mentioned a bit earlier, they've been doing this on radio for ages.
[Note, the below doesn't neccesarily state my views, just an interpretation of the circumstances. The comment may or may not be based in rational thought; The statement has been engineered for slashdot audiences].
Has anyone else noticed that, if you havent entered your own URL, your url is set to http://slashdot.org/? Now, in a way, that could be interpreted as slashdot branding your comment. Say, for instance, if your post was quoted somewhere, in its entirety, that would be analogus to having one of those annoying "Come read at www.yahoo.com!" banners at the bottom of a mail. Doesn't seem very slashdot-like to me. How about have it default to, say, NOTHING like it did a few months ago.. or better yet, to the slashdot meta thread?
$0.02 refundable w/ $15.00 restocking fee.
I, too, tried to tune into the Simpsons to find it preempted about 25 minutes while they said ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. What was that all about? I'm not a football fan, but it truly seemed like these guys had absolutely nothing to say and were just mandated to fill in some time. Very frustrating.
Speaking of tactics like this: Perhaps the opposite, but I've noticed something very odd on WB shows (hey, look, my wife likes them. i.e. the Gilmore Girls, etc.): Every now and then there are Matrix like slow motion/weird motion effects put in absolutely normal scenes. I noticed this first on Buffy several years ago: Often when turning there head someone with the slew dial at WB has a little fun or something. I don't know why they do it (subliminally to make it etherworldly?), but it's very disorienting.