The Napsterization of TV

Lefty writes "This article in today's Boston Globe talks about the napsterization of TV shows and how the PC as a media server is going to make it happen. Burning TV shows to CD/DVD, e-mailing your friends TV shows, streaming TV over the Internet -- all things the dedicated set-top boxes can't do... The article talks about Snapstream, a PVR competitor to Moxi and ReplayTV, that runs on the PC and has media server capabilities. from the article: "Already you can find a great deal of pirated video material online. If SnapStream gets installed on millions of PCs, there'll be plenty more. And the TV moguls will find themselves knee deep in the digital acid bath.""

Comments

I can't wait for this

[mrroot]

In the mean time, anybody know where I can download "The Star Wars Christmas Special" or episodes 24 through 30 of Three's Company? This will surely enhance the quality of life for everyone.

Re:Who E-mails Movies?

[KelsoLundeen]

LOL.

Here's a true story:

It's Christmas, so I decide to buy myself a Christmas gift -- since I buy the best gifts for myself. They usually involve a lot of money and computer equipment.

Okay, so this Christmas -- couple months ago -- I take the plunge and buy a miniDV camera. I also realize I need editing software. So I get Vegas Video. And what the heck: sound on DV cameras sucks, so I buy myself a couple microphones (a stereo mic, a shotgun mic, and -- because I can -- an XLR mic with a little XLR box that sits between my miniDV cam and the mic.)

Okay, so I've got my whole setup ready to go. I decide I'm gonna shoot some documentaries of my friends, my family, and my dog, Brewster. I spend a couple weeks shooting funny shit -- little movies, a couple of documentaries, and a 15 minute long video of family photographs set to Benny Goodman music. Sorta like what Woody Allen does at the beginning of his movies.

Anyway, the photographs were family photos -- old ones, black and white and color, and the finished video -- complete with zooms into and pans across the old photographs -- was very cool. Like Ken Burns. That sort of thing.

I get the bright idea: hey, I oughta *show* this to someone. So I do. I mail the video to my parents. Now, okay, it's pretty small -- around 5 megs or so -- but I forget my parents are still on a modem. So I get this angry call from my dad: "What the hell did you send us! The modem's been nonstop for an hour!"

A photograph video, I told him.

"Cripes, I couldn't figure out what it was! I thought it was a virus! I had to restart it five times before I finally gave up."

It dawned on me that, heck, I coulda just put the video on a web page. But I didn't think of that. I just took the edited video and emailed it off to the folks.

Okay, so three days later. I get another call. It's the old man: "Hey we finally downloaded the video! Fantastic! I mailed it off to your aunt!"

Um, I said. I could just put a web page up and she could download the video.

"Too late!" says the old man. "Make more! We love those videos!"

Couple more days pass, and I get this angry call from my aunt: "What the hell is the video you've been sending around? It took me hours to download it! I had to call my ISP! They thought it was a virus."

I pointed out that I didn't send it. I made it, but I didn't send it. "Blame your brother," I told my aunt.

"Cripes!" she says. "Don't ever send me another video. You don't know the headaches I went through to download that thing."

Did you watch it?

"Watch it? I had my ISP zap it off my email account. I was getting account errors, quota errors, you name it!"

But it didn't end there. My dad kept sending this five meg video around. More calls ensued. Angry emails came in from my cousins, uncles, aunts. The gist: don't ever send us a video again.

I'm thinking: cripes, my family is cracked. It's just a five meg video, for chrissake!

But who knows.

Anyway, moral of the story. Normal people do not send videos. Morons (like me) start the ball rolling and actually email videos. But, no, no one sends videos. It's just marketing bullshit.

There's still ill-will about the videos. I didn't think it was a big deal. And I apologized all around. But the damage has been done.

Re:Who E-mails Movies?

[b1t r0t]

I mail the video to my parents. Now, okay, it's pretty small -- around 5 megs or so -- but I forget my parents are still on a modem. So I get this angry call from my dad: "What the hell did you send us! The modem's been nonstop for an hour!"

Questions:
1. Are you or have you ever been a PHB?
2. Do you feel an inexplicable urge to use PowerPoint?
3. Does your home web page use any Flash?
4. Does your home web page have a "front door" page which contains nothing but a Flash animation?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, seek help from your local BOFH immediately!