I dont see this as huge news in the case of this one show going to a pay per month system.
As a vidcaster however, it is encouraging to see a market start to flourish. I truly am burned by the amount of crap I pay for on cable TV, having to skip ads despite having a PVR, etc. Basic cable gives me about 5 channels I care about, and about 60 that I don't.
I'd like to see a future where set top IPTV boxes allow me to subscribe and easily view and listen to web based content. I'd love to have my car radio automatically sync with my 'podcasts' and napster subscriptions (this is done now using omnifi, but I'd like more solutions).
To get there, and to get the vidcasts to have some quality, moneys needed. As a person that runs a free vidcast, I take a loss every show I produce. We've gone through 3 cameras, props, lighting fixtures, etc. With our dirt budget, we still have spent a signifigant amount, mostly in time, editing software, hosting, bandwidth, etc.
Add to this hiring actors, or paying for a bit more professional content, plus hosting of files besides torrents/free hosting solutions, and your talking a budget thats gotta come from somewhere.
taking it from the dirt budget to the level of getting 35mm cameras, real lighting rigs, etc, pushes the budget even higher.
For all of this, there needs to be a precedent and a distribution system that allows the content makers to make money. Ideally it would be very low cost, since most middlemen are gone. Again, this is where someone setting some solid precedents would come in handy.
Ironically, while the studios can do fine offereing BSG for a dollar a pop, I think that it's unfair to compare that to what an idie film maker would need to make for their videos. I know most of this thread is about audio, but videos just the next logical step.
Wow. Time and again I see the same things...Nintendos controllers going to do wonderful things, Sony's graphics are going to do amazing things. As someone thats played games since the 2600, I'm really thinking that people aren't 'getting it'.
You dont factor winners by how strong a launch they have. But you do factor losers. If they dont sell (we're looking at you Gizmondo and those sidetalkers) then you have problems. If you sell them as fast as you can make them, well no prob, make more, move on.
Long term, its the possiblities that matter. I can watch and stream HD content to my 360. NOW. TODAY. I can download games. I can download trials and demos. A 360, out of the box, is more fun than any past console. The xbox arcade is the thing that should be most talked about. Sure, theres only a few titles out there, ranging 50 to 70 bucks. But on xbox arcade, theres titles from 5 bucks to 10, and theres a ton of them. Noone talks about them. But damn, I know I spend more time on them than anything else.
Game demos being downloadable...I've played the demo for Fight Night longer than I'd played many of my older xbox games. For Free! Today...not tomorrow, not promised, not vaporware. MS delivered that experience, and it was fluid.
I can purchase games for the arcade via xbl with points. I can download trailers and watch them. I can play music from my computer. The XBL functionality is upped tenfold. Achievments make arcade games fun again.
Now that stuffs not a big deal...except when you look at tomorrow....
I can see tomorrow bringing downloadable movies (netflix via the net style) I can see an online music service. The technology is there, in my living room, working I can see downloading full games, and purchasing them online. No more go to the store and be sad if they're out. Just go browse, buy, download, play (steam for consoles..but without the suck)
Yes, bigger harddrives would be needed. Yes, dashboard updates would be needed. But MS has shown with the first xbox they can update live and add amazing functionality. And I'm thinking the removeable hard drive wasnt just a ploy to have two versions, but so that future use wouldnt be tied down to 20 gigs.
On top of all this, being out a year early allows the developers to play with it, so that even though the hardware may be lacking, it'll give the devs a head start on learning the tricks, so that MS can have second gen 360 games go against first Gen sony games. But honestly, playing the games, I really dont think graphics matter. Its about fun...Sony showed this by creaming the xbox with the PS2. I think that they're going to have to deliver on something more solid than just 'wow 9 cores'.
They need an online story to compete against live. They need a living room story to compete against the media center extensability And of course they need thier first party titles to sell.
Knowing Sony, they're up for this task. They know the living rooms of the world well, they've been there forever. But MS made sure they'd have thier challenge cut out for them.
Nintendo? ah...Nintendo. I think Big N is just going to kick back, have fun, do thier thing. IT wont be a 3 way fight. It'll be people will pick up thier PS3/360, and on the way out pick up that little revolution box for 'the kids' since its small, cute, cheap. The fact that that box may take over the living room later is just the trojan horse nature of how they work. In the end, they'll probably stand with higher sales numbers than the ohter two in units...but I think there are more 'behind the scene dollars' here to consider. (Online movie rentals, Live/sony online sales, downloadable games sales (though N may have this too), etc.
Just my opinion, noone elses, not my employers, any game companies, any game stores, my wifes, or my dogs. My opinion, FWIW
I see alot of statements about how an onscreen UI could simplify the button functionality. However, I don't agree with this at all in practice. This is from a person that owns a media center, and has since the first ones came out.
Sure, an onscreen UI can come down and save me a ton of buttons as far as fast forward and reversing video, but when I'm trying to get to a certain spot in the video, thats an extra step I'd rather NOT do. The separate fastfwd and reverse buttons work exceptionally well.
Also, about 6 of the buttons on the MCE remote are 'quick jump' buttons. with those 6, I can get to any section of the UI immediately. I can get there the same way using the 4 directionals and the ok button, but I find myself using the quick jump buttons quite a bit.
My parents, whom I purchased and MCE for, use just the directional buttons to do 90% of thier tasks, and that works fine. As far as they're concerned, the remote only has 5 buttons that they use.
I prefer to have both the excees buttons and an easy layout, as MS has done with this remote. It's the same as my mouse..it has 5 buttons and a scroll wheel. I prefer that then to be forced to Mac's 'LCD' of one button by default. I find that as a power user the extra buttons and wheels facilitate my work (esp. in graphics apps)
More may be more complex, but is not necessarily inferior or bad design.
I think that the author has a bit narrow idea of where 'video blogs' may go. The vision of simply converting the text and having it read is about as simple minded as it gets.
In reality, video 'blogs' are taking many forms. There's a blurring line between them and the 'vidcast' phenomenon which is getting a great foothold. And this isn't a bunch of teens talking into a cam, it's entire productions, some with sets, choreography, special effects. (Pure Ownage, others) Some of it is news oriented (aforementioned RocketBoom). Many of these shows are using web technologies such as RSS and Torrent distribution system, complete with 'subscriptions'. If the quality of this content keeps an upward trend, I could see this as a competing form of entertainment.
Many into the tech show scene already replace hours of our TV watching with these shows/blogs. The reality is a person can consume one form of media at a time...every hour I spend watching something produced on the net, is an hour less the TV networks get to shove commercials down my throat about the next reality TV show. And you know, the show I'm watching on the net may not have the special effects or production values of TV, but I have found some entertaining and original content out there. No Commercials. No DRM. No overpaid actors trying to convince me aliens are going to abuduct batman's wife. Just some people out there trying to do what they love.
If a persons video blog is them talking into the camcorder, I agree...unless I'm a family member, this is going to get tiring. But that's not what I'm seeing show up on the net.
for a list of shows I've found, under various categories, please check out:
www.vidcast.org www.iptvshows.org www.geekvideo.org www.techtainment.net www.getfireant.com (client to subscribe and download, but has an excellent list of shows/blogs)
Slashdot Mirror
I dont see this as huge news in the case of this one show going to a pay per month system.
As a vidcaster however, it is encouraging to see a market start to flourish. I truly am burned by the amount of crap I pay for on cable TV, having to skip ads despite having a PVR, etc. Basic cable gives me about 5 channels I care about, and about 60 that I don't.
I'd like to see a future where set top IPTV boxes allow me to subscribe and easily view and listen to web based content. I'd love to have my car radio automatically sync with my 'podcasts' and napster subscriptions (this is done now using omnifi, but I'd like more solutions).
To get there, and to get the vidcasts to have some quality, moneys needed. As a person that runs a free vidcast, I take a loss every show I produce. We've gone through 3 cameras, props, lighting fixtures, etc. With our dirt budget, we still have spent a signifigant amount, mostly in time, editing software, hosting, bandwidth, etc.
Add to this hiring actors, or paying for a bit more professional content, plus hosting of files besides torrents/free hosting solutions, and your talking a budget thats gotta come from somewhere.
taking it from the dirt budget to the level of getting 35mm cameras, real lighting rigs, etc, pushes the budget even higher.
For all of this, there needs to be a precedent and a distribution system that allows the content makers to make money. Ideally it would be very low cost, since most middlemen are gone. Again, this is where someone setting some solid precedents would come in handy.
Ironically, while the studios can do fine offereing BSG for a dollar a pop, I think that it's unfair to compare that to what an idie film maker would need to make for their videos. I know most of this thread is about audio, but videos just the next logical step.
Joe
Joe@downstairstheater.com
http://www.downstairstheater.com/
Wow. Time and again I see the same things...Nintendos controllers going to do wonderful things, Sony's graphics are going to do amazing things. As someone thats played games since the 2600, I'm really thinking that people aren't 'getting it'.
You dont factor winners by how strong a launch they have. But you do factor losers. If they dont sell (we're looking at you Gizmondo and those sidetalkers) then you have problems. If you sell them as fast as you can make them, well no prob, make more, move on.
Long term, its the possiblities that matter. I can watch and stream HD content to my 360. NOW. TODAY. I can download games. I can download trials and demos. A 360, out of the box, is more fun than any past console. The xbox arcade is the thing that should be most talked about. Sure, theres only a few titles out there, ranging 50 to 70 bucks. But on xbox arcade, theres titles from 5 bucks to 10, and theres a ton of them. Noone talks about them. But damn, I know I spend more time on them than anything else.
Game demos being downloadable...I've played the demo for Fight Night longer than I'd played many of my older xbox games. For Free! Today...not tomorrow, not promised, not vaporware. MS delivered that experience, and it was fluid.
I can purchase games for the arcade via xbl with points. I can download trailers and watch them. I can play music from my computer. The XBL functionality is upped tenfold. Achievments make arcade games fun again.
Now that stuffs not a big deal...except when you look at tomorrow....
I can see tomorrow bringing downloadable movies (netflix via the net style)
I can see an online music service. The technology is there, in my living room, working
I can see downloading full games, and purchasing them online. No more go to the store and be sad if they're out. Just go browse, buy, download, play (steam for consoles..but without the suck)
Yes, bigger harddrives would be needed. Yes, dashboard updates would be needed. But MS has shown with the first xbox they can update live and add amazing functionality. And I'm thinking the removeable hard drive wasnt just a ploy to have two versions, but so that future use wouldnt be tied down to 20 gigs.
On top of all this, being out a year early allows the developers to play with it, so that even though the hardware may be lacking, it'll give the devs a head start on learning the tricks, so that MS can have second gen 360 games go against first Gen sony games. But honestly, playing the games, I really dont think graphics matter. Its about fun...Sony showed this by creaming the xbox with the PS2. I think that they're going to have to deliver on something more solid than just 'wow 9 cores'.
They need an online story to compete against live.
They need a living room story to compete against the media center extensability
And of course they need thier first party titles to sell.
Knowing Sony, they're up for this task. They know the living rooms of the world well, they've been there forever. But MS made sure they'd have thier challenge cut out for them.
Nintendo? ah...Nintendo. I think Big N is just going to kick back, have fun, do thier thing. IT wont be a 3 way fight. It'll be people will pick up thier PS3/360, and on the way out pick up that little revolution box for 'the kids' since its small, cute, cheap. The fact that that box may take over the living room later is just the trojan horse nature of how they work. In the end, they'll probably stand with higher sales numbers than the ohter two in units...but I think there are more 'behind the scene dollars' here to consider. (Online movie rentals, Live/sony online sales, downloadable games sales (though N may have this too), etc.
Just my opinion, noone elses, not my employers, any game companies, any game stores, my wifes, or my dogs. My opinion, FWIW
I see alot of statements about how an onscreen UI could simplify the button functionality. However, I don't agree with this at all in practice. This is from a person that owns a media center, and has since the first ones came out.
Sure, an onscreen UI can come down and save me a ton of buttons as far as fast forward and reversing video, but when I'm trying to get to a certain spot in the video, thats an extra step I'd rather NOT do. The separate fastfwd and reverse buttons work exceptionally well.
Also, about 6 of the buttons on the MCE remote are 'quick jump' buttons. with those 6, I can get to any section of the UI immediately. I can get there the same way using the 4 directionals and the ok button, but I find myself using the quick jump buttons quite a bit.
My parents, whom I purchased and MCE for, use just the directional buttons to do 90% of thier tasks, and that works fine. As far as they're concerned, the remote only has 5 buttons that they use.
I prefer to have both the excees buttons and an easy layout, as MS has done with this remote. It's the same as my mouse..it has 5 buttons and a scroll wheel. I prefer that then to be forced to Mac's 'LCD' of one button by default. I find that as a power user the extra buttons and wheels facilitate my work (esp. in graphics apps)
More may be more complex, but is not necessarily inferior or bad design.
I think that the author has a bit narrow idea of where 'video blogs' may go. The vision of simply converting the text and having it read is about as simple minded as it gets.
In reality, video 'blogs' are taking many forms. There's a blurring line between them and the 'vidcast' phenomenon which is getting a great foothold. And this isn't a bunch of teens talking into a cam, it's entire productions, some with sets, choreography, special effects. (Pure Ownage, others) Some of it is news oriented (aforementioned RocketBoom). Many of these shows are using web technologies such as RSS and Torrent distribution system, complete with 'subscriptions'. If the quality of this content keeps an upward trend, I could see this as a competing form of entertainment.
Many into the tech show scene already replace hours of our TV watching with these shows/blogs. The reality is a person can consume one form of media at a time...every hour I spend watching something produced on the net, is an hour less the TV networks get to shove commercials down my throat about the next reality TV show. And you know, the show I'm watching on the net may not have the special effects or production values of TV, but I have found some entertaining and original content out there. No Commercials. No DRM. No overpaid actors trying to convince me aliens are going to abuduct batman's wife. Just some people out there trying to do what they love.
If a persons video blog is them talking into the camcorder, I agree...unless I'm a family member, this is going to get tiring. But that's not what I'm seeing show up on the net.
for a list of shows I've found, under various categories, please check out:
www.vidcast.org
www.iptvshows.org
www.geekvideo.org
www.techtainment.net
www.getfireant.com (client to subscribe and download, but has an excellent list of shows/blogs)
Joe Farro
www.downstairstheater.com