Congratulations to CmdrTaco on labelling this "bold-statements-and-little-market-share" as the blog writer has been fed and regurgitates a finely crafted line of bullshit by OpenTV.
Although OpenTV does make the most widely used (and arguably the best current) STB middleware operating system their new PVR 2.0 extension is failng to make headway against NDS's earlier and more widely adopted XTV software and this article manages to obscure that fact magnificently.
OpenTV middleware is indeed used in both the SKY (UK) and Foxtel (Australia) PVRs. TFA states "While OpenTV provides different levels of functionally[sic] to each operator, I was most impressed by OpenTV's 2.0 PVR that is currently available to Foxtel subscribers in Australia." OpenTV PVR 2.0 is available to Foxtel subscribers, should Foxtel decide to go out and buy it from OpenTV, integrate it into their IQ PVRs and throw out NDS's XTV - not likely at this point, but the way it's put in this article makes OpenTV sound as though it is in full control.
From TFA : "Their 2.0 PVR allows viewers to not only choose amoung 4 -8 camera angles on select programming, but even more exciting they are able to choose from 4 - 6 audio streams as well." This functionality is not PVR dependent and is offered by standard STBs at Foxtel. Switching audio stream sources is trivial and is routinely offered on rugby matches in the antipodes even when video switching is not.
From TFA : "The 2.0 PVR supports HDTV, live stats, interactive weather reports, karaoke & even interactive gaming for their customers." Once again these are not PVR specific features - they've just been lumped in as things that most any STB can do to make "OpenTV's PVR" sound good.
Seriously, posting articles of this low level of useful fact but high level of undigested marketing speak (not to mention the spelling mistakes) is a pointer to a whole new area of bullshit that we have to detect. Would we have accepted this kind of misinformation from Microsoft if they'd claimed that the release of Windows 3 with support for hard disk drives (or somesuch) showed that Microsoft owned the market for all cmputers with hard drives?
STBs provided by broadcasters will always be different beasts to the open PVR platforms that Slashdotters know and love, and they include an absolute requirement for a level of DRM that would not be tolerated in discussions of PC platforms. That said, these devices offer a degree of utility in our homes that is difficult to obtain in other ways and they will be important to our gadget-centric lives. If we act to understand how they work then we can push for, for example, APIs which enable fair use without impinging broadcaster's needs.
Articles like TFA are as empty of utility as OpenTV's glossy foyer other than to point out the need for us to be on guard against vendor hype.
I apologise for this being off-topic in regard to newspaper content management but...
Like many people (I suspect) I have been looking at CMS as a solution for more mundane administration tasks, specifically for logging changes to servers and services. I work in satellite broadcast television and the effects of even a small change can affect a wide range of staff groups (not to mention 500,000 subscribers). We rely on paper logs and emailed alerts of changes but there is no central web-based solution for placing records of recent changes so that blame can be apportioned when it all goes wrong. Those with a broadcast background may be familiar with the use of Basys newsroom systems to perform this role.
All of the advice I've read here is great but I suspect that many of these products are over-featured for this purpose. Can anyone please recommend a CMS suitable particularly for logging and collating daily reports from logs?
Thanking you kindly....
Slashdot Mirror
Real information is a wonderful thing ...
Although OpenTV does make the most widely used (and arguably the best current) STB middleware operating system their new PVR 2.0 extension is failng to make headway against NDS's earlier and more widely adopted XTV software and this article manages to obscure that fact magnificently.
OpenTV middleware is indeed used in both the SKY (UK) and Foxtel (Australia) PVRs. TFA states "While OpenTV provides different levels of functionally[sic] to each operator, I was most impressed by OpenTV's 2.0 PVR that is currently available to Foxtel subscribers in Australia." OpenTV PVR 2.0 is available to Foxtel subscribers, should Foxtel decide to go out and buy it from OpenTV, integrate it into their IQ PVRs and throw out NDS's XTV - not likely at this point, but the way it's put in this article makes OpenTV sound as though it is in full control.
From TFA : "Their 2.0 PVR allows viewers to not only choose amoung 4 -8 camera angles on select programming, but even more exciting they are able to choose from 4 - 6 audio streams as well." This functionality is not PVR dependent and is offered by standard STBs at Foxtel. Switching audio stream sources is trivial and is routinely offered on rugby matches in the antipodes even when video switching is not.
From TFA : "The 2.0 PVR supports HDTV, live stats, interactive weather reports, karaoke & even interactive gaming for their customers." Once again these are not PVR specific features - they've just been lumped in as things that most any STB can do to make "OpenTV's PVR" sound good.
Seriously, posting articles of this low level of useful fact but high level of undigested marketing speak (not to mention the spelling mistakes) is a pointer to a whole new area of bullshit that we have to detect. Would we have accepted this kind of misinformation from Microsoft if they'd claimed that the release of Windows 3 with support for hard disk drives (or somesuch) showed that Microsoft owned the market for all cmputers with hard drives?
STBs provided by broadcasters will always be different beasts to the open PVR platforms that Slashdotters know and love, and they include an absolute requirement for a level of DRM that would not be tolerated in discussions of PC platforms. That said, these devices offer a degree of utility in our homes that is difficult to obtain in other ways and they will be important to our gadget-centric lives. If we act to understand how they work then we can push for, for example, APIs which enable fair use without impinging broadcaster's needs.
Articles like TFA are as empty of utility as OpenTV's glossy foyer other than to point out the need for us to be on guard against vendor hype.
I apologise for this being off-topic in regard to newspaper content management but ...
Like many people (I suspect) I have been looking at CMS as a solution for more mundane administration tasks, specifically for logging changes to servers and services. I work in satellite broadcast television and the effects of even a small change can affect a wide range of staff groups (not to mention 500,000 subscribers). We rely on paper logs and emailed alerts of changes but there is no central web-based solution for placing records of recent changes so that blame can be apportioned when it all goes wrong. Those with a broadcast background may be familiar with the use of Basys newsroom systems to perform this role.
All of the advice I've read here is great but I suspect that many of these products are over-featured for this purpose. Can anyone please recommend a CMS suitable particularly for logging and collating daily reports from logs?
Thanking you kindly ....