Category: Uncategorized

CONTENT IS STILL ALL THE YESTERDAYS OF TOMORROW’S TV

Posted on by tvangelist

This Was TV Yesterday-2Once upon a time we switched on the TV and watched a programme or two, in the evening after we had tea, when the kids were in bed and it was time to settle down to relax.  TV Time was limited as the TV signal would shut down at night and eight-year-old Carole Hersee would appear (in the UK at least).  We had a choice amongst Light Entertainment and Drama, Documentaries, News and Sport all chosen for us and delivered when somebody else thought best.

Life is a little different now because: 

Today we want TV at Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere and we want to watch What We Want, When We Want, Where We Want. We want to watch Live TV, with the use of Pause and Rewind Live TV.  And if we miss missed the beginning of something we need Start Over TV so that we can go back to the beginning of the programme that we have joined late.  We need Catch-Up TV for shows we have missed.  We need to Store Live TV programmes for later viewing on a Hard Drive (Personal Video Recorder) or a Removable Storage device with the possibility of using Series Recording for Binge Watching. We also want to be able to Side Load content onto a Companion Device to consume later when in the garden, or perhaps travelling on a bus or train.   We want a Whole Home PVR system or Network PVR so that we can have Follow Me TV that allows us to start watching in one room and then take the content into another room and join it from where we left off in the other room.  We want Companion Screen driven TV Everywhere so we can Throw and Fetch programmes from those devices to different screens in the home.   We want Over The Top TV so we can have non-Linear content and not be restricted to a Schedule.  We want Interactive TV with Applications that allow us access to Weather, or Horoscope or Games and a lot of other stuff all delivered over the Cloud and Home Network.  We want to be able to Search for, and Recommend content to other people on Social Media.  We don’t want this on a STB or CPE we want all of this on a Smart or Connected TV, in 3D or Ultra HD 4K or perhaps Super Ultra HD 8K.  We need it in High Dynamic Range, so that we get the best quality on a Curved OLED, millimetre thick, Flatscreen TV:  24 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week, 365 Days of the Year completely uninterrupted.

TV Content has however NOT broken the boundaries that technology has.  Geo-Blocking, Distribution Rights, Landing Rights, Syndication, Franchising and all that shenanigans is hindering and hampering not helping, other than to further slow the transformation of TV – Perhaps that is a good thing?

Poisson d’Avril = South Africa Back To The Drawing Board

Posted on by tvangelist

Turns out this is an April Fool Joke – One thing for sure is that it epitomises that we were not shocked by the headline but rather capitulated as we have been through several similar events over many years. Haha!

When I worked at a STB Company in Switzerland I was asked to make a plan of attack for entering the market with a range of STBs for Digital TV.  We were all lined up having even satisfied one of the rules imposed at the time which was the need for a BEE in order to move things forward business wise.  It never happened then and it isn’t going happen for any STB Company now, in this fine year of 2015 –  Looks like my work is still valid but for a few minor tweaks.  Maybe I will be dusting it off in 2020 for another nostalgic look.  LOL

http://advanced-television.com/2015/04/01/south-africa-abandons-digital-plan/

Why TV Companion Screen Tech is Struggling – Yes It’s no longer on Zee Box, nor on Zee Tablet

Posted on by tvangelist

The marriage of many parties in the Interactive TV systems has always been the Achilles heel for a fully integrated homogenous interactive environment. We have had other pre-2nd screen (i.e. 2nd-Window) systems since the 1990s that have suffered from the same issues described in this rather oldish article: (considering Zeebox has already walked into the sunset) http://edit.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/zeebox-s-anthony-rose-people-589252 – However it is worth some reflection:

Programme/TV Show/Film producers (Pre-Production and Post Production) are still unable to have a “write-once” for a “read-anywhere” business plan due to competing (proprietary/standardised) technologies that are all designed for the same job of Value Added Services. There were and still are proprietary and standardised CMS systems available but that still did not answer the age old problem of incompatibility across broadcasters, operators selection of technology in the global TV eco-systems. The DVB Consortium made something that tried to answer this early on with something called DVB-PCF (Transcoding across different VAS systems) which the BBC worked heavily on. It never saw the light of day.

Therefore creating and franchising a show using a SocialTV / Companion Screen technology and single back-office system is seen as a pre-requisite in the conquering of this Value Added Service arena. The Show the Voice in Holland was successful using Social TV but this cannot be sold as a package into Belgium for example for techno-political-business reasons.

2nd Screen technology technology fragmentation is the same issue as in ALL previous Interactive TV middleware issues. Then add to this new Non-TV technologies (i.e. designed for the Internet all trying to latch on to the TV eco-system). Fit-For-Purpose is an issue that also dogs the TV eco-system. Different Social TV and Companion Screen offerings now numbers in their 30s with Civolution, Egonocast, Shazam, WyWy etc. integrating on-screen, 2nd-window, off-programme and full dual-screen synchronisation.

There are lots of other things that are around in the new world of TV Tech – the failed 3DTV and now UHDTV and 4K etc. that are at least keeping us occupied.

Social Media Success Stories

Posted on by tvangelist

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There are a huge amount of failures in Social Media because Social Media is in the main only about success and good news stories. Those failures are hidden and never discussed. There are many overly optimistic types that can turn around a failure into a good enough positive to drive a success story such is the overly exuberance that many Social Media Experts (of which thousands use the tool of self proclamation) utilise. I have a handful of personal experiences in failed Social Media…Not because I am bad at it but because I have found that if you are in early and hit the sweet-spot you can flourish – A Big Fish in a Small Sea – if only a a Small Fish in a Big Sea then you know where that leads – often to failure.

I take Picasso as an example…who was originally a traditional painter but only one amongst many in his era…In order to stand out from the crowd he invented a different style that went against the grain and the establishment, and look where it led. Today there are millions upon millions more people on the planet equally talented, equally imaginative, equally trying to be different, however the opportunity for differentiation is rapidly diminishing. Most things, styles, products have been invented and many things which are being offered up as if they are new when in fact they are not because people just don’t look deep enough into what they have…For all the successes just as for all the inventions there is a minuscule percentage that make it. Social Media is no exception. However if at first you dont succeed then you must, if you are a true Social Media expert, try and try and yes, try again.

Out of France For a While

Posted on by tvangelist

ImageWe have left France!  This is for several reasons.  Work has taken us back into the land of Fondu and Cuckoo Clocks.  It is for fiscal benefits as well.   We had the option to stay and work in France but ultimately the system is so complex that it was not worth the effort to organise.  As the French bureaucracy, that we never mastered, blunders along, the ever increasing taxes that destroy entrepreneurship are something that we hope to see the government address before we return.  We want to return because we love the country.  So for now we will yodel along the highways and byways of the Canton of Vaud safe in the knowledge that what we get at the end of the month is ours to play with.  Tax at source is a great way to ensure the government gets its coffers filled and minimizes tax fraud.

We will start to discover the gastronomy of Switzerland and report back with our findings.  Keep your eyes peeled for us wont you?

In 2008 USA Cable Announced – The end of the cable set-top box? Now we have RDK!

Posted on by tvangelist

The end of the cable set-top box? Yes, Comcast says

Back in January 2008 Comcast CEO Brian Roberts predicted that by the end of the year, and I share the quote.  “Virtually the entire cable industry will support Tru2way,” an “open cable” platform rendering the box moot.

Now I have understood that there is another Iinitiative that actually started in 2009, which is in full hype mode in 2013 called RDK which is designed to make STBs Faster to port and more flexible.  I guess USA Cable still needs STBs after all Brian?

Oh we are a fickle industry!

An Absolutely Amazing 4K GUI powered by OpenTV 5 at IBC

Posted on by tvangelist

This is something I learnt at IBC 2013.   “DON’T SHOW WE WHAT IT IS MADE OF – SHOW ME WHAT IT CAN DO FOR MY BUSINESS”.  So yes at IBC I was awaiting the hype and the buzz of RDK and 4K.   Respectively one is a new ‘Middleware’ that is touted as the next big thing for the Cable industry with Open Source and Shared Source being bandied about, the other is a new Transmission level above HD called Ultra HD (4K).   Supposedly RDK is to make it cheaper and faster for the operators to deploy STBs.  RDK was designed in 2009 and it was a damp squib at IBC.  UltraHD needs no explanation it had WOW factor!

On the RDK side the show was so disappointing that I was disappointed myself.  There was simply nothing shown as to what these ‘amazing’ RDK components allow you to do or why this particular flavour makes TV any better than it is with similar components of equal or better capability (Open Source or not).

When you try to move Middleware mountains you need to make sure that it doesn’t take all your effort in tuning the engine when at the end the tyres are flat.  RDK will potentially be the next middleware ‘White Elephant’ after MHP.

Those who saw the Nagra OpenTV 5 Ultra HD demo at IBC will concur that they most certainly have have pole-position.