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Tag: youtube

  • Free high definition content is the future as viewers grow accustomed to the new "normal" television


    The head of the UK’s Freesat digital service believes viewers will begin to resent paying for HDTV as increasing numbers regard it as the new “standard”.
    Emma Scott, managing director of Freesat, which launched in May, said there were already over 10m HD ready TV sets in UK homes.
    But at the time of Freesat’s launch only around 5 per cent of those HD ready homes were actually watching television programmes in high definition – and by subscription.
    Addressing the Broadcast Digital Channels Conference 2008 earlier this month, she said consumers and retailers wanted HD content– but it was the broadcasters that had taken a while to catch up.
    “Free HD is a long term opportunity for broadcasters and for Freesat,” she said. “HD is not a gimmick, it’s a new standard for television and one which every broadcaster I’ve met would love to deliver its content in.
    “I do not believe that HD will remain a long term income driver for pay platform operators – consumers will resent paying for something they see as the ‘new normal’ television if it isn’t premium sport and movies, which they already ‘expect’ to pay for.”
    Freesat offers subscription-free high definition channels and services once viewers have made a one-off payment for equipment.
    It expects to have up to 200 channels by the end of this year, including two high definition services – BBC HD and ITV HD – both available for free.
    Scott said that only with the launch of Freesat, a joint venture between the BBC and ITV, was HDTV really free for anyone who wanted it.
    She pointed to the rise in popularity of HD in the US, saying that the 35 per cent of homes now watching in HD were increasingly loyal to the networks they watched – and sought out HD programming, even if they wouldn’t normally watch the genre.
    “And with 1m Sony Playstation3s and an increasing number of Blu-ray players sold – both of which allow you to watch HD content via an HD ready TV – there are an increasing number of homes who will never want to switch back to just normal, ‘standard’ definition content.”
    Citing other popular examples where consumers get free access to products and services – such as Gmail, YouTube and Skype – she said Freesat hoped to be as successful in broadcasting.
    “So, in a world where there is widespread availability of digital technology, consumers increasingly expect their media for free,” she said.
    “But just being free isn’t enough for Freesat. Freesat will be the best of free, and is only going to get bigger and better.”

  • Geek Brief star calls for low-cost live streaming hardware to satisfy growing network of internet broadcasters


    First there were YouTube videos and podcasts made on webcams and camcorders, now there’s a growing network of video-podcasters streaming out near-professional HDTV quality live shows.
    Some – like Leo Laporte and Diggnations’s Kevin and Alex – attract many thousands of viewers to their live network-style webcasts using portable productions systems such as Tricaster.
    Yet while this technology has plumetted in price it’s still out of the reach of the new generation of low-budget producers – everyone from churches and community organisations to individual bloggers.
    Now the American internet podcaster Cali Lewis has launched an appeal on her popular Geek Brief show.
    She is calling for someone in the industry to come up with switching hardware aimed at this emerging market.
    On her latest webcast Cali explained about technical problems they have encountered while streaming live using multiple cameras and admitted they had hit a “roadblock” in terms of finding a solution.
    Having researched options such as Sony’s AnyCast (“too expensive”) and Datavideo SE-800 (cheaper but doesn’t “fit the mission”) Geek Brief is currently testing different software set-ups.
    These include Mike Versteeg’s VidBlaster, which he is working so it can be used with streaming services like Ustream.TV.
    But Cali said what was really needed was an “elegant solution that works for us and folks not able to drop $10,000 on a Tricaster”.
    She added: “We are interested in streaming because it’s fun and difficult to do well. It’s especially hard to do well without spending some pretty big bucks.
    “But there is a real opportunity for someone to build a hardware solution specifically for this emerging market.”
    It would seem like a reasonable call and one that offers great opportunities for anyone able to offer a solution.

  • Europe must think globally if it wants to catch up with the US and Japan in HDTV


    If Europe wants to benefit from the growing HDTV market, broadcasters and production companies must take a broader view.
    That is the advice of Jaume Rey, director of Professional & Broadcast IT Systems Business Unit (PBITS), part of the Panasonic group.
    Speaking at a conference on “HD content in Europe”, he urged those involved in producing TV programmes to look beyond local markets.
    He noted that while European consumers have embraced HD acquisition technology, many viewers are still watching television on SD sets.
    “HD has expanded extensively throughout Europe in recent years and is now present almost everywhere,” he said.
    “The US and Japan are ahead of us in Europe though some European countries, such as the UK, France, and the Scandinavian countries have already invested and adopted the HD technology.
    “In countries such as Spain, broadcasters and production companies must show a lead in the introduction of HD.
    "In a growing market, manufacturers need to think globally instead of locally where content production and distribution is concerned.”
    Mr Rey said examples of innovative video distribution such as YouTube illustrated the wider view required and European countries should play a key role on this development because of the rich resources of the European cultural heritage.
    “Spain, in particular, with a 400 million potential market of Spanish speakers globally, should play a leading part,” he said.
    He was delivering the keynote speech at the Universitat de València CONTD Conference in València, Spain.
    Mr Rey ended his speech by pointing to a future in which HD technology will feed into a much wider range of productions, including videogames and virtual reality content production, as well as archive AV solutions.