One thing missing was the ability to play videos stored on [...]]]> Roku boxes are great. They let you watch Internet video, pictures, and listen to Internet audio programs. Roku recently enabled playing content from a locally connected USB device. Roku boxes are easy to install, easy to use and are inexpensive.

One thing missing was the ability to play videos stored on our computers via our local area network (LAN). Apple TV, a competitor to Roku boxes, allows us to connect to our iTunes libraries to stream video and audio from our computers via our LANs.

Installing the Plex server on your computer and as a Roku channel adds this missing feature. Plex can serve your iTunes video library and other video stored on your computer. The Plex Media Server links to the Roku Plex channel. This works on both Windows and Mac computers.

Here’s how to set up your devices:

Setup your computer to serve media

1. Download the Windows or Mac versions of the Plex Media Server from plexapp.com.
2. Install the software downloaded in step 1.
3. Make certain that the Plex Media software is running.
4. Locate the Plex icon on your Windows System Tray or Mac OS X Dock.
5. Right click on the icon and select Plex Media Manager…
6. Add your local media to the Plex Media Manager.

Setup your Roku device to play media

1. Go to roku.com in your browser and sign into your Roku account.
2. Select Add a Private Channel under the Manage Account section.
3. Enter plex for the channel name. (Note: it should be all lowercase.)
4. The Plex channel will show up on your Roku.
5. Open the Plex channel and select the video you want to play.

The Plex Roku client is currently a beta feature. Only video content is supported for now. Photo and audio (music and podcast) support will be added eventually.

You can find out more at http://elan.plexapp.com/2011/05/03/plex-on-the-roku/

There are more channels. The [...]]]> Television was a great wasteland, filled with mindless shows like Leave It To Beaver or Petticoat Junction. I read books if I wanted to find stimulating ideas and thoughtful discussion when I was growing up. Video content has changed in the intervening decades.

There are more channels. The channels are more focused in their missions. Some have interesting names like The Biography Channel, History Channel or Discovery Channel. These channels originally promised interesting content. The pressure of ratings has shifted their programming from educating us to satisfying the masses. Biographies of historically relevant figures, such as Napoleon or Catherine the Great, have given way to puff pieces about Angelina Jolie or Lindsay Lohan.

There are fewer episodes. Programming is expensive. Why it is more expensive today than in the early days of TV is a mystery to me. In the 1950s and 1960s, TV shows usually had 39 episodes per season. There were no in-season reruns. Today many shows have 20 or less episodes per season. Weeks-long breaks are scheduled between new episodes.

More TV shows are talk shows or reality-based programs. Writing scripts, hiring real actors, directing the actors and compiling the show takes more effort than hosting reality programs or talking heads. Economics dictates content.

Many of the talking heads on old media TV, like CNN, FOX News and MSNBC, feature dogma and opinion rather than in-depth analysis and insight. I am underwhelmed by the Wolf Blitzers and Larry Kings. Glenn Beck seems truly moronic. And don’t get me started on The View’s or Oprah Winfrey’s contributions.

Sure, Charlie Rose can be fascinating but he’s one guy. Nova has some interesting programs. Brian Lamb compiled 800 great book author interviews on the C-SPAN show Booknotes. It ended in 2004. Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or The Colbert Report are fun. These two shows are often stimulating but their primary purpose is to amuse first and inform maybe.

TED (Technology Entertainment Design) is always informational, entertaining, and stimulating. TED is not old media television. TED is new media video, only available on the web. If you want to watch TED on your TV you need an Internet-connected HDTV or Blu-ray player, an Internet-connected set-top-box (STB) like a Roku player or Apple TV, or a game console like the SONY PS3. You can always watch TED on your computers or smartphones.

TED is an organization, headquartered in New York and Vancouver, “…devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading”. It is owned by The Sapling Foundation, a nonprofit. TED has two annual conferences and several related venues like TEDx, which are independent TED-like events hosted around the world. TED presentations are recorded and made available on the website for watching whenever you want. The videos are set in an auditorium with a speaker on stage. There are always lots of smart people in the audiences.

Most presentations are a combination of speaker and slide show. The presentations are usually short, most being 18 minutes or less. There are some longer presentations as well.

You never know what you will find when you search the site. I filtered the site for “Arts” and came across a presentation by David Byrne, the former front man and force behind the rock group Talking Heads, talking about How architecture helped music evolve. That led me to Herbie Hancock’s all-star set. That led to Qi Zhang’s electrifying organ performance. She’s an organ player worth watching and listening to. I did not know she existed before exploring TED.

TED seeks a deeper understanding of the world, and hopes to turn that understanding into a better future for us all. Watching them in the present is a better use of your video time than watching old media. Be smart and give it a try. I think you will agree.

It is ironic that I am writing about the decline and fall of the written word. The written word had a great run, starting perhaps as many as 6,000 years ago with Sumerian cuneiform. Writing has to compete today with more compelling and natural forms [...]]]> Click image above to watch video

It is ironic that I am writing about the decline and fall of the written word. The written word had a great run, starting perhaps as many as 6,000 years ago with Sumerian cuneiform. Writing has to compete today with more compelling and natural forms of human communication—audio and video—often served on the Internet.

Many people bemoan the decline of printed material. They equate the rise of the Internet, and inexpensive-to-produce video and audio, coming at the detriment of printed words, as a decline in civilization. You may be someone who holds this opinion.

It is easy to understand the sense of loss and disconnectedness caused by this technological shift. At its core, this attitude is elitist and reminiscent of the Luddites. This attitude ignores the democratic nature of the shift from printed to electronic communication. Time is limited. We elect to use our time in the way that makes the most sense to ourselves. Most people prefer to watch TV, listen to music, audio books or podcasts, or surf the Internet over reading a book, newspaper or magazine.

Writing and the written word is not natural. We must be schooled to read and write. It was the best disciplined, efficient way to communicate or archive information when alternatives were word-of-mouth, painting or smoke signals. The use of the written word exploded over the course of civilization because of this. Johannes Guttenberg’s invention of movable type printing accelerated the use of the printed word in Western culture and eventually worldwide. Public schooling further accelerated this trend.

Public schools, grades K-12, are conservative by nature. They are slow to change. They revel in the written word having had centuries to perfect their skills in teaching and assessing its use. Our teachers are written word experts. They are rarely expert in the creation and use of video and audio. Our children learn this from each other, from Hollywood, YouTube and other sites on the Internet. They have eclipsed the education system in their understanding and use of these newer technologies.

I find that listening to a well-narrated audio book trumps the written word. The narrator, often a professionally trained actor, brings the author’s words to life. The narrators often employ different voices for different characters. Non-fiction is also enhanced by having it spoken versus reading it yourself. Tables, charts and images are the only-missing piece.

I view audio and video is to the written word as oil painting is to drawing with pencil. These activities require training and discipline. The author, artist or director has to tell a story, communicate what is on their mind. The better the story telling, the more likely the audience will appreciate the effort. Mastering oil painting is more difficult than drawing. The painter often begins with a sketch but adds color, stroke, technique and dimension, as well as form and perspective. The same is true of audio and video. One begins with a script and then fills in the detail and enhances that script. Creating a good video requires many more skills than writing the script.

While schools may be slow to adopt technology many librarians understand and are changing. Librarians are evolving their missions from being keepers and lenders of printed material. Our local libraries, Westport and Wilton, Connecticut spring to mind, have become public facilities for all types of human communication. They have public computer terminals, lend audio books and videos, and host movies and seminars. They make online audio book borrowing available via the services of the Online Computer Library Center. If libraries are moving beyond the printed word, shouldn’t we all?

]]> http://rhftech.com/blog/2010/01/the-printed-word-is-fading-from-view/feed/ 3 http://rhftech.com/blog/2009/12/prague-canon-1dmkiv/ http://rhftech.com/blog/2009/12/prague-canon-1dmkiv/#comments Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:27:34 +0000 Richard Frisch http://rhftech.com/blog/2009/12/prague-canon-1dmkiv/ by Philip Bloom

This is wonderful cinema.

Prague: Canon 1DMKIV from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

Cable and satellite TV began to replace broadcast television over 30 years ago. Internet video will replace cable and satellite TV, soon and in much less time.

What is a cable company president to do?
If I ran the cable company, I would [...]]]> Technology changes, always.
Frisch’s third law

Cable and satellite TV began to replace broadcast television over 30 years ago. Internet video will replace cable and satellite TV, soon and in much less time.

What is a cable company president to do?
If I ran the cable company, I would make a lot more money than I do. I would also be thinking, “How do I shift from the historical value-added content model to the utility-pipe model of the future, without having my revenue and profits sharply decline?”

Cable has two advantages that are not eroded by changes in content distribution. They have very fat pipes and typically only one or two competitors for their customers.

Cable companies make money from subscriber fees for TV, equipment rental fees, Internet service and telephone service. They may be paid carriage fees by some cable channels. They also sell advertising on some cable channels. The latter two revenue streams are under attack as content rapidly moves to the Internet.

Have you ever watched a show like CSI or The Office on the Internet? You can if you have broadband. Cable gets no income from this type of content. Advertising dollars go directly to the content producers and there is no way for the cable company to insert their own advertising. Pay-video on the Internet will happen, just as HBO came to cable in the 1970s. Viewers will shift their video dollars from premium cable channels to premium video websites. Traditional TV viewers will decline as Internet video-on-demand (VOD) increases. Cable networks, like TNT, Fox News, and A&E, are likely to wither and die as viewers move elsewhere. The current economic climate accelerates this trend.

This leaves subscriber fees as the primary revenue, perhaps the sole source in the future. Most cable companies offer three services for which they charge: cable TV, Internet hosting, and telephone service. Historically, the majority of their subscriber revenue is from cable TV. Over the last decade, Internet hosting and telephone services have grown to be perhaps half the monthly bill. Yet landline telephones, whether old-style or VoIP are in decline.

Is TV programming in the toilet?
The value of traditional TV series content is eroding. Programs on cable TV seem to be reruns of reruns and old movies, except for sports and reality shows. In 1956, a free broadcast television series had 39 original episodes. Today most TV series produce about half that number. A premium channel, like HBO, often airs shows with as little as six episodes per year, and the show may only last one or two seasons. Further devaluing the series content are lengthy hiatuses, such as Lost or 24 recently had. The cost for less-and-less new content on cable keeps going up.

Why do we keep paying or has the future arrived?
There is a lot of chatter on blogs and forums about people canceling their cable TV subscriptions, going Internet-only. They watch sites such as CBS.com or Hulu.com. They subscribe to Netflix and use its streaming VOD service. They buy shows from Amazon’s VOD or Apple’s iTunes stores. And they save money.

I have a computer hooked to my HDTV specifically for these things. I use it more and more frequently. I really do not need my cable box or the service. What I do need is unlimited broadband.

Money talks, or is it greed?
Cable companies have figured this out and many are now capping your monthly bandwidth in order to forestall this shift. Time Warner Cable has been the most aggressive. They announced that they would provide unlimited Internet service for $150/month. Their CEO is not crazy but his rollout is ham-handed at best. Congress is considering legislation to outlaw caps. Someday soon, the cable companies may have no other revenue source.

We do not need cable companies for TV or telephone. We can employ our internet connection for telephone, using services such as Skype, Vonage or MagicJack, augmented by a cell phone. Google Voice, a reconfigured and rebranded GrandCentral, points the way toward future communications services. It does not require your cable company.

Figuring out how to transition from cable’s multi-service, premium-pricing model to being a utility provider, like an electric company, is a difficult thing. They will have to change their revenue model. They have little competition or regulation so their solution will be to gouge their customers, us. And they will get away with it.