At 11:08 AM -0400 10/18/05, Mark Schubin wrote: >The problem is that the shows being offered are being produced for >one audience. If that audience is expected to be watching HD, the >iPod people will be in touble. No doubt, as is the case for the poor NTSC viewer, who get's less resolution and a 4:3 crop of the widescreen content. Fortunately, since the NTSC audience is still more important than the HD audience, most of these episodic shows are produced to be optimal for the NTSC screen. My wife and Father-in-law still tune to the analog versions of ESPN and CBS, despite the fact that Many of the shows are available in HD, and are just a button click away. They say it does not matter to them to see side panels and the added detail... I tend to agree about the pre-produced content; sports is another matter, which benefits from the big screen experience, especially now that many events are produced for HD without compromising the coverage for the small 4:3 screen. The iPOD viewing experience is another matter. I too have reservations about watching a feature length TV show on a tiny screen. But the quality is much better than I would have imagined. If you have a fast Mac or PC and a godd broadband connection, take the time to download QuickTime 7.0 and watch some of the Apple special event where Steve introduced the new iMacs and iPods. http://stream.apple.akadns.net/ The first thing you will notice is that streaming video has come of age. With H.264 this stuff is VERY watchable. The next thing you may notice is that this is an integrated strategy across the computer that runs iTunes and downloads content from the iTunes store, and the new iPOD that allows you to "take it with you." I am far more impressed with Front Row, the software for the new iMAC that works with the new remote control, to allow navigation and playback of your content from viewing distances that are more TV like than PC like. I was reminded of the navigation carousel used by Time Warner in the Full Service Network trials that took place in Orlando in the mid '90s. The STB for those trials was high performance SGI computer. Front Row allows access to your music library, slide shows, videos, and DVD player. http://www.apple.com/imac/frontrow.html And the new video iPOD can be connected to a TV producing playback quality that is comparable to NTSC. > >See yesterday's New York Times article about producing specifically >for mobile-phone screens: >http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/17/technology/17mobisodes.html First, I would say that the video iPOD is not a mobile phone. It is a hard disk drive with a simple computer optimized for playback of content that is cached on that hard drive. The mobile phone business model is built around the concept of using the wireless network to stream content in real time. Most video enable phones do not have any internal storage to store the video files. The iPOD business model is built around the concept that you will use your computer to download content you want to keep to your computer, where it can be viewed, or moved to the iPOD so you can take it with you. Clearly there is some overlap in the business models, but they are different. Epsecially with respect to the quality of the video delivered by the iPOD versus that which is seen on most video enabled phones. You need to watch the Apple special event to fully understand what I am saying, By the way, the U2 music video that was used in the event was widescreen, displayed in letterbox on the iPOD, and was still of very good quality. I'm not certain that Apple is going to cause a revolution in portable video, based on watching TV shows. However, as the NYTimes report illustrates, mobile video can be complementary to other products. I see the mobile venue as the place where promotion and peer-to-peer "sharing" will take place. By sharing I do not mean file sharing; I am talking about "the water cooler effect" - Peer-to-Peer promotion. Mobisodes help build the value of other content franchises; I do believe that people will watch short promotional videos, news clips, and Podcasts on portable video players. Podcasts could be the real sleeper in this whole thing. They are already revolutionizing the way audio content is distributed and consumed. Now Apple has created a distribution platform for video podcasts as well, and ANYONE can get into the game. Perhaps in the not too distant future, Mark's Monday memo will be a video podcast... I'd bet that most people on this list will watch a video of the testing of a 10th generation ATSC receiver in Mark's apartment! Regards Craig ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.