Geek Brief star Cali Lewis’ request for someone to come up with an affordable live switching application that would work with services like Ustream.tv and Stickam has been answered.
Lewis wanted a lower-cost live switching application for the growing network of video-podcasters streaming out near-professional HDTV quality live shows.
She said there were analogue solutions but they cost over US$1,000, while the best options were priced at US$9,000 or more.
Now on her latest webcast, Lewis said Mike Versteeg, the developer of Vidblaster, has adapted its software to make it work with streaming services.
High Definition TV News
Sales of Blu-ray discs for the first half of 2008 have grown by 506 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to the British Video Association (BVA).
Yet, despite the huge increase, the format still only represents 1.2 per cent of the total UK video market, with sales of nearly one million units.
The BVA’s half-year results show total sales in 2008 are up 3.3 per cent compared with the same period last year, a rise it attributes to the increased level of consumer choice provided by the HD formats – both BD and HD-DVD.
In the US, DVD also remains the most popular home entertainment choice but there are differences emerging among age groups.
China is now a step away from adopting the Blu-ray Disc format, which, when it happens could be the spark that leads to the global rise of Blu-ray.
First, the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) has announced that DigiRise Audio (DRA), a locally-developed Chinese audio codec, has passed an important technical evaluation, and is now on its way to being adopted into the format.
Then it was announced that CESI Technology Co. Ltd, a contributor member of the BDA, has been designated as the first official Blu-ray Disc Test Centre in China.
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Pioneer has developed a Blu-ray compatible disk that can hold 400GB of data on 16 layers.
The company currently only has a read-only disk available but expects to be able to produce recordable discs.
Each of the layers can hold 25 GB of data – equivalent to one single “standard” Blu-ray disk layer.
Multi-layer disks have existed for a while. Normal DVD players and burners are usually able to read and write to dual-layer discs.
It has been a challenge for Pioneer to get a clear signal from each of the recording layers of the disk, without picking up distortion from other layers.
NBC has made no secret of the fact it plans to use the Beijing Olympics as a campaign platform for HDTV.
Now the US network has announced that the summer games will also act as a research lab to guage how viewers use different media platforms.
The network hopes its research will reveal how people combine, for example, high def TV coverage of an event with tools such as video streaming, video on demand and mobile phones.
Alan Wurtzel, NBC’s research chief, said the company would publicly issue a TAMi (Total Audience Measurement Index) for the first time.
“An event of this magnitude requires the biggest and most sophisticated research effort to measure it,” he said.
Passengers waiting for the tube will have no shortage of distractions now that 14-foot HDTV screens are being installed in stations.
The cross-track projection (XTP) system, which allows high-quality digital images to be projected on to the walls opposite platforms, has been installed by advertising company CBS Outdoor for London Underground.
The system, which formally went live on Monday, means that commuters waiting for trains are now faced with moving advertising images displayed on the biggest screens in Europe
Any profits London Underground receives from XTP will be reinvested to improve the Tube. Before rolling out the ads to other stations the system was tested at Euston Tube station.
Following the success of the pilot, stations at Piccadilly Circus, Euston, Bank, Liverpool Street and Bond Street have now been kitted out with 23 high definition projectors and giant soundless screens that will show trailers for new film releases and other advertising.
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The US’s NBC network is to broadcast both the women’s Wimbledon final between the Williams sisters and the men’s match between Nadal and Federer on its HD channel.
The addition of this year’s Centre Court battles is just the latest addition to a growing selection of sporting events being shown in high def.
Sports programming is perfectly suited to high definition because of the fast motion and action in sports.
The 16:9 aspect ratio of HD provides a vastly better perspective and coverage of a game than SD.
Viewers can see, for instance, the entire ice in a hockey game or the baseball field in a baseball game.
So impressive are the results that they influenced an estimated 2.4 million high-definition television sales prior to this season’s Super Bowl in the US.
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Delta Electronics will soon begin volume shipments of full HD projectors, according to company CEO Yancey Hai.
He expects its business outlook for the second half of 2008 to remain “guided positive”.
Hai said orders for Delta’s power supply products from segments such as desktops, notebooks and LCD TVs have remained strong, with order visibility extending at least three months.
The CEO said Delta had recently begun production of full HD projectors and the company is now in talks with a number of brand vendors for ODM orders.
Delta’s projector will deliver a full HP 1080P resolution and brightness of 6,000 lumens.
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A gas used in the production of flat-panel displays for HDTVs is 17,200 times better at trapping heat in the atmosphere over a hundred-year period than carbon dioxide, the gas most associated with global warming.
Michael Prather, of the University of California at Irvine, has completed a study into nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), which he describes as the “missing greenhouse gas”.
Yet the synthetic chemical produced in industrial quantities is not included in the Kyoto Protocol’s basket of greenhouse gases or in national reporting under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Concerns have led Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology to avoid using the gas, although Air Products, which produces it for the electronics industry, said very little NF3 is released into the atmosphere.
Prather argues that as the gas is not controlled in the same way as other greenhouse gases, companies may be careless with it.
The scientist, whose findings are reported in the latest issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters, is calling for NF3 emissions to be monitored.
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The Korean electronics giant has begun a pilot programme of Simplay HD testing and verification at its facilities.
The scheme aims to ensure customers can simply “plug-and-play” any new device without the frustration of getting home and finding it isn’t compatable with existing equipment.
The testing ensures interoperability between electronic components such as set-top boxes (STBs), high def televisions (HDTVs), digital video disk (DVD) players, cables and audio/video (AV) receivers.
By taking the guesswork out of shopping for HDMI-enabled components it’s hoped that consumer satisfaction will be boosted and return rates reduced.
The pilot programme of Simplay HD testing and verification will be administered by both companies.
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