06/03/07 – More ways to view television

There is no doubt in my mind, that the Internet has become a convenient viewing platform for watching popular television series as well as films, cartoons and other such popular genres. In particular catching up, repeaing and most importantly watching at your own convenience. Two such sites which I have been recommended to look at are as follows;

Alluc is one of your typical directory sites which we have already explored, sharing links to the media we may wish to view. Although this site is very well laid out and easy to navigate around, you do have to register in order to access the links, it would at least appear that way on my visit to the site. The links that are available vary in quality but very few match the quality of downloading a TV recording or watching live. There is also the issues of screen within screen which does in some respect compromise the viewing pleasure. Nonetheless this site does carry a wide and diverse range of TV shows, movies, cartoons, anime, and sporting clips for you to view.

Another site is  TV-Video which appears to be even more user friendly then the last, offering not only some of the most popular current American television series (such as 24, Lost, House, Desperate Housewives and Family Guy) but also gives the detail of episode and season number and title of each episode, which the avid fan will very much appreciate. Allthough only stocking a brief collection, this site seems dedicated to providing quality and ease of access, even offering links to other series from other websites (such as Grey’s Anatomy) and adverts through Google of where to buy them. This site only offers a stream and not a download, and recommends a late visit when servers are quieter.  The video quality is good but once again your are forced to watch a box within a box even in large screen format. This site does contain the latest episodes and also offers links to other sites such as DVD Cosmos.

DVD Cosmos is a very basic site, but again is simple and affective to use. Varying from other sites, this one includes a blog keeping you update of the progress and new uploads as well as a forum for discussing different topics, mainly certain types of TV show and the site itself. But it is an important way of gaining audience feedback and interaction. So maybe a production blog of some kind or at least a link to a forum would be useful in engaging my intended audience with the TV show Chalkhill Lives, and to get them airing their views in a place where they can be instantly recorded and potentially actioned. DVD Cosmos appears to host quite a wide range of old and new shows, allows for both wider screen viewing (although still box within a box) and also downloading of it’s shows. It does take a long time to buffere even the shortest of shows and the quality of the ones I viewed were okay but as ever, far from perfect. Nonetheless this is yet another viewing platform for an online audience to get hooked into and no doubt it gets its regular visitors.

06/03/2007 – Progression of the blog

Since submitting my proposal for my major project and having several dicussions with tutors and others, my major project has now developed and has refined into something very specific. I will still be utilising the function of the blog to add to my general research as and when new sources arise, as I feel it is important to continue realising how this very new environment is changing and developing.

I will also be creating a new or several new categories specifically for the major project, as this now needs focused research, case studies, and development of it’s own. With regards to the change in focus, I shall now be committing to the following path of artefacts and respective research;

• Investigating the worlds first online based soap opera, ‘Chalkhill Lives’, through documentary. This will then be uploaded to the Internet where Chalkhill is shown, to compliment and enlighten it’s audience, as well as build up a foundation of creating web based content. This will provide me however with a good knowledge and deep insite into the way it functions, it’s reasons for being based on the Internet, and it’s characters and story lines in preparation for my own project.
• Using Myspace as an existing platform I shall then endeavour to create character profiles for some of the major characters in Chalkhill. The pages created would include such things as interests, blogs, videos, and extra ‘mini episodes’ which will act as a way of enriching the audiences experience of Chalkhill Lives. This will also create an interactive and almost exclusive audience partition between those who do and do not use the Internet.
• Through good management I shall then add to these pages on a regular basis through blogs and vlogs, and observe to see how people react whether through viewing the page, adding the characters as friends, leaving messages and so forth. This will allow me to determine over the period of a month or two, whether or not such a device as the potential to raise the profile of and enrich an already existing Internet based programme.
• Finally in evaluation of the entire process I shall then make a proposed reccommendation to anyone who is thinking about moving into this new space, how to best utilise what I have studied and I may then propose my own online series of programmes.

This is the initial plan of how I will now take the next step into resolving my major projects resolution.

01/03/07 – The Future of Television

With an eye on the future, Informitv is a website which focuses on interactive, mobile and broadband based television broadcasts. This site offers a feed into the latest news on this subject such as the BBC’s and ITV’s collaboration in producing multicast streams on the Internet, in high quality audio and visual, of their respective channels.  This site also offers such information as forthcoming events, prospective jobs, essential reports as well as a glossary of terms. It is a very simple site to navigate around but a very useful one for staying on par with the current situation without having to hunt very far.

A very interesting press release on this site entitled “Broadband beats broadcast in network television revolution” hi-lights the potential reasons why the revolution we are currently seeing will soon be in favour of the Internet generation. For more information on this please refer to the report ‘IPTV: Broadband meets broadcast – The Network television revolution’  which is priority reading for anyone interested in the future of telvision. You do have to order this report however, and so as soon as mine has arrived I shall no doubt be adding my thoughts upon it to this blog.  

Please note IPTV is an acronym for Internet Protocol Television, something we will no doubt be stumbling on a lot more throughout this research. It covers all of the digital and other audio and visual services which may be provided over a broadband connection.

Informitv should therefore be a ‘favorite’ for anyone who is interested in this field of study or research.

01/03/2007 – The Media Channel

Discovering this by sheer luck, I stumbled upon the Media Channel: The guide for Internet Television and Video, with it’s tagline “…changing the way the world views the Internet!”. It’s main aim is to point the Internet audience towards some of the best video content that can be seen on your PC or MAC. This is the ‘flagship site’, of which two others have emerged; Media Channel Guide (dedicated to Internet television) and Media Channel TV (focusing more on internet video content in general). The main site acts as a major directory for the Internet and encourages it’s visitors to add additional websites of entertaining or research and informative value. Organising its content in categories, the website is relatively easy to navigate around and it’s links take you straight to the hosts website where the interested footage or live stream can be found. What this allows if for both amateur and professional sites to be placed together and in an appropriate forum.

Although this is very similar to other sites in it’s approach, and the content is questionable to it’s merit for having an audience, there are no doubt some hidden gems and good points of research. However it would still be arguable whether or not such a directory is required, as search engines such as Google can powerfully search for any live streams or video content we require with quite accuracy and precision. Also some of the sites you are directed to (for example the MTV Overdrive Channel) only allow certain content to be screened in the USA making it a useless link to anyone else accessing it outside of America. What initially seems like a fantastic idea as ever seems to get swamped in it’s own limitless boundaries and as a result it’s appropriateness and usefulness is highly in question.