The Future of Media Post #81: Get Out Your Crystal Ball

1.I hate to see the DVD disappear so soon. I still have a large collection of VHS tapes that I can no longer play. I am glad that my DVD collection isn't as big as the VHS collection was. The more recent movies are available pretty quickly on HBO or other cable channels and so we don't feel like we have to own them. I also usee the library to borrow DVDs.  In fact, we have found that we don't watch the movies in our collection. We usually watch something that is being broadcast, even if we've seen it numerous times before. Is that the definition of a "couch potato?" I think more and more broadcasting over the Internet will be the most influental development in the future. I haven't really be following trends in new technology in this field, but have noticed that they are sending TV signals to cell phones. I definitely would not enjoy watching a program on a cell phone.

We just upgraded to HDTV this winter and so are just getting used to that technology. In fact when we had to have the cable company come out because of bad reception we found that we hadn't even been watching HDTV. We didn't have the TV set up properly. So we are already way behind the curve on new technology. I didn't know that Blu-Ray was in competition with HD DVD in a format war. I had no interest in either one. I can see the problems that traditional TV is going to come up against.  It will be a learning curve when the computer and TV merge, but it'll be nice to to be able to do computer things on the big screen. I am not really interested in 3-D TV. It won't be the same if you aren't sitting in the dark in a theater.

I enjoyed the article by Sexton about the future of 500-channel cable TV. I have often complained about having so many channels showing the same things over and over. My Mom who is 88 would sure like to see some of those old black and white movies from the 30's and 40's that no one shows any more. It was interesting to learn that back in the day when we had only 3 stations to chose from, we actually had more choice of what to watch. "On any given day 722 episodes of a television show with Law & Order in its title will air. 542 episodes of a television show with the letters CSI in one or another order will daily." And I watch most of them!

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I would say that I am  late adopter. I like to wait for the bugs to we worked out and the price to come down. Except for their bulkiness, I liked VHS tapes. You could stop it and it stayed in place and you could even take it out and put it in again, and then start from the same place. I liked audiocassettes for the same reason, but they were easily damaged with stretched out or twisted tapes. DVDs definitely have the advantage in picture quality and special features. I guess my favorite media gadget currently is our DVR. It is so much easier to record programs using the DVR and the program guide, than it was trying to program the VCR. We are a little late adopting this, my kids have been Tivo-ing for years.

The Future of Media Post #80: Movies

I have been a Hulu user for several years, although usually just TV series. I have sat through more than one episode of a TV series on the computer, so that amounts to the same thing as watching a movie. Now that we have an HD TV I am not as likely to watch things on the computer via Hulu, Blockbuster streaming, or Netflix streaming. We have access to On Demand through Comcast and we also record programs on the DVR for later viewing. I do not order movies through Netflix, although both of my married children use that or a similar service. I haven't been to Blockbuster in ages and have never used the Redbox.

1. I used Hulu to view part of "Racing for Time" and independent Lifetime movie. I much prefer watching movies on DVD or my TV. Often the movies on the computer stop to fill the buffer or some such thing or the computer will freeze up. They can also be jerky. It depends on your connection.

2.I watched a trailer for "The Lightning Thief" on IMDB. I would not use these sites for information on upcoming movies. The TV is full of trailers and advertising and I enjoy watching the trailers when I go out to see a movie.

3. With all of the progaming I am already paying for through Comcast I don't see the need to use other fee-based services. I'd actually rather see most movies in a theater, it just isn't always possible. Have started to really like the Sat. morning matinee.

Future of Media #79 - Television

1) I enjoyed this iHCPL module. I have been a Hulu.com viewer for several years. I have also watched favorite episodes on ABC.com and CBS.com. One of my favorites is "Castle" which is on Monday night and I work on Monday nights. So until recently I watched Castle on Tuesday AM on ABC.com. However now that we have a new flat screen TV and DVR, I record episodes so I can watch them on the big screen. The episodes on the various outlets like Hulu and TV.com and Fancast.com will still come in handy. Yesterday Comcast had to replace our DVR so the items I had set up to record on Tuesday evening didn't record. I wasn't home to redo it and neither was my husband. HULU has full episodes of many series as well as trailers, interviews, and clips. TV.com had pretty full coverage also with many series available.

I had never looked at Joost.com before. It was an interesting site with an Elizabeth Taylor channel, a John Wayne channel, Bob Hope, the Indy 500, Cary Grant, and Charlie Chaplin available. It also had many animated cartoons, videos, and music in most genres.

I found http://www.viewmytv.com/ very interesting. It had news, music, and shows from around the world. Here is a sample: NasaTV, SkyNews, BBC news, Russia today, France 24 (English), David Beckham, etc.

On www.casttv.com/shows I found all seven seasons of "Star Trek Deep Space Nine," which is never in reruns and five seasons of Stargate Altlantis which I like to go back to now and then as a guilty pleasure. The original Stargate series in not here, but is on Hulu.com.

I didn't like http://www.cwtv.com/ at all. The site was too busy with too many ads and no shows that interested me.

I wasn't interested in Ustream because I don't watch UTube or Justin.tv or any streaming site having no interest in other peoples home videos.

2) I have no interest in watching TV on a tiny cell phone screen. I don't need to carry my TV around with me. I'd rather sit at home with our flat screen tv where I can read during commercials or knit.

3) I do not watch streaming programs or user "channels."  I have never posted a video and have no plan to do so.