Flash Video FAQ

What Flash video encoding solution is the best?

Figure it out yourself! L.A. video firm Roguish has gone to the trouble of allowing you to compare, side by side, different Flash codecs and encoders using a variety of different video content, from text over colour gradients, to water, to fire, to black & white 16mm. With the new Flash 8 codec becoming more and more of an option for internet video delivery it's a very handy little tool to have access to. Kudos to Roguish for putting that sort of information out there.

Flash Video FAQ

Australian Story Online - episode 2

The second of our Australian Story Online specials went up last night.

For three decades Peter Dawkins was the man Australian singers relied on to turn their music into chart-topping, record-breaking hits.

Then, at just 42 years of age, he walked into a doctor’s surgery complaining of various odd symptoms. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.

Last year, an extraordinary medical procedure that held hope of a better quality of life was offered to Dawkins, but there was a catch – it would cost $35k and Peter Dawkins 'simply didn’t have the money' after being unable to work for so long.

It was at that point the industry that he had done so much for returned the favour in a most unexpected way…

Australian Story - A Little Help From My Friends

I have to admit, I'm feeling a bit this way at the moment...

Podcasting is IPTV's Killer App | DV.com

Franks Capria makes a pretty good point in this article from DV.com.

I agree that the iPod is a mediocre portable video device. The screen is too small and scratches too easily. I stand too far away from it on the treadmill at the gym. The battery life is too short, lacking the juice for a New York-to-Los Angeles flight. The click wheel, which is an awesome music controller, isn't nearly as intuitive as a video controller. But none of that really matters because I don't think of my iPod as a portable video device. It's an IPTV set-top box.

It's an interesting discussion, running through the current problems facing IPTV and Podcasting, how to create a Podcast and where the money is.

DV.com - Podcasting is IPTV's Killer App

As always, DV.com requires registration, but it's worth it.

Australian Story Online - A week (almost) on.

So I drop in on Martin yesterday to get the lowdown on what I'm sure will be the waves of adulation from all involved given our victory on Monday night.

Nothin'.

He makes a very good point.

"Last night we posted a full version of one of this country's top programs on the internet simultaneously to it being broadcast, and not a peep from anyone."

Comments were then made that if this had been a commercial channel the trade rags would have been buzzing with the news. But that's the joy of working for the national broadcaster.

TV catches the Net video bug | Tech News on ZDNet

After years of the internet being used to show TV programs, it looks like TV is going to start showing content created for the internet.

TV catches the Net video bug | Tech News on ZDNet

Because they need something to get the peoples back.

Ellis vs Whedon - count the nerdgasms

So anyway, last year Warren Ellis starts posting pictures (Ex. 1, Ex. 2, Ex .3, Ex. 4) taken by his loyal (and devout) readers from the San Diego Comic Book Convention. Some of the images were truly horrifying in a "cross-the-road-to-escape-even-looking-at-you-,-you-FREAK!!!" kind of way, but a lot of fun. So it comes as no surprise that Ellis posted the fact that the site for this year's Con had gone online.

Warrenellis.com » The Long March To Nerd Prom Begins

Of course, that's when the fun began.

In response to Warren Ellis' statement that
"there are one hundred thousand hungry people out there who need to attend San Diego Comics Convention in order to walk right past all that comics shit and go straight to sniffing Brandon Routh’s cricketbox, sending bits of themselves to the cast of SERENITY and masturbating ferociously in the men’s stalls while wearing V FOR VENDETTA masks and discounted Hulk Hands."
the page got a response from one Joss Whedon, who was obviously sitting around his office trying to avoid writing the sequel to Serenity.

And thus it began.

"Who is this Ellis guy anyway? He thinks he all that cuz he wroted “Planety”. The facts is, KomiKon is AWESOME becuz people dress up like stuff — but nobody dresses like Warner Ellis, I guess, mister sour grapes. I talked to Sumner Glou and she said nobody ever mailed her body parts except for one time an arm and then a messenger brought her a thyroid gland but big deal, SERENDIPITY fans happen to be the most tastefullest fans who have extra or redundant body parts."

The back and forth went on with gay abandon.

To read the responses from those witnessing it you'd have thought God had dropped in on Lucifer's LJ site to hang some shit before suggesting they should sneak out for a beer later.

"Boys, boys… don’t fight! I have an idea! DO join up, and write some comics TOGETHER. Deliciously twisted plots and characters, touching moments of hilarity… it.. would… be… og… crap. Fangasm. Now I have to change."

"Holy Procrastination! I love it! Hey Joss, as long as you’re slackin’, come over to Whedonesque - we need more - uh - you!"

"I am in the same message thread as both Warren Ellis AND Joss Whedon. I am vicariously famous. Twice."

"Man, this is just ten different kinds off geek-borne happiness right here. Two of my favorite comic-mkaer-people trading teh funnay right in front of me. Thank God for strep."

And on it went.

Of course, the blogosphere went crazy, as it is wont to do.

I mention this in passing because I find it an interesting example of celebrity, the internet and geeks in general. No outrageous statements or insights, but I get the feeling that this will be of further interest to me down the track. With that in mind I continue this blog's stated purpose of being a poor man's del.icio.us so I know where to find it when it becomes relevant to something.

That is all.

Eddie gets it!?! (In other news, pigs to commence daily flights between Sydney and Melbourne.)

Newly rewarded (the poisoned chalice perhaps?) CEO of Channel 9, the guy who was all over your TV screen for the last five or so years, Eddie McGuire has his say to "the Australian" about his long term views for the network now that he's got one of the most heavily scrutinised jobs in Australian television.

McGuire admits that while his initial concentration is short-term, his mind wanders over the big-picture issues. Attracting viewers back to FTA is one of them. "We have to be more nimble on our feet, keeping up with what people want," he says. "That can be difficult when on one hand you have people getting their television on tiny phone screens, while others put massive plasma screens on their walls. Television has always been about information and entertainment. Meeting both needs at the same time is the trick."

"I absolutely believe free-to-air television can maintain its mass audiences. There are still a lot of things that haven't changed. TV is interesting in that it's had an image of being new and flash for a long time, but it has also been very conservative.

"People my age have grown up with traditional television, but kids these days are into mobile services, watching television, texting and using the internet at the same time.

"They are now their own programmers, and the challenge is there to try to get that iPod generation to bring their ideas to us, so we can be their portal of choice. The trick is to be relevant to them again. That is not to say you're going to jettison the generation before them, but there's a mix there somewhere."

And that, of course, is the trick. Channel 9, the darling of the blue-rinse set over the last 20 or so years, has been accused before of dismissing younger viewers in favour of where the money was. So how does Channel 9 face this brave new world of Generation C while maintaining a link to audience members that have trouble dealing with their remote control? Moreover, given former Nine supremo Sam Chisholm said last year that his view of the future was TV, only smaller, will there be a change in thinking now that the iPods of Eddie's kids have his attention?

Maybe he could phone a friend.

All this is yet to come in our brave new post-Kerry TV world...

The Australian: Eddie eyes the iPod generation

"Welcome to the Super Bowl" | ESPN.com: Page 2

Bill Simmons runs through his experience at the NBA's All Star Weekend held in Houston, Texas. A fun read, written as only Simmons can. Make sure you read to the end to hear his story about sitting at the next table to M.J. and Charles Oakley in the bar at the Houston Four Seasons.

ESPN.com: Page 2 : Welcome to the Super Bowl

Australian Story Online - The first of many

Those who pay regular attention to KingLeonard - The Weblog will realise that things have been quite quiet of late. This has been as a result of;

• Two Weeks Holiday


• A superior workload upon returning to the job

And the first fruits of this week of work has paid off! Tonight we posted the first of what will hopefully be an ongoing series of Australian Story Broadband editions, including the entire program, extended interviews and Producer's notes.

Australian Story - One Perfect Day

I mentioned at the end of last year that we were working on this, and I made particular note of its importance, not from a viewer experience or as an enabler of "folksonomic interactivity", but from the publishing aspect. Well, while this episode has actually been quite a bitch to get done (albeit only taking a day or two from our end), the system is slowly being put into place to automate and streamline the process even further. Flash video plugins for our automated compression system are on order and further tweaks are being made to the ABC's publishing software. The issue here is to create a system that allows other program producers to create ongoing extended editions to allow viewers the opportunity to not only view the entire program at their leisure, but also see extra bits that just can't make it into the show due to the inherent shortcomings of scheduled content. By making this as simple and easy as possible it opens up all sorts of opportunities for these programs to get involved rather than be scared away by the prospect of "compression" and "servers".

Anyway, I took a few pictures to mark the occasion and here they are.

The "Fishbowl" - home of the Brains Trust.

Jessica Daly - She's the one looking after all the content. You can see Jess' small
screen debut at the start of the McInnes Pilot we produced late last year.

Tim Madden - Design Guru and all round genius,
telling his wife he's going to be home late.

Tim making sure the site is running before it goes live.

What better way to celebrate than wood fired pizzas.
"Ooh! Exotic Potato!"

I should mention, that guy with his back to the camera is
Martin Southgate, driving force behind the project
and uber-producer.

Martin and Jess check the site once it's live. Despite some misgivings from
certain southern naysayers, the Flash Server held its own through the peak
period following the show.

Jess "capturing the moment"

Martin and Tim checking the site through our "Off-Air" computer,
in the heart of the News Online offices.

The idea is that this computer shows us what people are seeing in their
homes and offices, beyond the boundaries of our proxy server.

So all in all a bit of a win. I'll be interested to hear feedback, which will no doubt begin tomorrow, but I think we did all right. Once again, kudos must go to Martin, Jess and Tim who have driven this project forward. Once it's fully operational I can see this being the start of big things for the future of the Corp online.

Pay up or lose your TV, viewers told | smh.com.au

Not quite so drastic as it sounds. Basically it refers to consumers having to fork out up to $400 for a digital set-top box. Way to beat up a headline.

Nice to see the possibility of sanity prevailing and some of the restrictions that have plagued the Australian TV landscape being lifted. Just think, if they did we could actually start telling people what we produce, rather than just doing it anyway and kind of whistling distractedly whenever anyone scrutinises us.

Pay up or lose your TV, viewers told - smh.com.au

Lack of posts? - I've been away

I didn't think I'd mentioned this before heading off, but I've been away from any computer for the last week and a half, enjoying time off work up the coast with my beloved wife. No photos, no video, no inclination. Just rest and relaxation.

Not that anyone drops by here on purpose, but I figured it was worth mentioning.

Hopefully more content once I'm back at work and we start producing Australian Story Online as a semi-regular project.

Does the cinema industry suck that badly?

Mark Cuban is a man who could never be accused of saying in a sentence what he can say in a paragraph, yet a lot of what he says does makes sense. In particular I point you, gentle reader, in the direction of his most recent tome regarding his company HDNet Films and their support for Steven Soderbergh's latest film "Bubble". Now, a lot's been said recently regarding this film and its planned simultaneous distribution across multiple flatforms, including cinema and DVD, including one cinema industry spokesperson labelling the practice akin to a "death-threat" for his industry ("Oh, God! The hyperbole. The HYPERBOLE!"). It seems most of the comments made by the cinema industry, and Hollywood in general, have just been reactive claptrap which has led our "fearless hero" to have this to say on the matter.

"NOT A SINGLE PERSON. NOT ONE stood up and said, “screw him, our product is great. We dont care what he does”. Not a single person said “It could hurt our business, but we will just have to work harder to bring people in to our theaters”. Not a single person said, “It will make us have to work harder and create a better value and experience for our customer”"

"No one even remotely associated with the industry even attempted to spin the situation. No one attempted to leverage the publicity (except for us of course) to their advantage. No one used it as a platform to say a single solitary positive word about theaters and the theater going experience.

They stood up and indirectly said….OUR PRODUCT SUCKS WE CANT SURVIVE WITHOUT HELP."

"Go See Bubble" | Blog Maverick

Which really has to make you wonder about how the cinema industry sees themselves. But then as Cuban himself said a few days ago,

"...I can whip up a mean steak, but I still like to go to restaurants. Because I enjoy it. I enjoy getting out of the house with family, friends, who ever...

"Going to a restaurant. Going to a sporting event. Going shopping. Cabin Fever is alive and well. Wanting to get away from your parents, your kids, your job, your apartment, your house, your problems will never, ever go out of style. For the next thousand years the question will be asked…
What do you want to do tonight? For the next thousand years, people will want to get the heck out of the house. The question is where to and why."

Which to my mind tells me that the news of cinema's demise is greatly over-exaggerated. What it DOES mean is that if cinemas want to be succesful they have to provide value, something I can't get at home. If I'm forking out $15 to see a show, then I want a show goddammit! Good seats, good sound, a professional, comfortable experience. Maybe go back to the days of a short cartoon or short film as a lead-in to the feature, rather than just churning people through the seats.

Now I'm no business mogul. I wouldn't know a BAS statement from a quarterly index return, or even if such things exist. But I wouldn't have thought it was too difficult to realise that for cinemas to continue to make money they need to invest in themselves, to believe in themselves. If I have the opportunity to see a movie at home, or see it on the big screen, the cinema experience definitely comes into play. But if I'm complaining about lumpy or tiny seats, or intermittent audio faults, I'm walking away and not going back. For example, I had exactly that problem at one local cinemaplex. Three minutes into "Return of the King" my wife and I walked because the surround sound kept dropping in and out, which is a pity because I could see the potential of the place if they just looked after it.

Here's what it comes down to in my mind. If you believe in your product then invest in it. Make it all the greater an experience and people will come. Be lazy, look at it as a one-way money funnel and watch the income dry up. Simple, just like me!

Current Studio | VC2 Survival Guide

The 2nd last day of last year I mentioned an article at DV.com regarding Current TV. In that piece I said;

I LOVE (with a burning passion) their determination to teach the language of video production to the people, creating a whole new generation of storytellers with the vocabulary to create wonderful content, and possibly push the medium in ways we've not seen before.

And here's why. Available to the viewing public around the world, free of charge, are online videos running through equipment, production, editing, compression, and most importantly, storytelling. While the information is aimed at creating pieces for Current TV (named "Pods") the information is still relevant to anyone wanting to get an idea how this video thing works.

Favourite quote: "If you're on a budget and a 1-chip (camera) is your only choice be sure to spend the $70 on an external microphone. DO NOT USE THE MIC ON THE CAMERA!"

THANK YOU!! FINALLY someone's saying it. The fact is you can get away with a multitude of visual sins if you have GOOD SOUND. The moment the audio levels sound off-mic or they jump from soft to loud and back again you lose the audience who are too busy trying to watch with one hand on the volume knob.

In fact, here's a tip for aspiring editors to fix a simple, rookie mistake: Play some good quality material with proper levels through your editing system. Find a monitor level that seems comfortable for you to hear what's going on. MARK THAT LEVEL ON YOUR SPEAKERS AND NEVER CHANGE IT! If you do, you've still got the mark to go back to. That way, you know that if a piece of audio is loud or quiet it needs to be adjusted on the timeline, not on the speakers. The moment you shift the speaker level you lose your relative position to the other material and you need to train yourself again to know if something's too loud or soft.

Current Studio // VC2 Survival Guide

ABC chief Balding resigns | ABC News Online

So the boss has made the decision to up and leave a year before his contract runs out to take on a position with the Sydney Airport Corporation. Still, for a guy who was kind of thrown into the job on the back of the hated "Shier" years until "someone better came along" I think he's done a pretty good job.

ABC chief Balding resigns. 20/01/2006. ABC News Online

Favourite Russell Balding moment? Him not showing up to a Senate Estimates commitee meeting and leaving no excuse or apology.

SANTO SANTORO: ...is there a reason why Mr Balding is not here? Did he give you a reason why he's not here?

MURRAY GREEN: Ah, Mr Balding is his own decision-maker. He is not here, and that's all I have to say, Senator.

All the best to you Mr Balding in your new job.

So, the hunt will commence for a new boss. Who would I love to see? Someone with a real grasp of what's happening in the rest of the world when it comes to the media. Not just a TV or Radio person, but someone who can really look across the ABC's platforms and see ways to make it work together.

But then again, I'm kind of biased.

More on this as the "Hunt for the New MD" begins.

From the sublime to the ridiculous

From the sublime...

Honda.co.uk official site

Honda Civic UK advertisement (mirror)

(via BoingBoing)

to the ridiculous...

Patriot Search

(Background: Good Morning Silicon Valley)

A good thing the site's tongue-in-cheek.

While I'm here, what's the deal with a mysterious stranger visiting the grave of American author Edgar Allan Poe's grave every year to mark the writer's birthday? Not why does it happen, but why hadn't I heard about this before?! I mean, it's been going on since 1949 for crying out loud and has apparently been passed on a generation. Roses and cognac? This is just too good not to have known about, and definitely not the sort of thing I want some moron ruining by "catching the guy out."

(Jeff) Jerome, curator of the Poe House and Museum, said early Thursday he had to chase people out of the graveyard, fearing they would interfere with the mystery visitor's ceremony.

"In letting people know about this tribute, I've been contributing to these people's desire to catch this guy," Jerome said. "It's such a touching tribute, and it's been disrupted by the actions of a few people trying to interfere and expose this guy."

CNN.com | Decades-old mystery: Who visits Poe's grave?

Web 3.0 | A List Apart

Jeffrey Zeldman, author of "Designing With Web Standards" (my first textbook for my course) and publisher of the "A List Apart" web design site, has a few things to say about the use of the term Web 2.0, in particular the way it seems to have been co-opted by marketers and businessmen and entrepreneurs looking to ride the hype.

A List Apart: Articles: Web 3.0

The fact is, I don't really know enough about the technical aspects of things like AJAX to say whether his perspective is legitimate or not, but regardless it's well worth the read for an alternate view to much of the hyperbole on the internet at the moment.

Mass media's last blast | calendarlive.com

Via Bubblegeneration Strategy Lab

An interesting article by Reed Johnson of the L.A. Times regarding the current world of media and how the interactive, do-it-yourself attitude is affecting American culture.

calendarlive.com: Mass media's last blast

My problem with it? Again, too American in its perspective, with this seeming belief that the internet and new media culture doesn't extend past the east and west coasts.

Now before I start a war about how I'm bagging on the "Big, bad U.S. of A." I understand, fully and absolutely, that this guy is writing for an American audience with a view towards analysing the American experience. No problem with that at all. I guess I'm a little disappointed that we don't seem to see similar articles by Australian authors and academics, viewing how much of an impact this new mediascape has had locally.

For instance, I don't believe it would be remiss of me to say that I don't think Australia is feeling the impact of iPods and Internet anywhere near as much as in the U.S., despite our reputation of being early adopters of technology. Between the stupidity of our telecommunications industry, our totally ignorant (and ignored) copyright laws and the overblown expense of everything, I'm amazed sometimes I can even get a broadband connection out of my house without applying for a second mortgage. But the fact is, I want to hear someone talk about this! In detail!

"Why not you?" I hear you say, oh gentle yet transient reader. Well, maybe one day I'll have some time to sit down and nut out an article of annoyance.

But not now.

Damn. How to shoot down your position in one easy paragraph.

Rocketboom/Ask A Ninja - the interview!

Having mentioned the wonderfully quirky "Ask A Ninja" last week it's great to see Rocketboom having a play with it, asking the Ninja questions that matter!

Rocketboom

So what I suggest is that you spend some time at "Ask A Ninja" to run through some episodes and get a feel for the show. Then do the Rocketboom episode and see which bits they've taken out of context.

Nicely done. Pity about the audio, but Amanda does acknowledge in the comments the obvious problem of miking someone through a heavy brown shirt that's tied around the head. A transcript can be found in the comments a little further down.

"Oh my, what very experientially stylised teeth you have!"

Via the always wonderful we-make-money-not-art

So back in 2004 as part of my Interaction Design subject I came up with the idea for a room specifically designed for enhancing presence in particular roleplaying games (Hell yeah! King of the geeks!). The idea was that at particular moments the Gamemaster/Storyteller had the facility to play with the experiential elements present in the room, i.e. lighting, music, sound effects, room temperature, etc.

Now Philips comes along with a technology they're calling PML (Physical markup Language) to allow media to influence your physical surroundings. The example they give is a PML version of the children's classic "Little Red Riding Hood."

"An Ambient Intelligence system can interpret a description in PML in such a way that the devices in its network can jointly use their individual capabilities to render that experience at a given location.

In effect, your whole room becomes a 'browser' that brings the experience to life. For example, PML-enabled lights add to the experience by getting brighter or dimmer, or changing colour. A PML-enabled hi-fi provides an appropriate soundscape..."

"To illustrate the principle, we have developed a PML-enhanced storybook telling the story of Little Red Riding Hood. As you turn the pages of the book, the book knows exactly where you are in the story. The PML associated with the scene described on that page is communicated to the space around you. The many Ambient Intelligence devices in that space then use their capabilities collaboratively to transport you into the world of the story."

It's an interesting attempt to break out of the desktop, creating an immersive physical environment using ubiquitous computing elements. Interesting to see where they take it in the future.

Philips Research Technologies - PML - When your room becomes your browser

PML Research Paper - PDF