An archive of blog entries about media gadgets and technology.
Don’t know if this is going to be at all useful to anyone, but it’s a thing called 123 Web TV that you can use to search for web television services, such as 4oD and iPlayer (allegedly). I didn’t find it that great – it was more useful for telling me about services I didn’t know about than programmes that are online – but you mileage may vary.
Just a little note that Joost, those exciting Internet TV people, now have the first two series of Peep Show, as well as a few other Channel 4 shows like Shameless.
The good things about this is:
Basically, all you need is a broadband connection and a web browser. Yey.
PS When did they change the theme tune on Peep Show or is is a licensing problem that stops them from using the proper tune?
Film
Theater/Theatre
Polish TV
British TV
US TV
To work, Sky+ (or Sky+ HD) needs to have two feeds to your satellite dish. So if you just only have a wall socket connection to a communal dish in your block of flats, rather than your own dish, it won’t work.
Curses. Foiled again.
So the iTunes store in the UK is finally getting some films worth watching. There’s all sorts, including Full Metal Jacket, which that naughty More4 Kubrick season chose to ignore, for example.
Coupled with an Apple TV connected to your high-def TV and a broadband connection, that’s quite a powerful combo – no heading off down to the video/DVD store to see what they’ve got in, when all you have to do is search, press buy, and it’s ready to watch in a couple of minutes. If you buy a movie outright rather than rent it, you can take it with you on your iPod or iPhone to watch whenever it takes your fancy, too. And if you rent or buy one of the high def movies, you don’t even need to bother with saving up for that BluRay player any more. Marvellous.
However, be warned that not all films in the store are created equal. For your inspection, take a look at that screenshot of the opening titles for The Hunt For Red October above (you can click on it to make it bigger). Note the moth-eaten edges, the poor colours and general fuzziness of picture – and the fact it’s offset from the centre of the window. And it carries on like that, too.
So, my general advice if you’re thinking of buying or renting a film from the store would therefore be to always plump for a film that’s in the high def section, no matter what you’re going to watch it on. Odds are that it’ll have been cleared up and transferred properly, rather than dumped off an old print. Note you probably won’t need to rent or buy the HD version, only know that it’s available: the transfer will have been from the same print, just converted into a small file for the standard def buyers.
That’ll save you a pound or two.
© 2022 The Medium is Not Enough
