Hamish McPharlin – June 2013
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INTRODUCTION
It was 2007 when Yahoo! rolled out a partnership with device manufacturers called ‘Yahoo! Widgets’ that delivered information to your TV set via an internet connection. Suddenly, the ability to call up a quick weather report, news headline, or social media feed was in TV sets on the UK High Street. more “WHITEPAPER: Just How Disruptive are Smart TVs?”
Not many people had heard of the UPC Horizon service until the UPC parent, Liberty Global, bought Virgin Television earlier in the year. With the Virgin acquisition UPC got its hands on Tivo, and became a European cable giant running TWO different next-gen TV platforms, and the comparisons began. Would Horizon ever replace Tivo or vice-versa? more “Anything New on the Horizon? – Updates to the UPC’s Cable Box”
Nigel Walley – March 2009
I received an email this week from a contact who works in the TV industry in Australia asking my opinion on something to do with what he called ‘PDRs’? Now I had to stop and think what on earth he was talking about. Eventually I went back to him to check my assumption that PDR meant ‘personal digital recorders’. These are, of course, what we would call a personal video recorder (PVR) or, if you believe Sky, a digital video recorder (DVR) or, if you follow Tess Alp’s of Thinkbox’s mantra, a ‘digital television recorder’ (DTR) or, if you are the Dixon’s web site, a little bit of all of them, without explaining the difference.
Nigel Walley – Feb 2009
I used an overhead projector for a presentation at a conference the other day. It was great. You get to write on a sheet of acetate, like your teachers used to, and it shines up on the wall. Joking aside, there was something immediate and human about presenting ideas with an overhead that is completely lost with Powerpoint. I know that I sound like a music nut comparing vinyl to the CD, but in the rush to move into the digital age, we can sometimes throw the baby out with the bath water. Before we got rid of overheads, someone should have stopped and questioned whether there was anything great about them that needed preserving. In fact I think they may make a comeback
more “Overhead Projectors, Broadcast Channels and Other Redundant Technologies”
The other night I went to bed with Paxman. His typical wit and insight on the global credit crunch got me thinking about where the belt can be tightened in my own household. As the Sky EPG finally bid me farewell after I had convinced myself that there was nothing on worth watching live and everything on my Sky+ box demanded more than the 12 minutes or so I was prepared to give it, my mind focussed what I pay for TV. A rather interesting picture started to form.
I, like Parkinson and Felicity Kendal, am a Sky+ fan. It’s easy and works for me. Point, shoot, job done. I would estimate that 75% of my watching is ‘off line’, so to speak. However, a review of what is currently sitting on my hard drive is rather revealing – Heroes, Madman, Jonathan Ross and at least 2 movies for the wife, QI, the cricket, Have I Got News for You and Panorama for me. Mmm..mostly provided by free to air channels. OK, so why am I not on FreeView?
Freeview Playback PVRs are now in approximately 225,000 homes in the UK.
New Media Markets, 14/12/07