mediageek

Month: July 2006

  • Same News, New Channels — A Different Sort of NewsCentral

    Those Google News alerts are occasionally worth something…. Today my alert set for “Sinclair Broadcast Group” brought me this little gem from the PR Newswire, announcing that my local Central Illinois Sinclair-owned stations will now be producing the 9:00 PM nightly news broadcast for the local FOX affiliates, too, which are not owned by Sinclair.…

  • Making Sense of the New Hi-Def Camcorder Format

    The new PC World column from Richard Baguley, also my guest on today’s radioshow, is about the new AVCHD format for recording HD video to DVD-R and hard drives. I mentioned the new format as part of Sony’s announcement of two new HD camcorders last week. The main point of functionality I wonder about is…

  • Mediageek Joins the 21st Century Phone Era

    I just finished an interview with video and camcorder writer Richard Baguley and for the first time I conducted the interview using the free Skype voice over IP (VOIP) service. And I must say that I am very impressed with the quality and ease of doing it this way. Mostly, I am blown away by…

  • FCC Opens The Ownership Floodgates — We’ve Got 120 Days To Learn to Swim

    On Tuesday the FCC finally released the official Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for its Media Ownership Proceeding [PDF], more than a month after first announcing that it would happen. This proceeding marks the Commission’s attempt to deal with the 2004 appeals court ruling against the 2003 media ownership rules rewrite which attempted to greatly loosen…

  • Indie Beer Garden Movies

    For my Champaign-Urbana readers: Micro-Film’s Jason Pankoke is presenting independent movies in the beer garden at Mike N Molly’s (105 N. Market St, right down the block from WEFT). The next showing is tonight at 9:30 PM when you can see the low-budget horror flicks UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS VS. A MUMMY and THE MONSTER OF…

  • From Today’s Radioshow: Net Neutrality Debate and Daily Show Segments

    On today’s radioshow we listened to excerpts from a debate on Net Neutrality between two founders of the internet, Vint Cerf, in defense of net neutrality, and Dave Farber, speaking against it. The debate was sponsored by the Center for American Progress, and you can find an mp3 of the whole debate at the Public…

  • HD Direct to Hard Drive & DVD — But Will It Edit?

    Sony’s got the videogeeks all aflutter today with the announcement of new high-definition camcorders that record directly to mini-DVDs and hard drive. They’re basically a melding of existing DVD and hard drive cams with Sony’s entry level HDV camcorder. The hi-def part is made possible by the new AVCHD format/codec that Sony co-developed with Panasonic.…

  • OH, the Tubes! or, Why I Don’t MySpace.

    Thanks to everyone’s fake anchorman, Sen. Ted Steven’s tubular understanding of the workings of the Internets is gaining much more popular recognition. Now the NY Times has taken note, as well as the LA Times, and the Washington Post. But one blogger apparently got his MySpace account temporarily suspended because he posted a parody song…

  • Tape’s Not Obsolete

    When it comes to audio and video recording, we’re in the midst of a increasingly fast move from tape-based recording to solid state and hard disk recording. The most obvious reason for this move is that memory cards and hard drives can be immediately accessed by a computer, where almost all editing happens. This greatly…

  • DIY Audio Recording Links from Friday’s Radioshow

    On yesterday’s radioshow guest Jay Eychaner and I talked about the rise of inexpensive digital audio recording and its impact on independent musicians, radio producers and podcasters. For those looking for more information, here are some links: Tape-Op Magazine is a free, independent publication that serves the independent recording community. Transom.org has how-to articles and…