Steve Holden's Blog

Battle For The Living Room - Round 1 Roku

Over the last couple of months I've been trying to decide what the best device was to purchase that would allow the family to access the "most" digital content in our living room.

Some things that mattered:

• Access to Internet content: NetFlix, Amazon, Hulu, Pandora, podcasts, etc
• Streaming media from the local network
• Ability to play media from local storage
• Reasonable up front cost, upgradeable, viable roadmap, track record of improvements
• Technical features: easy GUI, upgradable, Ethernet, WiFi, and HDMI

The choices were pretty competitive in many ways -- Apple TV (new & old), Roku, Google TV, Western Digital WD TV, Game Players (Xbox, Wii, PS3), Boxee Box, etc with each having many good points but also a number of issues that just couldn't be over come.

My decision was to go with the Roku XDS Streaming Player 1080p that is currently on sale at Amazon for $99.  It seems to be the one that hits most of the requirements with the only big issue right now is that it does not seem to play well in the Apple ecosystem with video, but you can reportedly stream audio from existing iTunes collections to the device.

After I get the device up and running (it should arrive in a couple of days) I'll send out an updated review.  If you have done a similar analysis, I'd love to hear what decision you have made.  If you have any suggestions or hints on how to better use a Roku device, I'd like to hear that also.

 

Wild Idea Gets Some Traction: 'Personal Movie Place'

A while back on one of my runs I had this 'wild' idea that centered around a geographical social networking site that linked movie buffs to each other by enabling them to come together and watch movies that they were very passionate about in a high-end but personal cinema environment.

One of the high-level use cases was:

Sandra goes online to mypersonalmovieplace.com and signs up to "host" her favorite movie "Blade Runner" on Friday night at 8 p.m.  Other fans of "Blade Runner" in her area would be notified and then they could reserve their spots in the 10-20 seat mini-theater.  Once some minimum is met, the room is reserved, and confirmations are sent out.

This movie establishment could have 10-20 of these mini theaters in standard footprint.  The scheduling and collaboration software would be the core glue to bring it all together.  I by no means think something like this is easy to do, the legal issues are probably enough to make most people go crazy.  But when I talk to folks about it, I always get a generally favorable response.

Well ... this idea has some traction no thanks to me.  Mark Cuban and his excellent team at Landmark Theatres is doing something similar at their $20 million multiplex in West LA near Beverly Hills.

They call their rooms - Living Rooms - where a few dozen people can watch a movie in their own personal screen room with access to bar, food, concierge services, and other treats.  The tickets per seat are $11.  There are also plans for slightly bigger rooms like for 60 people that would rent out for $1500 a show.

There is no indication that you can order up the movie of your choice, but I'm sure that is something that would be doable.

The source of the information for Mark Cuban's effort was from an article in the Union-Tribune published on July 22, 2007.

If you like this idea, please feel free to use it (it is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License).  You do have to compete with the likes of Mark Cuban.  Good luck with that.

Podcast Recommendation - Interview With New Media Author Philip Meza

Chris Gondek over at the Invisible Hand Podcast had a great interview with Philip Meza the author of the book "Coming Attractions: Hollywood, High Tech, and the Future of Entertainment" that is definitely worth a listen.

The one great thing in the podcast was that Chris let Philip outline some key recommendations that companies and organizations should be doing to excel in this new media world.

Rare Event - Music Video Recommendation

I really enjoyed this muisc video from Regina Spektor on YouTube.com.

Dan Klass Video On YouTube

Dan Klass @ The Bitterest Pill Podcast has a 'video pilot' posted to YouTube.

Eventful Demands Gets Wil Wheaton To Boston

I did a podcast interview with the CEO of Eventful Demands at eTech 2006 this past March, and at the time I was wondering what kind of impact the service would make for both fans and artists.  It maded an impact on Wil Wheaton ... he is doing a Boston event because of the demand.  Very cool!

Mini-Link Fest - New Media Focus?!?

I made a recent dent in reading through my RSS feeds, and I have the following items to check up on when I'm working through @Internet, and I thought I'd share them:

• Digg.com - "Al Pacino Podcast"
• Lockergnome - Picasa Easter Egg & Outlook Google Maps Plug-in
• Share OPML
• Bootable Movies
• Build Your Own Fortress Home
• Samsung's HL-S5679W LED-backlit 1080p DLP HDTV
• Eric Mack on how to embed a movie in a blog post
• TypePad supports Skypecast
• CBS Innertube
• UMPC devices are starting to hit the U.S. market
• Alan Cox (Red Hat) discusses computer security (IT Conversations podcast)
• Add a second monitor and get 30% better productivity?
• Open Street Maps in San Diego
• XML is a foundation for MindManager

Sounds, Effects, Etc. for Audio and Video Production

If you are looking for sounds to put into a podcast or into a video production, then here are some pointers to some that I recently found:

• Free Sound Project
• Find Sounds
• Creative Commons

Poor Marlins - Baseball's Great Divide

The recent ESPN magazine noted that the 2006 payroll for the Marlins baseball team was $15 million. There are 12 major league players that make more in one year then the Marlins complete payroll.  They are:

1. Alex Rodriquez, Yankees, $25.7 million
2. Derek Jeter, Yankees, $20.6 million
3. Jason Giambi, Yankees, $20.4 million
4. Barry Bonds, Giants $20.0 million
5. Jeff Bagwell, Astros, $19.4 million
6. Mike Mussina, Yankees, $19.0 million
7. Manny Ramirez, Red Sox, $18.3 million
8. Todd Helton, Rockies, $16.6 million
9. Andy Pettitte, Astros, $16.4 million
10. Magglio Ordonez, Tigers, $16.2 million
11. Randy Johnson, Yankees, $15.7 milion
12. Chan Ho Park, Padres, $15.3 million

"Johnny Ether's Great Escape" By Changelings - Make Me Into A Movie?

I was catching up on some podcast listening today on my run, and as I was rounding the bend to come up the "hill" before the finish and my friend Dave Slusher with his Evil Genius Chroniles podcast for 03-04-06 came on.

His first song was a jem - Changelings' Johnny Ether's Great Escape.  It made the end of the run very easy.

And as I was listening I was envisioning this great "movie" segment that this song could be the foundation for.  I was thinking a kinda Sam Fisher - Splinter Cell meets Jack Bauer of 24.  And then when the song was done, Dave did the same thing in his own way.

Very cool ...