I am unsure if this is good for the 3d community. After the aquisition of Softimage, Autodesk will own almost every major high end 3d software package on the market. The only 3d software manufacurer that is still hanging on is NewTek. Interesting!

I will interested to see how Autodesk will differentiate between Softimage and Maya. Both can produce high end 3d renderings. Which one to choose? 3ds Max – play nice with your office mates.

With more people turning off the Television and logging on to get information and entertainment, Internet Television is gaining popularity.

Old School
Imagine wanting to see your favorite sitcom, or documentary but you worked late and missed the time it was typically scheduled.  Oh well missed – maybe you can catch a rerun

New School
Same situation, but you go to your computer and you can watch your programing when you want and how many times you want.  Not held down by a programming schedule.

The old school way it was simple to sell advertisements for a program.  More viewership more money for your 30 second spot.  Now advertisers are finding new innovative ways to connect with the audience.  More interactive ways to engage their audience and more than the mind numbing 30 second spot.  Below is a screen shot of an advertisement for a interactive portal by Kleenex.  Yes, you can design your own tissue boxes – how cool is that!

Adobe has finally launched their new Media Player. There has been alot of buzz about the player and what it can and can’t do. So to keep up with the other bloggers, I am going to deposit my two cents into the blogoshpere.

I visited Adobe.com to download the new Media Player. I could not miss the download as it was taking up the main branding image on the home page. So the download is very quick 1.4mb, this download also forces you to install Adobe Air the platform it was built on. About a 45 sec install on a broadband connection.

Once installed double clicked on the Shortcut on my desk top. A nice clean interface appeared with call outs to prompt me to click on something. After a few clicks I was into the actual video content.

Once into the actual video content the compression quality was very good, even at full screen. The video compression utilizes the VP6 or H.264 codecs. But, some footage was compress from some very sad start quality. A sample of that is inside PBS Great Performances with Eric Clapton. That compression looked as though it came from VHS.

Stay Tuned – I will be diving into the whitepapers next!!

Last night I was flipping through the channels here in Wisconsin and I happened upon “Firebrand”.  I thought this format looks alot like the Rich Media you would put on the web.  See the screen shot below:

It is the same format that is on the web!  The screen shot above is for a Snickers spot.

Firebrand is an excellent concept to showcase commercials, but really good commercials one right after another.  So the show was a commercial show with no commercials!  Go figure I sat thru them all, 30 minutes.  During the show a spokeswoman would key in on screen and talk about the next set of spots.  Across the top was the Call to Action of visiting the website.  http://www.firebrand.com  I visited the website today and it is very neat.  The IA on the site takes a little bit to get used to.  You are able to search by brand, set up playlists and rate your favorites.  You can even download the spot if you would like.  The extremely nice feature is you can view the credits of these spots. 

On December 5th Adobe announced that the new Flash Player 9 build 3 will support H.264 video. This is excellent news for those individuals that post video on their website.

For those of you who don’t know. H.264 is a type of compressor/decompresser that will give your videos better than DVD quality. Keep in mind that with the DVD wars going on right now, Blu-ray and HDDVD uses H.264 standard for video compression.

This is a benefit to media producers, like Technostones, Inc., because the end user has a small download to get updated to the new flash player. Where in the past if you wanted to use H.264 you would hope that your user would; 1. have QuickTime installed or 2. want to download a 50mb file to watch your content.

To see what market share the Flash player has visit the Adobe website

For a side by side comparison of QuickTime, Windows Media and Flash done in last year take a look at another chart from Adobe.

Earlier this week it was announced that DivX purchased MainConcept for some pocket change. MainConcept is the distributor of the H.264 codec, along with other technology used by Adobe, Corel, Sonic, Sony and Panasonic. I am sure the stakeholders at DivX see additional market penetration in the mobile and HD market.

DivX has made its living licensing its codec, mostly for DVD Players and the web. I hope that H.264 does not fall under that mindset. H.264 is how ever an open standard based codec, but with this acquisition, DivX could bring it under its licensing umbrella.

For more information visit MainConcept

In October’s issue of INC. Magazine there is a good article on Video and how YouTube has created a “good enough” mentality for posting videos on the web.  YouTube style “run and gun” type productions are perfect for the teenager with a skateboard, but as a Company, there is an image to uphold.  Because of that image the typical “run and gun” style of shoot should not be used.  A little more thought should be put into what you are going to upload.  Ask your self one simple question:  Is this what my customers are looking for? 

Training videos, or product demonstrations need a little bit more finesse.  Not all companies have the budget to hire a video production house to write, shoot, edit, and deliver your video, but at least take the time to research your options before beginning your project.  If you have a smaller budget look for smaller post houses like TechnoStones or a gorilla video expert versed in all aspects of video.  If you still would like to use YouTube after your final product is complete, you will be steps ahead of 95% of the YouTube content submissions.  An old saying comes to mind – Garbage In, Garbage Out! Let’s keep the web a clean place for all.

I remember back when I was a young sprout watching public access television on Sunday afternoons.  The production value not the best, but it was different than the norm.  Over the years I have seen less and less Public Access programming, other than the occasional Central High School football game. 

Is there a reason?  Free is good right?

 While driving the other day I figured out where all of my Public Access programming went – to the internet.  YouTube.com for example offers the same value that Public Access provided, with out a time schedule.  Web users are used to getting the information when and how they want it.  Think of the possibilities of producing a video for your company that is available 24/7.  That is a lot better than have your video stuck in the 1pm time slot when your target audience is at work.  

Here is the type of shows that used to be on Public Access - Now showing on YouTube!!!
Ready-Set-Bumbo III