Disposable DVDs Rise From The Dead

It wasn’t a good idea in 1999 when we buried Circuit City-backed Digital Video Express (Divx). It wasn’t a good idea in 2006 when MovieKlub failed to launch. And it’s not a good idea now: DVD-D Germany Ltd’s ‘Einmal’ (German for ‘once’) – discs incorporate a self-destruct chemical coating to render them unreadable after a … Read more

Blockbuster: Yet Another Set-Top Box?

Because we just don’t have enough set-top boxes to choose from, Blockbuster will be tossing their hat into the ring. According to the Hollywood Reporter: The home video giant is developing a set-top device for streaming films directly to TV sets and is expected to announce the offering sometime this month. The device is believed … Read more

Flickr Video Arrives

Flickr‘s long rumored video feature has arrived. I’ve gathered the details that Webware, Techcrunch and Wired have outlined:

  • 90 second clips maximum – nothing longer initially at least.
  • 150MB size maximum
  • Uploads for Pro users only for the time being at least ($25/year for pro membership)
  • Anyone can view the videos although you can still control the privacy of the videos like you do with photos.
  • Videos show up alongside photos
  • Videos can be shared, embedded individually or as part of sets.
  • Video includes tagging, geotagging
  • Search videos by tags, and descriptions
  • Uploads directly from camera phones.
  • Upload from web, uploadr, e-mail or API
  • Option to view videos full screen.
  • API for third party developers – yeah!
  • Licensing options including creative commons.
  • Support for English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Chinese.
  • 700 kbps
  • 12 FPS, keyframe every 12 (fixed)
  • Scaled within a 500×500 box with aspect maintained
  • Audio is 44.1 kHz, steroe, 44kbps
  • 2pass VBR, 700 kbps
  • Photostreams are now coined MediaStreams to better describe the collection of photos and video.

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Question of the Day: How to Swipe Flash Video?

Earlier this week, Simon left a comment wondering how he might archive an Amazon Flash video. Like most problems, there are a variety of solutions. And my preferred method for simply grabbing Flash video (versus a Flash animation) found on an Amazon, YouTube, etc is via the free Real Player. While there’s a Mac OS … Read more

Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news… that Dave hasn’t had time to cover while attending CTIA: XM now available on Blackberry: Orbitcast PlayStation Store 2.0 coming soon: PC World HP introduces 500GB $300 Linux NAS: Gizmodo Is Comcast increasing HD video compression: The Consumerist Roxio Toast update fixes TiVoToGo audio/video sync: Mac Observer Nokia N810 … Read more

Qik Video: Showstoppers @ CTIA

Ed Hardy of Brighthand demos Redfly with AT&T Tilt (4:51) Newer Samsung phones with guest appearances from Laptop Mag and PC Mag (2:32) MagicJack, the $40 VoIP dongle (3:08) Motorola WiMax router and Femtocell (2:22) Motorola’s DVB-H PMP (1:38) Plantronics fashion bluetooth headsets (0:31) Thumbplay allows free video sharing to mobile devices (3:05)

New Scripted Shows for the Xbox

There’s good news out today if you’re an Xbox owner and into the console’s content downloading features. Microsoft has done a deal with producer and agent Peter Safran to create short, scripted shows for the Xbox. Yes scripted, not reality TV. Saffran says he’ll focus first on horror and comedic fare, appealing to the male, … Read more

CTIA: An Open Letter to QIK & Flixwagon

Dear Flixwagon & QIK, I’m flying into Vegas for CTIA with my multimedia powerhouse Nokia N95. Not only will I be attending ShowStoppers as a civilian (blogger) Monday night, I’ll also be stationed within the Symbian booth during the show for my day job. If time and technology permit, it’d be fun to offer some … Read more