Digital Video - August 2008 - (Page 32)

CLICK TO PLAY BY NELS JOHNSON WHY SILVERLIGHT MATTERS MICROSOFT’S DESKTOP VIDEO PLATFORM MAKES INROADS. F rom all the hype surrounding Flash vs. Silverlight, one truth emerges: indie videographers don’t really care anymore (about the contest). Of course, bloggers and convention reporters will keep spinning it like solar versus nuclear (take your pick), and embedded developers will assert that Microsoft “has bet the farm” on Silverlight (funny, I thought they were betting it on Yahoo). But, for now, this boring tempest is over, mostly because the teapot was illdefined. Flash mechanics continue on their AIR-y ways. Rich media programmers discovered that Plays For Sure Figure 1: The home page for NBC’s Olympic coverage. didn’t. While Vista seems more DOA each week, the part of Silverlight that provides handsome (and A NEW TYPE OF PORTABLE TV SET easy to build) real-time gauges and animated controls will likely I believe a low-end Asus EEE (or a soon-to-come similar machine make its bones once the final Version 2 is released. from Dell, HP, etc.) provides an experience as good as or better So why are Silverlight (and Windows media in general) still than traditional portable television because: real contenders in the desktop video arena? It’s all about the 1) You can watch television on it (with broadband Web changes happening in cheap consumer electronics, especially the access). rise of — in effect — a new type of portable television. As cover2) You can get full TiVo-like benefits without a TiVo box or age of the 2008 Olympics approaches, with Silverlight poised to subscription using Windows Media Center, a homegrown digital deliver long-form (TV-like) media streams from the official Web CMS system or (wink, wink) the Internet. site and institutions such as NBC, such changes have significant 3) It runs longer on better, rechargeable batteries when no implications. http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/index.html feaAC outlet is available. tures Silverlight prominently (see Figure 1). The list goes on, but let’s return to Windows and Silverlight. Here’s the proposition: Most laptop owners now take fullRemember, we’re taking about portable TV, not home theater. screen Web video for granted (thank you, Flash and YouTube), Perhaps the only advantage of a traditional portable TV is that often at the expense of network and cable TV. Geeks and nonyou don’t have to install Windows. I understand that some peogeeks load their MacBooks, ToughBooks and Vaios with fullple will consider that a trump card but, if you’re not among them, screen H.264 movies and DivX TV shows for train/plane/automoplease read on. bile viewing. 32-gig thumb drives (capable of holding complete, The first EEE PC (the 701, shown above) came with a CD that respectable iTunes libraries) are reliable, cost $150 and are headinstalled Linux in under five minutes, but also included a disc with ed south pricewise. Windows drivers for all its integrated multimedia and networking And now, with the advent of gear like the sub-$500 Asus EEE hardware in case you wanted to install XP, which I did. I wasted PC 701 (see Figure 2), you can stop worrying about protecting your too much time figuring out how to make XP (and Linux) bootable precious Apple or Sony investment when you leave the house with from separate 8GB and 1GB SD cards but that’s another story. it (assuming you don’t watch long-form video on your Zune or The 701 has one SD card slot and three USB 2.0 ports. iPhone). If you want an easily replaceable portable TV set for your All I wanted was no-frills XP on Drive C (4GB solid-state SSD, car, backpack or cross-country Amtrak trip — with or without Web compressed, no swap file, no MS Office). The 701 was slightly access — the super-saver technology is finally available. OLPC over $399 off the rack; upping the RAM to 2GB at the store still devices were supposed to be like this in terms of cheap usability, but kept it under $500. With that much RAM you don’t need a swap world-wide capitalism once again prevailed (thank you, Taiwan). file for streaming video buffering. Newer versions of the EEE dv august 2008 www.dv.com 32 http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/index.html http://www.dv.com

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Digital Video - August 2008 Contents DV Update My Studio Close-Up Wristshot HV30 Camcorder Tiffen DFX Bench Test PCM-D50 & R-09HR Recorders Camera Cradle Instant Expert My Passport Elite High School Confidential The Ultimate DIY Raid DV101 Click to Play Production Diary

Digital Video - August 2008

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