and a Happy New Year

Mark Thompson gets savaged by a former governor of the BBC (and fittingly it happened on the 'Today' programme).

How long can this go on without the BBC making some radical changes?

Merry Christmas

Nomad rather doubts that things are quite this good, but the nightmares of a dyed in the wool state broadcaster make a nice Christmas present anyway.

Tories will exterminate BBC

Lost in Space

The spaceship BBC is moving away from the earth at a speed that makes communication difficult. This week they are graciously offering to connect your television to the internet.

Hullo! Anyone home! There are already a significant number of ways of connecting your TV to the internet. See the previous post about the Boxee Box; a device which will be on the market a year ahead of the BBCs offering. Not to mention the increasingly numerous DLNA compliant devices that are available today. So the BBC is proposing to spend your licence fee to compete in the download on demand marketplace.

Why would anyone want to buy a box that tied them into a particular content provider? Well from the point of view of the content provider that could only be a good thing. In this respect Apple and the BBC have rather similar business models. The question is how gullible the public are.

The good news here is that the the BBC are so far behind the technology curve. The bad news is that ITV, Channel 4 and Five are supporting the venture. Hopefully Hulu will get up and running in the UK before Canvas becomes operational.

The Boxee Box

Boxee have teamed with D-Link to produce a media player called the "Boxee Box". Never mind the name though, check out the form factor at www.boxee.tv/box

I have tagged this story as "Media Player" which may be misleading. The traditional Media Players let you access content on your PC and rely on the PC to download the content. This class of device interfaces directly to your internet connection. As far as I know the Boxee Box has no storage capability and can only provide a streaming interface.

Unfortunately it is not yet available in the US never mind the UK. It would be worth doing an post on the Boxee software and Nomad means to look into this.

The Legal Position

This quote is from the Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004

Meaning of "television receiver"
9. - (1) In Part 4 of the Act (licensing of TV reception), "television receiver" means any apparatus installed or used for the purpose of receiving (whether by means of wireless telegraphy or otherwise) any television programme service, whether or not it is installed or used for any other purpose.

(2) In this regulation, any reference to receiving a television programme service includes a reference to receiving by any means any programme included in that service, where that programme is received at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is received by members of the public by virtue of its being broadcast or distributed as part of that service.

For our purposes the important point here is that if you are watching something that is not live (ie not currently on television) then you do not need a TV Licence. This applies whether you are watching an internet download, Blueray DVD, Betamax video or even iPlayer. As long as what you are watching is not currently being broadcast then you are in the clear.

You dont need to rely on Nomad getting his facts straight here. No less a person than the Director of Future Media and Technology at the BBC itself admits that this is the case. "At the moment, the legal position is that you don't need a licence to watch TV [over the internet] purely on-demand, but you do if you are watching TV live (through any receiving device in the home)."

It is worth noting that not only is this in the regulations, it is also in the primary legislation which means that the government will not be able to change things on a whim.

See also the Wikipedia entry on this topic.

Digital Revolution?

See Douglas Carswell's blog for some thoughts on why the BBC are an outdated institution.

More on Climategate

Gerald Warners blog has a good post on Climategate and the increasing irrelevance of the mainstream media. The point which really interests Nomad is the statistic that 58% of TV Licence holders would not choose to subscribe to the BBC if they were given a choice (and this the BBCs own figure). It is more or less inconceivable that an organisation so thoroughly disliked by its customers can survive in its present form.

See the quick start guide to see how you can avoid paying for a TV Licence.

Hulu delayed - again

Nomad thinks that the arrival of Hulu on these shores will definately be a factor in the disintegration of the BBC. Unfortunately this says that it is now not likely to happen before mid 2010.

Incidentally there are ways to set up VPN links to get at Hulu content from the US. Unfortunately this is rather involved technically and is also a criminal waste of transatlantic bandwidth; but if you are really keen and like a technical challenge you might give it a try.

Beeb to get smaller

At least that is what Mark Thompson says here and he is, after all, the man who might know. Nomad likes to think this might be due to his blog, but then maybe not.

It is interesting however that one the reasons given for this possible reduction in the number of broadcast channels is that viewers are increasingly going to use the internet for content delivery. There would appear to be some danger here of the BBC finally waking up to its predicament. If the viewers downloading from the internet realise that they no longer need a TV Licence then the game might be up.

Climategate and the BBC

Nomad is a sceptic, but an open minded one, on the subject of global warming. In any case this blog is not about global warming. Nomad does, however, take an interest when the BBC becomes part of the story. Read this link:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1230943/Climate-change-scandal-BBC-expert-sent-cover-emails-month-public.html

So to summarise the Mail's story the BBC were given a potential scoop on Climategate but never followed it up. Why not? Surely the BBC is a news organisation? Try reading this from the excellent 'Burning Our Money' blog:
http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com/2007/06/bbc-bias.html

So the BBC held a seminar with the "best scientific experts"; presumably the same people who were privately writing about finding a "trick" to "hide the decline". The seminar decided the BBC line which is pro global warming. So when a BBC journalist gets held of some embarassing e-mails he is unable to do anything with them because they do not fit the agreed approach.

So far as Nomad is aware, to date no one has been thrown in the Gulag for climate change denial . Nonetheless Stalin would be impressed at this use of 'science'. A position is agreed. The data is made to fit the party line. Any dissenters are just sidelined by the state sponsored media organisation.

Are you still happy to pay for your TV Licence?

Not Listening! La La La La!

So now everybody and his dog is having a go at the BBC, this blog is even starting to look like mainstream opinion. The BBC however still sees no need to change thier ways. The problem with being funded by a tax is that there is not much point in being responsive to your public. Until one day your public disappears, and by then it is too late.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/6606844/BBC-director-general-refuses-to-act-on-scale-of-executive-pay.html

Jeremy Hunt

Some useful clues that suggest we are on the winning side:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/andrewpierce/6587076/Unlike-some-BBC-channels-Jeremy-Hunt-is-worth-watching.html

Where the licence fee goes!

Those of you who have not yet seen the light and actually pay the TV Licence will no doubt be interested to know where your money goes. I mean obviously the BBC has to pay for things like cameras and mixing desks, one hardly grudges the make up girl her salary, but........
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/6551214/Top-100-BBC-bosses-salaries-and-expenses-revealed.html

DVD Player with Blu-Ray and DLNA

The LG BD390 has just gone on Nomads wish list:
http://www.lge.com/uk/tv-audio-video/video/LG-BD390.jsp

Update: yes it plays Audio CDs, DVDs, Blu-Ray discs, and supports audio, video and picture over DLNA. What more do you want?

Editorial

The problem with a blog like this is that the important stuff ends up in the archive for six months back. If you stumble across this blog then an article on the merits of TVersity will be of little interest if you dont know what podcasting is.

In an attempt to solve this, Nomad has put in a Quick Start guide that takes you straight to the basic introductory articles. This then caused Nomad to realise that some of these articles are now out of date and need re-written. Nomad will be focussing on this for the next few days before resuming normal service.

Introduction

If you have decided that you are fed up with paying a licence fee to the BBC then there are three routes open to you. Firstly you can just carry on watching television and hope that you do not get caught. Alternatively you could give up all forms of video entertainment altogether. However there is a third choice open to you and that is what this blog is all about.

For rather abstruse political reasons 'television' is legally defined to mean watching a live broadcast. If you do not have a TV Licence it is therefore possible, for example, to watch DVDs or to watch content downloaded from the internet (but not live streaming). Video Podcasting allows you to subscribe to your favourite programmes (or 'feeds') and new episodes (or 'podcasts') will be automatically downloaded over the internet to your computer. You can then watch them whenever you like. Link your computer to a Media Player device in your lounge and you can now watch your favourite programmes from your favourite armchair.

Video Podcasting is a developing field and currently has limited media content. The central thesis of this blog is that as it becomes more widely used it has the potential to undermine the TV Licence system in the UK.

Basic Technical Guide (updated article)

This post discusses the system setup that Nomad uses. It goes without saying that there are numerous ways this could be done and some of these are discussed in other articles.

Lets start with the obvious: a broadband internet connection is needed and a minimum download speed of around 2Mbs will be required for reasonable performance. This setup uses a Network Router with a PC running Windows XP. Almost any PC that was bought in the last 5 years or so should prove adequate for the job.

A software product called Miro is used to download video from compatible web feeds. The good news is that Miro is available free and is easy to install. Once Miro is installed you can subscribe to compatible web feeds (for example Sky News Headlines). Miro then downloads new items as they appear on the feed and stores them on your hard drive (Sky News Headlines is updated 4 times a day). You can change the settings to control which new items are downloaded and which old items are deleted. Downloaded items are typically in MPEG-4 format. You can also use Miro to watch downloaded items on your PC.

Server software on the PC is TVersity. This provides audio and picture media in addition to video. Tversity can also be used to download data and in theory could replace Miro. However the Miro user interface is much better than TVersity for which reason it is worth keeping. The basic version of TVersity is free.

To view downloaded video items a Linksys Kiss 1600 Media Player is used. The Kiss 1600 also plays DVDs via a front loader tray. The Media Player has a remote control which allows the desired operation while slumped in armchair mode (the technical term is a '10 foot interface'). The Kiss 1600 is now obsolete and as of today the Linksys DMA2200 would be a good buy (if your PC runs Windows 7). The LG BD390 is also worth looking at, as it pays Blueray DVDs. Go for a unit that is DLNA compliant.

The Media Player is currently connected to the PC by an ethernet over mains adapter which provides better than 100Gb data rates.

The display is a 27" monitor connected to the Media Player by HDMI interface. We recommend buying a monitor with native 1920x1080 pixel resolution (16x9 aspect ratio). This will give the best results when viewing Full HD output (Blu-Ray for example).There is a separate output from the Media Player to an audio amplifier and speakers.

Internet: Pipex (download speed runs at 3.2Mbs)
PC: Dell Optiplex GX280 2.8GHz 2Gb RAM 80Gb Hard Drive
Router: Belkin ADSL Modem with Wireless-G Router
Download Software: Miro 2.0.3
Server Software: Tversity 1.7.2.1
Ethernet over mains link: Maxvalue 200Mbps Home Plug
Media Player: Linksys Kiss 1600
Display: Iiyama ProLite B2712HDS-B1

http://www.getmiro.com/
http://tversity.com/
http://news.sky.com/skynews/podcasts
http://www.linksys.eu/

Updated 10 July 2010

Refusenik Heresy?

Nomad has to admit that deprivation of F1 has finally driven him to accept output from the BBC. You will no doubt be relieved to hear that he has not bought a TV Licence and niether has he installed iPlayer. Nomad wishes not to install iPlayer for fear that the BBC will use it against him in some way.

The 'pro' version of TVersity includes the capability to subscribe to RSS video feeds; but it also allows you to subscribe to a number of proprietary feeds which includes the BBC. Presumably TVersity emulates an iPlayer client for this to work. If you live in the US it also allows you to subscribe to Hulu. We are still waiting for Hulu to arrive in the UK obviously.

The media player refused to play some files, but turning on transcoding seems to have made the problem go away. Why that should be is unclear. The media player seems unable to work out how long each file is and will not jump to a given time in the file. Starting and re-starting files in the middle also appears to cause chaos.

Otherwise it is working well. So far I have watched "Have I got news for you", the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and half the Welsh rally. Hopefully "Toy Stories" will appear in the listing tomorrow. I also watched a documentary about aviation in the thirties which reminded me why I dislike the BBC and television in general; the fascination of the material was more than a little obscured by the prejudices of the producers. Nomad has been a kinder, gentler person for the past few months and one factor is an abscence of the apoplexy that would be induced by watching any news or current affairs material from the BBC. Obviously I will add Top Gear to the list of programmes above but the line has to be drawn somewhere and on the whole I just dont miss the BBC very much.

Update: Tversity only allows use of the iPlayer content as a streaming service. This explains the occasionally jerky picture. Mostly however the quality is good. The pause button on my media player does not work and will cause a jump to the next programme item. Niether can you jump to a time in the programme. This means that if you are halfway through the Abu Dhabi GP you really dont want to press pause! The choice of programmes available also appears to be restricted more than on the BBC version.

Try not to gloat!

The BBC is in trouble again. The extent to which the BBC is under the cosh can be seen from the fact that this announcement prompts instant criticism for not going far enough.
Link to story: BBC to axe jobs

Remote Control

Nomad has chosen to go down the media player route instead of putting a PC in his living room. Trying to use a PC from your armchair is not easy. This is mainly down to the lack of a useful remote control device. A while ago we mentioned the Weramouse but this thing looks much better.
http://glidetv.com/

An urgent message (so called)

TV Licensing write to Nomad every month now. The gist of thier letters is that Nomad is a criminal and that the net is slowly being drawn tighter.
Is it worth telephoning them to explain that Nomad now longer watches television? The answer appears to be that this will just prompt a visit. Nomad is inclined to think that there is value in wasting the time of the "enforcement officers" as it means that they will have less time to catch the real offenders. For now the plan is to to carry on ignoring the letters. Obviously this blog will carry the news if Nomad gets a visit for real.

No taxation without representation?

It seems that in Britain today the government can tax you and you don't get to know what they spend the money on. In fact you don't even get to know how much money they spent in court making sure that you don't have that right. Happy now?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/6254890/BBC-wins-right-to-keep-costs-secret.html

Well done Mr Justice Irwin; you have most eloquently made the case for Nomads boycott.

'The Corporation'

Nomads view is that this blogs continued use of 'The Corporation' to refer to the BBC has become a rather tedious affectation. Lets simply call the thing by its name in future. For consistency the old tags (but not post text) will be updated.

Dizzy Thinks

As Dizzy points out most bias on the BBC is unintentional. This does not mean it isn't real. In fact the bias of the BBC is all the more powerful for being subtle.

link to post

"People always want more bandwidth"

Nomad attended an IET Seminar last week which was presented by Giles Heron who is a Network Architect at BT. Interestingly Giles admitted to not owning a television.

The seminar provided an overview of BTs 21st Century Network project which involves switching the core network entirely over to the use of IP. BT will even be using IP for voice channels (hopefully the quality will be better than Skype). For the local loop BT are currently rolling out ADSL2+ which offers up to 20Mbs (if you live next door to the exchange). For the longer term BT are trialling fibre to the cabinet which will offer 40 Mbs and fibre to the home which will offer up to 100 Mbs.

Nomads reason for turning up however was that the seminar also provided a view of where the networks see demand growth coming from. The ISPs and Telco’s are running scared of the bandwidth implications resulting from the use of video on demand (VOD). Interestingly from a Telco point of view Live TV over internet is not very problematic as the network can cope with point to multipoint streaming; the backhaul bandwidth is not that great. His implication was that BT is considering offering live IPTV as a retail product. Conversely however video on demand creates an enormous backhaul requirement.

Some statistics illustrate the issue: BBC iPlayer currently generates 12Gb of data per second into the BT network. BT already sees peaks in overall network usage due to popular iPlayer demands such as Grand Prix. Looking forwards it is estimated that by 2013 90% of global internet traffic will be video

There was a question from the floor about whether the network operators were expecting a financial return from VOD, particularly given that the lack of return on investment in HD TV made by various broadcasters. Giles admitted that there did not appear to be much return available and the network operators saw themselves running ever faster just to stand still. However the ISPs and Telco’s are committed to provide this bandwidth as this is what the customers want.

Possible mitigation strategies for offloading VOD traffic were discussed. These included Peer to Peer sharing, Local Storage, Network Cache and Download at off peak periods (night time). Nomad did not think of this until he was back home, but the “pull” model of video on demand is obviously flawed and needs replaced with a “push” model. If new editions were streamed to subscribers at set times then point to multi-point streaming could be used to dramatically reduce network load. Obviously the stream needs to be repeated regularly in case subscribers did not have their PC turned on.

The big point that Nomad took away is that the networks have already decided that video on demand is going to happen. The Telco’s planning assumptions are based on people switching to video on demand. A major shift in the way that people watch “television” is under way.

Bidding War Continues

As Nomad expected the Tories were not slow to emphasise thier agreement with Mr Bradshaw:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1214317/Well-rein-BBC-say-Tories-radical-plans-prevent-broadcaster-state.html

Hallelujah!

Ben Bradshaw has just changed the world. If the Minister for Culture thinks that the BBC has too much money, well after all, he is the man paid to decide these things. The point is that it is unlikely that the conservatives will disagree. In the run up to an election, there is a not just consensus, there is actually a developing bidding war, where both sides see votes in attacking the licence fee.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/6081719/BBC-expansion-should-stop-says-minister.html

Somewhat less surprising here is some comment from the usual suspects that Nomad rather likes:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/6201579/The-BBC-has-never-hesitated-to-use-its-tax-funded-clout-to-take-on-private-ventures.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/6202967/How-the-BBC-could-switch-off-the-funding-row.html

Drip, drip, drip

The constant criticism continues:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/6170040/X-Factor-v-Strictly-Come-Dancing---proof-that-the-BBC-is-failing-licence-fee-payers.html

38 Degrees?

I have never heard of these people but they are starting a petion to support the 'the corporation'. Someone must be worried!

http://38degrees.org.uk/page/s/BBCpetitionFB2

As you can see, it rather misses the point. The BBC does not have "commercial competitors", it is funded by a tax. If I set out to see whether I could run faster than Formula One car, then you might call that a competion, personally I think it would rather be stretching the use of language.

They also say "Of course, it's no coincidence that the BBC's main critics lie within the very media organisations who stand to gain the most". But actually if you were to run a survey of the blogosphere (ie not main stream media) you would find, on balance, even more hostility to 'the corporation'.

Sky read this blog!

Although it may just be coincidence, the Sky news feeds are back to normal. It seems to have been put right the day after I put it on my blog.

Either way thanks for fixing it guys.

Blinkbox?

Nomad will be looking into this at some point.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/social-media/6057046/BBC-archived-shows-made-available-via-Blinkbox.html

Not giving up

Here is more good stuff from the Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/6106530/BBC-chief-error-to-let-public-have-a-say-on-star-pay.html

and also this

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/6111316/BBC-will-have-to-reveal-pay-for-stars-says-head-of-Ofcom.html

Nomad hesitates to back Murdochs attempt to charge for internet content. In fact Nomad predicts that this will fail in no uncertain fashion. His views on 'the corporation' are quite apt though.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/6111578/BBCs-websites-flooding-the-market-says-News-Corps-James-Murdoch.html

Sky News feeds

The Sky News feeds have been very erratic since the 23rd of August. It confuses the issue that Nomad was on holiday at that point. However all my other feeds are operating normally. It appears that Sky have messed things up somehow.

This is quite a major concern as Sky provide the only national news podcast feed in the UK.

As I was saying

Nomad was wondering whether people have given up on the licence fee issue. It seems not. Here is as cutting and succinct an explanation of what is wrong with the TV licence as you are likely to find.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/janetdaley/100005659/alan-yentob-hits-back-for-the-bbc-and-misses-the-point/

Hyperthreading, what the ..... ?

So back to the high resolution video saga. At this point it is worth asking why Timo (whoever he is) cant provide video in slightly less high resolution. Unless you own an enormous plasma screen, there really is not much benefit.

It seems that Nomad's last post on this topic was a little 'previous'. Installing an ethernet over mains link made a significant improvement. However on some of the high resolution videos, sound continues to drop out. Interestingly, for a particular video, the point at which it drops out is repeatable. This is obviously a hardware performance issue, not a software compatability one.

Surely video format conversion is the sort of processor intensive task where hyperthreading would improve performance? So Nomad thought. He had a suspicion that his PC did not have hyperthreading turned on. So he rooted around in the BIOS, selected hyperthreading on and rebooted the machine 27 times as you do. Did this make any difference? Errrr ... no. But surely it must have made some difference? Ummm....no. No difference whatsoever. Nada. The sound dropped out at exactly the same point as before (to the second).

Possible lines of attack from here:

• Hyperthreading is all a con, just turn it off
• Hyperthreading will work better with Windows 7, give yet more money to Mr Gates
• Processor loading is not really the problem, try a faster disk drive.

At the moment that last option looks like the best one. A fresh round of funding for the project is under review.

More biased than ever

Just to prove that Nomad has not given up on this project, here are a couple of excellent recent postings about 'the corporation'.

Ed West on coverage of the Arab/Israeli conflict:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100005573/how-impartiality-rules-allow-the-bbc-to-sideline-conservative-opinions/

Daniel Hannan on the Norwich North by-election:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100004661/anti-ukip-and-pro-green-the-bbc-at-its-most-blatantly-biased/

and in case you need reminding what this is all about, here is an older article from Dan on Charles Moore's boycott:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/5869815/The_BBC_could_be_brought_down_by_a_popular_boycott/

Summer is here!

Nomad will not be making many posts for the next few weeks, there are a number of trips he is planning and a few other projects that may take up time.

The detailed review of the legal situation has been deliberately delayed, this subject will get revisited in September. Also in the pipeline is the history of my relationship with the BBC. It could be titled "a love gone wrong"; although perhaps I will think of something better.

Under consideration is whether to launch a website using the material from this blog. It was originally planned that this blog would be a first port of call for people thinking about video on demand. Experience now shows that the blog format is not ideal for this as you really need to start with the first post in order to build up the picture.

Obviously the situation is developing and the next few months are crucial. Although takeup of video on demand is increasing, it is not yet widely seen as a way of avoiding the TV Licence. The technology is largely in place and will mature. The issue will be whether the public are resolved to stand up to 'the corporation' or not.

Ethernet over mains

Nomad suspected that the wireless connection between his media player and PC was not always adequate, particularly for very high definition video. In order to fix this an ethernet cable would need to be run somewhere. The route of this cable was the subject of much head scratching. For safety reasons it could not run alongside power cables. For aesthetic reasons it could not trail across the floor. In any case there was always the possibility that a future redesign of the lounge would require the cable to be re-routed. In any case Nomad is extremely lazy and the idea of drilling holes and suchlike caused constant postponement of the project

There is, however, a technology called ethernet over mains which solves these problems by using the power cables in your house to transmit data.

Nomad tried to order Belkin units from DABS but this delivery went from 3-4 days to 2-3 weeks to 6-7 weeks to order cancelled. He then ordered a Maxvalue (never heard of them either) 200Mbps Home Plug double unit pack from Amazon for £56.

The units come with utility sotware that lets you control privacy and also tell how fast your link is running. According to the software the link runs at 168MB. Obviously the Ethernet router only runs at 100MB so 168MB is an entirely theoretical number.

Once the link units were installed, the wireless link on the media player was turned off. Tests using very high definition video (around 50MB/minute) show that these files now play perfectly. I have found a couple of files which still have a problem with sound, however the picture seems to be perfect. I suspect this is a file format issue rather than a network problem.

Expensive BBC

Nomad is delighted to see that The Telegraph has been targeting 'the corporation' over its expense claims. This is entirely appropriate, they are funded by a tax on watching television and the taxpayers are entitled to know how the money is spent.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/5649513/Mark-Thompson-defends-high-BBC-salaries-and-lavish-expense-accounts.html

Thompsons arguments are essentially spurious, 'the corporation' is not competing with anybody. His organisation could make no programmes at all if it wanted and his expenses claims would still be met.

As a line of attack, the confidentiality of the stars packages is an obvious place to start. If these people choose to work for a public organisation funded by the taxpayer why should they be entitled to secrecy. FOI request anybody?

Given that the salaries of the talent are supposed to be confidential, you may well be wondering how it is that we know all the details of what our Johnathan gets paid. I think the answer is that the vile Ross rather likes boasting about his "big package".

Digital Britain? Quango Britain!

Nomad has been somewhat behind the plot recently. Astute readers will no doubt already be aware of the Digital Britain white paper. In the latest developments certain parties are outraged that the licence fee could be "top sliced".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/5624879/Mark-Thompson-accuses-clique-of-undermining-BBC-by-top-slicing--licence-fee.html

So given that 'the corporation' is upset; it is worth asking whether the white paper is good news. In Nomad's opinion it is not. This is a petty bureaucratic struggle. Why take money from one quaisi goverment body and hand it over to another? For make no mistake that there will be a quango in charge of administering ITV's handout.

Surely what the taxpayer wants is freedom to decide where to spend thier money. Surely what the viewer wants is freedom to decide what to watch. Ultimately of course these are the same thing.

TVersity

In short TVersity has been a success. Nomad gives it a 4 out of 5 recommendation. There are some niggling issues but hopefully future software updates will cure these.

TVersity has a different processor load profile from the other media servers I have tried. It runs at 100% for a period and then drops right off. However the good news is that the videos play without stop/starting and without loss of sound. It looks like TVersity works by building up a buffer and then stopping for a while until the buffer needs to be refilled. Obviously someone has optimised the performance such that keeping the media player supplied with data has priority. I am still having some problems with very high definition files (say 50MB per minute) which sometimes lose audio. I think this is very likely due to the limitations of the wireless system and may well be cured by going to a hardwired connection.

TVersity does transcoding well. It has solved the problem of the M4V suffixed files that would not play. I have been able to turn off the batch file I created to rename these files. I am also using TVersity regularily to replay MOV files. TVersity does not handle FLV format files, but then none of the other servers I tried managed to cope with them either.

TVersity provides a 'date added' folder and by selecting todays date you can find all the current videos. This saves hunting round all the feeds to find whether there are any new videos. Using the 'date added' folder in TVersity is now the standard way that I watch video.

Tversity seems to work fine with my photos. However, for some reason Tversity seems to be having trouble finding the audio files on my PC (in aac format). Possibly it does not support aac. It will play mp3 audio files without a problem. To find the albums I have ripped I still need to keep Kiss PC-Link running.

So far I am only using the free version of TVersity. The Pro version (29.95 dollars) of TVersity also provides capability to download content, including that from BBC iPlayer and Hulu (US only at present). I have not yet tried this side of things out. In fact TVersity can handle RSS video feeds as well which means that Miro could be redundant. I am not ready for anything that radical yet, but it is a possibility.

http://tversity.com/

Sorry Jezza

It seems that Nomad's one man boycott of 'the corporation' is already having an effect. Jeremy Clarkson is among the stars said to be facing a pay cut.

Obviously there is an element of media management here. Still if 'the corporation' thinks that it needs to be seen economising then it must be trying to head off more pressure on the licence fee.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/5508356/A-horror-show-for-BBC-stars.html

Transparency?

Want to know where your licence fee money goes. Some people would rather you did not.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rod_liddle/article6445961.ece

Election Blues

Nomad writes this as he waits for more results from the Euro Elections. Nomad has to admit that recent events have strained his abstention from live television to the limit.. Having waited for 12 years for the Labour party's reign of incompetence to end it is rather frustrating not to see it happening live on TV. This is particularily true for an election night. It has to be said that if there is one thing TV does well then it is election night. At the moment I am following a number of live blogs (Con Home, UKIP, Telegraph). For a soundtrack I am reduced to listening to Radio Four.

Still this is not a moment for ones resolve to waver. Difficult cases make bad law and one evening should not determine what I watch all year round. Courage!

Canvas blanked - for now

Nomad had planned a big post on Project Canvas which supposedly was due to enter another public consultation phase staring next week. It looks like that has been postponed. On the whole this is good news as the more delays there are, the more irrelevant the project will become.

In simple terms Canvas is a plan to provide a set top box which combines video download on demand with reception of Freeview. Why not just use seperate boxes? Well, then people might decide to unplug one of the boxes and supposing they unplugged the Freeview box they might then decide not to buy a licence. Project Canvas will lock people in to the licence. A cunning plan - no?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/5446288/BBCs-Project-Canvas-internet-on-TV-plans-attacked.html

and there is more here

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/5445295/Channel-4-and-Five-look-to-join-Project-Canvas.html

Incidentally Nomad had planned to make a submission himself along the lines of: Why is 'the corporation' defining a new technical standard when there are suitable existing technical standards. This will have to wait till the subject is open for public comment.

A public service?

See this link to a post by Guido. The actual subject matter may already be overtaken by events; but it exactly captures the disdain of the BBC for the plebs who pay the licence fee.

http://order-order.com/2009/06/04/public-service-broadcasting/

Nero fiddles while Twonky burns?

When Nomad bought the Linksys Kiss 1600 it came with a disc containing Nero MediaHome CE. Evidently MediaHome CE is a cut down version of MediaHome. For some reason Nomad had never got round to finding out what this did.

In terms of performance MediaHome CE proved to be an improvement over Twonky. Typical performance with a high definition file started with approximately 65% processor loading but then dropped to approximately 25%, presumably after the buffer had filled.

MediaHome CE successfully played MOV files as well as the standard MP4 files. It did not like FLV or M4V files.

The problem with MediaHome CE was that the names displayed on the Media Player appear to come from tag information. Most of the files seem to lack this data and therefore the user is presented with a long list of files which are all described as “video” or something similar. This made it impossible to select the desired file. Not good.

Clearly MediaHome CE was not working out and it was time to see what MediaHome 4 (the full version) would do. The trial version of MediaHome 4 can be downloaded from the web for free. MediaHome 4 worked fine displaying the filenames where the tag information was missing. Unfortunately it also ran at close to 100% processor load with all the files Nomad tried and the display was the same old stop/start with no sound, as seen with Twonky.

Clearly neither of the versions of MediaHome fit the bill but the search for suitable media server software will continue in a future edition of this exciting saga.

Its like this .............

So how did the Twonky trial installation go; well there is good news and there is bad news.

Twonky installed and ran without problem. There were no compatability issues with the Kiss 1600. It is worth mentioning that the Kiss 1600 is not DLNA compliant but Twonky obviously recognises the device and makes the neccessary changes. The Twonky user interface was intuitive and some of the features are good. The "play to" function works without any problem. Nomad thinks that "play to" is a great technological solution to a problem he does not have. Somewhere in the world there is an application just crying out for "play to"; answers on a postcard please. The ability to create playlists and the "recently downloaded" list are very useful. However the real 'must have' function is transcoding. Transcoding is the process where the server (Twonky in this case) recodes the file into a format which the media player can understand. Twonky was thus able to play MOV files to the Kiss 1600. The FLV format did play but only provided sound.

Now we come to the bad news. While serving a file Twonky Media Server typically resulted in a processor loading of 70%. Serving the same file using Kiss PC link resulted in a processor loading of about 2%. Twonky might be forgiven for a high processor load on files that required transcoding but the results were just as bad for files that the Kiss 1600 could already play. Turning on Twonky Media Manager at the same time produced even worse results and with one high definition video the load went to 100% with a resulting stop start video display and loss of sound. Nomad emailed Twonky support about this problem but has yet to get an answer. This problem alone would be bad enough but Twonky also had problems with the file structure used for the videos. The final straw is that Twonky Media Manager decides to put itself in the startup box every time that it runs. It would be acceptable for an application to put itself in the startup box during initial installation but the repeated failure to accept Captain Nomads authority means that this application will shortly be walking the plank.

Some other problems arose during the trial that may not be down to Twonky. Firstly there appeared to be some interaction between iTunes and Twonky that resulted in even greater processor load numbers. Nomad solved this by uninstalling iTunes which will not be greatly missed. Also using Twonky the wifi network acted as a constraint that caused stop, start video output. This was despite the same files playing well using Kiss PC Link over WiFi. A possible theory is that Twonky produces more "bursty" data which exceeds the buffer size in the Media Player. In order to workaround the problem for the trial Nomad linked up the boxes with a piece of ethernet cable.

So Twonky is not the answer but Nomad does want Media Server Software. Given that DLNA supports a very small set of file formats; it is clear that transcoding is a vital function. Playlists and a recently uploaded lists are also very useful and will save Nomad searching through all his feeds for new files.

Media Server Comparison

Nomad is still working on Twonky and might get to writing a report by tomorrow.

In the meantime see the link below for a useful comparison of media server software.

http://www.rbgrn.net/content/21-how-to-choose-dlna-media-server-windows-mac-os-x-or-linux

iPlayer goes global

It is sometimes difficult to work out whether 'the corporation' has a master plan or not. Is this announcement good news or not, it is hard to tell.

What interests Nomad is whether it will be possible to access the service from inside the UK or will we be forced to use iPlayer.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/5406851/BBC-and-Google-in-talks-to-launch-international-iPlayer-site.html

Adverts

I have turned on adverts in the hope that links to sites selling media players and other cool stuff will appear. So far it doesnt look like that but lets give it time.

Update: Loads of media center stuff now, looks good to me.

Comments, errr umm

Nomad had been wondering why it was that only other Bloggers had been leaving comments. After some study of the various screens, it turns out that comments were only enabled if you had a Google account.

If you had wanted to leave a coment, sorry about that. Comments are now open to world at large. So feel free.........

Twonky

Twonky make 2 products, these being: Twonky Media Manager and Twonky Media Server. Twonky Media Manager costs $39.95 (£25) and includes Twonky Media Server (which costs $29.95 or £19 on its own).

Obviously the Server product makes available media files on your PC to client devices elsewhere on your network. The Manager product also allows control of what is being played from the PC. Nomad is not sure how useful this "play to" functionality would be. On the other hand given the small price differential it may be just as well to invest in the full product.

The Twonky media products provide a DLNA certified interface. If you are running Windows XP then installing Twonky will provide the same functionality as Windows Media Center without you having to upgrade to Vista or wait for Windows 7 to be released.

You can download Twonky Media Manager for a 30 day free trial. This seems such a good offer that Nomad has decided to make it this weekends project. Expect a report shortly.

http://www.twonkyvision.de/

Windows 7

By now even the residents of Pyongyang are aware that Windows Vista has had a mixed reception. Nomad is of course employing a euphemism in using the term "mixed reception". Indeed many people hate Vista with an irrational venom that Nomad chooses to reserve for 'the corporation'. The major complaint levelled at Vista is that it is too slow. Microsoft has had a long history of producing new releases that required increased processing power to run acceptably. Fortunately for Microsoft the capability of a new off the shelf PC kept on increasing faster than the demands of its latest product. The problem with Vista has been that while PC capability is still improving it is now doing so only at a crawl. Microsoft has consequently been forced into re-engineering Vista and releasing it as Windows 7. The beta versions of Windows 7 are said to show much improved performance.

This is all very interesting you are probably saying (or not as the case may be), but what does it have to do with Video Podcasting?

Windows Media Center originally appeared in a version of XP. Unfortunately this version of XP was never made generally available. As things stand to get hold of Windows Media Center you need to install Vista. Windows Media Centre lets you replay media on your PC. More interestingly it also lets your PC act as a server for Media Centre Extender clients. The Linksys DMA2200, which was covered in a previous post, is one example of an extender client. The clients are designed to provide a "10 foot interface" meaning that you can drive it from your armchair using a remote control. Windows Media Center can also be used to sync files on portable devices.

Windows Media Center will be part of Windows 7 which will also be DLNA certified. So it looks like Windows 7 will become a desirable item for digital media users. Microsoft have not yet announced a release date for Windows 7 but October is the hot rumour.

DLNA: The best thing since sliced bread?

DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance. This is a consortium of big names including Microsoft, Cisco, Nokia, Sony, Phillips and HP. The aim of the organisation is to define standards so that the devices in your home can exchange digital media.

Lets have a brief tutorial in device classes. A Digital Media Server stores content and makes it available to other devices on a network. A Digital Media Renderer plays the content that is sent to it. A Digital Media Controller finds content on a server and controls it being sent to a Digital Media Renderer. A Digital Media Player can both find content on a server and play the content. Obviously a particular product may provide the functions of more than one device class. For instance a PC could be both a Digital Media Server and a Digital Media Controller.

Certified DLNA devices are already on the market. To mention one, the elusive HP MediaSmart Connect which Nomad alluded to in a recent post is certified as a Digital Media Player.

Sounds great doesnt it. Will it really work in practice though? Everything can be compatible but some things are more compatible than others. Your media player might be compatible with my file server; does that mean it will play a particular file format though? Who can tell.

However Nomad is going to stick his neck out here. DLNA looks like it is here to stay. Maybe DLNA will not solve every problem overnight; but any standard is better than no standard. DLNA certification is going to be something this blog looks at with increasing importance.

http://www.dlna.org/home


Update 27 May 2009:

Nomad has diligently searched the DLNA web site to uncover some vital gen. DLNA has tandardised on MPEG2 as the media format for video on home devices. MPEG1, MPEG4 and WMV9 are optional formats. MPEG4 is the standard for mobile devices. So just because your device is DNLA certified dont expect it to play an AVI format file. However DNLA are clearly doing the right thing here; standardising on a single format means that the content providers will eventually have to fall in line and provide that format. Until that message gets through expect more grief.

On a seperate topic it is worth mentioning the uPnP (universal Plug and Play) standard. UPnP is a component of DLNA. In other words if you buy a DLNA certified device it will, by definition, be compatible with uPnP. The DLNA logo is the one to look for.

New Speakers

Nomad has now got new speakers installed which makes it a good moment to show what the system setup looks like.

Mediaplayer: Linksys Kiss1600
Monitor: Viewsonic 22" HD LCD VX2260wm
Amplifier: NAD C326BEE
Speakers: PSB Alpha B1

We Got Served

See the link below for very useful reviews of the Linksys DMA-2200 and the HP MediaSmart Connect. My question about the MediaSmart Connect is this: Where can you buy it? Not the US 115 volts version but a european spec unit. Can you actually purchase one in the real world?

http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/hardware-reviews/

SlingCatcher - An Apology

In a post titled Media Player Hardware Review, Nomad stated his opinion that the SlingMedia SlingCatcher would require a TV Licence. After some further research Nomad now thinks he understands what the SlingCatcher does and it will not require a TV Licence. Nomad humbly apologises to the great British public and promises to return any expenses he may have incorrectly claimed or capital gains tax he omitted to pay.

SlingMedia make 2 boxes (actually there are more but lets keep it simple). The Slingbox takes a TV signal and turns it into streaming video. The SlingCatcher takes a streaming video input and turns it into a video signal (typically HDMI). Therefore it seems that a Slingbox would require a licence but the SlingCatcher would not. It is possible to use a SlingCatcher without a Slingbox. If you have SlingProjector software on your PC then any video playing on your PC can be sent to the Slingcatcher.

Nomad still does not recommend the SlingCatcher. The problem is that there is no interface to control what is being played on your PC from the SlingCatcher remote control. This will be great if you need to keep fit and like running back and forward to your PC every time you change the file being replayed. Couch potatoes will be dissapointed though. The SlingCatcher will also replay files from a USB stick and does support an impressive range of file formats. The SlingCatcher could be a useful component in a system and it may be that some development of the SlingProjector software could produce a desirable solution.

Hulu is coming!

Check this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/5356527/Hulu-set-for-September-UK-launch.html

It takes a lot to get Nomad excited but this news fits the bill. Although he had not got round to sharing this with you, Nomad was concerned that lack of content was emerging as the major issue. In particular the lack of UK content found in the Miro guide is quite noticeable. Clearly there is little point in solving all the technical issues if there is nothing to watch.

What is so good about Hulu? It works with Miro! Things are starting to fall into place.

System Architecture Revisited

For some time Nomad has been wondering whether his system architecture is the correct one.
Why use a media player? Why not just play everything on a PC? This would be much more flexible as it would solve the problems of file compatability which have plagued the project. It would also be possible to dial up Youtube and other sites which do not use the RSS podcast interface.

There is one good reason for not using a PC however, which is the difficulty of operating a mouse while slumped in your armchair. What is needed is a remote control device that can drive a Windows GUI type interface. Step forward the Weramouse (strange name!). This is a handheld bluetooth device with a trackball that emulates a mouse. Could this be the answer?

http://www.weramouse.com/

Now the reason I started this blog was in the hope that other people would write in with the answers. So if you can help with any of the following do get in touch.

- Have you tried using a PC as a media server? If so was the audio and video quality any good?

- Have you tried driving a PC without a desktop interface (ie keyboard/mouse) and was it workable?

- Have you got a Weramouse and if so is it any good?

- Are there any other remote control devices that will work (for example the programmable types)?

The comment thread is open...........

System Architecture

Nomad has been industriously creating verbiage since he began this blog. Sometimes a picture works better though. If you do need some words to go with the diagram then try "basic techy stuff" which was posted back in March.

The Royal Prerogative ?

Yesterdays FT carries an article in which an all out fight is promised in response to David Camerons attempt to cap the licence fee.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f66227ac-4300-11de-b793-00144feabdc0.html

Nomad had imagined that 'the trust' was originally set up to represent the interests of the average viewer and ensure that 'the corporation' provided value for money. Clearly this is not the case and instead the trust sees itself as the guardian of 'the corporation' against outside attack. It must therefore extract the maximum possible funding from the taxpayer. Is 'the trust' also funded from the licence fee one wonders?

Sir Michael Lyons appears to share a delusion, common to other employees of 'the corporation', that they are part of a great and noble calling which is beholden to no man. Perhaps he should try reading Bagehot to understand how the constitution works (I include a link below). The Privy Council exists to advise the Queen and comprises for the most part government ministers. I dont know when a monarch last ignored the advice of the Privy Council but it seems fairly certain that the present monarch has never done so. Therefore if a future goverment decides to replace Sir Michael, make no mistake that he will be replaced.

Obviously this is shaping up as a rather interesting knivefight. Camerons move may is unlikely to get anywhere in the short term; but Nomad thinks it should be read as a statement of intent that a future Conservative goverment will be less sympathetic to 'the corporation'. Bear in mind that the present goverment could remain in power for up to a year and could impose some real damage in the meantime. The White Paper will be an interesting read. Hopefully the significance of Camerons proposal is that he will not consider himself bound by what the White Paper says.

Interesting times lie ahead for licence fee rufuseniks.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/English-Constitution-Walter-Bagehot/dp/1602062552

Here in South Bend ......

If you wander round the forums discussing the TV Licence fee it wont be very long before you find an exchange that goes like this.

Lisa, Basingstoke: The BBC is a disgrace and the licence fee is a complete waste of money. Why should I be made to pay when I only ever watch Sky?

Jack, Indiana: Here in South Bend, Channel 83 shows repeats of Monty Python every Friday evening. The BBC is a marvelous organisation and I would be more than happy to pay a licence fee if we could get more shows from the “beeb”.

There are two points to make about Jacks position. Firstly he claims to be happy to pay for the service but clearly is not actually putting his hand in his pocket. Secondly his admiration of 'the corporation' is based on a programme that was made over 30 years ago.

In the past 'the corporation' was run by gentlemen intent on public service; Alistair Cooke narrated Letter from America and Kenneth Clarke produced Civilisation. Nowadays its greatest achievement, in a mindset which is fixated on ratings, is Jonathon Ross. Need I say more.

The reason I mention all this though, is that I am not sure how a group of american open media enthusiasts would react to learning that their software (see previous post about Miro) is part of a plan to undermine ‘the corporation’. These guys are probably intellectual democrat types who think that Fox News is a spawn of the devil and the “beeb” is just marvelous. I had best just keep quiet about what I am up to.

Miro

If there is one media product that Nomad has found that he likes then it is Miro.

Miro is developed by a non profit organisation based in Massachusetts called the Participatory Culture Forum. In thier own words the mission is "to create a more open and democratic video space." In other words they dont want Apple taking over the world and look to provide an alternative to iTunes.

For my money Miro is far more intuitive and easy to use than iTunes. It takes about 10 seconds to work out how to drive Miro whereas I am still struggling with iTunes. The best thing about Miro is that it is free to download. However those nice people at PCF deserve your support so consider adopting a line of code at $4 US a month. It is a whole lot cheaper than subsidising 'the corporation'.

Miro does have some bugs but you can download updates for free and the current version (2.0.4) seems pretty stable. I leave it running continuously on my machine and have not had to restart it for 3 weeks or so now. The last time I had problems, it appears to have been due to my inadvertently running 2 instances of Miro.

Miro comes complete with "The Miro Guide". This is actually a web page which is constantly updated with the latest feeds to become available. They seem to be fairly strict in deleting anything which might be construed as pornography. This will obviously disappoint some people; however I think it makes sense to deny critics easy ammunition. Bypassing the mainstream media obviously encourages freedom of expression but failing to have any values will not make the world a better place.

The major gripe I have with Miro is that some of the feeds fill up rapidly. The Sky news headlines for example are updated 4 times a day. After a month this results in a lot of files. Since I have little interest in looking at last weeks news I would just like them cleaned out. Unfortunately this needs to be done manually. A feature to delete everything over a week old would be very useful. Obviously this needs to be selectable for each feed as some feeds only provide new items once a week and I may want to watch the edition that came out while I was on holiday. If you agree with me then please log in to the bugzilla system at Miro and vote for bug 9784.

The major factor behind the creation of Miro is that broadcast television in the US is very low quality. The NTSC standard (derided as Never The Same Colour) has only 525 lines. Unlike the UK where you get all the channels from a single mast; every station runs its own transmitter. Adjusting your antenna for an optimum picture is not easy if it has to be done for 20 stations. Of course Obama has promised to fix this and will provide digital TV once he has finished closing Guantanamo and curing cancer, etc. In the meantime the internet is being seen as a way of providing HDTV in the US. However Miro say that they now have more users in Europe than in North America.

The question worth asking then is this: if there is an open source application like Miro available, why has every broadcaster in the UK decided to launch its own platform?. Why do we have iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD and Sky Player? It seems to me that download on demand will eventually move to a common platform (or platforms) with an open source interface. The RSS podcast interface is likely to be that standard. Surely 'the corporation' as a publicly funded body should be supporting an open standard and not trying to carve up the market with its own proprietary version? A couple of years ago 'the corporation' ran a trial of video podcasting. Why did they give up? My suspicion is that iPlayer is designed not to support open standards so that licence restrictions can be imposed on it at some point.

http://www.getmiro.com/

Internet Tax?

The corporation (as we call them here) seems to be slowly waking up to the threat. See this story.

Notice the mention of "something we currently call TV Licensing". In others words he wants to expand what you need a license for. Internet tax anybody?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/14/hugger_licence/

File Format Problems

As you may recall from the Media Player hardware review, the Linksys 1600 does not recognise the .M4V file suffix. This suffix is used by CNN amongst others. In order to make these files play the suffix needs to be changed to .MP4. The files then play without any further problem so the underlying file format is obviously the same.

As Nomad suffers from terminal laziness the task of doing this manually did not appeal. Clearly a batch file was needed for the job. In fact a batch file has been running for some weeks which copies files for the 3 CNN feeds. Could this be modified to scan through all the Miro feeds and copy any files as neccessary? The problem occupied much of Nomads Sunday. DOS Batch files are a highly frustrating medium; you think you are about to solve the problem and then you discover you are back at the start. Bearing in mind that Sunday was a particularily pleasant and sunny day, it is clear that Nomad needs to develop other interests and generally get a life.

Anyway, lets get on with it. There are 2 batch files needed. The first file, named "xSuffix.bat", scans through the sub-directories in the Miro folder. Each sub-directory corresponds to a Miro feed. The first file then calls the second file named "ySuffix.bat" and supplies the sub-directory name. The second file moves to the sub-directory and copies any .M4V files to a .MP4 file. Obviously it would be faster to rename the existing file instead of creating a copy; however Miro would then lose track of what it had.

To fully automate the task you need to go to the Control Panel in Windows and create a Scheduled Task that runs every 15 minutes lets say. This works fine but has the disconcerting effect that a new window pops up in the middle of what you are doing every time the task runs. To get rid of this create a shortcut to the "xSuffix.bat" file and in the shortcut properties select "minimized" (sic). Now change the scheduled task to call the shortcut instead of the batch file. Windows will 'helpfully' replace the shortcut with the referenced batch file if you try selection by "browse". You need to manually enter the full path and filename (including the .LNK suffix) for the shortcut. Now the process will run automatically and can be seen to momentarily appear in the task bar.

There are other things that could be automated. Deletion of out of date files would be very useful. For now I seem to have run out of enthusiasm, perhaps it could be a job for a rainy day.

xSuffix.bat:
@echo off
rem change suffix on mpeg-4 files for media player compatability
D:
cd "D:\My Videos\Miro\"
for /f "delims=" %%a IN ('dir /b /s /a:d') do call ySuffix.bat "%%a"

ySuffix.bat:
@echo off
cd "%1"
xcopy *.m4v *.mp4 /D /Y
cd..

Anachronistic?

Nomad had intended that his next post would be a detailed examination of the letter of the law. For reasons he does not wish to allude to, this project will now be postponed until later in the year. Instead he is going to review various technical issues for the next few weeks.

Before moving on though, Nomad cant help poking fun at the law. It is such an easy target. What do you make of this:

In Part 4 of the Act (licensing of TV reception), "television receiver" means any apparatus installed or used for the purpose of receiving (whether by means of wireless telegraphy or otherwise) any television programme service, whether or not it is installed or used for any other purpose.

The law thinks you can send television signals by "Wireless Telegraphy" does it? Imagine a poor radio operator furiously operating his morse key while manually running a ruler down each frame of the picture. With a really good operator you might possibly get a rate of one frame an hour.

During the 1940s Wireless Telegraphy (W/T) meant using morse code to send signals by radio. This was in distinction to the other system in use at the time, which was Radio Telephony (R/T) meaning the use of voice to send signals by radio. Which information is unlikely to be of any use to you unless you are watching a film dating from the period. Astonishingly the law is making definitions using langauge which nobody has used for about 50 years and which even then meant something different.. Not surprisingly then that it is struggling to cope with current developments in technology.

Incidentally, if you should get dragged into court do not mention this point. To the English legal mind "Wireless Telegraphy" refers to any use of a radio signal. The judge may not take kindly to the idea that the legal system has not moved on since the 1930s. How do you think the law might describe other technologies though? What about "gramophone transmission" (audio podcasting), or possibly "Telegraphised Movie Picture" (video podcasting).

Oops....Actually

For those who read my last post, it seems I may have spoken too soon. I should probably read the full report from the BBC Trust. It seems that the BBC Trust is somewhat less complacent than 'the corporation' itself and has spotted the potential that download on demand offers.

Hang on a minute, surely the Trust was set up to keep an eye on 'the corporation' and stop its worst excesses. Now it turns out that the Trust is really watching out for their best mates and the index linked pensions that the Licence Fee funds. Surprised?

See this link:

http://www.paidcontent.co.uk/entry/419-bbc-trust-says-license-fee-for-online-tv-is-unclear/

The Law is an Ass….Excellent!

When Microsoft decided to bundle Windows Media Player as part of Windows 98 it is unlikely that they considered what the effect on UK Licensing policy might be. In fact it appears to have taken several years for the government to latch on to the possibilities.

Windows Media Player includes support for streaming video. Eh? In English this means you can watch television over the internet. All that is needed is a co-operative TV station that feeds its output onto the internet and you can log on from anywhere in the world. To be honest the picture quality is not usually very good and things may freeze or drop out entirely. Ten years ago most people were still using dial up modems to connect to the internet, so the threat posed by Internet TV would not have seemed very credible. By the time the powers that be woke up to what was going on, it turned out that most of the country already had a PC with bundled software installed that could be used to watch internet TV.

In 2003 the government reformed the law to keep up to date with the latest developments in technology. You might expect that this would have resolved the situation. This blog thinks that they have made a complete horlicks of things. That is no bad thing for us though; the situation is wide open to exploit.

If you have installed a television set that can pick up signals from the nearest transmitter mast then you need a licence. If you have installed a PC that can receive streaming video from an internet TV feed then a licence is not needed. You might think that all technologies would be equal in the eyes of the law but clearly this is not the case. Obviously you need a licence to actually watch live TV over the internet, but how is this policed? Do TV Licensing have a database of which IP address belongs to which licence? It seems unlikely.

In an even more abstruse and difficult to enforce distinction, the law distinguishes between a live streaming feed and download of a pre-recorded file. Internet TV without a licence may not be legal but YouTube, BBC iPlayer and video podcasting can all be accessed as much as you like without a licence in sight.

How did we get here? The point is worth examining. Obviously the government could simply require that a TV Licence is purchased by anyone that connects to the internet. This would not be popular. In particular "Internet tax" (as we shall call this idea) would offend small businesses and students. Fortunately these two groups are fairly vocal and have, for the most part, sympathetic support from the wider community. The government simply will not risk upsetting two groups of people that might influence wider public opinion.

Some will say that the legality of using video podcasting without a TV Licence is a technical loophole that could be closed at any time in a review of the regulations. My argument is that the loophole is the result of a deliberate choice by the government. The existing legislation is a compromise and the circumstances that led to the compromise have not changed. In fact the policy of 'the corporation' appears to be not to draw attention to the problem in the hope that people will not notice.

Unfortunately for them, some of us have noticed.

Lets stop the state controlling our media

The current unease with 'the corporation' (as the BBC is known on this blog) can be divided into four areas. Obviously you may slice the cake differently but here is my take.

The first topic is standards. Since the dawn of time 'the corporation' has been telling us that the existence of a "non commercial" broadcaster raises standards across the board. In order to prove themselves wrong they then spent a great deal of money employing Jonathan Ross. Obviously Jonathan's lack of moral judgement causes him to stand out but in the general trend to chase ratings his is not an isolated case.

Secondly there is trust. We grew up naively placing our trust in Blue Peter. "Let nation speak truth unto nation" was Reith's motto. We believed it all. But now we know that Blue Peter was playing fast and loose with the truth, so how can we really trust the current affairs programming any more.

Which leads neatly to the topic of bias. Perhaps this a minority view but it is a significant one. Personally I think that the BBC is overly trusted by many people and that therefore its bias is often not percieved. In general its bias is fairly subtle and will not be picked up by those who do not watch other news providers.

Finally there is cost. Like most government organisations 'the corporation' is not very efficient in managing its budget. In order to get the money it sometimes employs rather unethical tactics to collect from the vulnerable.

What can be done about any of this? Unfortunately there is no easy answer. 45000 people complained about Ross and Brand's Sachsgate abuse. Has Ross been fired? In less than a year 32000 people have complained about the tactics of TV Licensing. Has anything changed? How can an organisation be so unresponsive to its customers? Only because it has no financial accountability. The Licence Fee (or Tax as it should be called) is collected from anyone watching any channel. Clearly if a commercial broadcaster had employed Ross then they would have ditched him when he became a liability. Only a state sponsored organisation has the backing to tough out that sort of storm.

The state has no place running broadcasting media. Perhaps during the war the government could argue that in order to combat the Nazi menace it needed control of the airwaves, there is no such credible argument these days.

The idea of nationalised industries is deeply discredited these days. Indeed Britain has led the world in showing that toxic government owned industries can be turned round in the private sector. The British government has given up running railways, airlines, telephones, coal mines, electricity generation, gas distribution, steel manufacture and various other enterprises. In most cases the outcome has been a newly profitable industry and vastly improved consumer choice. The question is why the British government feels that it needs to run a television station and numerous radio stations.

Some will say that the BBC provides for public service and minority interests that commercial channels based on advertising or subscription would ignore. Fair enough, the government should provide public service obligation contracts which any organisation can bid for. A similar system already exists for allocating railway franchises. If there is a need to fund a Gaelic language broadcasting service in the Scottish Highlands; then bids should be requested for this job. Similarly, operation of Radio 4's Droitwich transmitter has a role in the governments emergency planning which may justify direct support. As incumbent the BBC might well win these contracts but only if it was able to demonstrate that it was providing a quality product and value for money. Clearly there is no need for the government to fund entertainment channels in England as this is a commercially viable operation.

The BBC claims that it provides value for money. Indeed there are people who state that they are happy to pay the licence fee. I have no quarrel with these arguments, I simply ask that they accept the logic of their own argument and put their claims to the test. The technology exists to encode transmissions and ensure that only subscribers can view transmissions. If people are happy to pay for the BBC then that is thier choice and I will respect it. As of today my choice is not to watch the BBC and I would ask that my choices are respected and my rights not infringed.

Allowing consumers choice is the best guarantee of quality output. Simply throwing government money (the licence fee) at a single organisation will inevitably produce a complacent and slack system which can ignore what the consumers want.

Media Player Hardware Review

I currently use the Linksys Kiss 1600 and this is the only unit I have hands on experience off. All the other reviews are based on looking at the literature. As far as I can tell it would be legal to use most of the units discussed without a TV Licence; the exceptions are the Netgear ITV 2000 and the Sling Catcher.

Linksys Kiss 1600 (£80 at Dabs.com)

For the price this is hard to beat. The unit is compatable with a PC running Windows XP and there is a small software app that must be set up on the PC so that the Media Player can find your video, audio and picture files. It also plays DVDs from a front loading tray and any files on a USB stick inserted in the back.It has an HDMI video output and separate audio outputs.

One problem I have found is that the unit does not recognise the .M4V file suffix (which for instance CNN use). This can be bodged by changing the suffix to .MP4 and the files play without problem. Another issue which may annoy some people is that support for internet radio is through a website setup by Linksys which is very badly organised.

Unfortunately this unit no longer appears on the Linksys website which probably means they have stopped production. There is still stock at Dabs.Com.

Linksys DMA 2200 (£127 at Dabs.com)

This unit is similar to the Kiss 1600 but requires a PC running Vista to interface with. This blog is no fan of Vista but if you are already running Vista on your PC then this would be a good choice. Hopefully Linksys will think about releasing some software that also lets you interface to an XP machine.

Apple TV - 40GB (£189 at Dabs.com)

If you have a Mac, an iPod, an iPhone, and other iGizmos then you really need one of these as well. I suspect this will work with files that you did not download from the iTunes store but why take the chance.

Netgear Entertainer EVA 8000 (£284 at Dabs.com)

This Netgear unit will work with Windows XP. A more upmarket version works with XP or Vista which saves you buying a new media player when you upgrade your PC. A major drawback compared with the Linksys boxes is that there is no DVD drive. However it does support a wider range of file formats than the Linksys box.

This unit is worth considering if your budget allows and you dont mind having a seperate DVD player.

Netgear ITV 2000 (Not yet on sale)

This unit is designed to interface direct to the internet and does not need a PC. It includes support for live streaming video. No doubt this is technically a fine product that provides good functionality. The problem is that if you do not have a TV Licence then the live streaming video function could land you in trouble even if you do not make use of that function. Whether this unit (or similar boxes) falls within the scope of the current regulations is something that will very likely be tested in a court at some point. If you dont mind the prospect of being a test case then this product could be what you are looking for.

Sling Media Sling Catcher (£195 at Dabs.com)

The Sling Catcher is a device that acquires a TV signal and forwards it as streaming video to somewhere on the net. For instance you can send TV pictures to your laptop. I think that clearly you would need a TV Licence for this; it is after all a TV receiver. There are a number of similar devices which are known as “place shifters”. For our purposes this class of devices are not what we need.

The ITV 2000 could be the start of a trend where manufacturers start supplying media players that all include support for live video feeds. For the moment however there is a good choice of products without this feature.

At present the Linksys units appear to offer the best combination of functionality and value. There are a number of other units which we have not covered here and a future edition may find time to look at them.

What to Avoid (Traps for the unwary)

Lets run through some things you should not do if you have no TV Licence and want to stay legal.

Do not have any equipment capable of receiving a television signal. If you can, get rid of your television and use a monitor instead. This removes any argument about whether your equipment can receive Television. Incidentally if your area has gone digital then an analogue TV with no digi-box should be a safe choice. If you are using a television make sure that the antenna cable is disconnected (put it somewhere out of reach like your loft). If you have an analogue TV then to be on the safe side you should detune all the channels. Select each channel in turn and tune it off any station so that no picture is visible. If you have a VCR connected to your system then you should repeat the de-tuning process on the VCR. Using a digital TV (Freeview) is a bad idea as these do not need to be tuned. Any digi-boxes (Sky or Freeview) should be safely stored away wherever you put the antenna cable.

Do not watch live streaming video. The regulations are pretty clear on this point. If you are watching a streaming video feed that shows the same picture as a television station (albeit there may be some seconds transmission delay) then you are watching “Television”. As the law sees it you will need a TV Licence if you do this. Perhaps the best approach here is not to use streaming video in any way even if you think the feed is not being broadcast.

Do not forget to cancel your subscription to Sky or cable. This would be an open and shut case if it goes to court and you have no TV Licence.

Do not let the TV Licensing Inspector into your house. This is a matter of personal preference. If you think you have nothing to hide, then you may see no harm in this. However my suspicion is that the people employed for this job are not that clued up on the difference between streaming video and downloading a podcast. They are likely to become suspicious and have to get expert help. This means yet another visit and this time they will start combing through what is on your computer. So my view is that you should assert your rights from the start and refuse them entry. They will likely threaten to get a warrant but in reality they are more likely to go away and annoy someone else.

Do not use iPlayer to download stuff from BBC. Alright I am probably being paranoid here but stay with me. At present it is perfectly legal to download video using iPlayer even if you have no TV Licence. However who knows whether 'the corporation' are monitoring who is using the system. They could be building up a database of who uses video download. If the law ever changes this could be very useful to them. In any case the point of this project is to get away from 'the corporation' and its malign influence; no point in wavering now.

Is it Legal?

Is it legal? This is obviously the big question. Having looked at the regulations I ended up confused, but I hope to come back to an analysis of the law in the future. So, for now, never mind what the law says lets start with what 'the corporation' thinks. Fair play to 'the corporation' that on this occasion, at least, they are forthright in providing clear guidance. Note that this post was written in response to a question about the iPlayer but the answer is given in more general terms that clearly include any form of video podcasting.

"At the moment, the legal position is that you don't need a licence to watch TV [over the internet] purely on-demand, but you do if you are watching TV live (through any receiving device in the home)."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2008/01/iplayer_does_not_require_a_tv_1.html

What is interesting is the tone of the article; which exudes the sort of complacency that comes from an index linked pension. Does the 'the corporation' really not see this as a potential threat. Reading the comments to this post it seems that many people outside the higher echelons of Broadcasting House are aware of the possibilities. I am certainly hoping that they take a year or so to catch on. Labour might just give them a get out of jail free card if requested. A future Conservative government is likely to be much less sympathetic to the BBC; as semaphored recently by David Camerons statement that the there should be no increase in the TV Licence Fee.

This blog lays down a second ground rule that everything you read here will be advice on staying within the letter of the law. Of course if the law changes that position might change as well.

Basic Techie Stuff

This post discusses the system setup I am using. It goes without saying that there are numerous ways this could be done and a future post will discuss the options that I am aware of. One of my hopes for this blog is that readers will discuss their experiences with alternative setups.

Lets start with the obvious: a broadband internet connection is needed and a minimum download speed of around 2Mbs will be required for reasonable performance. My setup uses a Network Router with a PC running Windows XP. Any PC that was bought in the last 5 years or so should prove adequate for the job.

I use a software product called Miro to download video from compatible web feeds. The good news is that Miro is available free and is easy to install. Once Miro is installed you can subscribe to compatible web feeds (for example Sky News Headlines). Miro then downloads new items as they appear on the feed and stores them on your hard drive (Sky News Headlines is updated 4 times a day). You can change the settings to control which new items are downloaded and which old items are deleted. Downloaded items are typically in MPEG-4 format. At present I have 19 feeds running and the total space occupied by downloads is 5.2Gb. You can also use Miro to watch downloaded items on your PC.

To view downloaded video items I use a Linksys Kiss 1600 Media Player. The Media Player is currently connected by Wireless Network. The Kiss 1600 relies on a software program called Kiss PC-Link running on the PC. Kiss PC-Link needs to be set up to look at the folder where Miro stores its downloads. Technically this is about as difficult as it gets. Once Kiss PC-Link is running, the Media Player can access any file appearing in the relevant folders over the network, this includes video, audio and picture files. The Kiss 1600 also plays DVDs via a front loader tray. The Media Player has a remote control which allows the desired operation while slumped in armchair mode.

The display I use is a 22" monitor connected to the Media Player by HDMI interface. There is a separate output from the Media Player to an audio amplifier and speaker.

Overall this works well. There are a few glitches and a future post will cover these. The Media Player cost less than a TV Licence so I am already in profit. At present I am not downloading movies or other long items as the download times could be prohibitive. DVDs are the thing for movies but web feeds work for fine for short items (typically 5 minutes) and are an ideal way of keeping up to date with the news.

A planned improvement is to install a hardwired network connection for the Media Player. I did have some problems trying to watch video while also downloading e-mail to the laptop, however apart from that one instance the wireless connection has proved reliable so far.

Internet: Pipex (download speed runs at 3.2Mbs)
PC: Dell Optiplex GX280 2.8GHz 2Gb RAM 80Gb Hard Drive
Router: Belkin ADSL Modem with Wireless-G Router
Download Software: Miro 2.0.3
Media Player: Linksys Kiss 1600
Display: Viewsonic 22" HD LCD VX2260wm

http://www.getmiro.com/
http://news.sky.com/skynews/podcasts
http://www.linksys.eu/

Video Podcasting can bring down 'the corporation'

So here is the thing: I dislike the BBC. Actually it goes further than that; as they say it is a thin line between love and hate. Something has been part of your life for 40 years and then you decide that a parting of ways is required. It would be easy to succumb to an irrational hatred. I have my reasons and they shall be set out at length in a future post. For now lets say that I see no reason to support an organisation which is antithetical to all I believe in.

So if you like me you live in the UK and are resolved not to pay the TV Licence Fee, you may be wondering what your options are. Firstly you could get rid of your television and make do with old fashioned ink on paper. Secondly you can just carry on watching. There are two schools of thought here, the principled approach is openly declaring your defiance and awaiting martyrdom; the less brave strategy is to make life difficult for the collection agency until eventually they give up and go away. However there is a third option based on a technology known as Video Podcasting. Legally you can download video from the internet and watch it without a TV Licence. This is an emerging technology and not entirely seamless but if you can get by in Microsoft Windows then you should consider this as a viable option.

Let me be up front, my objective is to bring down the BBC. Many of you will be wary of breaking the law and equally relucant to do without any form of television. If I can encourage you not to buy a TV licence then I will have made a useful contribution to making our society a better place.

This blog will be about video podcasting and its role in avoiding the TV Licence Fee. I aim to cover the practical, technical, political and legal aspects of this technology. Some discussion of the cultural and social aspects of podcasting will no doubt be included along the way. Discussion of programme content is extensively covered elsewhere and will be regarded as off topic. Any constructive input is welcome; technical expertise in particular. I am less than a month into this project and there is much to learn.

Within the blogosphere various terms have been used to describe the BBC (Biased Broadcasting Corporation is particularily apposite). Call it superstition if you will, but I would prefer not to call the thing by its given name. This blog therefore establishes a ground rule that the said state sponsored media organisation shall always be reffered to as 'the corporation'.