It’s common knowledge that people are watching much more video content (and, of course, text and audio) online these days. Traditional television content is available for viewing online (via Hulu, iTunes, and respective TV station websites, etc.) and many web shows (such as Wine Library TV and Diggnation) are viewable on televisions via TiVo, Roku, etc.

Television stations like G4 are bringing the best content from the web and shoving it on TV. If you’re mature enough to remember TechTV (featuring shows like The Screensavers, The Lab with Leo, and so on), then you’re not new to web-style technology shows being on television — albeit cable TV.

I appreciate the effort taken in putting all this great online content on to the large televisions sitting in our living room. However, if you ever watched The Lab with Leo, and also subscribed to any shows on the TWiT Network, then you’ll know that The Lab with Leo always felt restricted by time and therefore some segments didn’t go into enough detail.

Recently, my friend Justine was on a show called Cambio Connect. (I had never heard of this show or even the network it was on until Justine retweeted about it. It’s part of the AOL Teen Network, so maybe that’s why I don’t know it.) I’m not even sure what this show is about (perhaps it’s just a teen lifestyle show), but this particular episode focused on Glee. Well, kinda.

They said the show featured a behind the scenes of Glee (a show I like, but recent episodes are seeming more fake) with Matthew Morrison (star of Glee). The host, Quddus, said these exact words “… we’re going to hang out with Matthew Morrison …”. Justine and Quddus were nowhere near Matthew nor did they talk directly to him. In fact, during the 6-minute episode Matthew said about five words and Justine said about ten. I felt like my time was completely wasted.

Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate short-form content that gets to the point, but this was just confusing. Maybe I’m just “old” and don’t understand the teenagers of today. (That actually scares me. A lot.)

Again, I don’t know much about Cambio Connect, but it felt like something that had the restrictions of television. If it is an online show, then I reckon they’re doing it wrong. Though, after reading the comments on the video it appears they’re going after a YouTube audience (superficial young teenagers).

OMG!!! I love iJustine and matthew Morrison, iJ really does need a reality show, lol. Again, love you!!! — TWILIGHTGAL3000

Here’s the episode that Justine was in if anyone is curious:

I certainly hope that when the Internet is fully integrated into televisions that content like Cambio Connect has either changed or fallen by the wayside. I just can’t see the value in it.

Short URL: http://djsteen.com/wp/p/1215

One word: Yes.

Yes is what you should say when I ask you to watch this television show.

Okay, let me start at the beginning. I was on Hulu (the — currently — free video service only accessible from within the United States) a couple of weeks ago and I came across this TV show called “Breaking Bad“. I noticed that one of the actors is the same guy that played the father on “Malcolm in the Middle” — sorry, I’m not good with character/actor names.

Hulu only had some minisodes (shortened, 6-minute episodes) available. I watched all 6 of them. Then, I found a way (shhh) to get the full episodes. As of this moment I’ve watched all of season 1 and I’m almost done with season 2.

I love this show!

In short, the show is about a father (played by Bryan Cranston) that has a brother-in-law in the DEA. He’s a high school chemistry teacher, and he — GAH, I don’t want to give too much away! — unexpectedly befriend a drug dealer. That’s all I can tell you without giving too much away. The Breaking Bad IMDb page will probably give a better description of the show.

I have zero experience with drugs, gangs, etc, nor do I have much interest in them, but I absolutely love this show. The show is set and recorded in New Mexico, and I must say it looks like a beautiful place. Speaking of beautiful; the art direction and cinematography in the show is some of the best I’ve ever seen in any piece of visual content — ever.

Dudes and dudettes, this show ROCKS!

And, yes, half-way through the second season there is a romantic interest that gets involved. That said, the father character and his wife get up to quite a bit of hanky panky.

It is my opinion that this show is not intended for anyone under the age of 17; mature audiences only. If you’d like to watch it, you’ll have to view it on the US TV station AMC, or find your own means of downloading it from the internet.

The DVDs and Blu-rays of seasons 1 and 2 are available in the USA, Australia, and many other countries. The following links should have you covered if you’d like to purchase the TV show on disc or digital download:

You can also follow @BreakingBad_AMC on Twitter for official updates about the show.

If you haven’t started watching “Breaking Bad” yet, then please give it a go. You won’t be disappointed!

SOME OF THE LINKS ABOVE WILL ALLOW ME TO RECEIVE A PENNY OR FEW IF YOU PURCHASE SOME OF THE SEXY VISUAL GOODNESS THAT THEY PROVIDE. I JUST THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT.

Short URL: http://djsteen.com/wp/p/1010

Ever since Adam Curry encouraged his listeners of the DSC to think for themselves I’ve certainly done so. In one episode he also mentioned how award shows are just self-gratifying events which focus more on what people are wearing and their speeches than the art they create.

Think what you want about Adam Curry, but he has molded many aspects of my life in to what they are today.

In my teenage years I recall watching award shows, enjoying the opening comedic act, and then just waiting for the host of the show to do funny stuff. Oscars… Emmys… whichever one is the funny one. Sad thing is, after the opening sketch, the host almost gets no air time. Oh, and the red carpet part is about just as long as the show.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for congratulating people for amazing work, and I don’t discourage those that aren’t my style. That said, if a movie has 5 Golden Globe nominees/winners in it, then it’s not going to entice me more than a film with completely unknown actors.

In fact, tonight I went to see “Date Night” starring Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg, and others. I have no idea if any of them have been nominated or won any awards (I’m sure they have), but I knew it would be good from what I’ve seen of their previous work, and I was correct; loved it!

If you’re unaware of The Streamy Awards, then here’s Wikipedia’s definition:

The Streamy Awards, popularly known as the Streamys, are presented annually by the International Academy of Web Television (IAWTV) to recognize excellence in the arts and science of web television production, including directing, acting, producing, and writing.

In other words, it’s the award show that recognises web video content. These would be shows like GeekBrief TV, Tiki Bar TV, Diggnation, and The Guild. Individual vloggers such as Justine Ezarik, Clintus McGintus, and Rachel Mayo also create video content, and are eligible for a Streamy Award.

There’s is a plethora of superb free content on the web. Much of it never gets the recognition it deserves. ‘Recognition?’, you say. ‘Such as an award?’, you say. No. Such as being able to have a conversation about said shows to my non-geeky friends without having to describe the show/scenario to them.

The reason people create stuff on the web is because there’s no rules. You don’t have to be approved by a higher authority, and you have an audience larger than any television/radio network, anywhere. This means content on the Internet is different.

Mainstream media wants in because they know that’s the only way they will survive, but they also want to hold on to their content rather than set it free. Hulu — case and point; it can’t be viewed anywhere outside the United States; hence, it’s not set free.

Of course, web media wants more eyeballs and thus they’d like to be in the mainstream. Thus, everything is merging together. I guess I don’t mind that, but it’s beginning to get difficult to differentiate the difference between something created by mainstream media and something created by a kid in his garage. Is that a bad thing? You decide.

In my opinion, the Streamys are no different to any mainstream award show: red carpet, funny jibber-jabber, a live feed on the Internet, a whole bunch of people staring at a stage for several hours, some awards handed out, and an after party.

By all means, I’m not saying the before and after events wouldn’t be fun to attend — but you know I’d rather go play in a children’s playground than go to a club and allow my ears to bleed while I lose my voice.

Due to a Twitter conversation I had with the giddy The JLynn Johnston last night, I want to make it clear that I’m not being negative towards the Streamys; I dislike award shows in general.

Now, as I said earlier in this post, tonight I opted to go out, pay money (Rachel’s parents kindly paid for me), and see the movie “Date Night”. I’ve mentioned in a previous post that I rarely go out to see movies at a cinema, so this is kind of a big deal. On the way home from the cinema I was reading through my Twitter feed and discovered a surprising amount of negative tweets about the Streamys. I did not expect any negativity because I knew people were excited about the event in the lead up to it.

Don’t take my word for it; I’ll post some of the tweets I saw from the people/friend that I follow, below:

Read top to bottom.

As you can see from this teeny tiny demographic, there seemed to be quite a few issues, and it seems that they (the Streamys producers/directors) may have seen the overall vibe online and tried to spice things up a little with some naked guys. :\

In summary, I’m glad a few people could enjoy themselves for a couple of hours. I’m happy for those that won something, but I’m also happy for those that didn’t because that ones that didn’t are just as important.

For one, Justine will always be giddy to me. I don’t care how many news programs she’s on, or awards she receives, or how many views her videos get; she’ll always be real — even if her videos are characters.

The same goes for ALL of you; I will never care how many followers or views you have. As long as you enjoy what you’re doing, then I will be happy to support you.

Don’t worry about what others think. You are you, and you don’t need some piece of metal (read: an award) to define who you are.

Be giddy and enjoy your life the way you want to.

Update (12 April, 2010, @0532hrs CDT): The Streamys’ website has to be one of the best designed websites I’ve ever seen. So clean! That said, it has been about 7 hours since all the winners of Streamy awards have been announced, and they have yet to be posted on the website. If I find out that person whose job it was to update such information attended an after party rather than update the site, then I’m going to be very cross. Just so you know, he/she could have been updating the winners on the site as it was happening, and still attended after parties. Grr.

Note: I don’t care to know whom the winners are. I was just browsing the Streamys site and noticed that the 2010 winners are missing.

Short URL: http://djsteen.com/wp/p/892

Dear Channel 10,

I’ve pretty much always loved you (and Channel 7; CH9 sucks). Hence, I hope we can come to some agreement with my following proposal.

First, I’ll give you a brief back story.

I’ve watched Good News Week off and on over the years. I recall having a few chuckles, but I’ve never watched an entire season; I only really watched it if I happened to be in front of the television and it was on. I’m 23, so in previous seasons I may not have understood the full extent of the jokes/stories/games, and I might appreciate those older episodes now. I’m also a geek, and I would prefer not to buy DVDs anymore; downloads all the way.

I happened to watch 99% of Good News Week episode one for 2010. I laughed my brains out! Sure, the foam was nuts, but the episode as a whole was awesome! Then, tonight, I watched about 95% of the episode (for 5% I was distracted by a phone call which I initiated) and enjoyed it just as much as the first one. Pure chaos!

Here’s my proposal.

I’m heading to the United States of America tomorrow, and I’ll be there for more than a year. I’d rather not let the rest of Australia enjoy GNW without me, moreover I want it available online.

I know the podcast (6:23 truncated episodes) is available for free on iTunes, but I want the full episodes. If that means I have to pay $10 (c’mon, please be reasonable) for a ’season pass’, then I’d plonk down the cash so quickly you’ll wish you’d done this sooner!

*SCREEEEETCH!*

Okay, ignore my proposal. I just looked in iTunes and Season 3, episode 1, of GNW is available. Good!

Wait. The season pass is AUD$92.99?! How many episodes is that? The entire season 2 is only twelve episodes and I could buy that season for AUD$15.99 — that is far more reasonable than almost $100! There must be a glitch on the season pass, right? It’s not even in high definition!

If you put the season pass down to $15, then I’m in. Otherwise, explain yourself, or it looks like I’ll find it by other means.

I love the show, so keep up the great work, and don’t forget that Aussies live overseas too!

Giddy,
Derek Steen

(For everyone else: If you haven’t seen Good News Week before, I highly suggest you preview the show by checking out the podcast on iTunes. If you enjoy it, then rally with me to get season 3 cheaply available on iTunes/online worldwide (it’s currently only in the Australian iTunes store, here).

Both Channel 10 and Good News Week are @ChannelTen and @gnwtv, respectively, on Twitter.)

Short URL: http://djsteen.com/wp/p/855

In early 2009 my family upgraded to an HDTV. Prior to that we had been through two or three fairly large (~60cm) CRT televisions.

For reference: our new TV is 42″, supports 1080p, and has a plethora of plugs at the back. Obviously it’s a 16:9 aspect ratio.

The 16:9 aspect ratio isn’t new. Television shows and movies have been using the ratio for years. That said, television originally started in the 4:3 aspect ratio (it almost looks square). So, these days we see a mix of 4:3 and 16:9 content on television. Well, and 21:9 (used almost exclusively for films), and there’s also a strange in-between ratio which has been confusing/annoying me lately.

You see, all of the latest television shows are recorded and broadcast in 16:9. You know… Home & Away, Heroes, LOST, Supernatural, news services, and late night talk shows (e.g., Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, etc).

Some more history: Prior to the days of HD (high definition) there were two major television broadcast formats used in the world; PAL and NTSC. You can learn more about these formats at their respective links, but basically they broadcasted content at 25fps (PAL) and 29.97fps (NTSC). This means that you could not play an NTSC VHS tape in a PAL VCR. It almost acted as a copy protection — you couldn’t buy VHS tapes in the USA and play them in Australia. As VCR machines became more advanced it was possible to play both formats in these machines. Without getting too technical, I’ll just mention that PAL and NTSC also had different line (read: interlacing) ratios. This means that converting one format to the other would result in ’squishing’ or ’stretching’.

Due to the recent ordeal with Conan O’Brien hosting The Tonight Show, I’ve been watching his most recent episodes as well as some episodes of Jimmy Kimmel and Jay Leno. In Australia, all of these shows are shown on The Comedy Channel which is only accessible through a pay-TV service such as Foxtel.

Said shows are recorded and broadcast as HD in a 16:9 format. The shows are not shown in HD nor 16:9 through The Comedy Channel. I pointed this out to my Dad (a television producer/director) and he thinks it could be The Comedy Channel (or even Foxtel) that is tainting the formatting.

Even if it’s not in HD, it should still be shown in a 16:9 aspect ratio. At the moment the ratio is somewhere in between 4:3 and 16:9. Something like 14:9. It’s very strange. You can see what I mean in this photo.

I have noticed that several other Foxtel channels do the same thing. The Hope For Haiti telethon/concert was broadcast here on MTV several hours after it was aired in the USA. It too had a ~14:9 aspect ratio.

I’m not sure who decides this kind of stuff, but as a content creator myself it’s quite annoying to watch. The thing that baffles me is the free-to-air content we get (Heroes, Supernatural, etc) is shown in very crisp HD 1080p, and our pay-TV is this low-quality messy format. Go figure. This is why I’d happily give up Foxtel.

Short URL: http://djsteen.com/wp/p/740

As stated in my previous post, Australia gets a pretty raw deal in terms of content and technology. Yes, I understand there are higher lifestyle priorities such as food & water (many countries struggle to obtain these bare necessities), but hear me out.

Conan O’Brien’s final episode on The Tonight Show was broadcast less than 10 hours ago in the United States. The fact that it was to be his final show has been known for about a week. Thus, many people were prepared for it.

Here, in Australia, American late night talk shows are only broadcast on pay-TV. The Late Show with David Letterman is the only show that’s broadcast on a free-to-air station. These shows are broadcast about 10 hours after they’re shown in the USA. That’s fine, I guess; it would be nice if they were shown at the same time (during the day) — it is pay-TV after all.

The thing is, Australia is essentially a day ahead of the USA. So, an episode shown on Thursday night in the USA is shown on Friday night in Australia. If we stuck to this method, then Conan’s final show would be shown on Saturday night (tonight). That usually isn’t the case though. We see Friday episodes on Mondays. You’d think on this special occasion — especially after all the hype in the news about it — they’d just broadcast the show on Saturday night. For those used to the Friday-shown-on-Monday schedule, they could just broadcast it again on Monday.

Do you know what’s going to happen now? I’ll just find the episode on a video sharing website, and not need to wait until Monday.

Whether or not the programming is set by The Comedy Channel, Foxtel, or the station in the United States (NBC), they lose.

Short URL: http://djsteen.com/wp/p/727

Foxtel is the leading cable television provider in Australia. The only other providers I know of are Optus TV and Austar — both of which broadcast almost the same exact content as Foxtel. From what I gather Optus TV is basically dead; leaving two providers for consumers to choose from.

While I was in high school I’d visit friend’s homes and many of them had either Foxtel or Optus TV. I’d be a little jealous because of channels like the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and The Comedy Channel.

In August, 2005, I discovered podcasts in iTunes. There were only a few hundred available, but I still found some that peaked my interests. Regardless, I still wanted cable TV.

In November, 2005, — a year after I finished high school — our family got Foxtel. At that time of the year they offer tempting holiday deals like a free Foxtel iQ (DVR) and I remember they were constantly displaying “From $14/mo” on their free-to-air advertising. My sister and I said we’d pay $5/wk to our parents because we’d be watching it most. That little deal fell through within the first couple of months.

Side note: I’ve visited the United States plenty of times and been in awe of the hundreds of channels they have available on cable television. This was probably another reason why my sister and I wanted Foxtel.

It’s now been four years since we installed Foxtel. While I was away in America during 2008/2009 our family got a Foxtel iQ2 (HD DVR) and an HDTV to watch all the lovely HD content on. I was pretty impressed with the new free-to-air digital HD channels available, plus a few of the Foxtel channels are in HD too — the majority if them you have to pay extra for; lame.

When I think of pay TV I think of being able to receive any content I could ever want on my television. I’m a little surprised that the majority of TV shows I was is first aired on free-to-air TV. These are shows such as LOST, Heroes, The Office, and Supernatural. I assume they have some kind of deal with the American networks that only allows the shows to be first aired on free-to-air.

I assume this because many of the shows are aired in Australia sometimes months after they’re premiered in the USA. Let’s rewind to when The O.C. was on free-to-air television. When it was pretty popular it aired on Channel 10 at least seven months after it aired in the United States. My sister informed me that it originally aired a couple years before that on a different channel, but it wasn’t popular enough, so it was axed from Australian television.

As the show became increasingly popular Australians would want to see the new season earlier, so they would find them online. At one point I remember new episodes were on YouTube the same say they were aired on American television. That’s where I watched them. The last season of The O.C. was aired on Australian television the same week as it was aired on American television. This meant they were aired on Thursday in the USA, and the following Tuesday in Australia. That wasn’t good enough; I still watched the episodes on YouTube.

I digress.

This wasn’t meant to be about Australia’s crappy lag in content/technology; it’s about Foxtel.

I was stunned to hear that my family is paying around $80 per month for Foxtel. That’s more than I pay for TPG’s ADSL2+ 100GB/mo plan ($50). Granted, my parent’s business pays $100/mo for Bigpond’s (owned by Telstra which owns 50% of Foxtel) 25GB/mo plan. I’m trying to change that though.

I watch 90% of content I consume at my computer. Accessed online. Content from Viddler, Revision3, Mevio, etc. This way I can watch at almost the same time as my American friends, and understand what they’re all tweeting about regarding various shows. The only reason I’ll watch something on television is if I really want to see it on a bigger screen or save some bandwidth on my Internet usage.

Many of my blog posts are sparked by events in my life. In this case, the event is a letter my Dad received in the mail about price changes for Foxtel plans. I heard about these changes on Byteside, but I didn’t realise they were going to change existing customers to these plans. Click the image to see a large copy of the letter.

I’ll assume you’ve read the letter.

Confused? So am I! If you say you’re going to offer us some discount and make a mistake, then deal with it. Don’t confuse the minds of your customers. A couple dollars either way in our contract can make a difference in the long run. Does Foxtel seriously think customers that are “enjoying a $5 discounted iQ offer” are going to deal with such a poorly written letter?

This is what it reads like to us: Oh, we wanted to save you money, but we realised we’re already doing that, so we regret that we have to charge you more.

In a day and age when companies are connecting with their customers via Twitter, Facebook, Viddler, and other networks to assist with problems and turn negative feedback in to positive feedback, you’d think that Foxtel would end a letter like the one we received with something along the lines of: We’re sorry for any confusion. To make it up to you we’re going to keep everything the same. What you paid a month ago is what you’ll pay for next month.

Okay, would you like to know why Foxtel isn’t a leader? (I’m glad you made it this far. )

They’re not innovating.

• They have a Twitter, but they only started using it on November 6th, 2009. Most of the tweets are just about upcoming shows. I’ll just assume that the lack of @replies is because any Australians that use Twitter aren’t having any issues with their Foxtel service.
• The majority of their website’s home page is in Flash, and there’s no mobile/iPhone-friendly option.
• They now offer some of their content available for download on a computer. This is new to Foxtel, but this isn’t new to the industry. Allow everything (on a user’s respective plan) available for download for at least TWO WEEKS after it airs. That would be smart. I don’t care if the television studios don’t like it. (The Chasers War on Everything has been available as a free podcast for years).
• There’s no iPhone/iPod Touch app. There should at least be an app that allows you to see what’s on your iQ and see a schedule for the next week which you can choose to record a single episode. Of course, search would be a must. Innovating would be allowing all the content you can see on TV on your iPhone, and access to stream the content stored on your iQ. From anywhere in the world. Slingbox anyone?

That’s not a wishlist. That’s what Foxtel needs to do to still be in the game. I’ve suggested to my Dad that we get rid of Foxtel because I only use it to watch re-runs of That 70s Show, Whose Line is it Anyway?, Seinfeld, and throw in the occasional documentary. I can see that stuff anytime I want. If you think about it, we could spend the money we spend on Foxtel for a larger Internet cap and just use a proxy to access Hulu, or download shows in HD from iTunes.

Honestly, a MacMini + Wireless N + The Internet is looking like a really good option right now.

So, Foxtel, what are you going to do to keep my/our interest? Show me something I haven’t seen.

Foxtel on Apple Tablet? Yes, please.

Short URL: http://djsteen.com/wp/p/544

Ugh. I don’t even know why I’m writing this. I said I wouldn’t, but I looks like the machine is powerful enough to push an independent hippie like me over to the dark side (or maybe it’s the light side – depending on your point of view) a little bit.

Before reading my drivel, I recommend reading Neil Bearse’s post on the matter. He hits the topic spot on; much better than anything I’m about to write.

Seeing the following tweet is actually what finally made me write this post:

By now I’m sure a lot of you know what happened with Taylor Swift and Kanye West at the MTV VMA (yes, it’s VMA not VMAs; the abbreviation is plural) on Sunday night.

I was Skyping with Rachel while she was watching the show and she freaked out when the ‘incident’ occurred. Soon after, people I follow on Twitter did the same (similar to the tweet above). Most of them felt for Taylor, yet a few people were giving kudos to Kanye.

Either way, everyone in this situation is raking in the money. I don’t have to tell you why because you’ve already read Neil’s post on it.

That said, I’m different. Even though my friend Justine was the Twitter Correspondent for the awards show, I still didn’t watch it. Sure, I’ve seen the ‘incident’ I’m discussing, but I don’t care for awards shows. Or much mainstream content for that matter. I let the news come to me. Rarely does crappy news like this come to me, but it’s hard to get away from on Twitter and when my girlfriend is up in arms about it while we’re on Skype.

I guess the point I’m getting across here is that I am different. And I reckon you should be too. There’s enough people glued to the television watching AI, SYTYCD, BB, and all the bad crap in the world that appears on news and currant affairs shows. Why don’t you discover something for yourself rather than letting people tell you what to buy, think, and do.

I love how the social/new media space is sticking it to the man. Well, until you put something on YouTube and the man takes it down. Or an event like The Webbies decides to give awards and now it’s no different than the MTV VMA. Ugh. Life is a cycle. Break it.

Short URL: http://djsteen.com/wp/p/386

In October last year I was watching an episode of Heroes while following the hashtag #heroes in TweetDeck, and I pondered: Wouldn’t it be awesome if there was a column on the edge of the screen displaying tweets with #heroes.

I felt so giddy about this idea that I had to pause the show and make the following video about it.

To make things super-clear, there would be the options of having a chat and/or hashtag search on the right edge of the screen during the live broadcast AND the ability to watch that pre-recorded chat (or turn it off) if you recorded the episode.
Else, you could have a live chat appear when you’re watching the recorded episode because, chances are, a lot of people recorded in on DVRs and are watching it a day or so after it aired.

The idea of having television/web shows with Viddler-style timed-comments on the timeline isn’t as far fetched as you may think. Wine Library TV is on Hulu and many other video hosting websites, yet the Viddler player is embeded on winelibrary.tv because it’s customisable to look like the WLTV blog as well as having tags/links to the wines mentioned in the show.

I began thinking about this again today because of C.C. Chapman’s video about the Facebook Connect feature on CNN’s coverage of the 2009 Presidential Inauguration.

Short URL: http://djsteen.com/wp/p/125

Here are FOUR simple steps to remove interlacing when you export your videos in Quicktime Pro, iMovie HD, iMovie ‘08, or Final Cut Pro.

****See original size****

1. File > Export

2. If you want this to be DEAD SIMPLE choose ‘Movie to Apple TV‘ (.m4v – playable on iPod, Zune, any computer, uploads to Viddler). DONE. If you need a Quicktime MOV, then choose ‘Movie to Quicktime Movie’ and move on to Step 3.

3. Choose ‘Size…’ (The last dialog box will open.) — You can find more information about tweaking window 3 here.

4. Tick ‘Deinterlace Source Video’.

Giddy up!

Want to learn WHY you should deinterlace your videos before you put them online? Okie dokie!

(I will use NTSC (30fps / 525 interlaced lines) as an example because most online video is played at 30fps. Discover PAL here.)

Back in the days of (analog) television, video was interlaced (a technique to improve the picture quality of a video signal primarily on CRT devices without consuming extra bandwidth). This meant your television alternated between odd and even lines of light beaming out of the monitor 30 times every second. It moves so fast our eyes can’t even tell. Sweet!

Technology has changed though. First there was HD 1080i (i = interlaced), then that was superseded by HD 1080p (p = progressive). Progressive scan is a method for displaying, storing or transmitting moving images in which all the lines of each frame are drawn in sequence. First being a low quality image and progressively improving. Remember, this all happens at 30 frames per second.

This animation shows the difference between progressive and interlaced video.

Web video is progressive. If you upload a video that has been interlaced, then it won’t display properly and you’ll end up with video that looks like Justine’s My new show on Pluggedin! or Lisa’s Mostly Madonna.

Note: I know Justine and Lisa are both very experienced in video production, so I assume it was the companies that they each work for that exported as interlaced (who knows why…) and the girls just uploaded *that* file to the web.

Go deinterlace your video now and put it on Viddler.

Update! Here’s a list of programs (thanks to Miro’s blog) that can deinterlace video on Windows operating systems:
Editing Suites:
Adobe Premiere (Windows, Mac ~ $$$)
Sony Vegas (Windows ~ $$$)
Windows Movie Maker (free)

Video Processing Application Guides/Tutorials/Manuals:
VirtualDub (Windows ~ free; open source)
MPEG Streamclip (Windows, Mac ~ free)
mencoder (Linux ~ free; open source)
FFmpeg (Linux ~ free; open source)
VLC (Windows, Mac, Linux ~ free; open source)

Short URL: http://djsteen.com/wp/p/28