Posts by Nigel Whitfield.

MP3, DLNA and grisly incompatibilities

I think there's (mea culpa) an error regarding to MP3; I meant to say it's the same as the other Bravias - ie music only works when transcoded to MP3. Sometimes my brain works faster than my typing fingers.

Regarding AVC HD what I mean there is the format as produced directly from an AVCHD camcorder, eg the MTS files that they spew out. And it was certainly reluctant to do anything with those, whereas other sets I've tested to manage quite happily to play them back. Perhaps some more judicious fiddling with MIME types would solve that.

DLNA configuration is perhaps worth an article on its own; the certification essentially specifies only a couple of mandatory types (like MPEG2 video) and anything above and beyond that is pretty much optional. So, yes, it's far too easy to pass, and the result is that a lot of people who imagine that it means something about compatibility are going to end up finding that things don't play, or that they have to spend ages tinkering about with their media server configuring additional MIME types.

And that, of course, completely goes against the whole idea of DLNA being a simple (for the end user) means of sharing information around the home - it's hardly plug and play if you have to carefully compare brands of servers and TVs to get the result you want, without resorting to manual configuration of MIME types. Unless the DLNA people get their heads round this, many ordinary punters will come to the conclusion that their logo doesn't mean anything useful at all.

I have a feeling that some of this is going to become even more confusing too; with some Freeview HD PVRs planning on offering streaming, and the need to respect the Freeview HD content controls when they do, you'll have a whole extra layer of complexity added on top of the basic question of whether or not your TV will cope with the format that's being streamed to it. A cynic might suggest that, ultimately, the big brands making the TVs would be happiest if you forgot about DLNA and just decided "Sony TV needs Sony streaming server" and so forth.

As mentioned, I have a wide selection of files that I test with; in the time available to test out a TV, it's not entirely practical to also spend hours tweaking the configuration of the server for each one, to see if the attached TVs can be prodded into being more receptive.

Many are much better

My local bookstore (Stoke Newington Bookshop) is very good, and if they don't have what I want, they'll get it in within 48 hours for me.

So, personally, I'd be very sad to see local bookshops disappear. I think it would be a shame if the only way of buying certain types of material (gay, political, and plenty of others, I'm sure) was by handing over credit card, name and address details to a large company.

Not quite

That's a standard PoE switch; what I'm referring to (and presumably the person above) is a PoE unit with HomePlug built in - something like the units available from GigaFast http://www.gigafast.com/OEM/products/ethernet_power_supply_av.html but in a plug-top form factor, rather than the wall or desk mount options they provide.

Really?

Pausing briefly to snigger at the thought of "CCTV in pubic areas", have there really been many cases where crimes have been solved by CCTV? I'd love to see a decent source for that.

Certainly, many people are of the view that CCTV merely displaces criminal activity to areas where there is no coverage. According to a report in the Telegraph last year, a Met report stated "For every 1,000 cameras in London, less than one crime is solved per year."

Meanwhile, a report this January in the Standard claimed "Met figures show a 71 per cent drop in the number of crimes "in which CCTV was involved" from 416,000 in 2003-04 to 121,770 in 2008-09. The number of these crimes which led to a charge, summons or caution fell from 47,000 to 23,000.

The proportion of all crimes solved using CCTV in London fell from half in 2003-04 to one in seven in 2008-09. "

So, I think many would dispute an assertion that is has solved so many serious crimes that we shouldn't be worried about privacy implications

VoIP on E72

I don't have any problems at all using VoIP on my E72 connected to my WPA/WPA2 network. Nor, indeed when I'm getting it to connect via 3G data and a PPTP tunnel as well, even when there are other network apps running in the background too.

Nor, indeed, do Bluetooth or WiFi appear to be affected by taking the battery cover off - other than by the fact that you need to keep a finger on the battery to stop it dropping out, which would obviously affect the connection somewhat.

Clutter

A switch is going to need a power supply too; and often they're cheap plug-top efforts, which may spew out crap that affects the powerline network.

If you're using something like this to bring the network into the living room, then you may well have rather more aethetic considerations (and a partner to nag about the mess) than you would in the study.

Fortunately...

... the toilet had been freshly flushed.

Besides, anyone who's seen the photos on my Roomba and Navibot reviews here will know that a little bit of dirt has never scared me.

Average book under a megabyte

Of the books that I've bought, I think the vast majority are well under a megabyte, and typically around 600k. My Digital Editions folder of 39 books comes in at 35.9MB.

So, in storage terms, you're right that there's not much needed. But I have a sneaking suspicion - and I'd love to find out for sure - that licensing something like the ADEPT system is a fair chunk of money. It really would be interesting to see a complete breakdown, and find out where the costs crop up.

I think the point ...

... is that they don't need modifiers to access them.

It's always struck me as decidedly odd that the Blackberry, that most e-mail-centric of devices, requires a modifier key to get at the @, which shares a key with P.

No

It's not a PC. Like virtually every PVR out there, it uses dedicated chips to do most of the donkey work, rather than general purpose ones.

Screenshot

I use Screenshot for Symbian:

http://www.antonypranata.com/screenshot

Works fine on all the devices I've used

Umm, no...

The 3310 certainly doesn't run Symbian.

It's not a smartphone, was never sold as one, and doesn't even really qualify as having the Series 40 interface, as far as I can see.

Even if it did, that still wouldn't make it a "not-smartphone -but-Symbian" device, because Series 40 isn't Symbian either.

Series 60 is Symbian, and I still can't think of any phone that's powered by Symbian that doesn't qualify as a smartphone, certainly not in the range today, nor indeed in past years.

Tricky with software

The DSRs will only be applicable to a purchase of software (or certain other things including CDs and DVDs) if the packaging has not been opened.

Works both ways

"Wanted: Busy police force seeks PR team. Willingness to lie about the recently deceased an advantage. Apply New Scotland Yard"

The police and their apologists - one such sent me a link on Twitter last night, suggesting that essentially Tomlinson had it coming, for walking so slowly - will claim the press build all this up.

And in doing so, they'll neatly forget how often the police are willing to use the press to spin and smear when they've done something wrong. Just as important as the inquiry into the physical attack on Tomlinson, in my view, is a full inquiry into the way the police encourage these incidents to be reported.

Who authorised the statements that Tomlinson had no contact with the police, and that medics had been pelted with missiles? Who conveniently leaked suggestions about a rape allegation, and immigration status in the de Menezes case? Who came up with the kiddie porn wheeze to smear the targets of the bundled Forest Gate raid?

That sort behaviour is, frankly, pretty much par for the course, and probably goes some way to explaining why people don't complain about the police more often, not to mention the sheer stress and expense of it.

When the police are so happy to use the press to put their side, and to make sure they get their version of events out there first, they really shouldn't be surprised when the fact that it's a crock of shit is highlighted.

With the increasing number of high profile police blunders in recent years, like the ones I've mentioned, they surely can't be surprised when the less prominent mistakes are highlighted as well. The solution is to get their house in order, not to claim the press is making a mountain out of a molehill.

There should be zero tolerance for officers who harass members of the public, making up (and breaking) laws in the process. But there won't be.

A matter of months

The proprietary EPG and the first 4TV machines arrived only a matter of months before the standard Freeview EPG started, which was sometime in 2004 by my recollection.

Meanwhile, there were still boxes based on the 4TV kit being launched as late as 2006 - notably the Sony, which was essentially a rebadged Beko, with the 14 days cut back down to seven.

A lovely pair

There were two Bristols parked outside the garage where I take my Citroën DS to get serviced when I last popped in.

A lovely pair, they were...

Ewwww....

Viscous? Really?

You should see a doctor about that...

Not quite ...

It's a combination of the price, and the need to keep a standard vacuum cleaner for the really dirty jobs (of which, naturally, I have quite a few).

Freeview HD

The Ethernet port is part of the spec for Freeview HD equipment, just as it is for Freesat HD equipment.

That allows all kit to take advantage of the MHEG return path that's also included in the specs, which is how the iPlayer, for example, is delivered as a 'red button' application on Freesat. It could also be delivered the same way on Freeview HD in future, too.

It would be possible for other broadcasters such as ITV or Five to do something similar, or indeed for someone to buy a small amount of space for a Freeview data channel, and operate some sort of pay per view option via that.

This doesn't necessarily mean that Canvas will be available by these boxes, however - that's a more detailed spec than the MHEG return path. However, essentially all Freeview HD boxes are IPTV capable to some degree. Some manufacturers (like i-Can and Humax) are taking advantage of that already, by adding extra software to make use of the Ethernet connection. Others are just sticking it in there because they have to, and someone might implement an MHEG app at some stage.

But ...

You said consumers don't want different and competing interfaces, but that's exactly what happens when you let commercial companies compete with each other. And a single interface that works well for connected TV is exactly what Canvas will provide.

It's going to be a long, long time before anyone delivers content OTA in 1080p - there really isn't the capacity (nor, I suspect, beyond a few people who like the look of big fancy numbers, the consumer demand).

The EBU isn't an organisation that has the technical resources itself to do research and development of this sort - it's a collection of the member broadcasters. So when an EBU paper appears, you'll see it's authored by people who work for organisations like BBC R&D.

When world standards like DVB-T2 appear, again, a lot of the work has come out of places like Kingswood, alongside other people working elsewhere around the world.

And indeed, some countries do follow, or modify, standards like the UK D-Book in drawing up their own. So, the process may not be quite as obvious as when the BBC worked on ideas like RDS or Nicam, which found their way to many other countries, but their R&D team is still very much a big part of creating standards.

Not their fault

The BBC didn't just wake up one morning and decide "let's contract everything out."

They were told they had to, with quotas imposed, and more recently the new rights regime, all in the name of greater competition (which, as we know, is always an unalloyed good and works for the consumer's best interest. What's that? You need to know a phone number...)

And, indeed, introducing another 'internal' market for services within the corporation didn't help, either.

As other have said, since the BBC sold their picture library to Getty, they very likely to have a deal for use of images. Not, of course, that will stop the usual suspects having a go.

The ITC, then Ofcom

The BBC doesn't get to dictate the terms any more.

A review into the terms of trade for independent producers was conducted by the ITC; it recommended changes which form part of new codes of practice, laid down by Ofcom following the Communications Act 2003 and discussions between the broadcasters and PACT.

Like other Ofcom codes, broadcasters have to abide by these; they also (under the 1990 Act) have to have a minimum percentage of material commissioned from independents.

So, far from being balls, there are indeed regulatory constraints that dictate the terms on which the BBC and other public broadcasters are able to commission programmes.

But then, I did actually say that in the original article.