Will the AppleTV help change video?

January 15th, 2008

Today, Apple did a sidestep around the HD DVD and Blu-ray debate with the update to their AppleTV.

Think about the most popular way most of us watch movies. We rent them. Either at the local movie store or via mail at Netflix or Blockbuster.

What Apple has done is said, “Why wait for a plastic disc to be sent to you?” Now you can flip through an online selection like Netflix or Blockbuster AND watch it right away. That puts them in a very strong position. Plus, they have the very popular iTunes online store streamlined more than any of the competition.

Now, while the others fight over which plastic disc to send next (HD DVD or Blu-ray), Apple can already deliver an HD movie right to the television set since we can now rent HD movies FROM the AppleTV interface.

All for a onetime fee of $229 plus the four or five bucks to rent the movie.

Compare that to a new high def player that runs several hundred dollars more and $30 to buy a new piece of plastic to put into that player.

Now take into account that thousands of HD podcasts are available right now on iTunes and AppleTV right now and for free!

I think this little device is sneaking its way into our lives and changing the way we watch video forever.

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Podcasting and the New Media

May 27th, 2007

The “New Media” is digital media. It is podcasting. It is video production and web video. It is exciting.

One of our podcasts, The Magic Lantern can be found at Reels in Motion .tv, and is a perfect example of the direction media has shifted.

We have buit up quite a pipeline for producing podcasts (both audio and web video) becuase of this demand. What sort of things have we learned? I’ll try and cover a few:

Video Production Isn’t Just Television Anymore
Constantly, we are producing high definition video for delivery on the web. Companies are realizing the power of being able to get something shot and then distributing their High Definition video to a worldwide audience later that day.

The show is shot in high definition, edited on-site using a Macbook Pro (editing High Definition video on a laptop has become much more common), uploaded to the server and is broadcast to the world instantly.

I’ll add more shortly. In the meantime, just remember that the ground is shifting under our feet. Will you be ready or will you be left behind?

In the coming days, I’ll descibe in more detail how you can use this new media to grow your business and reach clients faster, cheaper and further away than ever before.

Until then!
Scott

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