All NASA All The Time

WASHINGTON, March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA and HDNet have joined together to provide high definition TV coverage of space shuttle launches through 2010. The agreement ensures the remaining shuttle lift-offs and landings at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida will be broadcast in the highest quality television format available.

When I had a big backyard, I had a C-Band satellite dish for the sole purpose of watching NASA-TV. When we moved to a house with a backyard the size of my son's tennis shoes, I put up a DirectTV dish - again solely for NASA-TV. My wife named the television in my office space All NASA All The Time because I'd watch for hours during space walks.

I discontinued the DirectTV subscription when the shuttle became grounded but I've been wondering what I would do for live space TV when flights resumed. My thanks to Mark Cuban for this venture to provide some HD covereage.

I sure wish the local cable operators would carry NASA-TV - it's provided free by NASA and contains a lot of educational programming (The Pythagorean series was da bomb) in addition to spaceflight coverage. During shuttle flights live coverage is continuous throughout the mission, but NASA-TV also covers the International Space Station with live pictures at times, and coverage of unmanned missions. It was neat to watch the mission control room as the first transmissions from Mars exploration vehicles, Spirit and Opportunity were received.

I guess there just aren't enough of us geeks in West Texas to warrant such programming on TV. Infomercials and the Home Shopping Network are what everyone really wants out here. Yeah, right.

720p or 1080i or 1080p?

If you think the subject of this entry has something to do with the German Enigma cipher machine of World War II, you probably don't really want to read any further.

A big topic of debate in High Definition Television forums has to do with the "best" native high definition format. This podcast at Xbox Live's Major Nelson Blog goes a long way in explaining that there currently is no "best" format and why that's the case. If you're an HDTV techno-fan, I highly recommend you listen to the one-hour podcast. (The actual HDTV portion is about 15 minutes into the broadcast. An MP3 file is available for playback or download.)

For the rest of you... there's always Oolong.

Pardon, Your Slip is Showing

From the Big2 News web pages:
Kids Arrested for Steeling
Thursday, March 23, 2006

The kids did show a lot of nerve, but I don't think that was the intended reference.

And I heard yesterday morning on a KCRS news broadcast that, after a suspicious fire, foul play was "expected".

Man, I hope I haven't made a typo in this entry.

[EDIT 04/06/2006 - Not to be outdone, CBS7 now has a "West Odessa House Fire Foloup" and Big2 has added the "Warrent Roundup" story. How 'bout it NewsWest9?]

Whatcha Watchin?

Haven't you always wished you could see what all your buddies are watching on TV at any given time and chat with them while watching? Me neither. But...

eVoke TV allows you to do all that and more:

Are you a blogger? Do you have a personal web page?
You can show what you are watching, and what you've watched and what you like to watch in the sidebar of your blog (or your personal web page.) Share your TV persona with your own community.

Actually, their channel lineup is not bad. I've also tried Zap-To-It (my current favorite) and TitanTV and Yahoo for lineups. None of them are perfect but they're all customizable.

And even though nobody asked, a couple of my favorites are MythBusters and Wild West Tech. But, no, I don't really want to chat while I watch so just leave a message.

Try IPTV Now

What timing! Just as I post an entry about IPTV it becomes available to all of us. Well, kinda. AOL Television has made available free on-demand TV shows including full episodes of many Warner Bros. programs from the past 40 years such as Welcome Back, Kotter, Chico & The Man, Alice, Growing Pains, Sisters, Kung Fu, Lois & Clark and others.

And sorry, Mac users, but if you're not using Windows XP you're out of luck. Windows Media Player appears to be required.

I just watched an episode of Welcome Back, Kotter and it actually looks pretty good full screen. There is also a "Hi-Q" version available that supposedly offers DVD quality but I didn't try it because it requires downloading a plug-in and I just didn't feel like messin' with it tonight. Oooh, I just saw that F-Troop is available.

IPTV - TV On The Go

It won't be long before IP Television (IPTV) is seriously competing with cable and satellite service. With IPTV you will someday select what you want to watch, when you want to watch it - no more schedules.

Current bandwidth limits IPTV such that viewing choices are pretty much the same as they would be with regular cable or satellite but someday in the not-so-distant future I believe TV watching will change radically. Verizon is offering IPTV in a few locations now and the telecommunication industry is excited about the possibility of competing head-to-head with cable television operators who are already offering telephone service. There's too much money in this for it to move slowly.

How 'bout watching TV on your cell phone? The idea of watching TV on a 1.5 inch screen doesn't get me excited. Well, maybe the "idea" excites me - afterall I am a geek. IPTV on your wireless phone could be here soon, too.

And speaking of wireless phones, are you aware they can provide your location when you dial 9-1-1? Both Midland and Odessa have implemented 9-1-1 Wireless Phase II so it's possible for local dispatchers to view your location on a map when you call. One of the local providers uses a triangulation-type location technology while the others all depend on GPS-enabled handsets. If you get lost while watching TV on your phone you can get help quickly. sheesh

Look for HDMI

Televisions have come to sport a lot of different connection types but the only one you'll eventually need for Digital TV and for High Definition TV is the High-Definition Multi-media Interface (HDMI) connector.

There are 6 types of connectors most afficiandos are familiar with: RF (cable or antenna), Composite, S-Video, Component, and more recently, DVI and HDMI. DVI is kindof a sub-class of HDMI and seems to be disappearing.

Component connections can carry High Def and Surround Sound but Component is not High-Definition Digital Content Protection (HDCP) compliant - in other words, "they" can't control what you record digitally through it. HDCP compliant interfaces such as HDMI and DVI do recognize digital recording restrictions that are encoded with the program contents.

The new High Definition DVD players will require an HDMI connection to your television or you will not see the content in High Definition. They will probably have Component outputs but that signal will be downconverted to have less picture resolution.

It's not uncommon to find newer TVs with more than one HDMI connection and it might be wise to choose one with at least two HDMI connections so you'll have one for live/cable TV and one for that future High Def DVD player. A single HDMI connection is not necessarily a deal-breaker though - an HDMI-switch box accessory can switch among several inputs going to a single HDMI connection on your TV.

You can keep all those other connecting cables in that box that holds your 8-track tapes.

Nothing Good On? Try some music

Some lesser known groups I found:

Big Fat Pet Clams From Outerspace
Apparently in their heydey about 30 years ago.

Blood Sledge Electric Death Chickens
Last gig included this notice: "All ages welcome. Show at 9:00 PM. $3 to get in."
That's value, folks! You can't even get a haircut for $3.

The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir
Unfortunately, "The band has extended their hiatus until the end of the summer, 2045."

Cap'n Crunch and the Cereal Killers
One selection requires you to also have ECoDE loaded into your Squeak environment. What is a Squeak?

Crappy the Clown and the Punch Drunk Monkeys
This band seems to have broken up. Probably Crappy was tough to work with.

Don Knotts Overdrive
"Don Knotts Overdrive is in no way officially associated with the actor Don Knotts. He has not participated in these recordings." Hard to believe, huh?

Draw Your Own Cow
Also a good pasttime for MSPaint users?

Hitler Stole My Potato
For you guitar players out there, tabs available.

Jiggle the Handle
Their website says "Dates available." I wouldnt' wait too long if you want to book 'em.

Mr. Tasty and the Bread Healers
One Google entry: Mr.Green's Vitality Program is wholistic Natural Health guidance centered ... It even tells you how to make tasty, yet uncooked barley bread and uncooked, ...
Well, maybe that was a keyword hit for another site.

Root Boy Slim and the Sex-Change Band with The Rootettes
Music available on amazon.com (Or at least it was once. I was afraid to check.)

Snotty Scotty and the Hankies
They did play the Pasadena's Colorado Street Bridge Party.

Swingin' Udders
I assume they're C&W but didn't search.

If Jimmy Patterson has one song from any of these groups on his iPod, I'll buy him a steak at Outback. (But I'll be very nervous during dinner.)

Free TV via Internet From ABC

If you miss "Lost" when it's aired, and you forgot to record it, you can apparently watch it on demand via a broadband internet connection. At least three of ABC's primetime shows will reportedly be available (in May) but there is conflicting information on which ones. One article says Grey's Anatomy will NOT be available.

The only "gotchas" I see are - You can't fast-forward or rewind so you have to watch the commercials (fewer than in the broadcast version, though) and you cannot record it.

ABC (and NBC) already offer downloads of some shows through Apple's iTunes for $1.99. The new ABC project is called My ABC.

TiVo Announces KidZone

Announced today and to be available mid-year, Tivo introduces a feature which goes beyond the parental controls available on regular televisions.

Apparently content will be filtered with the help of The Parent's Television Council and/or Common Sense Media and fine-tuned by the parent. The feature will be included at no additional cost to the TiVo subscription. More details at the TiVo KidZone website.

It'll be interesting to read media followups to this because the idea can push so many buttons; parenting, religion, politics, censorship. Or, the media may completely ignore it. We'll see.