Keeping TiVos Working in Australia After October

Darren King suggests, is to register for the TiVo swap-out, but not hand over your TiVo until late October, to see if the grass roots project is a success.

Alternative EPG for TiVo?

On 2 December my eight year old TiVo Personal Video Recorder (PVR) failed to update the Electronic Program Guide (EPG), with the error message "N18 Failed While Configuring". I thought nothing of this until the end of this week, when the unit started to run out of program information. The TiVo Australia website says:

"TiVo Support and Hybrid Television Services have been made aware of an issue and are working to identify the cause of the problem. Due to the complexity of the issue, there is currently no know resolution timeframe. ..."

 It goes on to detail how to manually record, but without any form of EPG this is a very cumbersome task. Without the EPG the TiVo is essentially unusable. The Tivo General Discussion forum on Whirlpool speculates if this is the end of TiVo in Australia and what the alternatives are.

A quick look for TiVo alternatives suggests that the Beyonwiz T2, is the closest, being a Lnux based unit. Or perhaps someone has an easy hack for a TiVo to work with another EPG?

TV on the NBN

Professor Gerard Goggin from University of Sydney Department of Media and Communications talked at "Converging on an NBN Future" on the NBN and TV. He mentioned  a project with Screen Australia, April 2012.

Unfortunately I could not find a copy of the report (apparently released April 2012) available on-line. This brought out a problem with this symposium, and much Citysearch and policy discussion about on-line services: those having the discussion are not actually using the technology they are discussing to have the discussion.

At the University of Canberra I am sitting in one of their high technology flexible classrooms, which have WiFi and projectors. In the same venue I have attended "un-conferences" where all the participants are on-line and contributing all the time. However, the current symposium is an old fashioned slide show, with one person talking and everyone passively listening. As far as I know no one outside the isolated room can take part and so far no one has been invited to ask a question.

Those who are formulating on-line policy for Australia need to experience how the new technology can be used to understand it and to be credible. Otherwise they will produce policies which miss the point and will be ignored by those who actually are using the technology.

In his Alfred Deakin Lecture "Free at Last! Or Freedom Lost? Libery in the Digital Age"
 (8 October 2012), Malcolm Turnbull, the Shadow Minister for Communications, demonstrated an understanding of the issues.

Video enhancement software for poor eyesight

Masters student, Chet Teow, will present the results of his work on "Video enhancement software for poor eyesight", at the Australian National University, 3pm, 10 November 2011, in room N335 of the Computer Science and Information Technology Building in Canberra. He is one of three students working on aspects of the project. Chet has also been working on "Digital Payment System – Token Generation and Transfer".

Video enhancement software for poor eyesight

Project Code: CECS_686

This project is available at the following levels:
CS single semester, Engn4200, Engn R&D, Honours, Masters, PhD

Keywords:

TV, Video, accessibility, disability, vision, software development

Supervisor:

Mr Tom Worthington

Outline:

This projects investigates algorithms for
enhancing video images for people with poor eyesight, in particular macular degeneration. The software would enhance the import parts of images, such as people, particularly facial features and objects in the foreground. The result would be a cartoon-like effect with a solid line
around geometric shapes, such as faces, with and high contrast eyes, nose and mouth.

There has been extensive research on modifying video for people with limited eyesight, including by modification of open source MPEG decoding algorithms (1). Techniques for measuring the effectiveness of the modifications have been investigated (2).

However, the techniques used have assumed that the resulting image should still be acceptable to a person with normal vision. This limits the usefulness of the techniques for people with very limited eyesight.

Also it is assumed that there is limited processing capacity to run the enhancement algorithm and so only relatively simple techniques are used and that what is sued has to be suitable for mass deployment hard coded
into the TV set.

It should be feasible to produce cartoon-like images which would be easy to see with very limited eyesight. This should be feasible using the higher processing capacity now available in modern digital TV sets. Also it should be feasible to download the software into exiting TV sets via
an Internet connection. The same technique should be usable as a downloaded PC, smart phone and tablet "App". It should also be usable as an add-on for YouTube and simile web based video services.

The software would be developed at ANU CECS udner the supervision of Tom Worthington and tested
at the London Eye Hospital under the supervision of Lyndon Da Cruz.

The software would be made available for free use under an open source licence and the research findings published free online with a Creative Commons licence.

Goals of this project

Understanding of the effects of image manipulation on vision.
Development of software for consumer devices.

Background Literature

References:

1. Post Transmission Digital Video Enhancement for People with Visual Impairments Matthew Fullerton and Eli Peli J Soc Inf Disp. 2006 January; 14(1): 15–24. doi: 10.1889/1.2166829.
http://ukpmc.ac.uk/articles/PMC1413511.

2. Measuring perceived video quality of MPEG enhancement by people with impaired vision Matthew Fullerton, Russell L. Woods, Fuensanta A. Vera-Diaz, and Eli Peli J Opt Soc Am A Opt Image Sci Vis. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2008 December 1. PMCID: PMC2131737 Published in final edited form as: J Opt Soc Am A Opt Image Sci Vis.
2007 December; 24(12): B174–B187.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2131737/

Links

Tom Worthington
Lyndon Da Cruz
Post Transmission Digital Video Enhancement for People with Visual Impairments
Measuring perceived video quality of MPEG enhancement by people with impaired vision

Contact:

Mr Tom Worthington

Problems with Set Top Boxes for Pensioners

I talked on radio 2CC in Canberra at 7:20am this morning about issues with the "Household Assistance Scheme" to issue digital TV set top boxes to pensioners. There is enough money for about $350 per pensioner, which is far more than the $50 or so a box costs. The remainder is for installation.

Kogan has suggested the government could buy new TVs instead. These would give a better picture and use less power. But the TVs would cost more than set top boxes and not leave much for installation or a new antenna.

Master Electricians Australia has warned there may be unqualified technicians risking their own lives and those of the pensioners. This is a reasonable fear, after problems with previous insulation schemes. Those installing antennas should have a done a TAFE Course in Antenna Installation.

Also we discussed what might be worth watching on digital TV. I pointed out that the audience, and therefore the advertising revenue, has not increased with the number of TV channels and so the quality may drop. One solution is to install a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) which selects shows for you. Another, which I forgot to mention, is that the best thing on TV is Internet TV, which is not TV at all.

Connecting a TV to the Internet Part 4: success

In "Connecting a Samsung TV to the Internet Part 3" I had decided to reconfigure a low cost wireless router, to be a repeater bridge using the open source DD-WRT software. This was so I could plug a TV into the Internet. I was able to get the TV to "ping" the gateway, but not communicate DNS service. I tried that of the router and of BigPond (the ISP being used), with no success. However, when I used the IP address of the gateway for the DNS, this worked (presumably this then is just relayed to the router).

The Samsung TV then downloaded some software updates and some default Apps. The apps included a news ticker service, which runs across the bottom of the TV screen, YouTube Videos and Twitter. The speed of download of video is reasonable, given that the signal is being relayed by WiFi. The image quality of the video is remarkably good. But after all the effort involved, it is a relief it works at all.

Connecting a TV to the Internet Part 3

In "Connecting a Samsung TV to the Internet Part 2" I had decided to reconfigure a low cost wireless router, to be a repeater bridge using the open source DD-WRT software. This was so I could plug a TV into the Internet. I was stuck at the point of making the existing router an "Access Point". Also this seems to have upset the configuration of the Telstra BigPond cable modem, which now does not allow outgoing email via port 25.

The issue with Bigpond turned out to be a configuration problem with Microsoft Live Mail, unrelated to the router.

To avoid reconfiguring the router as an Access Points, I looked around for other options and found I could have the router allocate IP addresses, without setting the "AP" option. This allowed me to connect a PC to the Internet using a cable plugged into the bridge. The Samsung TV accepts a fixed IP address and the address of the bridge. This passes a Ping test, but fails to connect to the Samsung IP service. It may be the DNS address needed.

Another option to try is AutoAP which is a script to make the DD-WRT router act as a WiFi Ethernet interface.

Connecting a TV to the Internet Part 2

In "Connecting a Samsung TV to the Internet" I had decided to reconfigure a low cost wireless router, to be a repeater bridge using the open source DD-WRT software. This was so I could plug a TV into the Internet. DD-WRT turned out to be very easy to install. I downloaded the appropriate software and then uploaded it to the router. There was a moment's worry when I could not reconnect to the router, but this was because the IP address of the router had changed in the process. The DD WRT software has lots of options and is less consumer friendly than the software the low cost routers come with.

The problem which has stoped me is not to do with the new router, but the existing one it is connected to. This need to be made an "Access Point" but in the process I lost access to that router. Also this seems to have upset the configuratuion of the Telstra BigPond cable modem, which now does not allow outgoing email via port 25.

Connecting a Samsung TV to the Internet

A friend bought a Samsung LCD TV which has "Internet@TV". They asked me to connect it up so they could use the Internet from the lounge chair. The first problem what that I was not exactly sure what the TV did and what it was they thought they were going to get. The TV seemed to offer some Samsung provided news and other Apps, specifically for Samsung and also access to downloaded moveis and the like. The friend seemed to have the idea they could sit in the armchair with a wireless keyboard and surf the web and access their PC upstairs. It seemed unlikely the TV had a full web browser, nor any form of remote PC access. But as with many clients of technology it was difficult to get them to explain exactly what it was they wanted. So the simplest solution seemed to be to connect it up and see what it could do.

Already I had connected up a low cost wireless router, so I just needed a WiFi device for the TV. The TV has an Ethernet socket and two USB sockets, so there were plenty of options. There is a specific Samsung USB WiFi dongle for the TV, but a web search seemed to show that third party units could be used. So I got a D-Link DWA-125 N150 USB Adaptor. I should have read the online discussion of this more carefully, as it turned out that Using NoN-Samsung USB WiFi dongles, requires changing the software in the TV. I was not willing to risk breaking a new TV.

The next option was to use the Ethernet port of the TV. But as the TV is on a different floor to where the Internet wired connection is, running a cable would be complicated. The solution was to use a device which relayed the WiFi to an Ethernet socket which could then be plugged into the TV. No special software is then needed in the TV, which operates as if it has a direct connection to the Internet. The needed device is called a "bridge". After much searching of the web I found that the same DIR-600 I hag got for the WiFi could be reprogrammed to be a repeater bridge using the open source DD-WRT software.

DD-WRT is software developed to take advantage of the capabilities of low cost router hardware. The repeater bridge allows WiFi to be extended further. It also provides Etherenet sockets.

Slower NBN Option

Tasmanian NBN provider Internode has announced that in addition to higher upload speeds on its existing Internet service, it will also offer customers the option of a slower 12/1 MBPS (and presumably cheaper) service. The 12 MBPS basic service should be popular as it is still fast enough for most home Internet uses, including High Definition video streaming (HD IP TV).

Former speed combinations		New speed combinations
Downlink (Mbps)	Uplink (Mbps)	Downlink (Mbps)	Uplink (Mbps)
100	8	100	40
50	4	50	20
25	2	25	5
Not available		12	1

From: Internode boosts its NBN upload speeds in Tasmania, Internode, 5 January 2011

National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme

Details of the Australian National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme are in the latest "Television and Computer Scheme E-bulletin" from the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. The Department issued a Product Stewardship Legislation Consultation Paper for comment 10 November 2010 and the 45 submissions received are avialable online. The need for such legislation is made more urgent by the success of the federal government's switch-over to digital TV, resulting in householders replacing old analogue sets with new digital models. The National Broadband Network is similarly likely to result in obsolete networking equipment needing to be disposed of from millions of households.

Unfortunately the e-bulletin is designed as a poorly formatted printed brochure provided in PDF and as a large Ms-Word document, not as an easy to read web page. Here is the text of the latest issue, converted to HTML (minus some images):

TELEVISION AND COMPUTER SCHEME E-BULLETIN

National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme

Inside this issue

• Message from the department
• Progress made in 2010 towards establishing a national scheme
• Dates to note in 2011
• Byteback wins International Best Practice Award

Upcoming events

February 2011 - Television and computer regulation consultation paper and public meetings

Useful links

• National Waste Policy environment.gov.au/wastepolicy
• E-waste One-stop Portal environment.gov.au/ewaste

SUBSCRIBE NOW

To keep up to date with the development and implementation of the National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme, subscribe to the e-bulletin at: environment.gov.au/ewaste

Message from the department

As 2010 comes to an end, the department wishes to acknowledge the significant contribution and commitment from our many stakeholders in progressing the development of the national product stewardship legislation and the National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme (the Scheme). The Scheme is expected to be operational in late 2011.

Since the decision by the Environment, Protection and Heritage Council (EPHC) in November 2009 that the Australian Government would, under the new product stewardship legislation, implement regulation to support an industry-led scheme to collect and recycle end of life televisions and computers, a considerable amount of work has been undertaken. This final issue of the e-bulletin for 2010 contains a record of achievements made by the Scheme Implementation Working Group, as well as key dates and opportunities for further engagement in the development of the Scheme in 2011.

Of key note is the upcoming release of a consultation paper on the television and computer regulations, scheduled for February 2011. The consultation paper will provide the opportunity for all interested members of the community to be consulted in the development of the Scheme and to hear more about the proposed regulatory arrangement. More information will be made available at environment.gov.au/ewaste closer to the release date.

The department would like thank all subscribers for their continued support and interest in the development and implementation of a solution for end of life televisions and computers and looks forward to building on the substantial progress made in 2010.

On behalf of the IWG, we wish you a relaxing and safe break shared with family and friends.

Progress made in 2010 towards establishing a national scheme

The National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme (the Scheme) Implementation Working Group (IWG) was established in March 2010 to:

• facilitate planning arrangements for the Scheme;
• consider the relationships between the operational aspects of introducing a national product stewardship scheme for televisions and computers;
• ensure industry developed schemes are consistent with government policy; and
• deliver on the core product stewardship objectives.

The IWG comprises representatives from the computer and television industry and Australian and state governments.

Since 30 March 2010 the IWG has formally met eight times; participated in three workshops; and established five sub-groups to focus on key areas of communication, standards, performance indicators, the national geographic roll-out plan and governance arrangements for the industry-led arrangements. As a result of this ongoing work the IWG has:

• created a formal work plan, risk management plan, stakeholder engagement strategy and communications plan;
• launched the National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme one-stop portal and e-bulletin service;
• received approval from Standards Australia to establish an Australian Standard for the collection, storage, handling, transport and treatment of e-waste;
• assisted the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) and Product Stewardship Australia (PSA) to develop the draft interim industry standard for the collection, transportation and recycling of televisions, computers and computer peripherals.
• developed a draft set of key performance indicators (KPIs) for the Scheme; and
• developed a draft geographical roll-out plan for the Scheme.

In addition to these achievements, the IWG has actively engaged and consulted with many stakeholders throughout 2010. The IWG plays a vital role in disseminating information and educating interested individuals about the Scheme.

The IWG consulted stakeholders via the Stakeholder Reference Group (SRG) on the:

• an appropriate definition for e-waste;
• factsheet on the Responsible disposal of unwanted televisions and computers;
• interim industry standard;
• KPIs for the Scheme; and
• Scheme roll-out plan.

The IWG has also reached out to a broader audience by attending various conferences and events. In 2010 the IWG participated in:

• E-waste 2010, Brisbane (21 July)
• Enviro 2010, Melbourne (21-23 July)
• Zero Waste Summit 2010, Sydney (13-15 September)
• International Product Stewardship Summit, Sydney (9-10 November)
• Australian Waste and Recycling Expo, Sydney (10-11 November)
• Community Recycling Network Australia, National Meeting, Melbourne (19 November)

Further consultation has also occurred through meetings between the IWG and all sectors impacted by the Scheme. The IWG consulted through the Australian Government, with both Austraian Government and state government agencies. The IWG has also consulted with local councils, retailers, recyclers, reverse logistics, waste management operators, community and environmental non-government organisations, charitable and social enterprise organisations, and television and computer suppliers and manufacturers.

The many accomplishments listed above are a reflection of how much has already been achieved and outlines the focus to deliver the Scheme in 2011.

Byteback was honoured with an ICT Best Practice Award because it was considered by the judges to be the best excellent example in the region of how policy and project implementation through a public-private partnership can achieve significant outcomes for the ICT industry and broader society.

AIIA's National Policy and Program Manager for Sustainability, Josh Millen, who accepted the award in Taipei on behalf of the Byteback program, explained, "The Byteback program has proven that an effective collection and recycling program could be scaled up and delivered to the Australian community. The information collected over the past three years during the trial has already been informing the development of the national e-waste take-back and recycling scheme which will roll-out in 2011."

The brands involved in Byteback also share in this award with Sustainability Victoria.

"Sustainability Victoria is very proud to be accepting this award together with AIIA," Sustainability Victoria CEO Anita Roper said. The Byteback program is a fantastic example of how working in partnership with industry and local government can create solutions that improve resource recovery and recycling and create new business opportunities and markets. Since the program started in 2005, around 2883 tonnes of waste has been diverted, equating to about 11,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas avoided - or the equivalent of taking 2650 cars off the road."

"I would like congratulate and thank AIIA and its members for their commitment to Byteback, which is now set to roll-out as a national solution to e-waste," Ms Roper said.

Dates to note in 2011

2011 will see the planned introduction and passage of the Product Stewardship Bill through the Federal Parliament and the commencement of the National Television and Computer Scheme. There is still considerable work to be done to meet this timeline and the IWG will be continuing to work with all stakeholders to ensure outcomes are achieved.

The key dates for 2011 are:

• Jan - Frequently asked questions (FAQs) targeted to specific stakeholders available on the one-stop portal
• Feb - Public consultation on the Regulations (Information will be made available at: environment.gov.au/wastepolicy)
• Feb - KPIs for the Scheme finalised
• Mar - Scheme roll-out plan finalised
• March - Interim industry standard finalised
• September - Commencement of the National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme

Byteback wins International Best Practice Award

AIIA's e-waste collection and recycling program, Byteback, was awarded a regional ICT Best Practice Award by the Asian-Oceanic Computing Industry Organisation in front of a Gala Dinner featuring the who's-who of APAC IT business leaders in Taipei on Friday 3 December. Byteback is run in partnership with Sustainability Victoria, leading IT equipment manufacturers (Apple, Brother, Canon, Dell, Epson, Fujitsu, Fuji-Xerox, HP, IBM, Lenovo and Lexmark) and with support from sites in Boorondara, Moonee Valley, Darebin and the Barwon Region council areas, and Officeworks in Ballarat and Dandenong. ...

From: "Television and Computer Scheme E-bulletin", Issue 4, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, December 2010.

Samsung 3D LED TV

I tried a five minute demonstration of a Samsung Series 7000 3D LED TV in the Westfield Belconnen shopping centre, Canberra. The results were disappointing, with the images looking like a series of stacked 2D cardboard cut-outs, rather than genuine 3D images.

The Samsung glasses needed for 3D were reasonably comfortable, fitting over my prescription spectacles. The material provided demonstration was the usual scenery, tropical fish and football. Usually I have difficulty with 3D displays, being unable to align the two images and experiencing nausea. I did not have and difficulty with the Samsung system (although it was a short demonstration).

If 3D was a low cost extra for the TV (perhaps $50 for a couple of sets of glasses) then it might be a worthwhile to use with the limited amount of 3D content available.

The Samsung sets have some other interesting features, such as LED back lighting, which increases contrast and reduces energy consumption and some Internet access (Sykpe and something called Internet@TV). These are likely to be of much more lasting value than the 3D gimmick.

GEM IPTV Interactive Interface

Around 2001 I looked at the web based Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) standards for adding web like features to broadcast TV and was not very impressed. There is now Globally Executable MHP (GEM), a followup specification for adding web-like interaction to digital broadcast TV, IPTV and Blu-Ray players. I am also not impressed with GEM.

Like MHP, this is a formal set of standards (ETSI TS 102 819, ETSI TS 102 728, ITU Recommendation ITU-T J.202). GEM assumes the consumer device has Java and then assumes the makers of a class of devices (such as set top boxes or DVD players) define a set of features for such devices.

Like MHP the features of each GEM implementation has to be very carefully defined, as the devices will be produces in the millions and the communications media for broadcast TV and DVD players is very constrained and non-interactive. The consumer device can't simply request a different version of some content from the broadcaster or from the DVD disk, as the communication is one way. The consumer does not expect to have to keep upgrading their low cost box with more memory and software.

In the case of IPTV the situation could be different, as IP indicates "Internet Protocol" which is usually interactive. However, devices and series from the broadcast industry for IPTV tend to build the same limitations as broadcast TV in.

While I see standards such as GEM as being needed for enhancing broadcast TV and DVDs, I don;t see these as very important platforms or ones with large growth potential. The future web-like format for use on Internet-like networks is simply the actual web on the actual Internet. Rather than the Internet and the web constraining themselves to fit with the limitations set by old fashioned broadcast digital TV, I see digital TV being a legacy service on the Internet.

ScreenACT Project Pod

ScreenACT Project Pod has 24 places available for the first phase in helping Canberra based digital content developers, with entries closing 10.00am 29th March 2010. The project is designed along similar lines to the InnovationACT annual event run by the ANU. There is a nine page "Project Pod: Application Form and Guidelines" avialable, as well as Key Dates and FAQs about the project.

ScreenAct Vision

ScreenACT offers support with the general aim of helping to develop the local screen industry, thereby enhancing the ACT production industry’s capabilities and employment opportunities.

Project Pod Aim

Project Pod is a professional and project development opportunity that aims to build capability in screen project development, increase networks, and support a group of targeted projects through to a market-­‐ready stage.

The program has four main phases, which start with broad learning goals, then narrow down, focussing on key teams to help them refine their projects to the point that they are ready to take to market. As part of this, several top projects will receive extra funding.

Guiding Principles Screen

ACT supports:

• the film, video production, TV and digital media industries.
• projects that are intended to result in commercial or business focused outcomes.
• applicants who have started their careers and can demonstrate professional experience.

ScreenACT will give preference to:

• participants who show a commitment to the six-­‐month process.
• projects intended for production and post production in the ACT and Capital Region.
• applications that are professional in their presentation, thought and execution.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

About ScreenAct Project Pod

The ScreenACT Project Pod is a six-­‐month program that is open to all professional screen practitioners (individuals and teams) in the ACT/Capital Region. It consists of four phases:

• Phase One – Two workshops
• Phase Two – One-­‐on-­‐one project development
• Phase Three – Industry Feedback and future project plans
• Phase Four – ScreenACT Grants allocated to as many as four selected projects Selection for the Project Pod is competitive.

Phase One will include up to 24 participants. Phases Two through Four will have up to ten participants.

Project Pod will be led by a number of different providers, and tailored to the needs of the individual participants based on their project’s format and genre.

• Phase One will be delivered by Stephen Cleary, who is an international script consultant and developer, and by ScreenACT
• Phases Two and Three to be delivered by local developers with oversight and input from Stephen Cleary and
  ScreenACT.
• Phase Four delivered by ScreenACT.

All participants for all phases to be selected by an industry panel, with ScreenACT acting as secretariat, and with the sign-­‐off of the CEO of Canberra Business Council on final participants and funding.

Phase One costs participants $600 for the two workshops. The first workshop is over four days, and the second over two. Phases Two through Four have no participation cost.

The program covers narrative and story, introduction to development practice, pitching and presentation skills, introduction to producing, networking with industry professionals and Screen Australia representatives, and one-­‐on-­‐one professional development assistance on a project basis.

Project Pod projects can come from film, television or digital media industries. ScreenACT will consider projects that include but are not limited to:

• Feature films, television drama series, mini-­‐series, telemovies, broadcast length documentary, television documentary series, reality TV series and digital media projects.
• ScreenACT will NOT consider the development or production of TV commercials, corporate videos, or training videos

PLEASE NOTE: As this is the pilot ScreenACT Project Pod, ScreenACT reserves the rights to make changes to the project as deemed necessary. ...

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must be residents of the ACT or Capital Region (as shown on the map on ScreenACT’s website: http://www.screenact.com.au/content.php?id=8)

Applicants must have started their careers and be able to demonstrate some degree of professional experience.

Applicants must be Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia, and be 18 years old or older.

Applicants can be individuals or up to a team of two. The team leader must attend all sessions. The second team member is expected to attend all sessions, however there is some flexibility on this issue.

Applicants must be the producer, director, and/or writer of the project. Applicants must also be the copyright holder, or have an option to the rights in any and all works on which the project is based. The charge for phase one is per person regardless of individual or team status....

Key Dates

ITEM	DATE
Applications open	Friday, 19th March, 2010
Applications close	Monday 29th March, 2010 – 10.00am
Phase One successful applications announced	Thursday 1st April, 2010
Phase One: First Project Pod Workshop (4 days)	Friday 23rd – Monday 26th April, 2010
Phase One: Second Project Pod Workshop (2 days)	Saturday 1st – Sunday 2nd May, 2010
Revised treatment due	Friday 14th May, 2010 – 5.00pm
Phase Two successful applications announced	Friday, 28th May, 2010
Phase Three Workshop (1 day)	Saturday, 19th June, 2010
Delivery of agreed project deliverables	Friday 1st October, 2010 – 5.00pm
Phase Four Workshop (3 days)	Friday 22nd – Sunday 24th October, 2010

...

Assessment Criteria

In assessing applications, the ScreenACT Assessment Committee will mark applications against the following criteria:

• Qualification under the general guidelines and guiding principles
• Originality and strength of concept
• Commercial viability of the project
• The strength of the creative team
• Commitment to the entire process
• Likelihood of the project proceeding into production

...

From: Project Pod: Application Form and Guidelines, ScreenACT, 19 March 2010

Wall TV Like a Painting

Slim LED backlight LCD TVs are becoming avialable at reasonable prices. This raises the prospect of mounting them on the wall, like a painting. Kogan are offering a 41 mm thick 26 Inch TV for around AU$600. These have provision for the usual VESA wall mount. The screen is thin around the edges and so would appear to float away from the wall. It might be interesting to mount it amongst some paintings, put an artwork on the screen and see how many people notice it is a TV.

Led Strip Lighting Around Flat Screen TVs

The Philips Ambilight LCD HDTV range have lights around the edges and on the back which claimed to reduce eye strain and make the colours look better. There are numerous online discussions of using Led Strip Lighting for a similar effect, including suggestions by Ikea with their DIODER lights. Most of these do not automatically adjust the light level and colour as Phillips claim to do. But the effect might also be useful for desktop LCD computer screens, with the lighting strips providing subtle and efficient lighting for a desk. The lighting strips are now commonly available.

Freeview and barbers

Saw a familiar face on TV just now. The latest Freeview advertising "more for me" features Enrico the barber of Annandale. He is something of a I was sitting in there when summoned to Samoa). and others mention him in their travelogues. Freeview seem to have difficulty comming to grips with mdia in the 21st century. Their media release for this new advertising campaign includes a web address, user id (moreforme) and password (launch09) of where to get a copy. It seems to have escaped their attention that they could simply put a copy on a service such as YouTibe, but then, if they did that why would we need digital broadcast TV?

Audio to video synchronisation for Australian Digital TV

ABC Radio Hobart is interviewing me 7:10am tomorrow about problems with Audio to video synchronisation for Australian Digital TV. I am not expert on digital TV, but must have done okay when interviewed by ABC Radio WA South West on the switch over to digital TV last month.

As I understand it, the problem is most likely in the viewer's equipment, not the TV studio or broadcast equipment. I have the problem myself using a Widescreen LCD for TV. The audio takes a different path through my home theatre system, from the video which goes from the set top box to the display. Delays with processing the video result in it being out of sync with the audio. Some equipment allows for adjusting the audio to match the image, but my cheap home theatre doesn't (nor does the TiVo set top box).

Sony LCD TV Presence Sensor

The Sony BRAVIA 40 inch WE5 Series HD LCD TV comes with a "Presence Sensor". This can be switched on so that the unit will turn off the screen to save power if it detected no one is in the room. It switches the picture back on instantly when someone comes in. The feature does save power with my measurements showing a drop from 109 Watt to 60 Watt.

Presumably this feature works using an infra-red sensor, as used in low cost burglar alarms. The sensor appears to have a range of about 3.5 m over 120 degrees. The time can be set to 7 seconds to test the feature. It might be set to five minutes for a screen which is only used occasionally or thirty minutes more typically.

The system works very well and would be useful in education and for digital signage. One problem is that the feature does not seem to be active when the TV is receiving VGA input. Otherwise it could be used in meeting rooms and parts of libraries not in constant use. One feature I would like to see is the screen brighten slowly, rather than come on suddenly at full brightness.

Also it would be useful if the feature had a second stage which would switch the unit to standby after a further period of inactivity. That would save more power (dropping consumption to 25 Watt), at the cost of the unit taking longer to restart.

See also:

1. Sony 40 Inch LCD TV Initial Impressions

2. Sony BRAVIA WE Series LCD TV".

ps: Sony TVs are also available via Amazon.com but may not be versions suitable for Australian TV: Sony BRAVIA W-Series 40-Inch LCD HDTV

Sony 40 Inch LCD TV Initial Impressions

The Sony BRAVIA 40 inch WE5 Series HD LCD TV comes in a box 210 x 1250 x 785 mm weighing 26 kg. It is light enough for one person to lift, but so large it takes to to move it. This is much heavier and larger than a LCD projector. But it is lighter than a comparable sized plasma screen.

The unit is relatively simple to unpack and assemble, with a stand which slots into the bottom of the screen and is held with four bolts.

I connected an VGA cable to a computer and composite input from a digital set top box. The unit also has HDMI 2 input, but I did not have a HDMI cable available. No cables were supplied with the unit, apart from the power cable.

Plugged in using VGA to my laptop, the screen gave a very clear computer display, but disappointingly dim. The display was not bright enough to be used in a room with sunlight coming through the window. The display was unusable in conditions where a 24 inch Dell 2405FPW LCD display worked fine. When sunlight in the room was reduced, the screen brightened enough to be usable.

Plugged into a digital set top box via component video, the unit gave an acceptable resolution image. However, as with the PC display, the image was not bright enough to be comfortably viewed. It turned out that this was a problem with the Power Saving feature. When set to "high" this dims the screen. This makes the unit not bright enough for typical digital signage or presentation applications. Turing this power saving setting to "off" was the only way to obtain an acceptable level of brightness.

Power consumption

When I plugged the unit in it drew 76 Watt. The unit arrived in "shop" mode, with the power savings setting turned off. It took some time to work out how to turn off this mode. Many people would not find, or not be able to set, the power saving setting and Sony should set them on before delivery.

The unit used 120 Watt when displaying moving component video and 123 Watt with PC input. When in standby mode it used 26 Watt. The unit also has a physical power switch which reduced consumption to less than 1 Watt (the limit of measurement of my power meter).

Safety Problem

The instruction manual for the unit includes advice for preventing the TV from toppling over. This says to install a machine screw (not supplied) into a hole on the the TV and tie a "strong cord" (not supplied) to it, with the other end secured to the TV stand with a bolt (not supplied). These instructions will not be relevant in most educational and digital signage applications, where the unit will be securely attached to a wall with a Vesa mount. However, the manual instructions are inadequate and the unit is unsafe for home use, as supplied. The unit should be withdrawn from retail sale until this is corrected.

See also: "Sony BRAVIA WE Series LCD TV".

ps: Sony TVs are also available via Amazon.com but may not be versions suitable for Australian TV: Sony BRAVIA W-Series 40-Inch LCD HDTV