Monday, April 24, 2006

TVersity 0.9.5.0 Available with RSS Feeds


TVersity is now available with direct support for RSS Feeds, which introduces the most fantastic possibilities!

Within minutes of downloading the latest version of this UPnP Media Server, I was happily playing my own interests in Audio, Picture & Video "directly from an RSS Feed URL" on my TV via TVersity and my Philips SL300i.

TVersity Release Quote :-
We are happy to announce the newest release of the TVersity Media Server, version 0.9.5 With this release we once again break new grounds by allowing owners of any UPnP A/V enabled network device to subscribe to Audio/Image/Video Podcasts and Blogs and play the enclosed media disregarding the codec limitations of their device.

While audio blogs typically contain mp3 files and image blogs typicaly contain jpegs, both formats that any media hub can handle, video blogs are mostly in an iPod Video compatile format which happens to be incompatible with most media hubs. This is not an issue for TVersity due to its built in transcoder which allows an on the fly conversion of those videos to a format supported by the target device.

In addition to podcasts and blogs the new release connects your media hub to Internet resources such as Flickr, Yahoo! Video Search, Google Video Search, Webjay and more. With this much content available for playback with a click of your remote, the media adapter you purchased is finally worth it!

Friday, April 14, 2006

mariposaHD





Mariposa means Butterfly in Spanish

I must have been far to busy focusing on techy websites for Video Streaming and Downloading, as I totally missed this site until now?

mariposaHD.TV claim to be the first Internet TV show to provide HDTV distributed directly over the internet via bittorrent. Absolutely TOP quality High Definition Video downloads in .wmvHD 1020i & 720p or mp4 for the iPod.

There are to date three show downloads available covering Glamour and Style mixed with a touch of Adventure. I found downloading these shows to be relatively quick using utorrent 1Gb for the wmvHD 720p versions. (I downloaded all three shows in approx 6 hrs)
TVersity UPnP Media Server can transcode the HD wmv to mpeg to allow me to play these shows on my TV using a SL300i UPnP Player, but I am currently experiencing issues with Video/Audio being out of sync with the transcoded versions, the shows play fine on my PC in WMP10.

To take a direct quote from mariposaHD.TV
Welcome to the future of television!

mariposaHD is the world's first High Definition TV series distributed directly on the Internet. And it's free. mariposaHD is recorded, edited, and distributed in the full 1920x1080 pixel resolution of the 1080i standard. We distribute mariposaHD using the BitTorrent peer-to-peer software. With a broadband Internet connection, you can download and watch mariposaHD on your PC, your HDTV, or even a video iPod.

mariposaHD is produced by four ordinary guys who quit their jobs, moved to South America, and decided to make a TV show. We film everything with HDV camcorders and edit the video on a PC in our living room. You can download mariposaHD for free from our Web site, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from anywhere in the world. mariposaHD is distributed under a Creative Commons license which means that you can keep it, copy it, and share it forever as long as you don't charge for it or alter it.

This is the way that television should work! So enjoy it,

Mike, Jeff, Dominic, and Tamir
Motamorfosis Productions

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Listable, a new way to get to resources quickly


I have been recently keeping an eye on a web 2.0 start-up called Listable.

Listable is different to say Digg and del.icio.us, in that rather than just pointing users to breaking stories (Digg) and popular resources (Del.icio.us) it attempts to provide a tailored listing of anything the "Listable user community" can think of.

Listable works by combining Tagging, Voting and Listing, Oh and it also has RSS Feeds :-)


Listable enables the most popular resource within any given list to make it to the top, based on it's popularity etc. To put listable to the test, I have just started my first and a new list in listable!
For those of you who like to watch and listen to local and Internet based A/V Media utilising a UPnP Media Player and Server, please take the time to add/vote on your preference.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

BBC's Podcast Trial, Introduces Terry Wogan Today.



The BBC have today included Terry Wogan in their Podcast trials, which are currently continuing until the middle of the 2006.

The BBC claim that any music being played on their stations will not be included in the Podcasts due to complex issues surrounding the BBC's ability to include commercially available music. Apparently unsigned artist music is included in a few of the Podcasts.

The Podcast is basically Terry's waffle between the music tracks on his show, but his dulcet tones are quiet relaxing :-)

[Tip, clicking on the above picture will directly play or download Terry's first Podcast, whilst it is available.]

Note: Terry's week day shows can, also be fully listened to again (Including the music) but these streams are only provided in Real Media Audio.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Feed2Podcast explained.

Feed2Pocast is an interesting application, which enables anyone to turn his or her Blog content into an automated Audio Podcast.

Feed2Podcast means that anyone's blog is able to speak for itself!

I've added a couple of links in my blog sidebar, to illustrate Feed2Podcast capabilities with my blogs content, you can also click on the provided image above to try the Feed2Podcast player.

Please Note: In the player you are able to both view and select which post is played by selecting the up and down arrows to the right of volume control. (illustrated in image)

Feed2Podcast updates the individual's blog podcast, approximately every three hours.