In the growing trend of Hollywood embracing Videobloggers, an Observer article talks about the Hollywood courtship of the biggest videoblogger, Ze Frank. "The Show" is part of my morning ritual but in March, Ze will stop his morning newscasts as he had planned. There have been a lot of talk of what he might do next. According to the article, Ze says feature film will be his focus, though he will "never ditch the web." The article also provides some insight into his daily ritual.

You might remember reading about Doom9 member Muslix64's successful attempt at bypassing the AACS encryption system of HD DVD, resulting in his BackupHDDVD software that enables users to extract files from the discs. Slyck News has interviewed Muslix64 to gather his thoughts on fair use, and clearing the misconceptions about "hacking". Muslix64 also explains the differences between content and copy protection, and decryption differences between HD DVD and Blu-Ray. All in all, it's a fascinating and enlightening read.

(via FresHDV)

Wanna get into video editing, but can't afford the latest studio bundle? Never fear, Ubuntu will have you logging, trimming, and printing in no time!

The popular Linux flavor is planning an April release for a new distribution aimed at video production enthusiasts and professionals. The software package features Cinelerra as an editor, Jahshaka for compositing, and audio suite, Wired. The Ubuntu Studio wiki also states the building of an "alt" DVD authoring program as one of the team's goals.

I find this information cool, but I must confess, I've never tried any of the apps included here. I have always intended to try one or the other, mostly for comparison to the expensive software I regularly use, but the thought of having to install another OS just to get a crack at them seemed daunting. However, with everything bundled into a nice tight "distro" April can't come fast enough.

READ via Download Squad

"You don't find as much originality in Sundance films these days, and for a simple reason. In the beginning, the festival was a home for the homeless, for a rambunctious outlaw take on filmmaking. There was no need to be cautious, since indie films were rarely hits. But as Sundance became the showcase for a form of movie gaining marketplace pull, young directors naturally made films to fit the new mold.... Trying to get your intellectual fill with Sundance films is like choosing homemade popcorn over the concession-stand variety: higher quality, little nourishment."

Harsh words from Richard Corliss in Time Magazine regarding the state of Sundance, yes. Rather than regurgitating his sentiments, I will simply point out a very enlightening book I read a few years ago, Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film. If you think this article is being too harsh and unfair, the book very informatively strengthens a similar argument.

Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis have unveiled their latest creation. Joost pronounced "juiced" is a web based video browser that aims to TV up the Internet. Users download the Joost software, and browse channels much like regular TV.

The system generates revenue through advertising, though in a less obtrusive way than television. Joost is also in the process of signing deals with content providers, making things nice and legit. Of course the system has a peer to peer element, meaning users will be sharing video with one another.

Joost will mark the third venture from Zennström and Friis. Both file sharing software Kazaa, and telephone over Internet provider Skype have proved lucrative for the Scandinavian duo. Time will tell whether or not they've scored a hat trick in the increasingly crowded video content market.

It looks like Netflix is in no real hurry to get into the movie download game with the announcement of their plans to incorporate video streaming to their website. Their new "Watch Now" feature (which is now available to subscribers) allows customers to stream anywhere between six to 48 hours of content per month. As of now, only a limited number of customers will be given access to the service, due to handling capacity concerns. On top of that, anyone interested must install special software on their PC to view the content. Currently, 1,000 TV shows and movies are available, and it seems that they can be viewed in full, but the fact that the video is streaming does not offer a whole lot of incentive to really use this "Watch Now" feature seriously. I think Scott Kirsner of CinemaTech is right when he labels this move a "stop-gap measure". Netflix does not want to lose their control over the DVD market by getting into downloads.

New York Times article on Hollywood's uneasiness about YouTube. Even though, Hollywood for the most part has been embracing the YouTube phenomenon lately. Part of the problem now (and has always been) is that many of their movies land up on YouTube, even if it is broken up in several pieces (Youtube has a time restriction).

On my personal blog, I'd linked to a very important television series that I found in its entirety on YouTube. It ended up being the most popular post of 2006. Mind you, the content owners in question were not interested in bringing it to DVD or even releasing it (at the time) and it was too important to be shelved. Like many other movies, the television series was taken down to be only found at another hosting site.

I find many movies on YouTube, I am not really comfortable with this. Not because it is illegal but because I can't watch something for that long on my computer, when I can easily get it on Netflix. This annoys most people. But I'm sure Hollywood will spend a lot of money addressing this issue, especially when they get their numbers wrong: "No one knows exactly how much Hollywood-derived content is uploaded to the site without the studios' consent, but academics and media executives estimate it could be anywhere from 30 percent to 70 percent." I laughed when I read this.

The article also has many instances of compromise, for example, 8 Mile was found and then taken down from YouTube except for the songs. The article also shows Hollywood's uneasiness towards user-generated content which at times means "Hollywood-recycled" content. "Brian Grazer, a producer of '8 Mile,' said some of the mashups he had seen were 'pretty hip.' But he said he, too, viewed them as a form of piracy: 'It bothers me artistically. Here's this thing where you have no control; they are chopping it up and putting your memories in a blender.'"

Macworld 2007 has come and gone, and Apple has taken the movie download game one step further with the introduction of the Apple TV. Yet only one new film studio partner was announced, and that was Paramount. Despite unleashing over 100 of their movies to the iTunes Store, hardly any are what we would consider current titles. And where are all of the other Hollywood studios? Why aren't any other companies jumping on the bandwagon, with Jobs seemingly poised to take over everyone's living room? This Business Week article explains why: they want you, the consumer, to have even less control over that media file you are buying, and they want even more money for it. Yes, it seems $15 just isn't enough for a movie download, even without any kind of extra content or the visual quality seen on a DVD. (Oh, and near zero production costs for the companies themselves.) And yes, being able to watch this download on up to three devices is just too many. Gee. Thanks, Hollywood.

(via CinemaTech)

Long tail theorist Chris Anderson talks movie production and applies it to small scale, low budget filmmaking in a new blog entry which lifts from the recent DV Rebel's Guide for some examples and inspiration. The claim is that when costs of production and distribution decrease (as in, what is happening right now), new long tail markets emerge. (Read up on long tail for a clear understanding of the concept.) Anyway, it's a fresh perspective to see this theory applied to filmmaking. Plus, the low budget production ideas and tips from DV Rebel's Guide and very smart, and some are pretty surprising, too. Recommended read.

(via HDforIndies)

I just goes to show, if your video is stupid enough, and...um video-y enough you could be famous... or at least win some cold hard cash. Stupidvideos.com announced today, their award for Best Original Video of 2006. The winners Invisible Engine, a comedy troop from LA won $15,000 and untold recognition throughout the blogosphere.

The troop put together a little skit about a mouse stealing a tank which I admit made me laugh quite a bit. Stupid Videos says they awarded "Mouse Tank" the prize because it shows "what everyday users can do with just a camera and some creativity." (And a mouse in a remote control tank.)

Click READ below for a link to the video

Late Show with David Letterman music mixer Harvey Goldberg likes doing things the old fashioned way. He has a background in studio mixing, which helps a great deal with his current job. Every night, Goldberg is in charge of mixing both the house band with Paul Shaffer, as well as the musical guest... and he's still rockin' it analog.

Goldberg uses a massive (by broadcast standards) 80 input console, which he divides down the middle, allotting 40 per band. He has conceded to record everything digitally to a pair of 24-track RADAR units, which he feels are " the closest thing there is digitally to the warmth of an analog tape deck." Surprisingly, Goldberg says he has a harder time mixing the CBS Orchestra, than whatever band he met 20 minutes ago.

All this info was provided by Dan Daley over at Studio Daily, who had a chance to talk with Goldberg. Honestly, his article will be appreciated by by those of you who are much bigger audiophiles than I am. Still, it's interesting to read about all the gear, setup, and intricacies of a show like Letterman. For a link to the complete (and fantastic) interview from Studio Daily, click READ below.

Long time Apple host card maker ATTO debuted it's new Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) adapter Tuesday at Macworld Expo. Designed for the Mac Pro, the PCI Express card gets high-end users connected to RAID storage over one of the fastest connections possible. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that's great for video editors.

I won't bore you with all the details of SAS technology. Suffice it to say, SAS offers speed improvements over traditional SCSI, while eliminating some of it's hassles (now, what did I do with that terminator?) At around 3Gb (Gigabits not bytes) per second data transfer, SAS is a relatively affordable option for HD video editors, and provides reliability as well.

ATTO has been supporting the Mac platform for nearly 2 decades, and generally make great products. You can bet their new cards will have been tested specifically for the Mac Pro, and will perform as advertised. Click READ for a link to the product page.

YouTube is considering creating a television show and/or a TV channel. The content will consist of user-generated clips that are handpicked from the millions of clips it currently hosts. This is a nice idea, it will quickly replace the TV viral shows and compete against programs like "America's Funniest Home Videos." But you have to wonder if the creators will be compensated in any way. And if the answer is no, why not? It is one thing to put it on the web, it is another to put it on TV. Though I remember reading that Youtube license did indicate that Youtube could in a sense play the videos on any platform. Meaning they covered their bases.

(via Gizmodo)

Hoping to bridge the barely-shrinking HD DVD and Blu-Ray gap, Warner has announced yet another new format merging the two competing formats, dubbed the Total Hi Def disc. Warner claims that the discs can contain dual layers of both HD DVD and Blu-ray content on a single disc, at no increased cost. The first releases are expected to hit shelves during the second half of this year, but no specifics were released. Will this format actually stick, and should we expect companies to support it? Who knows... but this whole format battle seems to just be dragging on and on... blergh.