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Archive for the ‘Television’ Category

Netflix a User Experience away from the PC

Aug 07

Today the Netflix user experience of movies is 80% movie and 20% PC. The movie experience is all fun. The PC experience is somewhat fun if you’re a technologist but rating movies and building queues isn’t most peoples idea of fun. What if you could continue to pull the user experience away from the computer and still provide the same value?

The idea is to use the evelope not only as a mechanism to return movies but also as a feedback device. At the very core you could allow users to rate movies by scratching or peeling off stars. This would make it easier for the user to give the system meta-data without having to pull open a computer and login. The idea could be extended for adding movies to your list of things to watch… “If you liked this movie you may also like… please check the box to add them.” (The longer your list the more likely you are to stay with Netflix)

A lot of companies assume that the best design has to be on the computer. This isn’t true; sometimes the best user experience can be with paper where your interface is as simple as a pencil or even your finger nail.

Posted in Ideas, Television, User Interface | 1 Comment »

iPhone Telephone Hyperlinks

Jul 07

Enough with the iPhone news. Let’s talk about a little detail that no one else is talking about. The interesting thing for me is how the web is joining our good friend the telephone. A while back I talked about Callto links and how these could be tied into Vonage using a little tool I wrote. So I was pretty interested to see how the iPhone would allow a web-page to connect to a telephone number.

i was expecting either callto: links or perhaps a telephone microformat or perhaps a proprietary solution.

Surprisingly it turns out that it’s none of the above. The iPhone is using a not so well known RFC to create telephone hyperlinks. This is done through a tel: link format that I’d never heard of called RFC 3966.

The format allows you to create an anchor link and use a tel: URI to point to a telephone number. For example if you wanted to contact Apple customer support you would use a link like this:
Call Apple Customer Support at 1-800-275-2273
Go ahead and give it a try, I don’t yet have an iPhone to test this out.

The link format is fairly straight forward:

<a href="tel:+1-800-275-2273">
Call Apple Customer Support at 1-800-275-2273
</a>.

If more sites start using this for their contact information other providers for the tel: URI may begin supporting the format (Vonage, Verizon, Skype, etc.) This makes it easy to transition from a web interface to a voice interface. The format also theoretically suppors alternative SIP providers and extensions making it possible to put a corporate directory online in the form of an iPhone application.

Happy telephone linking.

Posted in Apple, Television | 9 Comments »

Apple TV vs. Tivo

Mar 07

Apple has introduced a device that connects to your TV and brings content into your living room.
No cable provider, no tuner, no service fees, just digital content on demand. Pure and simple.

Tivo on the other hand is a middle man. Tivo is a broker between the networks and the user. The time shifting functionality gives the illusion of control but the truth is the networks are still driving your viewing habits. Today content is control and the networks have the content… but the control is changing hands…

Consider Apple’s relationship with some of the largest TV networks…
The ABC network is owned by Disney. Steve Jobs’ company Pixar was acquired by Disney and Steve is now the largest shareholder and on the board of directors for Disney. Now consider that ABC is leading the way in moving content online. It’s not a leap of the imagination that Apple TV could provide on-demand content from ABC.

View the show direct with commercials or buy an episode to keep for $1.99. Plausible?

In the same way that people are realizing that they don’t need their land-lines for telephones people will begin to realize that they don’t need their cable providers for TV content. If ABC leads and makes money at this the other networks will follow.

Get your news online, get your weather online, get your shows online. What’s left?
Live sports… Ohh, didn’t I mention that ESPN is a subsidiary of Disney.

Posted in Apple, Television | No Comments »

The computer is the TV

Feb 07

Today there are millions of people who pay a cable or satellite company between $30-$90 a month for 100 channels that they don’t watch. These same people pay hundreds of dollars for DVR’s and media centers to record shows that they end up deleting and if that’s not enough they pay for Netflx to deliver movies that sit on a shelf not being watched.

Why?

We are trying to get traditional media to do the things that computers do. We want on-demand media. We want to be able to watch any show, any movie, any time we want. The problem is that traditional media isn’t setup to do that.

ABC this year has put it’s prime time shows online and that has the potential to change how TV networks interact with consumers. Users with internet access can get any prime-time ABC show anytime they want. I expect the other TV networks to follow… NBC, CBS, FOX, and then the cable providers CNN, BBC, Comedy Central, TLC, etc, etc.

Two things will need to happen to really change the way that TV works. TV 2.0 if you like buzz-words.

An open format for TV syndication. This will do for TV what RSS did for blogs. It will allow other sites, networks, individuals to syndicate content with an agreed upon method to present the content and any commercials that the content provider decides.
A hardware device that allows me to have a 10 ft user experience and makes the whole process dead easy.

The first part is good for the TV networks, it makes it easy for a TV show to go viral, it makes it easier to get eyeballs and to sell targeted ads. Best of all it doesn’t hurt traditional media it just expands the potential audience. This will also eliminate the need for underground Torrent networks to trade these shows. Ads that are targeted can be a good thing but ads for something you don’t want is what drives people crazy and leads them to Tivo. Google will be a major ad player in matching viewers with appropriate ads.

The second part is good for consumers. Instead of paying the cable company $30-$90 for a hard to use cable box that delivers something that you don’t really want I think people would prefer an alternative service that gives you exactly what you want. Any show, any movie, any time you want.

Posted in Television | 2 Comments »

RCN HD-DVR Sad

Oct 05

This is a quick list of issues I found with the RCN HD-DVR (October 2004). From my understanding the Comcast HD-DVR uses similar if not the exact same software.

Ports on the back of the DVR are not labeled at all
Remote has a large number of buttons (62) many of these are modal and only work in certain modes, many other buttons have no action at all.
When viewing the channel list I’m able to see every channel, even the ones I don’t subscribe too. This ruins the TV browsing experience since most people won’t memorize the list of channels that they do subscribe too. So if I see something in the TV guide I can’t easily tell if I’ll be able to watch the show.
There are two menu modes, icon mode and full menu mode. You need to use two clicks to bring you to the main menu.
Menus are not linear they are two dimensional so you have to use full up/down/left/right navigation to find the right menu item. (Tivo navigation is by contrast linear)
There is no easy way to return to the previous menu, this often means you need to start over.
When searching for a show there is no clear way to move between entering letters and selecting a show, this makes the process of finding a show slow and cumbersome..
When searching for a show there is no way to ‘type’ you need to scroll through each letter.
There are two ways to view show listings by time or by channel. You are forced to make this choice every time you want to see a list of channels. Once you make a choice the only way to change that choice seems to be to return to the top menu.
Remote control has to be pointed directly at the cable box. There is little fogiveness on this.
Remote control has a “HELP” button that doesn’t do anything at all.
I can schedule a show to record and when I turn the unit off it asks me if I want to cancel my recordings. Of course I don’t want to cancel my recordings, that’s why I scheduled them.
When I change my aspect ratio to ‘zoom’ or ‘full’ then the HD-DVR user interface is shown off the screen so only part is visible.
When I hit the pause button the screen stutters as it figures out what I wanted to do
Three large buttons right in the center of the remote labeled A B C, the A button on the remote is also labeled ‘Tv-guide.’ All three buttons don’t do anything
There are two menus a ‘quick menu’ and a ‘main menu’ if you click the menu button once you see the quick list, if you click it again you see the main list. The quick menu uses icons to hint at the functional pages. These same icons aren’t used in the main menu to reinforce their meaning.
If you browse into a sub-menu of the main menu and you press the menu button again instead of bringing you back to the main menu it shows the ‘quick menu’ as an overlay on the ‘main menu.’ This seemed really awkward.
If you’re watching a show it’s not obvious how to record the entire series of the current show. Pressing the record button will start recording the current show but to record a recurrence you need to press the the ‘info’ button twice. This is hard to find.
Video on demand – sigh. Great idea, poor execution. Again the categories and shows that are listed are not necessarily available for me to watch so it’s impossible to tell what is actually available.
The controls to play, pause, skip and fast forward video on demand are not the same as for watching TV.
Using the menus I select “Search” then “HDTV”. I’m thinking I will be able to search HD shows by title. Nope. I get taken to a list of shows by time or channel. This is not searching this is called browsing.
I started playing a recorded movie and hit pause. I later return to the movie and instead of resuming where it left off it resumes from the very beginning so I have to fast forward to the time I left off at.
The fast forward button has five speeds. When fast forwarding at high speed and I press play I end up playing 10-15 seconds later then when I wanted.
I was unable to get any on demand music to play. This seemed completely broken. The music would start to load and occasionally I would hear a second or two of music before it would cut out.
When searching for a show to record by DVR there was no way to find the equivalent show in HD. The channel numbers and listings are treated separately.
Different channels may send different HD signals. This requires you to adjust the zoom/aspect ratio manually to compensate and make the signal match the screen.
Shows don’t seem to expire automatically. If I tried to record a new show and the space on the DVR was filled I would get a message asking me to delete something first.
Many other misc, problems.

I will probably cancel my HD-RCN service. The problems with the unit don’t compensate for the benefits. DirectTV does have a Tivo enabled unit but it costs $700 for new customers and I hear that DirectTV is moving away from Tivo. Tivo on the other hand has yet to announce a date for their cablecard enabled box or standalone HD unit. The other option to consider is a HD Media Center PC. The entry cost for media center pc is much higher ($1500-$2000) and from what I understand HD support is only over the air. Hmmm. That deadline to convert to HD is a little over 3 years away.

To date I have never seen an HD solution that would be usable by a child or a senior citizen. These devices are not usable and even for people who understand technology they are not friendly or easy to use.

My wife, (I recently got married) tells me that the little Tivo is sad when I switch and use the RCN box. I would imagine the little RCN box is sad as well.

Posted in Review, Television, Venting | No Comments »

RCN discovers a new form of energy

Sep 05

I was having problem with my new HD cable connection to RCN so I called their technical support department. After waiting almost 30 minutes on hold I finally spoke with someone.

I was experiencing static, pixelated images and staggered pictures. After a breif description of the problem the tech support person started to ask about how my cable was set up.

Me: It’s coming in one room, where it splits, the split end is currently unplugged. The cable then goes into my living room where it splits again to my Cable modem and my Cable box.
RCN Support: The problem is likely with the first split. The signal gets split and is weaker when it reaches the cable box.
Me: But it’s not plugged into anything. It’s like having an extension cord with nothing plugged in. It should not change the signal.
RCN Support: Well it does, the signal gets split and is weaker after the split.
Me: I’m sorry, I’ve taken electrical engineering classes (granted it was a while ago.) The signal could me marginally weaker because of the added resistance in the length of cable but since it’s not plugged in it should be negligable.
RCN Support: We’ll it’s not an electical signal that is being sent down the cable.
Me: Really? (holding back from laughing) What kind of signals are they?
RCN Support: It’s not an electical signal, it’s called a “cable signal.”
Me: Really, are you sure? The signals aren’t electical?
RCN Support: No the siganls are not electical.

At this point I burst out laughing. I scheduled a repair person to come and help improve my “cable signals” however I’m worried that the repair person won’t be able to find them.

Basic information on how cable works can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaxial_cable

Posted in Experience, Television | 1 Comment »

The big HD myth

Sep 05

Some people believe that 2006 will be the big year for HDTV. Although I’m sure plenty of HD sets will be sold the overall experience of watching HDTV will leave people with a sour user experience.

Two different channel numbers for the same channel – How is the person watching a show supposed to know that there is another channel that is showing the same content? In my opinion this is dumb. If there is an HD equivalent I should get it automatically.
Two many cable options for connecting your HD set leads to consumer confusion – DVI, HDMI, Component cables all come as standard options. Just give me one standard that will deliver on the promise of HD.
Screens don’t auto-adjust for aspect ratio. I’m not certain if this is true for all sets but my cable box, and TV has no idea what each other is doing. This means that I have to manually adjust the aspect ratio based on the channel that I’m watching.
No cable ready HD Tivo (yet.) For me this is a huge drawback, the UI for both Comcast and RCN is terrible and the remote control experience is even worse. There are too many UI problems with the digital cable box to list here. I came up with a nice list with little trouble.
Current HD programming uses standard TV as the lowest common denominator – Menus, sports statistics, commercials and promos all run at standard resolution in the centre of the screen or stretched out. This will continue to be a problem until HD takes a majority foothold in TV households.
HD does not make crappy TV shows less crappy. Some people may assume that the TV experience will improve with HD, this is not true. You may be more immersed in the picture and realism but the quality of the TV experience is with the quality of the story you are watching not the number of pixels on the screen.

Posted in Experience, Television | No Comments »

Wires and Cable Design

Aug 05

New cables, wires and connectors get invented all the time. Usually these new cables replace some standard, or update a common method of connection. Inevitably each cable design fails to learn from the cables that came before it.

Basic Principals for Cable Designers

Cables should be designed such that it can be plugged in and out without looking at the cable. For example an RCA cable is fairly easy to plug in without looking because the cable is round and the plug for the cable protrudes from the device making it easy to feel with your fingers. S-video on the other hand is harder to connect because the cable could be rotated in any number of directions and the plug opening is flush with the device.
If multiple inputs are designed to go to the same place they should be desinged as one cable. For example HD Component cables have three cables that always go together. You would never want to criss-cross the cables or connect one but not all. Instead of having three separate cables you should design one single cable.
Don’t reinvent the wheel – The world does not need another power cable connector or stereo audio plug. For some reason my cell phone provider decided to make a dedicated 8v power cable with an unusual plug that’s incompatible with every other charger in the world. There’s no good reason for this. If you’re building a new technology that needs a different plug ok, but if there is an existing technology that can handle your technical requirements try to use it.
Don’t fragment a new connector into multiple subsets- Some connectors such as Firewire and USB have several versions of the connector Small / Large / Male / Female, etc. It gets confusing. Pick a connector and stick with it.
Don’t have cable polarity – It’s hard enough for customers to find an Ethernet cable but to ensure that it’s a twisted or not twisted is silly. How is an end user supposed to know what happens within the wire? The hardware should automatically figure out polarity and adjust the hardware accordingly.
Color code your connectons and cables – Try to color coordinate the paint on the end of your cable with the matching connector. A few years ago serial PS2 connectors for keyboards and mice started to get color coded with blue and green. This make it much easer to make the connection correctly.
Positive connection feedback – If possible try to provide audio or visual feedback when a cable is connected correctly. One of the things I worked on was audio feedback in Windows XP for device connections. When you’re under your desk futzing with a cable in the dark hearing confirmation of your connection is very usefull. Same holds true for most other hardware devices.
Fail gracfully – If it’s possible to connect the cable incorrectly or into the wrong place anticipate this and fail gracfully. If you can detect the wrong cable and provide on-screen feedback on how to correct the problem that’s even better.
Transitive Cables – Try to enable transitive connections between devices. There are very few devices that have attempted this however if done correctly it simplifies both the wiring and the user experience. The idea is that if device A is connected to device B and device B is connected to device C then it’s as if device A and C are already connected.
A —- B —–C

Posted in Design, Ideas, Television, Usability, User Interface | No Comments »

TV 2.0 fix this idiot box

Jul 05

I’ve had to fix the TV for my grandmother about 10 times over the last two months. These visits have been like an informal usability test. The problem is that technology features are driven by different tv companies and departments. Each contributes to the problem but doesn’t take resolnsibility for the entire user experience.

Here are the core issues with televisions. I believe this is a problem across the whole industry and although the specific examples are from my grandmothers living room I know the issues effect all ages and experience levels.

Turning the TV on should not be complex – Although the TV, VCR, Cable box are made by different manufacturers and each perform different functions they are perceived as a single unit. Because they are a single unit they should have a unified on/off switch. If I turn the VCR on the TV should be on. If I turn the cable box on the TV should be on. There is no common scenario where you don’t want a unified on/off operation.
The TV/Video button should not exist – Many modern TV’s and VCR’s have a button labeled TV/Video. The buttons only purpose seems to be to put the TV into a state where it can not be watched. I believe the intended purpose of the button is to switch between multiple video feeds however if pressed inadvertently on either the TV or the VCR it becomes very difficult to find the permutation of the buttons that will return the TV to a normal state.
VCR’s should not have TV tuners – There may be a reason why VCR’s tend to have built in TV tuners but this actually causes a lot of problems. Even though it’s conceptually possible to watch one show while recording another it’s practically impossible for the typical person. Similar to the TV/Video button the VCR/TV combination must be tuned to a specific channel to ensure that the combination will work. (Usually channel 3 or 4)
Remote Controls are a mess – Each component VCR/TV/Cable Box comes with it’s own remote control. Each one claims it’s a universal remote, but for each one to work it has to be programmed to work with the others. This makes them all not so universal. Each one also includes buttons for every feature you could imagine making them that much harder to use.
Too many cables – There are way to many cables for any novice to figure out. In a simple configuration of Cable, VCR and TV there can be a whole collection of different cables, colors and instructions. Additionally the order that these are added can impact the functionality that is available to the end user.

It’s ridiculous. We can send satellites into space but we can’t figure out how to make TV’s easier to use.

How hard is it to get the heads of Phillips, Toshiba, Sony, Comcast, Direct-TV, Mitsubishi, Hitachi, JVC, Panasonic, Zenith, Pioneer and RCA to agree that there is a serious problem and that the solution to the problem can both improve the customer experience and save millions in support costs?

Top 10 secnarios that should be enabled by these companies:

Users can turn on the TV and related electronics with a single button

Users can connect any two components with a single wire. Connections should always be transative.

Users can combine components from different manufacturers

Users can record a show and play it back

User can use adjust the volume with the same button regardless of the content being played

Users do not need to worry about agreement of TV/Video and channel number to have their electronics work properly.

Users can add new electronics without worrying about the order that they are added (Cable->TV->VCR) should behave the same as (Cable -> VCR ->TV)

When a user inserts a VCR tape or DVD and hits play the TV should display the video regardless of the previous mode of the TV/Cablebox.

If I add stereo equipment, DVR or other components to my TV I shouldn’t have to re-program my volume controls or other settings. Adding equipment should be plug and play

I should be able to change the settings and correct problems for my grandmother remotely.

Posted in Misc., Television | 1 Comment »

Vod Casting – video on demand

Jul 05

Many people have now heard of the term PodCasting but broadcasting audio to your iPod is just the beginning. The next wave of content will be brought to your TV, on demand. The new underground word of the day is VOD-casting the VOD stands for Video on demand and in the next 5 years it stands to change the way TV networks oporate.

Traditionally cable operators and station owners have to be convinced that there is enough interest in a particular show to make the show worth having on the air. TV networks rutinly cancel shows, because the interest levels aren’t high enough. In today’s world the number of shows is limited to a set of channels and networks.

If I’m an independent producer who wants to create a witty sitcom I need to get the nod from a major network to have a chance of any viewership. If I’m Garth making Wayne’s World in my basement and I’m fortunate enough to get air-time on my public access channel I have no way to have my message heard around the world.

Vod-casting can change all that. Vodcasting takes power away from show programmers and puts it in the hands of the people. Any one can make a TV show with a world-wide audience.

Vod-casting works by publishing a TV show online with an RSS feed. The feed document describes the show and the location of the video file online. Anyone with a website can publish a show. The missing piece that will soon be available is the aggregater, or player. For music and podcasting this was Apple’s iTunes. The logical partner for TV content would be Tivo. There is an opportunity that won’t last long for Tivo to take the lead and allow people to view Vod-cast content directly on their TV. This is the missing piece that can make traditional networks change the way they think about programming content.

Posted in Prediction, Television | No Comments »

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