Brad,
Yes! In previous years, the MPAA and RIAA have called the consumers (in general) crooks, criminals, whatever. They've been doing everything they can to prove they are criminals without any true evidence of it en masse. Yes, it happens, but at the level they claim? I truly doubt it!
In the meantime, while they've used their efforts to prove this, they've lost the true focus of what they should have paid attention to … the changing markets. TV and radio have changed in incredible ways, not just in the technology in our areas, but in technologies everywhere.
Your editorial is so right on the money that I was almost giggling after reading it. I have become so disenchanted with Mr. Valenti's words that I don't listen anymore. Personally, I wouldn't take the time to copy movies due to the effort and money involved. Yes, I agree that there are people out there that would do that. But should Congress mandate the copy protection flag in the DVI interface? No. Let the industry continue to work closely with Hollywood to keep on top of this.
As always, Congress is slightly behind the curve when enacting laws. So even this CP Law will be outdated … again! And in the meantime, while the MPAA waits for the law, the industry will continue to step quickly and aggressively toward new technologies with all of their protection problems. Maybe the MPAA and RIAA will get tired of chasing their tails and ours?!
Terry White
Columbia, MD
Being an ex-IT girl and now the president (and operator) of my own facility, as well as dealing with real-time audio and video issues for clients, I find your view of IT personnel ignorant of reality.
Let's try your logic for a moment. Taped show goes off the air due to analog tape-transport drive motor seizing and spilling tape all over the machine room floor. Lost time? … Heck, lost show, lost ad time and lost fees … Cost? Let us suggest, moderately extensive.
Taped show previously transferred to digital disk on video server … Drive fails during show, but no downtime … We implemented a RAID technology array.
Ok, how about drive goes down and RAID controller goes down … Still, no downtime. The entire system was set up with a cluster configuration with dual systems on hot standby. And when the tape op loaded the show it was automatically duplicated on the RAID subsystem on the hot standby system, as well as the RAID subsystem on the primary video server.
A full-on analog system can fail and bring down the house as fast as a completely digital IT-based system … It's all about quality of personnel. Hire good people and don't try to save 15 cents on a system. Hire cheap IT help with no experience and you get what you pay for. Just like in video land.
Georgia
World Wide Audio
I read your e-zine editorial and had to laugh at your wonderful weaving from the 60's television show to the present-day content providers. One thing of note is the program for which you attribute the lines “We control ….” I believe it was actually “The Outer Limits” and not “The Twilight Zone.” This was one of my favorite shows as a kid. I loved the “high-tech” oscilloscope display they used. Good portrayal. Keep up the great work.
Bill Robertson
Acterna
Q.In what year were 12 video serverlike products introduced at the same NAB?
A. In 1994, the 12 products were:
Cable products:
Micropolis AV Server series 100
Channelmatic Adcart/D digital ad insertion system
Broadcast products:
EMASS storage system
IBM fully scalable video server
BTS Media pool (private suite)
HP video server
Tektronix Profile
Avid Media Recorder media server/library
Alamar Mach II
Dynatech Digistore Broadcast
Spot playback system
Basys MAESTRO
ASC VR virtual recorder
No correct entries this month