Category Archives: Video

ABC 2010-2011 Schedule

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As one TV season ends, another begins.  Every year the big networks hold their own press events to preview their new programming to advertisers and audiences.  The Upfronts is a time when the networks release program information to the public like the creators, producers, and cast behind their new fall and mid-season shows.  Be sure to look after the break for trailers, synopses, and creator/producer/cast information behind ABC’s upcoming TV lineup.

10 new series :: 6 new dramas (Body of Proof, Detroit 1-8-7, My Generation, No Ordinary Family, The Whole Truth, Off the Map) – 3 new comedies (Better Together, Happy Endings, Mr. Sunshine) – 1 alternative (Secret Millionaire)

11 cancellations :: Better off Ted, The Deep End, Eastwick, FlashForward, The Forgotten, Hank, Happy Town, Lost (well, not cancelled but…), Romantically Challenged, Scrubs, Ugly Betty

Returning series held for mid-season :: V, Supernanny

ABC head Steven McPherson on keeping V & dropping FlashForward :: “It was a Sophie’s Choice.  In the end, FlashForward didn’t engage audiences like we hoped.  For V, I get more anecdotal calls and emails than any other show on the schedule.  A huge part of rebuilding the network is about taking chances.  Some shows just don’t work out.”

Drama

Body of Proof: Dr. Megan Hunt (Dana Delany) was in a class of her own, a brilliant neurosurgeon at the top of her game. But her world is turned upside down when a devastating car accident puts an end to her time in the operating room. Megan resumes her career as a medical examiner, determined to solve the puzzle of who or what killed the victims. Her instincts are sharp, but she’s developed a reputation for graying the lines of where her job ends and where the police department’s begins. It turns out her career isn’t the only thing that will need to be rebuilt; Megan’s family has taken a backseat to her ambition, and now she’s discovering there’s a lot of work to do when it comes to dissecting her relationships with the living.

Starring Dana Delany, Jeri Ryan, Geoffrey Arend, John Carroll Lynch, Windell Middlebrooks, Nic Bishop, and Sonja Sohn.  [Fridays @ 9PM]

Continue reading ABC 2010-2011 Schedule →

Google I/O 2010: WebM, Android 2.2, Google TV & more

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This week thousands of developers gathered at Google I/O 2010 in San Fransisco to find out what Google’s got up their sleeve for the next year (and beyond) and how their contributions can make things better for the end user.  At this year’s event Google introduced a new video standard, demoed their latest software revision of Android, and pulled the veil off their latest foray into a whole new market–television.

WebM: Flash, HTML5, h.264–these are all video codecs that power different types of video players on the Internet.  WebM is a new video codec developed by Google.  The plan for the WebM format is to make it open-source and royalty-free from the get-go.  WebM is packaged into three parts: VP8, a high-quality video codec under a royalty-free license; Vorbis, an already open source and broadly implemented audio codec; and a container format based on a subset of the Matroska media container.  According to Google, “VP8’s efficient bandwidth usage will mean lower serving costs for content publishers and high quality video for end-users.  The codec’s relative simplicity makes it easy to integrate into existing environments and requires less manual tuning to produce high quality results.”  So far, the following companies are backing the new WebM standard in their browsers: Google (duh), Mozilla, Opera, and Adobe.  (Mozilla already updated their Firefox to support it, Opera says their browsers will support it “soon”, Adobe will inject VP8 support into Flash too, and Chrome support comes on on May 24.)  Google will also implement it in the YouTube player (HTML5 & WebM, sittin’ in a tree…).  WebM also has a list of hardware supporters including AMD, ARM, Broadcom, NVIDIA, Skype, and T.I.  But the big question is if Microsoft and Apple will adopt it.  At this point, there’s no word if Apple will jump on the bandwagon (big surprise there), and Microsoft has stated it will support WebM in Internet Explorer 9 (but users will be required to install the VP8 codec themselves).  If there’s any tech company out there who can develop and push out a new open source video codec it’s Google.  With the on-going battle for dominance between the aging Flash and up-and-coming HTML5, it will certainly be interesting to see if Google can emerge out victorious with WebM.

Continue reading Google I/O 2010: WebM, Android 2.2, Google TV & more →

The Objet printer can print anything!

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Well, maybe not anything, but it can certainly print whatever’s produced on a computer monitor.  Legacy Effects, a film production company, uses a 3D printer made by Objet Geometries called Eden260V that can shape and print out a physical production of any computer designed model.  This new technology is known as rapid prototyping, and it was most recently used to create the suits seen in Iron Man 2.  The actors’ bodies are scanned and the suits are “print-to-wear” with only a coat of paint necessary to round out the final product.  Watch the video above for a more elaborate explanation of the Objet printer and look at all the different types of models it can produce.

[Via Engadget]

Happy 5th Birthday, YouTube

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On Sunday May 16, 2005 the beta version of YouTube.com was launched.  To celebrate its five year exsistance, YouTube put together a “FiveYear” channel “which features people from all over describing how YouTube has changed or shaped their lives.”  Check it out!  Also, be sure to watch the video above that timelines the birth and quick rise of YouTube.  The most interesting and outstanding fun fact?  YouTube now receives two billion views per day.

[Via YouTube blog]

Lost: Cast interviews, Emmy eligibility, & DVD extras

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Here’s some good news for Lost fans.  First let’s talk Emmy eligibility.  This week The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Board of Governors made an exception to a long-standing rule involving the length of an episode and Emmy consideration.  So we all know that the Lost finale episode will run for two-and-a-half hours.  Normally for an extended episode to be considered for Emmy eligibility it cannot run for longer than two hours.  Thanks to the Board’s decision “The End” can be a potential contender for a number of Emmy awards such as Best Actor/Actress and Best Drama.  John Leverence, senior VP of awards: “We have a soft spot in our hearts for the final episodes of long-running series.”  The same exception made for Lost was also granted to The Wire and The Sopranos.

Next up there’s news about what will be included with the Lost Season 6 DVD package.  Exec producers Darlton plan on including about twenty minutes of “new content that addresses some of the unanswered questions in an entertaining way.”  According to an inside source “Damon and Carlton wanted to offer fans answers to additional questions they couldn’t get to in the body of the final show.”  These bonus features will be included in the stand-alone DVD package and in the DVD/Blu-Ray Seasons 1-6 mega box sets.

Now go watch some cast interviews in the video above, provided by IGN.  The Lost series finale airs this Sunday at 9PM on ABC.

[Via EW; TVGuide; IGN]

Music video: Diggy Simmons – “What They Been Waiting For”

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Directed by Phil the god, produced by Shane Eli.

The young Simmons is back and in a big way.  This kid is quickly making a name for himself with slick lyrics and awesome visuals in his music videos.  Diggy’s second mixtape AirBorne (it’s planned to be a sequel to his debut in The First Flight) is “coming soon.”  Download “What They Been Waiting For” here.

[Via DiggyBlog]