Boxcutters - An Australian TV Podcast - Latest Comments in Boxcutters Episode 82

Re: Boxcutters Episode 82

Ross — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 09:15:17 -0000

Yes, it's very much like Seven's Aus Open advertising. It looks ridiculous being in the control room as well (not that the ads from the big screen in the garden area out back of Rod Laver look any good).

Given the amount of complaints about Seven's telecasts maybe the director would be better paying attention to the game rather than watching promos for lame shows.

I'm not sure when Seven's promoing became so shit. Their "the footy is back on Seven" ads during the tennis where they digitally added a football into tennis footage were an absolute disgrace.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 82

Ross — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 08:48:42 -0000

Thats shocking Rob! Optus gambling on it not being worthwhile enough for you to swap ISPs. What happened to the customer is always right?

Show update: Pussycat Strippers moving to 9:30pm Fridays.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 82

Rob Boxcutter — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 07:00:06 -0000

Actually I meant 32 kiloBytes per second upload (ie 256 kbps) and yes, it's optarse. When I rang them to arrange switching from their cable service to their ADSL service (faster uploads) they said they refuse to connect ADSL if there's an existing cable connection. If I want ADSL I'll need to switch ISPs. I reckon that's a silly position but perhaps it indicates a looming problem: broadband bandwidth availability collapsing under the demands of gaming, streaming and p2p video.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 82

fourthof5 — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 04:43:06 -0000

Brett that's easy. Optarse only (in the last year or so) upped the speed to 32k for uploads. They also have no upload limit. However, if its deemed that you have put a strain on the service then they pull your access. You are also not allowed to run a server on Optarse. Hence my cynicism. Optarse are the ones the sent out an email saying that after a user survey, people were happy with having a 3 gig limit per month.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 82

catbrain — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 23:21:02 -0000

Pleasantly surprised!

Please tell me Brett has the power of prophesy and it's all going to come true...

Re Sea Patrol: anyone remember Patrol Boat? (Growing up a Navy brat, our household watched it religiously.) There's an article about it the Defence magazine of March 2007, also available here...
http://www.defence.gov.au/d...
I had the opportunity to watch the pilot of Sea Patrol last weekend for market research purposes; however, it required Media Player 10 for DRM and, after the fiasco that was Supernatural, I just couldn't be arsed.

Re The West Wing: yes, come to think of it, Janeane Garofalo wasn't in the final ep even though her name was in the credits.
I think it played out as Ross suggested: a good metaphor for what it's probably like for the outgoing President & staff - just biding time until the whistle blows.

Oh god - The Sopranos... we love that show. One of my favourite Sopranos blogs is Tim Goodman's episode deconstructions: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-b...
*INSERT FLASHING NEON 'SPOILERS WITHIN' SIGN HERE*

Re: Boxcutters Episode 82

Brett — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 12:32:30 -0000

@Rob: That's outrageous! How can any ISP in this day and age possibly contend that 32kbps is anything even vaguely resembling broadband? When I was on dial-up I had a synchronous modem (ie it gave as good as it got - ie it could download just as fast as it could upload) (the A in ADSL stands for asynchronous, meaning one side is faster than the other) that ran up to 64kbps. Is there anything that is compelling you to stay with this tortuous provider? Do you want to name and shame them for this affront? I got screwed over by Telstra on my original ADSL plan which they never got around to informing me that there was a cheaper faster one available. It only came out when I was changing providers. This was after going through the whole shenanigans with them selling their service as unlimited - and I mean truly unlimited as in no throttling at any limit - and then switching the terms on me.

I should maybe define vapourware because it seems you have a mistaken understanding. Vapourware is a piece of software that generates some amount of buzz around people in the industry or community because of its almost too-good-to-be-true claims of performance or revolutionary impact on the world as we know it. One such piece of vapourware was Adam's Platform. This was sold on a demo to tech reporters years ago with full-screen, broadcast quality video being streamed through a regular V.90 modem. It was a closed room demo and no one was allowed to see the mechanics or receive an explanation as to how the algorithm worked so there was no way to verify what they were seeing. Even so, they toodled off and wrote up their reports - some with full disclosures about not being able to verify the demo. This was technology that was developed by an Australian and, eventually, an initial public offering was lodged with the ASX. We're talking about a time period of at least a couple of years between the demo and IPO. Many financial advisors were recommending the stock and many investors invested. Another couple of years down the track, it finally emerges that the magic algorithm that powered the codec never existed and the demo was all a big con.

When Josh brought up full screen video technology, I was immediately taken back to Adam's Platform and it caused me to speak prematurely. Joost does provide full screen video but it's not broadcast quality. The available content is an interesting mish-mash at this point but I won't say too much just yet. I'll be exploring the application more fully over the next week or two, looking into the codec, true delivery mechanism and content and doing a review on the show.

Joost isn't openly available as yet - it's still in a fairly early beta phase with real testing going on with real bugs - but it's not going to vaporise any time soon. As more users get on the network, the streaming should improve with a reduction or elimination of buffering breaks. Frankly, I'm already surprised at how well it works with a limited number of testing users.

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@fourthof5: I haven't heard anything from the telcos about their surveys but the minister personally assures me that 512/128 is blisteringly fast broadband and I'll never need anything more than that in the forseeable future. Who am I to doubt her? People that are talking about anything faster than that are just greedy, despicable Labour voters whose raison d`etre is to ruin the economy for our strong, pround nation built on the back of the sheeps and mining dump trucks... out in the country... where they're lucky to have a phone line at all, let alone the ostentatious luxury of a WWW connection... Wait - stop confusing me!

Re: Boxcutters Episode 82

fourthof5 — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 04:33:18 -0000

[cynical]
How can that be??!!! The telcos keep telling me that their surveys say we don't want faster BB speeds or faster BB upload speeds. Surly they wouldn't lie.
[/cynical]

Re: Boxcutters Episode 82

Rob Boxcutter — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 01:36:26 -0000

I think Joost may be a problem for cable broadband connections. My max upload speed on cable is 32kb per second, which is about the rate Joost requires for the upload side of its p2p. The problem is my ISP sends out suspension threats to its cable users if their upload rate is more than about 10kb/sec for any length of time.

I guess it's a moot point though, seeing as Joost will soon vaporise into the ether . . .