Sorry for the lack of posts the past few days. I live in Worcester, MA, specifically in the Greendale neighborhood, one of the areas hardest hit by the recent ice storm. I lost power around 02:00 Friday and got it back around 18:00 Sunday, so I’m still playing catch-up with work and things in general. Getting back into it now…
So anyway, sometime in the past few days it looks like TiVo has added some new content to TiVoCast. First up, ComplexVideo.com. This entry is actually a menu unto itself with five individual channels:
The site is described as:
Complex Video brings the pages of “The Ultimate Buyer’s Guide For Men” to life with unique programming that spans all aspects of the young man’s world.
* Intimate Moments With The Worlds Most Beautiful Women
* Hilarious Pop Culture Parodies
* Offbeat Skits With Rappers and Celebrities
* Insider Analysis Of Men’s Style, From Designer Profiles To Sneaker Tips
ComplexVideo.com is part of the Complex Media Network, which describes itself as:
COMPLEX MEDIA NETWORK is the premier online destination for the most influential 20-something male consumers. This discerning audience is driven by style, sports, music, games, gear and girls. The Complex Media Network reaches these style-makers and trend-spreaders through its uniquely credible and authentic viewpoint into all things Complex.
Subscribe online or on your TiVo via TiVo Central -> Video on Demand -> Browse free videos -> All -> ComplexVideo.com
Next up is MOTORZ, which self-describes as:
MOTORZ (pronounced “motors”) is the DIY show for automotive enthusiasts who love to work on their rides. Host Chris Duke shows you how to install aftermarket products step-by-step in layman’s terms, in a typical garage setting, using common tools.
I’m kind of disturbed that they felt their name needed a pronunciation guide. How else would you say it? Motor-Zee? (Or Motor-Zed for some of you.) Like Mazinger Z?
Subscribe online or on your TiVo via TiVo Central -> Video on Demand -> Browse free videos -> All -> MOTORZ
And, finally, TheWB.com has added another channel to their selection, jPod.
Based on Douglas Coupland’s bestseller, jPod follows Ethan Jarlewski and his video game programmer friends as they work in the bowels of Neotronic Arts, all while battling with new bosses, marijuana-farming parents, old exes and more.
This is a full-length episode series. There are four episodes up now and each is roughly 46 minutes long, about the same as the show content in an hour of broadcast television. I like to see this, I’d love to see more full-length content available via broadband subscriptions on TiVo. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to subscribe to a series on Hulu and have it download automatically to be waiting on your TiVo?
Subscribe online or on your TiVo via TiVo Central -> Video on Demand -> Browse free videos -> All -> TheWB.com -> jPod
While I’m talking about TiVoCast, I have a pet peeve. Some of the TiVoCasts have figured out full-screen 16:9 encoding very nicely. For example, Fast Lane Daily. It plays, as-is, full screen on my 16:9 HDTV. Some other TiVoCasts have gotten the 16:9 thing down, but don’t seem to know how to encode for full screen – pretty much everything from Revision3 is in this category. It is annoying, but it still looks pretty good.
But then there are some who are obviously shooting in 16:9, but are encoding in 4:3! So by default everything looks squished in from the sides. DL.TV does this. And, worst of all, TiVo’s own The Badoop Badoop Show does this! C’mon guys, this is your own system! It is clearly possibly to encode things well for the Series3 & TiVo HD users, Fast Lane Daily does it. TiVo’s own TiVoCast channels should be the reference quality standard. And, honestly, while I enjoy the content, they just don’t look very good. Not only is the aspect ratio wrong (yes, you can use ‘Full’ aspect on the TiVo to stretch it back out, but you shouldn’t have to) but the encoding looks like you’re literally using your YouTube encode on the TiVo.
I’d still like to see true HD TiVoCast content, but a nice first-step would be to encode 16:9 full screen – like FLD does.
