Vmedia Offers Free Trail
Independent cable provider Vmedia is offering a free trial for their services. Please contact Vmedia for details.
Rogers Cable To Go Fully Digital
I have just received an email from Rogers saying that they “will soon be fully upgraded to an all-digital format for improved picture and sound quality”, which means that they will be dropping all of their analog channels soon.
Customers that use digital set top boxes will not require additional equipment. But Rogers will be providing digital adapters free to customers that have simply connected their televisions to their outlets via rogers.com/digitaladapter and their customer service department at 1-800-530-4034.
The other cable networks may choose to follow Rogers’ example so keep an eye out on your statements and emails.
Bad News For Betamax Fans
It looks like Betamax is officially dead, according to a Sony press release that was released today.
Yes, the video format was not killed off during the format Betamax/VHS war and actually lived on in the video production and broadcasting industries until digital video. But Sony has now decided to stop making their blank beta format videocassettes.
Unfortunately that means that some of you hardcore beta fans will no longer have easy access to blank videocassettes for your classic videotape cameras, including those micro MV video cassettes that you’ve used in the 90’s and early 2000’s. And although I don’t have an official Sony betamax videocamera it appears that i’ve used the format several times to film some of my older Youtube videos and have a few of the discontinued Sony micro MV videocassettes in storage.
My format of choice is now of course those digital SDHD cards but hard drive and solid state hard drive camcorders
Update : Community Mailboxes On Hold
In case you haven’t heard, Canada Post issued a press release today saying it will place the upcoming conversion of door to door deliveries to community mailboxes on hold, temporarily.
I suspect public consultations will probably be conducted in the near future.
Rolling Up The Sleeves
So, the election results are in and now it’s time to start asking questions.
What parts of Bill C-51 will remain unaltered and what changes are to be expected under the new government ? Will Canadians be burdened with extra costs to implement these surveillance programs ? What measures will be taken to keep the data secure ?
Does the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement include further intrusions into our copyright ? Will the public be consulted in regards to the key provisions of this agreement prior to signing ? Will our recent reforms be bypassed and superseded by foreign entities and lobbyists ?
We will of course all need to wait until the next budget to know what investments the new government is planning for our digital strategy. But we should know who will be assigned to the key cabinet positions shortly.
The Laser Record Player
Back in the 80’s an American company called Finial turntable had started working on an optical turntable that uses lasers instead of a stylus to play records. And although the technology had garnered seven million’s worth of investment, the emergence of compact discs eventually caused it to fail to be manufactured.
It had issues related to playback, namely the inability of lasers to push dust aside and to read single and long play records that were back in colour and the popularity of compact discs grew day by day so the technology was shelved and sold to ELP Japan, who have been trying to reignite demand for the product since 2008.
The device is of course quite expensive because it is not mass produced, from US$9,000 to US$14,000 new depending on the model. But perhaps it will become more affordable with the resurgence of vinyl. Who knows ?