Internet, Technology, Television

Battle of Internet TV platforms: Panasonic Vieracast vs Sony Qriocity

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So, TV manufacturers are embedding Internet capabilities in their TVs and set-top boxes. I’ve recently had experience of a couple of platforms – Qriocity via my brother’s new Blu-Ray player, and Vieracast via my Dad’s Skype-enabled TV.

So: what is Qriocity? Well, the full Qriocity platform enables TV, film and music on demand – a la Spotify Premium crossed with iTunes. It’s priced comparably with iTunes and pretty easy to use. However, the real kicker here is that YouTube, iPlayer and various other Internet TV services work seamlessly (other than the fact a remote is not in any way optimised for typing into an Internet TV search bar), rather than Qriocity itself. This is awesome – easy access to everything from iPlayer HD to a bunch of other services. V. impressed.

Vieracast, by contrast, brings up a series of apps that let you access network-enabled widgets, of which Skype is one. Skype on a TV should be a good thing but – it’s not HD, so looks mediocre, you can’t use your normal Skype account if, like me, you have “too many” contacts, and its fiddly to configure for the same reason that the Sony remotes are rubbish for search – typing on a TV without a keyboard is tedious. Other apps are pretty limited, responsiveness is a bit sluggish, and on the whole it is a slightly underwhelming experience. Not to mention that the TV doesn’t come with a built-in wireless card so we had to hunt for a networking solution (the one supported brand of wireless card, a Netgear jobbie, isn’t widely distributed in Malaysia).

Therefore: de facto winner of this shootout is Sony…!

I’m looking forward to seeing what Google TV has to offer and will resist the lure of Jobs and Apple TV here. My media centre does most things you’d want from an Internet TV service, but I can appreciate it in principle… for other people. Not so much for me…

None of these service socialise TV watching – I think these is still a multi-device experience- watch on TV and couchsurf on iPad or laptop. I remember Joost trying to do real-time social TV but it was too complex for most people to handle and I’ve not heard hide nor hair from them in some time… and I’m certainly not counting Ping as having achieved anything on this front to date.

Travel

Mini-break at Port Dickson Avillion Village Resort

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Holiday destination of my youth, Port Dickson is a seaside town about an hour from Kuala Lumpur. We stayed at the Avillion Village Resort, a nice chalet-oriented holiday resort with a couple of pools, reasonable facilities, free wifi (!!) and decent bedrooms. Service was excellent.

The break was great fun, baby Emily had a lot of new experiences and Amanda and I enjoyed the swimming, setting and time together. It was family friendly but with enough dedicated ‘adult’ facilities to ensure quiet time for the grown-ups too – the spa was very scenic – on the sea – and we had a brief but good massage included as part of a mini-break package. The beach was clean and fastidiously maintained, although we were warned of sandflies so not too much time spent there.

There were a few minor inadequacies, however, which I’ll catalogue by way of a heads-up to would be visitors. The air-conditioning was barely functional, the mosquito netting blocked off the ceiling fan almost completely, making temperature regulation in the water chalet tricky. The chalets on the water are a little close together so blinds have to be drawn for privacy, and you don’t get the isolated serenity we witnessed when we stayed at the (admittedly far more expensive) Sipadan Kapalai resort whilst on honeymoon.

The gym equipment was antique and the treadmill didn’t work, so I resorted to an archaic cycling machine. The restaurant, whilst enormous, has a restricted menu and is pricey as you’d expect. The “infinity pool”is set in a beautiful landscape garden, which has the unfortunate side-effect of diminishing its infinite aspect and steeping the pool in pollen, giving it a somewhat murky feel. The TV didn’t work properly and the internet connection was tediously slow. The sea water was the standard PD muddy brown, nothing you’d really want to venture into…

In short, recommended, but be tolerant of its limitations! We were, and had a wonderful time as a result. Review also posted on TripAdvisor (or will be, when they approve it)…

Books

Good fantasy writing vs the not so good

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I’ve been ploughing my way through books this sabbatical. Two particularly awesome books were Patrick Rothfuss’ ‘Name of the Wind’ and ‘Wise Man’s Fear’ – everything I found tedious about Stephen Donaldson’s latest Chronicles is missing from these books. His use of language is precise and accessible, his narrative flow is well-paced and exciting, his characters are compelling and both the present day and historical stories he tells are equally engaging – both of which provide ample dramatic tension and kept me completely absorbed. Great value, too, LONG books, and that’s not a complaint!

Interesting that when John Scalzi, a great sci-fi writer and blogger who I rate, felt similarly about the book and wrote a tribute saying as much on Tor’s best SFF Novel’s of the Decade readers’ poll series – although he did pick up on a ‘stew’ cliché.

I love these polls because they help me decide what to read next…

Here are the top 10:

    1. Old Man’s War by John Scalzi – READ
    2. American Gods by Neil Gaiman – READ
    3. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss – READ
    4. Blindsight by Peter Watts
    5. Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey
    6. A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin – READ
    7. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke – READ
    8. Anathem by Neal Stephenson – TRIED…
    9. Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
    10. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

    Which leaves me at least four new places to go when I’m through with my current batch (reading Trudi Canavan’s first book in the Traitor Spy trilogy, and a couple of shortlisted books from the Arthur C Clarke Awards 2011 – Declare by Tim Powers and Hellhole by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson). I think I’ll try more Brandon Sanderson next as I’ve been so impressed with where he’s taken the Wheel of Time…

    I read Raymond Feist’s latest Midkemia novel yesterday (yes, it took less than a day) and was moderately depressed by it. As the first book in his final trilogy in the series it is predictable and absolutely riven with references to his previous books. That’s the problem with writing what is broadly speaking one continuous story over 20+ books and 150 years of virtual history – you end up being tediously self-referential. Politics you don’t care about, characters you’re meant to care about because they’re related to characters you used to care about, &c &c. I’m principally reading this series now out of a desire to know what happens next… which I guess means its good enough!

    Personal

    Best songs to sing to our baby

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    Every set of parents, no doubt, have a particularly useful set of tunes for singing to / playing to their children for calm, play, fun and frolics. Here are some of ours – in no particular order.

    1. Show me the way to go home – YouTube here – I sing this one to calm Emily down.
    2. Dingle dangle scarecrow – YouTube here – for all occasions
    3. Heads shoulders knees and toes – for instructing Emily in basic anatomy
    4. Twinkle twinkle little star – Nani’s favourite tune to sing to her – although you gotta love the Mozart variations
    5. A whole new world – YouTube here – sung whilst teaching Emily how to waltz
    6. Incy wincy spider – in Danish – YouTube here
    7. Ten in the bed and the little one said – roll over – sung whilst training her to… roll over
    8. Boogie Woogie Washerwoman – slowly for sleep, quickly for play! Can’t find an ‘official’ version of this song but here’s a random singing it on YouTube.
    9. “Walking on sunshine” – re-worded so she’s “Walking on Daddy.” A favourite game!

    Lullabies – generally we just play her an album for this – this one – and it helps Emily with her bedtime routine  alongside a wind-up ticking alarm clock and a sheep much like this one (thanks to Luke & Em). Amanda sings a calming set of vowel sounds to help her sleep when she’s upset.

    What are your songs to sing to baby??

    Training

    Running to swimming conversation rate

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    In 36 odd minutes I’d run about 6km, and it turns out I swim 1km or thereabouts in that time. I know its totally different muscles, but have no idea what the conversation rate should be… what’s a sensible pace for swimming??

    Sabbatical fitness routine going ok – no LSRs in Malaysia but alternating swimming and running pretty well. Hoping to up distance and resume diet when I get back to the UK…

    Television

    Will there be an Outcasts series 2?

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    Update 3: The interview with Ben Richards is live here! Read it for updates on season 2, thoughts on the cancellation and the down-low on the ratings.

    Update 2: I’ve emailed a bunch of questions (including some reader submitted ones) to Ben Richards, who has promised a response but evidently not had a chance to do it yet. He mentioned being in discussions with the BBC about some kind of resolution to the show, although series 2 didn’t sound likely from our brief Twitter exchange. Will share more when I have it.

    Update: The BBC doesn’t seem to be continuing to track for buzz about Outcasts so my more recent posts haven’t been flagged on the official Outcasts page. Fans visiting this page might be interested in my follow up posts: Why do ratings matter for the BBC? and How to protest the Outcasts cancellation. You might also be tangentially interested in this comparative cost of TV license fee chart, across Europe.

    In addition, show creator Ben Richards has agreed to talk to me about the Outcasts cancellation. Please submit any questions you would like me to put to him here.

    Original post follows…

    No, sadly not. Here’s the confirmation via the BBC Outcasts Facebook page, and here’s an interview where the show creator/writer Ben Richards talks about why he thinks it all went down the way it did (not without bitterness.) It sounds, broadly speaking, like it was felt that the show missed its mark in terms of hitting a mainstream audience, didn’t get the ratings it needed (no idea if iPlayer ratings came into play) and misjudged its pacing. The episode length issue is discussed – an hour slot was tough to write for.

    I still haven’t finished catching up on the show and will do so in the next couple of weeks and share my thoughts. Will also probably do a final “best of comments” as I’ve had an overwhelming number on here thanks to the trackbacks from the BBC website and there have been some fantastic comments about the show – positive and negative – some of which are worth highlighting! Thanks all for your contributions.

    A cynical part of me is a little melancholic if the BBC One controller, Danny Cohen, is going to drive all his television making decisions based on ratings in quite this way (as indicated by this), but I guess if the show was designed for a mainstream audience and had a mainstream budget then its a fair enough decision. Although as per the comments, and as a fan of shows with complex and long-running story-arcs (Joss Whedon fans out there?), it can take a while for these things to build…

    As a partial aside, whilst we’ve both been watching Outcasts, Amanda and her brother and mum have been watching a niche piece of BBC4 television, Danish crime drama The Killing. I guess as a BBC4 programme specifically designed for a niche audience the criteria are different (and the critical feedback has been much more consistently positive than Outcasts’), but I can’t help but wish/hope that the kinds of decisions that spur the funding of programmes like that would support things like Outcasts too. Why is all BBC SciFi/Fantasy output ‘mainstream’ (Dr Who, Torchwood, Merlin etc) – isn’t there room for some niche sci-fi from the Beeb?

    Food

    Soft drinks–sugar levels / calorie counts compared

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    In my calorie obsession I’ve checked the sides of cans of drinks with a view of getting a perspective of what the healthiest of the bunch is. Of course, they’re all pretty bad for you but I put together a little spreadsheet (obsessed, much?) of some of the top brands in the UK and compared the data – all off their own websites. A few interesting insights for you.

    chart_1 (1)

    The top 5 lowest sugar soft drinks produced by Britvic and Coke* in the UK, for a 330ml serving:

    1. Tango Apple (approx 1.65 teaspoons of sugar**)
    2. Tango Cherry (approx 1.81 teaspoons of sugar)
    3. Schweppes Lemonade (approx 3.31 teaspoons of sugar)
    4. Tango Orange – 3.30 teaspoons of sugar
    5. Lilt – 3.64 teaspoons of sugar

    The result of the Coke vs: Pepsi shootout:

    Coke – 139 calories to Pepsi’s 138.6. Coke has slightly less sugar at 35g (8.33 teaspoons) to Pepsi’s 8.64. Draw?

    Sprite vs 7UP – 144 calories to Sprite, 135.3 to 7UP, with comparable amounts of sugar (around 35g). 7UP is the marginal winner.

    Does anyone have 8 sugars in their cup of tea or coffee? Slightly terrifying.

    Note: anyone who wants to can edit and add to the spreadsheet, just fill out all the fields you can. My method is not particularly scientific so any thoughts on the methodology, let me know in the comments field. I know this isn’t comprehensive, but hey – I’m not paid to do this. So feel free to help fill it out if you fancy it!

    Also – if anyone else has done a better job of this than me, please let me know as I’m interested! I’d also be interested to know if recipes for major soft drinks vary across countries – people always say Coke is sweeter in the developing world, but obviously the Malaysian Coke website doesn’t have nutritional information on it, so my standard benchmark is not immediately useful as a test of the theory!

    * Coke’s website was far more helpful, letting you work out caloric counts by serving side. Who needs to know how many calories are in 100ml of something?? Silly BritVic.

    ** teaspoon of sugar estimated at 4.2g per teaspoon

    Work

    Thoughts on consultancy

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    Been talking to my Dad a bit about the nature of consultancy – principally round the difference between consultants that tell you what you want to hear, and those that tell you what you need to hear. My Dad has always fallen into the latter camp – rarely sugarcoating difficult news, that’s his style, through well over 30 years of corporate lawyering – and I think I do too (although PR consultancy tends to require a bit more… tact).

    One of the things that’s really satisfying is when a client takes on a piece of advice, acts on it and changes the way their company operates.

    In the context of social media communications as part of corporate communications, I’ve had a considerable amount of experience of this lately. One client in particular took on the advice we gave and has been doing a great job of it – and the feeling you get when this happens is what makes the job worthwhile, and it’s when you know you have a client you’ve got the potential to do great things with.

    Great fun. A nice perspective for me to take as I lean back and look at things from the comfortable distance of a sabbatical.

    Personal

    Random flow of consciousness

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    As I mentioned recently, I’ve been using Evernote to remind myself of topics I want to blog about – and this has made the process of sitting down to actually write something relatively effortless. Captured links serve as aide-memoires, accompanied by a line or two on what the thought was I wanted to capture, explore, investigate.

    It’s fantastic for the discipline of blogging, but I haven’t yet applied a filter by topic, and haven’t worked out a way to sort my blog post ideas thematically – so apologies if you’re getting a fairly random flow of consciousness. I’m by nature interested in everything, so posts will continue to vary from communications consultancy to technology and software, to soup and cooking, to film and TV, to babies and fatherhood  (ooh, also golf, running, etc. etc.)

    So hope you’re enjoying the ride. I’m loving blogging at the moment and hoping that friends will continue to engage, here on the blog and via FB, as I continue to spout out random thoughts, insights and random views on this, that and everything.

    Armand David's personal weblog: dadhood, technology, running, media, food, stuff and nonsense.