Siefkes Sinks Monster Putt

Mequon- Andy Siefkes, GLMT’s star salesperson, returned to the office after closing huge deals feeling a twinge of something special. This would be a day where history would be made in GLMT’s sales department.

“I looked up from my desk, and there he was with a twinkle in his eye, and a putter lightly gripped between his two masculine hands,” recalled eyewitness Robert Brockel, a full-time putter at GLMT. Robert states that the next thing he saw was Siefkes placing the ball behind an adjacent cubicle wall, giving him an impossible look at the Putting Pal.

“I had this idea to bounce the putt off the wall trim and I knew that if I lined up correctly, it would have a good shot at going in,” stated Siefkes. The putt will go down in history as the greatest putt made at GLMT, in the northwest corner of the building, on that day (May 25, 2008).

GLMT CEO Brian Axtman summarized in saying “I think Andy being a firefighter, former UW-Oshkosh fraternity member, and former high school all-conference honorable mention place kicker gave him all of the skills to perform well in sales department putting.”

Trends in Media: USB Flash Drives for Marketing and Promotion

It has become increasingly enticing to look into USB Sticks or “Thumb Drives” as a promotional tool or a way to distribute information. They can serve as an eye-catching handout at a tradeshow or a mail out premium with preloaded promotional information.

However, the volatility in price and availability is often hampered by the demand for flash memory generally by other consumer product applications (i.e. cameras, cell phones, etc.) CD and DVD is still the most cost effective way to deliver rich media content for read-only presentations.

GLMT is looking forward to future investments in this product, but we need your help! Let us know how you plan to use USB Flash Drives in the future by shooting us a quick email. Or hit the comment section on the blog to leave your thoughts for all!

Marketing Downloadable Content as “HD”


A Suspicious Value Statement














It is logical to assume that in the future we have a “mystical box” that pipes in high definition movies and games to any television/monitor in the house. This HD content will be relayed wirelessly to our cell phones, maybe even our virtual reality visors. We will command it by voice, it may even have a name, and it will know us, and download movies it knows we’ll like without command. This “magic box” will sense our every entertainment want and need and predict, download, and present it in glorious high definition on any type of screen we want. The cost of this box? Nothing. The cost to download a movie? Zilch. Writers will never strike and meaningful HD content will be bountiful.

As we step back to planet earth we see industry giants capitalizing on this ideal of entertainment utopia. At CES 2008, Apple announced its “HD” version of Apple TV. You can download “HD” programs to your XBOX 360. Some of the major networks are even letting you download “HD” video versions of their sitcoms. The problem is that none of these downloads are truly HD and marketing them as such is potentially fraudulent.

George Ou, a technical Zdnet.com columnist, confirmed the industry-wide misrepresentation in “Don’t Believe the Low Bit-Rate Lie.” The article draws a clear distinction between resolution and bit rate, which few understand. As a review, resolution is simply the physical number of columns and rows of pixels creating the display. Bit rate refers to the actual amount of video data being transferred per second to the display. The true measure of whether something is HD should be measured first by bit rate then by resolution. This confusion has led to many media conglomerates taking advantage of the bewildered consumer.

When the consumer goes shopping for an HD display, they are pursuaded to choose between resolutions as a measurement of quality. There is a price disparities between resolutions. For example, a 1080p display will command a premium over a 720p display. However, the amount of video data being transferred to that display is more important.

What is more interesting is the fact that a standard definition (480i) DVD played on a 720p display with a bit rate of 8 mbps will look better than the “HD Movie” downloaded on your computer, XBOX Live, or your Apple TV with bit rates less than 5 mbps. DVDs are not marketed as “HD” despite the fact that they can be scaled to display on any TV resolution. The fact that some digital downloads advertise themselves as “HD” when really it is worse than DVD quality is puzzling.

The HD bit rate has been set by the next generation formats as being a minimum of 36 mbps. This is why when you view video presented in HD-DVD or Blu-Ray it is spectacular in comparison with all other forms of HD.

It is suspicious that Dish Network and Cable frequently wage war against each other on the amount of HD it offers. What is lacking in the battle is a discussion on quality of HD. However, when a digital downloading service is advertised as offering “HD”, and the quality is less than the standard definition DVD quality, it should remove the “HD” label altogether. Offering something that transfers 9 times less video data at a resolution often used by HD video should not be labeled HD as consumers associate “HD” with high quality.

A Look at the Consumer, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray

The fact that most consumers do not have an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player is not surprising. The optical disc industry has done little to invite a consumer to experience high definition entertainment by presenting two competing next generation formats- HD-DVD v. Blu-Ray. At GLMT we are indifferent to which format prevails in the marketplace, but we do believe that a clear format needs to be decided soon for the health of the industry.

Initially, we thought the development of multi-format players or Super Multi Blu players would make the format war moot by allowing consumers to buy either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray titles without regard to compatibility. We envisioned that consumers would be more concerned with buying an entertainment title in High Definition, rather than a specific format because it would not make much difference.


The development and promotion of Super Multi Blu players has been extremely slow to react to a consumer looking to adopt a format. The price remains high for Super Multi Blu ($900) and neither camp seems to be willing to endorse such a concept. Also, the promotions linked with buying a Blu-Ray or an HD-DVD player (i.e. up to 10 free movies) were not extended to the multi-format players during the pre-holiday retail blitz. Due to the lack of promotion behind the Super Multi Blu players the tension increased between the formats and has lead to a slow consumer adoption. A winner-take-all proposition to a consumer looking to make a $400 investment in technology is a risk consumers are smart not to take.

Last Friday, January 4, Warner Bros. dealt a blow to the HD-DVD camp announcing exclusivity to Blu-Ray for their titles in 2008. This caused HD-DVD to cancel their news conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This cancellation reaction to the Warner Bros. exclusive announcement was surprisingly public, and some believe this to be the tipping point.

It is unfortunate that this confusing message has been presented to the marketplace. What is clear, is that the only way to effectively watch a spectacular, recently released movie in high definition is to utilize a next generation optical disc format. We believe there will be widespread adoption to a format once it is clear that there is a standard and the players are priced under $200 including an HDMI cable. Given the recent exclusive Blu-Ray news, this may be happening soon.

GLMT sent representatives to the CES conference to get a pulse on the future of optical disc. We are excited to hear their thoughts upon return.

Blu-Ray or HD-DVD vs. Digital Downloading? Discs are Here to Stay!

EngadgetHD, a leading blogger on high definition, posted 10 reason discs will remain as a viable medium! I thought they were very insightful.

1. They offer the best picture and sound quality.
2. You own the disc, no one can expire it or take it away.
3. Discs still cost less per GB than a Hard Disc.
4. Discs don't 'just' go bad and cause you to lose your movies.
5. Discs are portable and can be shared with friends.
6. Eventually HDM players will cost less than upconverting DVD players.
7. Xbox Live Marketplace HD expires and is locked to the device.
8. HD VOD is limited in selection and availability.
9. Even when VUDU gets HD, it costs too much, and the content is locked on the box.
10. HD Movie channels crop, compress, and offer worse audio than DVD.


Source- EngadgetHD

GLMT StoriesAnnual Holiday Disc Unveiled!

GLMT and SoundByteStudios Team up for this year's 2007 Holiday Greetings Disc.

Every year we have the pleasure of sharing our passion for the season by teaming up with one of our customers to create a special offering to all of our valued partners.
This year we teamed up with SoundByte Studios, a Chicagoland choral recording specialist, to bring you a very special recording of the Lake Forest High School Choir under the direction of Timothy Haskett.

As we approach this special time of year, we would like to send you our 2007 Holiday Greetings CD for FREE!! Please click here and include your name, address, and way we can serve you better in 2008 to receive your 2007 Holiday Greetings CD in time for the holidays!

Packaged Media v. Digital Downloading


Great Lakes Media Technology recently attended the Home Media Expo in Las Vegas. The purpose was to examine the future of the entertainment and communications industry. Many in the packaged media industry feel threatened by digital downloading. We are not threatened as we see ourselves as a communications enabler and will invest accordingly as long as we are serving our valuable customers. As we look to invest in the future, we wanted to know where the consumer was headed. We obtained valuable information from not only research experts but also panels of regular entertainment consumers. When asked about the impact of digital downloading, Tom Adams of Adams Media Research said,"Never has a product with so little market share received so much press." His models showed in the video entertainment market, digital downloading represented 8% of the total market. By 2012 both Nielsen and Adams expect digital downloading to capture a max of 12% of the total market. An executive from MovieLink, a leading entertainment download site, discussed many of the quality, security, download time, and marketing pitfalls that they encounter with the service.We came away with the conclusion that the best experience for consumers of media will continue to be delivered on disc for the best experience, and digital downloading is best used as a supplement to the rich disc experience. If you wish to discuss, click discuss!

Increase Your Definition

We recently attended the HD Expo in Chicago and learned a lot about High Definition Video's emergence into a variety of presentations: DVD and streaming video. Regardless of the ongoing format war between HDDVD and Blu-Ray, High Definition footage can totally impact your standard DVD or online video. Are you capturing your footage in HD? The time has come to look into it. If you don't shoot your own footage, chances are your production company is. The difference is really profound, and everyone is upgrading to accommodate - not because of trend, but because of the superb quality it offers.

If your program contains HD footage, contact us to discuss presentation formats - both DVD and streaming. We'll help get your quality footage seen - and we guarantee people will be impressed.