Windowboxing... Why won't you just fill the whole !#%^ screen?!?

Last night I sat down to watch the premiere of The Chopping Block on NBC and was surprised to see that my broadcast was being windowboxed on the screen.

What is windowboxing you ask? While I am watching this program on my 42" LCD HDTV, there is a thick black outline around the entire image, filling up half of my screen with dead space. This phenomenon is occurring more often recently as we shift into High Definition broadcasting.

The traditional tube television displays in an aspect ratio of 4:3 (for those of you not familiar with aspect ratios, that is the relationship between the length of the image and the height of the image). Brand new High Definition televisions now have a screen that is much wider than it is high, with an aspect ratio of 16:9. Just as the devices we use to watch programming have changed their aspect ratio, the cameras used to record the programs also have changed the shape of the images they capture.

So to get a 4:3 image to display without distortion on a 16:9 screen, the image is pillarboxed: the image is centered horizontally on the screen, and black space fills the left and right sides of the screen. Inversely, to view a 16:9 image on a 4:3 screen, the image is letterboxed: centered vertically, and black space fills the top and bottom.

So what I was seeing on my screen last night, was a program that was recorded in 16:9, but then was converted to be viewed on a 4:3 screen, which was then converted to fit my 16:9 screen. Dizzy yet?

Now this would make sense to me if I was watching a station that does not broadcast in HD, but this was not the case! The program before and after filled my screen with all of their HD glory! Apparently this revolution even confuses the "experts".

3D: 1980’s Deja Vu or Video Display of the Future?

The thought of a new high definition version of 3-D is enticing. Prior to the Super Bowl, I picked up a pair of “3-D Glasses” to watch the half-time Sobe Commercial. I naturally assumed that with the advent of HD, 3-D would be greatly enhanced. I was disappointed.

I went on to read that the version of 3-D used fro the halftime show was not actually new technology. It was the same old school, eye-fatiguing, red and blue-lens technology used as a gimmick in the late eighties.

However, this attempt to raise 3-D awareness was merely a marketing ploy and not a display of the power of the technology. Apparently, new movies like Coraline that utilize “RealD” technology are incredibly impressive. I will be viewing one of these movies in the next week and I will write about my observations.

GLMT Featured In One To One Magazine!!!

Please take a look at the article published in One To One magazine featuring Great Lakes Media Technology and its unrivaled blu-ray authoring services.

Staying Green in a Conservative World

I have to come clean. I have numerous conservative tendencies that fight to become dominant. I am conservative in nature; I like things to stay constant, I like to drive my gas-guzzling vehicle (28 mpg) around for hours on end (15 minutes each way to work, thank you), and I am in no way environmentally conscious. Really?

I am not supposed to care about the environment. I am an evil conservative who wishes to fill the air with smog and stuff the landfills until they overflow into your backyards. I love to litter. Except that I don’t. I die a little each time I throw a can in the regular bin. I cringe when I drop a paper towel in the garbage. I start screaming at my husband for daring to toss the rest of an apple in with the garbage.

I hate to waste anything. My thought is that if it can be used again, it does not belong in the garbage. To that end, I recycle anything I can. I am proudly storing bags upon bags of refuse on my deck, waiting for a sunny day before making my way through the soggy garden to the compost pile. I painstakingly wash out my bottles and cans to put with the recycling. I buy the smaller paper towels and tear off only as much as I need, sometimes a square inch for the little messes. I think about what I use in my daily life.

I have to admit, though, my striving to make mine a “green” world is not so much environmental as fiscal. I hate to spend money if I don’t have to. Buying a car that has higher gas mileage, composting, turning the lights off when not in use. All these things save me money and as an aside also end up being good for the environment since I am not using up so many resources. So call me cheap or call me green. In the end I think they are the same for me.

I am addicted to the digital world.

Today is a fantastic day. After work, my world will return to normalcy. The void I have lived with for the last 6 months will finally be filled. My new DirecTV service with HD/DVR will be hooked up when I get home!

In my 26 years on this planet, I have never known life before Cable TV. A proud member of “Generation Y,” I was born with a remote control in my hand. I always had cable: growing up, in my college dorm, in my first apartment, and finally in my first house.

This all changed about 6 months ago. Like many other Americans, Nate and I re-evaluated our budget, trying to find ways to save a few bucks here and there. We canceled the land line (only telemarketers call that anyways), combined cell phone services, and even switched to generic soda. Right around this time our contract with Dish Network was expiring, and we thought, “do we really need to spend $85/mo on television when we can just watch the networks for free?” We bit the bullet. We canceled. The Dark Age began.

It wasn’t so bad at first. I re-discovered PBS. My new favorite shows became American Scientific Frontiers and Cook's Country. If nothing was on, I’d actually turn off the TV and move on to other things - take a bike ride, weed the garden, play PS3, rent a Blu-Ray. A new world had opened up.

Then winter set in. A horrible, awful winter. Over 35 inches of snow in December alone! Now, it’s the cold snap that seems to last forever. For the last 2 months, leaving the house has been unbearable! When you are cooped up inside for so long, there are only so many ways you can pass the time. The Locals just don’t cut it anymore. I don’t think I can ever watch another episode of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? or Judge Judy.

But what do I miss most about life before the Dark Age? DVR. I’ve wasted far too much time watching commercials. Now that American Idol is back on, I can’t bear to actually waste 2 hours of my valuable evening time watching it. With a DVR, I can watch an entire episode in 35 minutes, not miss any of the action, and get on with my life.

Oh modern technology, how I have missed you. I promise never to leave you again. I’ll just have to find something else to sacrifice...

THE ADOBE CS4 CORNER:
Scaling the modern way in Photoshop CS4

Have you ever had a photo that just wouldn’t fit where you wanted it to? I have. I am always trying to get art to fit properly on a 4 ½” circle. An important part of the photo always seems to be cut off by the circle in the center or the curved outside edges. The fix is usually to include only parts of the image or reduce the size and harm the integrity of the design.

Enter Photoshop CS4. One of the new features is the Content-Aware Scale. This feature Free-Transforms your photo to fit the designated size but does it in a smart way. The function will look for empty areas and compact those before resizing the real objects.

For example, I have a photo I would like to fit on a disc.


I really like the tree on the left but I also want to keep all the boats on the right. Before CS4 I would have had to place the image in a disc template and leave white space around it or attempt to fill it in with whatever struck my fancy at the time. I hate white space. I do not like to try and balance an image on a disc with white space. So I now use the Content-Aware Scale to fit all the objects I want on a disc.

The disc on the left shows how I would need to fit the photo to get all of it to print. The disc on the right fills the whole surface with a modified image. Some of the objects are distorted, but in my opinion not so much that you would be able to tell unless you were familiar with the original photo.

This next photo shows how much of an image can be compressed while leaving the objects virtually untouched. It compacts mostly the blue sky and clouds and leaves the trees alone. The first, again, shows the original image. The second shows my "fixed" image.



While I do love this feature, it cannot be used for every photo. There has to be some empty space in the photo for the feature to compact. I have tried this with very busy photographs and the result is a confusing jumble of pixels. If you would like to try this feature, it can be found in Edit>Content-Aware Scale when you have an editable file open (see below).


If you would like to find other new features in your Adobe CS4 suite go to Windows>Workspace>What's New in CS4. This will highlight all the new features in the pull-down menus.

All this and more I learned at a fantastic seminar at the 2008 Graph Expo in Chicago. The seminar was given by Sandee Cohen, a well-known expert in various Adobe products. Beyond her seminars and speaking engagements, she has written numerous books including her latest, InDesign CS4 for Macintosh and Windows: Visual Quickstart Guide.

CNET Posts on why Blu-ray will Succeed:

Summarized:

1. Digital downloads will not eliminate the need for discs anytime soon.
2. Having one clear standard is a big advantage.
3. Blu-ray isn't going to be replaced by another disc format anytime soon.
4. Prices for large-screen HDTVs will continue to drop.
5. Prices for Blu-ray players will continue to drop.
6. Prices for Blu-ray discs will drop to near DVD price levels.
7. Sony will sell lots of PlayStation 3 game consoles.
8. Sony can't afford to have Blu-ray fail.
9. Sony and its partners will figure out a way to have Blu-ray resonate with the public.

Read the full article here.

If it has an i in front of it, it must be cool!

I am fairly level-headed in most cases and try not to let ads and brand names sway me. However, I freely admit to being sucked in by Apple’s ingenious marketing schemes. I look forward to each new ad out featuring the Mac and PC characters. I will go to Apple’s website and watch them, snickering quietly as my husband stares at me. In my opinion, Apple has successfully combined breathtakingly beautiful products with clever branding. Their iPod has set off an industry of gadgets. Anything cool nowadays begins with an i.

With all the bargains to be had this year, the Christmas tree towered above a bevy of gadgets. My favorite present by far was my Apple iPod touch. As I explained to my husband when asked why I wanted one, the reasons were very plain. An iPod touch is a very useful tool in every day life. It can keep track of your appointments, surf the net, store your formerly-wallet photos, and, most importantly, it looks oh-so cool. I easily defend my choice when asked why not a cheaper MP3 player. A simple they’re not Apple will suffice.

There seems to be no end to the entertainment an iPod touch can provide. I have uploaded my favorite music and latest photos, my favorite games, and I finally started an appointment book I hopefully won’t lose. There are numerous free applications to put on your iPod touch including Pac-Man and Facebook. If inclined, I could even turn it into a lightsaber! No bright light, but definitely the cool sound effects.

As with the other Apple products I own, this was no disappointment. I love to scroll through everything I have on this beautiful little machine. I carry it with me everywhere. I am now and possibly forever, an Apple fan.

Disc Design Tips: When to add a Spot Color

Here in the GLMT prepress department, one of the most common questions we are asked is when to design in spot colors versus process color. So, I thought I would take a moment to explain the difference and how to apply them in your CD and DVD designs.

When you print something on your desktop inkjet printer at home, you are printing in process colors (CMYK). The printer is taking 4 different ink colors (cyan, magenta, yellow and black), and spraying little dots of each in various patterns that when viewed by the human eye appears to be all the colors of the rainbow. Our screen and offset presses run on the same principle. An image can be split up into these 4 different colors and each is laid onto the disc one at a time, resulting in the appearance of a nearly infinite amount of colors. Process colors work fantastic for photographic images. They are able to capture all the subtle differences in tones, shadows, and highlights.

Unlike your inkjet printer at home, we have the option of using spot colors in our printing process. I like to compare using spot colors to picking out wall paint colors at a hardware store. There are swatch libraries of hundreds of colors that look exactly the same in the sample book as when printed on the final product. Instead of using little dots of 4 different colors to simulate a color, the ink is pre-mixed to the desired color before being put into the press. Here at GLMT, we use the Pantone Solid Coated Library, which is an industry standard throughout the world.

There are a few different guidelines for when to incorporate spot colors into a design. First, is there something very specific that you want to match? Many corporations depend on specific colors for their identity. Spot colors print consistently across the board. If a customer asks for a "deep blue" it's hard to know what their definition of deep blue is, but if they say "Pantone 286", I know exactly what they mean and can deliver what they expect.

Another time to use spot colors is if the design includes large areas of a single solid color. While 4 color process can produce a huge range of colors, it is very difficult to get these colors to print consistently, especially in the screen printing process. Microscopic variables such as wear on a screen, pressure on a squeegee, surface fluctuations on a disc, and even humidity levels can change how the little dots of color interact with one another. When printing with a spot color, only one screen and one ink is used for each color, reducing any potential variations.

Hopefully this short lesson has cleared up some of the confusion out there about the differences between these printing methods. Please remember that we are always here to answer any questions you may have so we can get you the best looking disc possible.

Can LinkedIn Help Your Company Sell?

Are you diving into the networking craze that so many companies are now doing? Can social media websites such as LinkedIn help you sell your products? I say why not give it a try…LinkedIn is free, easy to use, low maintenance - and if nothing else you’re able to connect with colleagues, partners and friends that maybe you haven’t heard from in awhile. It’s free marketing, and during these tough economic times, surely can’t hurt.

Being in a sales/marketing role here at GLMT, there is no doubt that LinkedIn has been a great resource for current and potential customer contacts. My goal is for people to think of Great Lakes Media Technology and myself when someone needs the products and services we offer - and LinkedIn can only help to increase that brand awareness. Not to mention that observing a contact’s profile helps you learn a little background about the person that you otherwise probably wouldn’t have known. Even tangible networking events usually don’t involve discussions of people who think highly of you (recommendations section of LinkedIn).

As far as me personally generating sales revenue as a result of being in touch through LinkedIn – to be honest I have yet to see any real results. You’re probably laughing by the way I was just talking up how useful the website has been, but believe me I have faith. Even if it does not directly result in a sale, I do believe it has helped me to better connect with existing customers. I’d love to hear your thoughts…

Netflix and Blu-ray
The Perfect Combination?

The road to Blu-ray was a complicated one for me. I wanted to get the most out of my purchase, especially since I was jumping on this technology-bandwagon so soon. My search began when I was looking for a Christmas present for my husband. I decided I wanted to look into streaming Netflix as a gift for him.

You can stream Netflix without purchasing a Blu-ray player or a streaming box. You can connect a computer to your TV. However, the TV we have is quite old and I would have had to purchase extra equipment in order to connect everything. A variety of ways to stream Netflix to your TV is offered online. The box offered by Netflix to stream video looked okay, and was reasonable in price. But, just below this listing I found some Blu-ray players that also stream Netflix. I appreciate multi-functionality in my electronics so I began my search for the perfect combo machine. I finally settled on the Samsung BD-P2500 for a variety of reasons, including price and availability.

Once the BD-P2500 arrived, it was amazingly simple to set up. As soon as the Samsung was plugged into my network, Netflix appeared upon the menu. The player walked me through activating my account. I used to my Netflix account through the computer and added eligible titles to my instant viewing queue to get movies to show up on my player.

There are quite a variety of titles available for both movies and TV shows. I am pretty happy with the selection but I do have some complaints. I chose a few TV shows to watch this weekend. The two series I chose had several episodes unavailable for viewing instantly. This is especially annoying since you do not become aware of it until you start watching. For instance, the first TV show I picked was missing the pilot episode, number three, and number four. I gave up on that show at that point since I prefer to watch everything in order.

I have to say, overall, that I do like the ability to stream Netflix. It gives me a wide variety of shows to watch and I don’t have to “waste” one of my 3 hard copy choices from Netflix to watch them. I also don’t feel guilty if I don’t like the movie and turn it off. This was a great purchase but do be aware you need a Netflix membership and a wired network connection in order to do this.

GLMT attending North American Music Manufacturer's (NAMM) Show

GLMT will be sending representatives to the 2009 NAMMM Show in Anaheim, January 16th-18th. Many of GLMT's customers and friends are music publishers and manufacturers which makes it an opportune time and location to meet with them.

The NAMM show has been an event that GLMT perennially attends due to its large scale service to the music publishing and manufacturing industry. GLMT has helped with many of the marketing materials distributed at the show and have also manufactured many of the disc-based products sold at the show.

PC World: Blu-ray 4th Quarter shows Blu-ray Success

PC World claims that Blu-ray had a successful 4th quarter of 2008 and is poised for even greater success in 2009. The PC World article states:

"Disc sales have tripled in the past year, according to The Digital Entertainment Group, an organization made up of movie studios and electronics manufacturers who track the industry. Blu-ray sold 28.6 million discs in the fourth quarter of 2008, and there are 10.7 million Blu-ray players currently in the United States.

The biggest seller was The Dark Knight, the number two highest grossing motion picture of all time. The Dark Knight is the first Blu-ray disc to sell over one million copies."

We will keep you posted on the successes of this format and the attention the media gives it.

Does it Matter if XBOX offers a Blu-ray Player?

Microsoft's gaming console XBOX 360 has been purposefully rippling the rumor pond for the last two years about offering a Blu-ray drive. My question is why would it matter?

Of the many statements Microsoft has made in the past, they believe that tangible media will be worthless to their business model in the next couple years. Among the bundled products it has tried pushing with XBOX 360 is this notion of seamlessly downloading software and high definition movies.

This "magic button loading" of content is not that easy. I own XBOX 360 and PS3. I have the option of renting the old fashioned way or downloading. I have tried downloading and it was a yawning experience. HD movies take forever to download (hours), there are complicated internet connection settings to even get to the point of access, there is a fee more than actually renting the real deal, and the quality of the bit rate is super bad. For me, I rent blu-ray discs and DVDs from Blockbuster... Its easy enough... I get my family dinner and pick up a movie or two and pop it in. I'm not an old fashioned guy and I am in the "target demographic" for marketing this service and my opinion is there isn't a whole lot of value in downloading movies to me. Its not easier, its not better, and its not very exciting.

I love all the overhyped publicity downloading gets. Maybe technical advancements in new audio/video technology is slowing so there is nothing more exciting. I have yet to hear of monetary success in the digital video streaming business model other than iTunes. Even iTunes, I've yet to hear of overwhelming profits as it relates to video products.

The point is XBOX 360 has banked on two bad horses for hi-def movie watching and it is doomed as a Hi-Def movie watching apparatus. These horses are HD-DVD and Streaming. It is still a great machine for games and that is how people will use it but I find it very hard to get excited about Microsoft offering an ugly Blu-ray dongle to their current gaming system. Yet every year this time people get all excited that they are going to announce such a contraption at CES. Maybe it is just blu-ray supporters waiting for verification that Microsoft is admitting to some sort of ultimate mistake by going with HD-DVD or Streaming for high definition movies. However, the misbets made by Microsoft in recent times as it relates to HD movies are too numerous to be of any interest to me.

A Layman’s First Impression of High-Definition Television

Let me say, I’m impressed. For the first time in years I sit staring, open-mouthed, at a football game for more than 10 minutes. The crisp images projected in high-definition on a plasma television cannot be beat. I feel as if I’m on the field with the players. I get dizzy when the camera moves quickly, panning the crowd. Watching sports has become pleasurable again. HD viewing gets an A+ from me. 

But, just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, a Blu-ray/plasma TV combination tops even the most exciting football game. Together with surround sound, watching the Transformers movie over and over again this weekend at the request of a very excited three-year old proved to be an easy chore. How many times can I watch these robots fighting and flying around the cities? I don’t know, I’m not finished yet. Especially considering this is the only Blu-ray disc I have in the house, and it belongs to my son. I foresee this being played a lot and I won’t get tired of it too soon.

HD television is a pleasure to watch and I look forward to the day when everything is broadcast this way. It’s a disappointment now to watch the older, fuzzy shows. 21st century, here I come!

Top Five Reasons To Buy a Blu-ray Player

Courtesy of GLMT, Inc.









5. Your DVDs are not HD. No matter what the label says. Sure upconverting DVD players make your DVDs look better but they are not HD. Don't believe it. There is a BIG difference and if you don't see it, your player is not hooked up properly.

4. Sound. If you have a surround sound system, chances are your system will benefit from the much higher data rates of the Blu-ray format out of the box. My surround system is 5 years old and it is shocking how much more dynamic the channel seperation was on blu-ray audio with old school audio codecs.

3. $140. Resist the temptation to replace that malfunctioning or lost ipod this Christmas and invest in something that you will actually use on a consistent basis. Blu-ray players are selling at a discount. $140? C'mon! Remember when you would drop $100 just for an HDMI cable.

2. Your TV Wants One. If you have an hdtv, it has been fed a diet of low bit rate cable or dish hd or low bit rate DVDs that claim they are upconverting to HD. Your TV wants a steak. Let it maximize its performance with HD.

1. Rediscover the Magic of Movie Making. When I bought my blu-ray player, I realized something. Movies are fun to watch again. Movies are brilliant. The immersive display of sound and color lend credence to the true masterpieces of American moviemaking. A blu-ray player will entertain you and your friends and family cheaply and brilliantly. Done deal.

Eco-Friendly Disc Not So Friendly

You can turn on your television, tune in to the radio, or even open up your web browser and you are bound to see something about going "green." We are all in the midst of a "green" generation and at Great Lakes Media Technology we've adopted the "ChooseGreen" packaging concept (made with 100% recyclable, 30% post consumer and all soy based inks on custom packaging), which has seen a HUGE increase in demand over the last few years. Anytime energy is saved and resources are conserved, no doubt we are all for it. Researchers are now experimenting to create an eco-friendly disc, although none have been successful.

Currently there are replication companies marketing what they are calling an "eco-friendly" DVD (or flex disc). Flexible because they are 0.6mm thick as opposed to the 1.2mm thickness of a standard DVD, and environmentally friendly because only half of the plastic is needed to manufacture the disc. Unfortunately there are some serious problems with this.

1. Companies are only manufacturing 1 layer (layer 0) of the format, which happens to fall outside of the specifications for all DVD formats. As a licensee of the DVD patent groups - which is extremely important to avoid potential liability - we are disallowed to manufacture non-compliant products.

2. Compatibility with these thin discs are not good. Less than 80% compatibility.

3. The manufacturing process of this disc is no different than the standard manufacturing of a DVD.

As further research is conducted we will continue to keep our eyes open. We are constantly working towards protecting our environment, as well as providing more options to our customers.

Why so Serious? Batman Blu-ray Disc to be "Killer" App for the Format?

The Dark Night Blu-ray disc promises to be dazzling. If you are one of those "Jokers" who thinks that DVD is just fine on your 1080p Flat Screen television, this title will sure to change your beliefs.

The darks will be eerier and inkier, the explosions will be more ferocious, the entire movie will be more of spectacle on Blu-ray. If you were on the fence about Blu-ray, this title's demand for high bit rates of data, colors not possible in upconvert, and pure uncompressed sound will make your DVD feel like it is a black and white picture with Dutch subtitles.

Going, Going, Going, GREEN!

It seems like everyone is going green nowadays. It is everywhere, so I think it is safe to say it is the “trendy” thing to do right now. In my opinion this trend is one that should stay. I think it is great that companies, not just citizens, are deciding that it is time to think about how we affect our planet. Even Apple has released their first family of Green Notebook computers.

Now I’m no tree-hugger, but I try to do my part in lessening my “carbon footprint.” Recycling is probably the easiest thing anyone can do to make a small impact on the environment. It takes two seconds to throw that can or bottle in a recycling bin instead of your trashcan.

Recently the Milwaukee County Zoo started using compostable plastic cups in the Flamingo Café. These totally clear cups are made from bioplastic. It’s really quite amazing that this plastic can be composted and not have any harmful impact on the environment. I hope they start using these cups in all of their Concessions once they reopen in the Spring.

GLMT has also taken steps in the green direction. We recently introduced our ChooseGreen option for our custom packaging. We have also started offering a recycled green jewel case. The clear green case is made of 30% postconsumer materials and the forest green tray is made of 100% postconsumer materials.

In addition, we are also reducing paper waste by giving our clients the option to receive their quotes and invoices digitally instead of on paper. Any paper waste we do have is recycled, along with plastic, cardboard, glass and scrap discs. It’s hard to imagine the amount of waste GLMT alone would be putting into the landfill if we did not recycle.

As you can see whether your company is making computers, serving concessions at the zoo, manufacturing discs or anything in between, we can all do something to impact the environment in a positive way.

Let’s turn this green trend into something more, and keep our environment healthy!

Netflix To Stream Through Blu-Ray Players

In an attempt to combine the convenience of watching online movies and watching a high definition picture, Netflix and some blu-ray player manufacturers are teaming up to allow subscribers to stream movies through blu-ray players. Despite the current economic environment, demand for blu-ray players have risen due to the dramatic decrease in prices and the ending of the format war. Online streaming has been on the rise for years.

This collaboration is really a win-win for both companies. Online movies will now be up-converted from standard definition to near HD quality - although there is still a striking difference between up-converted standard definition picture quality and full 1080p blu-ray picture quality. This also should drive Netflix subscribers to purchase blu-ray players. The only warning is that once you go high-def, you'll never want to go back!