Elles on Snowboard

Elles for the first time on a snowboard in Talma Ski, Finland.

Bert the kitchen table

This is Bert, our new kitchen table. I named it after the previous owner, Bert de Niel. Thanks Bert!

Music: "Trouble up the road", by De Muziekcoach. Downloaded for free from Simuze.

The Geeky Stuff: I'm trying to fool iTunes.. Renamed the script to MartijnTV.mov.php instead of MartijnTV.php, hoping that the problem has to do with the file name of the script. The link of the RSS enclosure of this post is now http://www.martijnthe.nl/log/video/MartijnTV.mov.php?file=Bert.mov ...

Testing (last time...)

So, the SMIL apparently worked in iTunes, although it does not give any feedback on what it is doing when downloading the videos, except for the 'Q' logo and those wobbling circles. This shouldn't be a problem when the video file is small or when it is a stream that is being opened. The previous test did not involve the PHP script, just a SMIL text file with a .mov file name extension. This test does involve the PHP script that generates the SMIL text file on the fly and pushes a .mov file to the browser.

Testing (continued)...

I'm continuing the geeky stuff for a moment. There is not so much documentation about this on the web, even though there are quite a lot of people out there making video casts and vlogs. So perhaps, hopefully this information is of some use to others.

Apparently, the PHP-generated SMIL file is not accepted by iTunes. It just doesn't show up there. The content-type of the response created by the PHP script is 'video/quicktime', that could be a problem, as it should be 'smil/application' or 'smil/text' officially. But I set it to 'video/quicktime' to make sure QuickTime would be assigned to handle the file. And when I save the SMIL document generated by the script, it runs fine in the QuickTime player. It could be that it needs absolute file references, as I was using relative references. I have changed that now. It could be that it iTunes doesn't like the file extension (.php). I have added a line to the script that sets the file name of the response to a .mov file. I could be that iTunes does not support SMIL at all. I doubt that, as iTunes uses QuickTime to playback movies. But let's see what happens...

Testing.. 1, 2, 3...

Okay, this is just a note for my self. Feel free to read it, but be warned: it's very, very geeky...

Today I have done some tests with SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language). SMIL is a quite simple and straightforward language to make very simple multimedia composition out of elements of audio, video, stills, et cetera. I took a look at this because of several reasons.

One, I want to add the MartijnTV trailer, which I made last week, at the end of each video in my feed. Until now, I have appended the trailer at the end of the video file. Doing this, every video increases in size. A better way is to append a reference to one separate file with the trailer, at the end of each video. This is possible with SMIL. It allows you to create playlist like file that specifies which movies should be played after each other. So that would save space on the server and maybe even bandwidth, because you only have to download the trailer once (in theory).

Two, I want to have an instruction graphic ('click to play video') on top of the video preview that you see when you open the site. I could have some script in the image editor that I use, but that is still a bit of a hassle. I rather upload a video and have the server (or client, in the case of SMIL) do the rest. I could write a server side script that generates the composition, but my guess was that SMIL was faster to make and much more flexible. So I made a second SMIL wrapper that takes the bare preview image and composes the instruction graphic on top of it, and this is done on the client's (read 'your') machine.

Three, I want to experiment with non-lineair and interactive video. I have a good application in mind with non-lineair video that I want to prototype. That's perhaps the most important reason why I investigated SMIL today. First, I thought that I could use dynamically generated RSS feeds, based on the viewer's interaction with what he or she is watching. But RSS is not really meant for that, and SMIL is, at least more.

And then the outcomes: I made a PHP script (not very sophisticated - I am still a designer, not a software engineer...) that generates a simple SMIL, depending on two incoming variables: file and web. If web is true, it returns a SMIL wrapper which tells QuickTime how to compose the preview of the input file and the instruction graphic. Moreover, the whole image should act as a hyperlink to the the SMIL with web turned to false. If web is not true (but false), it returns the SMIL which tells QuickTime first to play the input movie and then second, the MartijnTV trailer from another, separate file. Besides, this second video should also act as a hyperlink to my website. I wonder now why I called this variable 'web', but now I know again. This web=true is only added on my website, and not in the RSS feed. So iTunes will get the video SMIL, not the preview. If only iTunes handles SMIL... Hmmm... There's only one way to find out: add a new post with video!

The video excerpt is taken from archive.org.

Harjutori Sauna

DemoDay in Medialab

Today was 'DemoDay' in Medialab, so the weeks in advance everybody had been preparing a stand to show his/her work, finished or in progress. So it was more or less a 'fair' where you could show whatever you would like to show.

I showed the project that I had made during the MAX/MSP and Jitter workshop. The working title is "Zen Zapper: crawls the TV channels in search of the last pieces of tranquility...". I had built a simple 'living room' with a carpet, two easy chairs and I had placed a TV set there that was showing the output of my Zen Zapper. The two computers (a PowerMac Dual G5 and my PowerBook G4...) that were needed to process the live TV broadcasts were steaming away underneath a table. They were analysing the incoming TV footage in real-time, all the day long. Pieces that passed my 'tests of tranquility' were glued together on the fly and then output to the TV set.

Stupidly enough, I have no video recordings of my own work... Maybe I'll do that some time later. But on the other hand, it is a 'live installation'. The effect of it would be nearly zero if recorded and played back later...

In the video I am exploring the installation "NEW BATHROOM ORCHESTRA" by Matthieu Savary and Kalle Mäntsälä. There are three instruments in the bathroom: the toiletbrush, the shower and tap to clean your dèrrière. With the red glove an instrument can be selected, the green manipulates the pitch, loudness and pan of the selected instrument. Good job, Kalle and Matthieu!

Goodbye party in Kontula

Last weekend, Devon had thrown a party for the people that were leaving and at the same time to celebrate his birthday. Went there with Simon and Birgit, after our ice-skating adventures. Great party! People that appear in this little video (in order of appearance): Ryan Sohlden, Bert de Niel, Benny Cox, Orhan Daybelge, two girls who's names I don't know or forgot, Korhan Buyukdemirci, Ärni Grétarsson, Philipp Thesen, Vladimir Zak, Marjo Mansen-Laalo and Bruno Dushime.

Here are some funny photos that Ärni has taken.

Ice Skating in Kallio

Whoa, ice skating is so nice! Why have I done it just so few times? I'm definitely going here more often. It's great and it's just a one minute walk away from my home. And yeah, my personal speed skating coach is arriving in 13 days.

Kuudes Linja

Went to the mlab x-mass party yesterday, after meeting Nancy and Kjeld in a sushi bar in Kamppi. The party was in 'Nite Life Rock'. Not really my place, it's kind of a fancy club for gothic guys and girls. So, we decided to move on to Kuudes Linja, the new club at Hämeentie which we all wanted to see. Queued for at least one hour in minus eight degrees Celsius. Definitely the last time that I'm queuing for a club in Helsinki. Once we were inside we had one hour left dance our toes out of their frozen state. And so we did!

IPTV Links

This guy has made a page full with nice links to the current companies active in IPTV business. Go there.

I'm sorry for those that don't like to read English, but I'm considering to continue this site in English instead of Dutch. Perhaps I'll use my native language in more personal stories, but in things related to my work I'll use English.

XOLO.TV

Some people that have been contemplating on blogging, vlogging, vodcasting, future of TV, et cetera... This guy (Gabe McIntyre) gives an brief introduction to the history and technical background of vodcasting. Check FORUM.XOLO.TV for more interesting speeches.

I bet we'll get rid of the old-fashioned cable (analogue or digital) that binds TV and its watchers to the few big media companies, within a few years.

Adam Curry

Dag Adam,

Ik vroeg me af of je weet of er al iemand bezig is het podcasting-concept te implementeren voor IPTV (Internet Protocol TeeVee).

Er zou dan iets kunnen gebeuren als dit:

De casts zijn dan de TV kanalen. Velen onderhouden een cast over wat hem of haar bezig houdt.
'Media literacy' is een verplicht vak op de middelbare school. Daar leer je je eigen 'Journaal' te maken.
Je kijkt minder meer naar commerciële fakes als Big Brother. Liever kijk je naar de creatieve uitspattingen van je buurman of het reisverslag van een maat aan de andere kant van de wereld...
Podcast directories zijn de TV gidsen van de toekomst.
Een medium zo vrij en democratisch als het internet, en tegelijk zo lui en gemakkelijk als TV van nu.

Wat denk je?

Groet,
Martijn The

Nieuw idee?

Ontzettend, wat er allemaal al uitgevonden is en wat er elke dag uitgevonden wordt...

Afgelopen dagen dacht ik een aantal goede ideeën te hebben bedacht, waarvan ik natuurlijk hoopte dat de wereld ze nog niet gezien had. Voor de workshop 'Digital Electronics and Microcontrollers' wil ik een 'intelligent' product - beter gezegd, een werkend prototype van een nieuw intelligent product - bouwen. Daarom probeer ik mijn brein al een poos in een soort continue staat van 'storm' te drukken. Lukt best aardig.

Steeds als ik een 'nieuw' idee heb, ga ik eerst even na hoe 'nieuw' het eigenlijk is. Heel simpele truuk: tik je idee bij Google in en kijk of het al bestaat. Dit "nieuwheidsrapport" van Google heeft tot nu toe steeds nog negatief geoordeeld over mijn ideeën: "Nee, je idee is niet nieuw. Ja, iemand was je voor."

Gedachtengang 1: Door de verpakking van een product dat op is, net voordat het in de vuinisbak beland, een foto te nemen met je mobiel, zou je een boodschappenlijstje kunnen samenstellen. Hee, en wat als je de streepjescode fotografeert en die via mobiel internet naar de supermarkt stuurt: "Doe mij nog één van dit product!". Hmm... Mobiele telefoon met camera als barcode scanner...? Bestaat al! Zie ScanBuy.com en een leuker voorbeeld SemaPedia.com

Gedachtengang 2: Veel mensen hebben tegenwoordig een mobiele telefoon met een camera (en soms zelfs wel twee). Al die mobieltjes maken het mogelijk om video's (en foto's) te maken. Maar ik heb nog geen 'mobiele' filmmakers in 't nieuws zien verschijnen. Een rol spelen waarschijnlijk de beperkingen van de toestellen. Het oplossend vermogen of de resolutie is belabberd, maar dat kun je ook zien als uitdaging. Belangrijker: veel meer dan 'schieten', 'opnemen' en 'afspelen' kennen de mobieltjes nog niet. Een poging een 'serieuze' film te maken met je mobieltje is al gedoemd te mislukken omdat het onmogelijk is de video te bewerken op je mobieltje... 'Nieuw' idee: video editing op je mobiel...! Dacht je maar! Zie muveeMobile Movie Director en ArcSoft VideoImpression Mobile

Gedachtengang 3: Sommige mensen maken weblogs. Wat minder mensen maken moblogs. Een moblog is een weblog die het voordeel biedt dat je niet meer achter je computer hoeft te kruipen. Artikeltjes maak je met je mobieltje. Schiet een fotootje, schrijf een tekstje en verstuur het als MMS (multimedia-sms) naar je weblog. Bijvoorbeeld, Blogger on the Go biedt deze service gratis aan.

Nou, da's mooi: je hoeft niet meer achter die vervelende grijze bak (computer) te kruipen om je artikeltjes te posten. Hmm.. Maar het andere eind van de ketting dan? De lezer, luisteraar, kijker, consument van weblogs? Zou de populariteit van mob/webloggen omhoog gaan, als je TV automatisch de laatste log-afleveringen vertoont van je vrienden, je sportclub, je kennis die in Finland is...? Je zapt tussen de verschillende logs waarop je (gratis) geabonneerd bent, zoals je nu zapt tussen Talpa, SBS6 en MTV. Wat zou er gebeuren als iedereen een eigen TV kanaal had? Zouden jij en ik dan TV maken? Zou je dan mijn uitzendingen bekijken...?