Understand developing technologiesin the television and film industry.

Consumer productsThe term consumer product means any product for sale to a consumer for personal use in a household or residence. The use of technology in the home has dramatically increased over the years due to the development of cheaper production in electronics.

Consumer products are sold through all sorts of different retailers and outlets such as Amazon and can consist of Items such as DSLR cameras, mobile phones and editing software.

In recent years mobile phones have been getting increasingly better. On phones you are now able to easily edit any images or videos that you take. However it is a very simplified version of what the industries are using. The drawback of this is That it is still very limited on what the user is able to do.

Consumer productsMicrosoft flagship product, Windows comes with a basic video editing software However most commercial editing software can be obtained fairly cheap.

Sony Vegas is a professional editing software and can be purchased very cheaply From $49.95.

Satellite and CableSatellite television broadcast using a satellite to relay signals to appropriately equipped customers in a particular area. Satellite television is a system of delivering television programming using signals relayed from communication satellites. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic reflector antenna usually referred to as a satellite dish and a low-noise block downconverter (LNB).

Whereas a cable is a system in which television programmes are transmitted to the sets of subscribers by cable rather than by a broadcast signal, signals are transmitted through coaxial cables or light pulses through fiber-optic cables.

AnalogueThere used to be two types of television in the UK, Analogue and Digital. Analogue television uses analog signals as a method of distributing media. Each channel that is added weakens the signals as it splits it with each channel added. This only ever supported 5 channels; BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digitally processed and multiplexed signal. Digital TV can support more than one program in the same channel bandwidth allowing there to be more channels and have higher quality. This is still in use today and supports hundreds of channels such as ITV2 as it wasn’t accessible via analogue.

Recently the analogue signals were switched off and all televisions were moved to digital in the ‘digital switchover’ which resulted in every home being digital by 2012.

Digital

InternetThe internet is now a huge factor in the consumption of media throughout the world. Media on the internet can be consumed legally which is a common routeFor people to take with streaming websites such as BBC Iplayer and Netflix. These are very popular as they offer media for a low price or in the case of BBC Iplayer for free.

Illegal websites such as Pirate Bay specialise in distributing illegal media. The Website is infamous for its illegal downloading system and has been struggling with various different laws to stay on the internet.

InteractiveWith the internet there is an extremely high level of interactivity with what is Happening. This is also applicable to television with the use of “interactive services”.

Old televisions use Teletext which was a system that allowed users to browse Information on their televisions. Nowadays interactive services on the television still Exist however in a different form. A lot of channels encourage viewers to use their Red button to access “interactive services”. This works in a similar way, allowing Viewers to access information much like Teletext did but easier to navigate.

High definitionHigh definition currently comes in three forms; 720p which is the lowest form of HD, 1080p and 4k. Currently the most widespread of these is 1080p however 4k Televisions are available but are expensive.

There has been a recent trend in that different manufacturers have tried to get Higher definition screens. In 2007 BBC launched “BBCHD” a channel that showed The same programs as BBC1 but in high definition. The channel was closed in 2013 in favour of separate HD channels for each of the BBC channels. The launch ofHigh definition channels show that HD television is becoming increasingly popular.

3DWhen it came to watching different media forms in three dimensions the viewerIs required to wear glasses (anaglyph 3D) often red and cyan to view the 3D Content. This has always been a discomfort when it comes to 3D media forms However 3D made a huge comeback around 2003 when James Cameron had a Bespoke camera built which was capable of shooting 3D. In 2009 the film AvatarWas released, this film used “realD 3D” which is a form of digital stereoscopic 3D.This handles the 3D projection in a smoother way than the anaglyph 3D.

Nowadays there are vast developments in 3D televisions and 3D channels however They still need to be developed further.

Pay-per -viewPay-per-view is a popular style of television service used by a number of differentchannels. This is where if you want to watch a particular show you are required to Pay a small amount of money. An example of this would be Sky Movies where you Access the channel then pay to watch the movie that it is currently showing.

On demandOn demand viewing is a method of delivering media content to viewers. This allows Viewers to access what they want to watch when they want to. An example of this Would be BBC’s on demand service, BBC Iplayer. This service allows people to Watch anything that was shown on BBC in the past 7 days.

Streaming content

Digital recorders

Another recent development in delivering media is the streaming of content. Streaming is where content is viewed on the internet without having to download a File. An example of this is Netflix, a website that only delivers their content throughOn demand streaming.

The final development in media is the use of digital recorders such as Sky+, where You can record television shows and schedule recordings so that the content can Be saved and watched at a later date and as many times as you want. This allows People to view content when it’s convenient for them.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_iPlayerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky%2B

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_video

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegassoftware

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereopsis