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HP Releases Digital Media Platform for Film, TV Producers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 19, 2004 - 4:38am.
Las Vegas -- HP announced on Monday that it has partnered with a number of entertainment industry firms to create the Digital Media Platform, a standards-based technology platform that aims to simplify and reduce the cost of content production, distribution and consumption in the entertainment industry. The platform links production and post-production applications and processes for rendering, editing, workflow, archiving and restoration together in a workflow-based system. HP said it is working with Warner Bros. to digitally restore the studio's library of classic films and television shows, and that DreamWorks will use its technology in the rendering process for its digitally animated sequel, "Shrek 2."
tags: HP | Film | Digital Media | TV Producers |

CNET: Hollywood Offering Colleges Copyright Monitor Software for Networks

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 19, 2004 - 4:35am.
San Francisco -- Trade groups representing movie studios and record labels are developing a tool that universities can install on their networks to handle compliance with requests to remove copyrighted files from trading on peer-to-peer services, CNET News.com reported. The Automated Copyright Notice System (ACNS), developed jointly by Vivendi Universal Entertainment and Universal Music Group, is an open-source, royalty-free system that schools and ISPs can use to implement their policies when a user receives a "takedown notice" to remove copyrighted content from the network, either disabling the user's Internet access or informing them of other disciplinary measures. Firms including BayTSP and MediaSentry have begun to either test ACNS or offer it as a solution to their customers on behalf of the entertainment industry. "We're helping the ISP or university with policy enforcement," BayTSP CEO Mark Ishikawa told News.com. "We're not dictating the policy, but we're saying, 'Here's a tool to help with automating the process.' We're the friends of the ISP." News.com noted that the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) on Monday implemented a system similar to ACNS for the 7,500 faculty and staff that live on its campus.
tags: CNET | Software | Hollywood | Networks | Colleges |

FCC Seeks Comments on Rules Governing Digital Radio Broadcasting

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 19, 2004 - 4:33am.
Washington -- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that it is seeking industry comment on proposed changes to its rules, in order to advance the adoption of digital radio broadcasting technology. The FCC has approved IBiquity Digital's digital broadcast technology, and that company's HD Radio solution has now been implemented by over 100 stations -- allowing broadcasters to send a wireless data feed as well as a crisper digital signal alongside their traditional analog signals. The FCC is seeking comment on, among other things, how its public interest requirements should apply to digital radio; whether stations should be able to offer a high-definition service, a multiplexed service, a datacasting service, or a combination; digital radio's impact on noncommercial and low power stations; and how the regulatory body should go about encouraging stations to transition to digital.
tags: Digital Radio | FCC | Governing | Broadcasting |

Calif. State Bill Would Enable Return of Unsolicited Bulk Mail CDs, DVDs

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 19, 2004 - 4:31am.
Berkeley, Calif. -- A Calif. state lawmaker has proposed a bill that would make companies that send out unsolicited CDs or DVDs -- such as AOL's mass mailings of free signup discs -- provide self-addressed, stamped envelopes so that recipients may either mail the disc back to its sender or to a recycling partner. The California State Assembly is scheduled to hear arguments on Assemblywoman Loni Hancock's (D-Berkeley) proposal today. "This bill will take care of a growing problem of hundreds of millions of CDs mailed out unsolicited," Hancock told CNET News.com. The manufacturers "use increasingly scarce and expensive petroleum. The CDs then last up to 400 years in a landfill and, in fact, they can be reused."
tags: CDs | Calif | DVDs | Bulk Mail |

U.K. Launches $1.8 Million Project to Digitize British Library's Sound Archive

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 19, 2004 - 4:26am.
London -- A $1.8 million program has been launched to digitize 12,000 sound recordings from the British Library's Sound Archive. The 4,000 hours of audio, including a live recording of Paul Robeson in Othello, Florence Nightingale speaking (one of the earliest sound recordings), and Arthur Conan Doyle talking about the genesis of Sherlock Holmes, will be digitized by the U.K.'s Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). The Archival Sound Recordings project is being funded by the U.K.'s Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) as part of an $18 million project to provide sound, moving pictures, census data and still images online for long-term use by the further and higher education communities in the U.K.
tags: U.K. | Archive | Digitize British Library's | Sound |