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Seen in a Better Light

More than half of the million millions bits of data that continually enters into our stream of consciousness pass through our eyes. The sense of sight is that important so that when deprived of its use we lose more than half of the world. Our personal universe shrinks considerably.

Since the birth of television many improvements have already been added to provide viewers the clearest images possible. Giant electronics companies are in for a tight race among themselves to come up with the latest in television technology. Starting with black and white pictures they stepped up to deliver brightly colored images in our television screens. It stucked there for a while before a breakthrough was made. This ended with the introduction of LCD TVs. Compared to its bulky predecessors the LCD generation of TVs are conspicuously thinner, had wider viewing angles and more noticeably sharper images enough to make your cat jump when a rat is seen on screen.

With the proliferation of LCDs buyers would find it a bit difficult to decide which brand offers the best features. This is particularly true when it comes to choosing the best 22’ LCD TV. The reliable indicator and guide to determine the best currently available in the market are the feedbacks coming from users themselves. Statistics show that the PANASONIC 26’TV together with the 22’ LCD TV consistently rank numero uno in 90% of raters. These data clearly indicate that the Panasonic brand of TVs is leading the race. When it comes to all around quality in terms of providing high definition images, wider angle access, and affordability Panasonic tops them all.

Given these unique features you will be spared from a lot of hassle before you come to a decision which brand to choose from. Panasonic is the name. So with confidence you now can go right straight to your nearest dealer or to the net so that your choice will be quickly delivered. I am certain you will soon be one of the millions of satisfied customer praising to high heavens the sterling qualities of your 22’ LCD TV or the 26’TV all by Panasonic.

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Instant Netflix’s Internet Takeover

For several years, it seemed like Netflix was in the process of merely killing off the brick and mortar video rental store. As it turns out, this was an understatement: Netflix is in the process of consuming not just video rental stores but the entire internet. With 16 million subscribers as of this October, Instant Netflix is now responsible for 20% of all primetime internet traffic. The service streams video to computers, handheld devices such as the iPad, video game consoles, set-top boxes, televisions, and just about anything and everything else with a screen and an internet connection. Furthermore, out of the 16.9 million people subscribed to Netflix, only 1.8 percent are responsible for this huge amount of bandwidth being consumed every month.

Most signs point to this trend continuing as time passes. To watch Netflix develop as a business in the 2010s will be to watch Netflix cease to be a provider of physical media, moving entirely to the streaming media system it has made so popular recently. As of November 22, Netflix now offers a low cost, DVD-free rental policy for users solely interested in streaming the website’s online content, a marked transition from when the service was a convenient bonus of having a Netflix DVD or Blu-Ray rental account.

In addition, Netflix has raised the cost of its shipping plans, built on how many discs at a time one has (plans can range from 1 disc at a time to upwards of 10) by $1 for lower tiers and by several dollars for plans offering large amounts of physical media. All of this points to the fact that Netflix will gradually phase out the DVDs that it built its reputation (and remarkable selection) on and instead solely function as a provider of online content, an ultimately more cost-effective, environmentally sound, and—for many customers—preferred means by which to receive content.

As a consequence, Netflix will quite possibly face two major hurdles in the next several years. The first is the company’s risk of losing customers who opened Netflix accounts in order to receive actual DVDs. Many users prefer the fidelity and bitrates of DVD (and especially Blu-Ray) over streaming video which lacks the definition and resolution.  There are also those who will find themselves alienated by price increases and perhaps by increasing unavailability of certain films. Losing access to Netflix’s huge selection of films may quickly drive users to other similar services or to specialty physical stores where such shops still exist (I, for example, joined Netflix in 2005 originally so that I could rent movies that I otherwise couldn’t ever find in the town of 3,000 in which I was living at the time).

The real struggle for Netflix’s growth, however, will be the one over bandwidth. As Netflix’s streaming service’s market share continues to grow, its users will continue to move huge amounts of data—a problem considering the increasingly restrictive internet access policies that attempt to meter bandwidth.

Despite these potential hurdles, however, Netflix has found a way to capitalize on emergent streaming media and plentiful bandwidth, leading to a service that its customers have found more useful than the one that the company once offered, and one that still has a fair amount of room to grow. The company’s change in strategy has so far worked extremely well for them, and it’s likely to keep them going well into the next several years.

Andrew Hall is a guest blogger for Pounding the Pavement and a writer on the subject of technical schools for the Guide to Career Education.

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Netflix makes Subtitles Available on Desktop Viewing

Netflix makes Subtitles Available on Desktop Viewing

Netflix recently announced on their blog that subtitles are available on some movies streaming to the PC/Mac. About 100 titles have been added to the close caption selection. Over time the DVD rental and streaming media company hopes to add additional titles to the close caption available group in addition to other streaming devices.

The company posted in June of 2009 that they were working on the technology and explained the difficulty in adding subtitles to movies post-production. Silverlight clients are the easiest formats to deliver the new functionality and therefore the release of PC/Mac subtitles this year.

Also look for other platforms to have close captioning in the coming months. Lost Seasons One through Four are some of the television episodes that you can watch on your desktop to see the new technology in action. English subtitles on English video isn’t something the company expects to be widely used but finds the development of the technology important.