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23 October 2008 3:45 PM

Goldfrapp and the future of television

To Cecil Sharp House, traditionally home of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, for the opening night of the BBC Electric Proms.
The venue, more usually used for folk dancing lessons, plays host to Goldfrapp who are playing  a one off gig with an orchestra and choir.
However, as well as being a spellbindingly brilliant gig, it's also a great view into the future of TV. This year performances are being record in high definition by the BBC, further adding to its already growing catalogue of high definition programming.
Around the tiny venue is what must be hundreds of thousands of pounds of the very latest in TV technology, with cameramen and technicians seemingly almost outnumbering the small crowd.
And just a few roads away at the Roundhouse, a similar operation is being carried out to record Burt Bacharach in high definition.
At this stage, the broadcasts are little more than a testbed for the BBC - to watch them, you'll need both a high definition TV and a compatible receiver, and although numbers are growing daily, they've nowhere near mass market - yet.
Despite this, what the BBC is doing is perfecting the techniques of recording in high definition, an exceptionally tricky thing to do. With sound and picture quality amazingly sharp, recording is a whole new ball game. Every makeup smear, costume defect and vocal flutter is recorded in detail.
The results are stunning, and really do make your jaw drop the first time you see them. While many companies have simply 'upscaled' their normal TV, making it look a bit better, the Beeb really has gone to town to perfect everything from lighting to make up - and it shows.
Of course, Auntie isn't the only one doing this, and even internet companies are getting in on the act - Tiscali, the troubled ISP currently up for sale, has been building up a similar library of content for years, with dozens of gigs being held across the capital and at major music festivals. But again, Tiscali is facing the problem of what to do with it.
It's something of a chicken and egg situation - you need a large number of consumers before the huge cost of recording in HD becomes viable, and at the moment that means even the BBC can only produce a limited amount of its content in the format.
But what they do is worth finding - this is, without doubt, the future of TV and film, and it's slowly reaching critical mass.
At the home end of the equation, HD technology is coming on leaps and bounds as well.
Almost every new TV sold is HD compatible, and there is some really impressive kit out there.
I'm currently trying out InFocus's IN80 projector, a £1300 wonder that has transformed a wall of my flat into a high definition screen. It's breathtakingly good, with films and sports in amazing clarity (I still get teary eyed watching Cardiff City losing last season's FA Cup final, the first to be shown in HD).
All of this adds up to one conclusion - the technology is slowly going beyond the realms of the early adopter, and is fast approaching the stage where it really is a must have.
And then, the BBC's plotting and experimenting will really show just how far ahead of the competition the broadcaster has become - and in this case you really do have to see it to believe it.

 

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16 October 2008 12:00 PM

Bad news for facebook addicts

Today brings terrible news for Facebook addicts - apparently the number of companies now trawling the site for information about job applicants is on the rise.
A new study found 27% of companies admitted to either already screening candidates online, or planning to in the near future.
Employers owned up to analysing profiles for grammatical errors, inappropriate pictures and even links to criminal behaviour, as well as checking employment and school history.
It could be yet another sign of the backlash against the site.
Earlier this year a coalition of children’s charities urged ministers to make it illegal for companies to trawl Facebook and other social networking websites for information on prospective recruits.
They say that employers and educational establishments are known to be browsing the internet looking for “digital dirt” on young people who have applied for positions.
The charities, including the NSPCC, the Children’s Society and NCH, said that the call for a new law is part of their wider concerns about online safety for children.
But is there anything you can do? Well, the key is really learning how to use Facebook properly.
It's well worth spending a bit of time learning how to set up the site's excellent privacy options, and you can limit the people who see pictures and messages about you.
For instance, my parents (who recently joined the site, god help me) are still constantly amazed that there are seemingly absolutely no pictures of me there, and that nobody has ever posted messages to me.
I'm just hoping they never work out just what the phrase 'limited profile' means...

 

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