Levi's 501 raise the bar

1363416 — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:52:00 GMT

Have Levi's given us a glimpse into what all non-UGC video on the internet might look like in the near future with their 501 on line premiere?

These HD films look great and they stream well. I wonder how long it is going to take for this kind of quality to become the norm for brands producing work for the web?

I think they are missing a trick by making the films too much in the mould of the TV commercial format though. The superb quality aside, the films themselves had the potential to be more engaging. I want to know more about the girl and boy that jump into the water. Tell me their story and I may just choose to watch your films because they are intriguing rather than just because they have high production values, have a clever twist and stream well in HD. Give me the opportunity to engage with those characters, let me spend more time with them and I bet you the brand recall and awareness charts will shoot off the scale.

Freeview HD?

1841938 — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:21:48 GMT

It's interesting times for digital platforms at the moment. Both DAB Digital Radio and DTT (Freeview) have enjoyed much success with lots of boxes out there and lots of happy viewers and listeners. However, both systems don't have a lot of expansion left in them. They're filling up. This means its difficult to introduce new services and technical innovations.

The main issue Freeview is grappling with is HDTV. HD takes up much more space than a traditional SD (standard definition) channel so it's very difficult to squeeze in any of these channels.

However, Ofcom, probably under pressure from stakeholders, have issued an interesting consultation where they try to find a way through these issues to find some space for some new HD channels. Basically they're suggesting that one of the Freeview multiplexes (indeed, one of those owned by the BBC) is emptied with its services distributed over the others. The spare multiplex could then become an MPEG4 multiplex, which means there would be more room for HD goodness (though probably just three HD channels) alongside a couple of extra SD channels too.

However, none of the existing Freeview boxes will be able to pick up these MPEG4 services, so you'll need to get a new box.

Coincidentally the main UK broadcasters have suddenly got together to plug HD on Freeview, who'd of thought!

DAB Digital Radio is facing similar pressures. There's a new codec that will allow a stereo station to be broadcast in about a third of the capacity that an existing station broadcasts at, for roughly similar (though potentially better) quality. In theory this means you could triple the number of stations available on the platform. However, once again the majority of the existing radios won't be able to receive these new DAB+ stations, not that any exist or are even planned to exist at the moment.

Now traditionally radio and TV devices have lasted for decades, the concept of a replacement cycle hasn't really existed for them. Whereas with other consumer electronic devices it certainly has, with buyers changing things like mobiles every 18 months to be able to access new services. Will consumers be happy to replace their TV and radio more often?

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Levi's 501 raise the bar

Freeview HD?