A number of my regular blog-reads have already mentioned this, but in case you haven’t heard, CBS.com is now offering all 79 episodes of the original Star Trek series as free streaming videos. They’re supposed to be full-length and uncut (although they do seem to have unskippable commercials inserted at the original act-breaks), and based on my random sampling of a few scenes, they’re clean transfers presented in fairly decent quality. Interestingly, they are the original un-“enhanced” episodes — no modern-day CGI intruding on all the “living color” 1960s yumminess. So apparently not everyone thinks the revised editions are now the only official version of Trek. How refreshing.
(On a somewhat-related tangent, Toshiba’s announcement last week that it was abandoning its HD-DVD technology has left the Star Trek: Remastered project — i.e., the CG’d version — in limbo. Toshiba was funding the update and counting on the series to be one of the prime movers of its HD-DVD format. Now the question is whether sales of the first season of Trek: Remastered have been sufficient to encourage anyone else to take up the reins and finish the final two seasons. This old-school, purist Trekkie would be perfectly happy to see the whole idea fade away…)
Star Trek is being presented as one of several “TV Classics” offered on the site, and I’m thrilled to see the unaltered version of the show getting some respect and some exposure. I will say, however, the CBS.com has a curious definition of “classic.” In addition to Trek, they’re also offering the ’60s-vintage Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-O, MacGyver, and… Melrose Place? Without getting into any debates over the merits of Melrose as a series, is it even old enough to be called any sort of classic?
And you have Buck Rogers and A-Team over at nbc.com – wow – keeps me from having to buy them on DVD now 😉
I was just typing up a follow-up entry on that… you beat me to the punch!
I suppose you don’t have to buy the DVDs if you like watching TV on a computer monitor in your office, instead of parked on a nice comfy couch. Me, I’m not too sure of that concept… but I am pleased that so much of this old stuff is not going away.
Who would have thought back in the glorious ’70s that one day we’d be able to watch pretty much any old show we wanted to on these magic boxes anyway?
A comment to your comment, Jason: A good video card (preferably with an HDMI connector, but RCA passably works too); a medium-spec, large-storage PC; and a modern enough TV, – and you can combine watching TV with a nice comfy couch anytime. You must already know people who use such a set-up…
Um, actually I don’t, unless this hypothetical person is being awfully quiet about their set-up… which is possible I suppose. 🙂
I know that such things are possible (although I wouldn’t begin to know how to actually make it work) but I guess I’m the sort of person who’s constantly playing catch-up. I still watch my old VHS tapes from time to time!
Next time you’re in the area, stop by, I’ll show you what I mean 🙂
Sounds like a plan…
I think what Ilya is referring to is the convergence of home entertainment and computer usage. For many, the computer is just that. It’s their television, DVD player, computer…etc. I myself if I had a large 50″ plasma on the wall wouldn’t object to linking it all together. Then I can both watch television and surf the web from my comfy chair. Man – could you imagine video editing??? Wow.
I’ve read about convergence and understand the concept, but I don’t know anyone who’s actually got that kind of set-up. Not even MikeG, the last time I checked, despite his repeated threats to turn his house into a fully automated robo-home. 🙂
Actually, I’m not so sure I’d like to be able to do my surfing and computing from the entertainment center. Seems like too much potential of bleed-over from work into leisure time…
well, count me as another person with a “computer hooked up to a tv screen”. I use the setup strictly for video content viewing. High quality video podcasts, streaming content, and I’m slowing converting my DVD library to be stored on my network…so I can watch my purchased dvds on any of my devices that have access to the internet. That includes my cell phone, office, or laptop @ starbucks. Why should I be at the mercy of the networks timeframe to broadcast content when I have different needs?
As for the robo-home…just need some downtime for the installation for the computer to control the electrical / hvac system (have the hardware). Security cams streaming securely over the net is soon. My brother has me beat on that..
🙂
Ah, well, I stand corrected, then. Ilya, I guess I do know someone with such a set-up. Mike, I didn’t realize you had actually implemented the thing…
As this technology gets cooler, it’s actually getting simpler, not more complex. As Ilya states above, if you can get yourself a PC with a decent video card (not more than a couple of hundred dollars at this point), you can basically use any fairly new TV as a giant computer monitor.
That said, there’s a lot of literature out there about whether or not people want to do computing work on a large screen TV. Basically, watching TV is a social experience (read: something you can do with other people). Surfing the web, doing e-mail, etc. are personal experiences (read: things you do alone). Also, the web is built with an eye toward computing, not TV use, in that it’s heavily text-based, which is fine when your eyes are 24-36 inches from the screen, but not so fine when your 6-8 feet away. Even in HD, no one wants to read a news article on their big-screen TV while sitting on their couch.
The human/computer interaction ramifications as these technologies continue to evolve is, IMHO, fascinating. But then again, that may be just me…(OK, me & Ilya…)
Brian, I find this sort of discussion interesting, too, even though I am, admittedly and sometimes even proudly, a late adopter in most cases. I guess I tend to come at the latest tech from the perspective of “it’s very cool what we can do now, but are there really compelling reasons why we should do it?” Maybe there are, maybe there aren’t. I want to be convinced either way and not just hop on the bandwagon because something is new and shiny. Sometimes, older, simpler, less-feature-rich tech really is better for some people’s needs and interests.
Another factor to consider (for me anyhow) is the concerns of people who just aren’t that comfortable with tech in general, folks like my parents, who just got online for the first time a year ago and still find email completely intimidating, and who still haven’t figured out how to make their VCR stop blinking “12:00” at them all the time. (Yes, they still use a VCR. I haven’t even broached the idea of a Tivo or other DVR them… but then I don’t have one of those myself.) I can’t help but think that convergence is not going to be much of a boon where they’re concerned…