Category: Network Media Devices

Marantz takes the network CD player further with the CD-50n

Article Marantz CD50n network CD player press image courtesy of Marantz

Marantz’s new streaming CD player and stereo amplifier are TV and turntable-friendly | What Hi-Fi? (whathifi.com)

From the horse’s mouth

Marantz

CD-50n Network CD player (Product Page)

My Comments

The last decade has seen the traditional vinyl record gaining a revival as a preferred physical medium to collect recorded music on. But the CD, which has just turned 40 this year, has been simmering along as a collectable music format over this same period and is gaining a similar kind of recognition and acceptability to vinyl.

Some of us still use CD as our preferred physical music medium due to it being cheap on the new or secondhand market or easy to have in a mobile or portable form such as through ripping to hard disk and syncing to our smartphones. As well, the small size of these discs appeals to those of us who want to build or maintain large collections without it taking up much space. Even the record labels have exploited this further by justifying CD as a medium to offer collectable album editions that hold more musical content than the standard album editions, perhaps due to a disc holding extra material or multi-disc compilations stored in a case that is the same size as the standard CD jewel case.

Marantz CD 50n network CD player lifestyle press image courtesy of Marantz

Are we still playing CDs nowadays

This has been more so due to CDs being a cheaper format to replicate and sell than vinyl although able to yield a very-high-quality sound. As well, more of the premium hi-fi brands of respect are giving CD as much developmental and promotional space as vinyl, with this manifesting in component-type CD players that you connect to your hi-fi system appearing in more audio product lineups. Even Yamaha has reintroduced the 5-disc CD changer where all the discs are loaded on to a carousel that is part of a large drawer, in the form of the CD-C603 changer. As well, some consumer-electronics manufacturers are still persisting with CD receivers or stereo systems that play CDs with the former being a component that has radio, CD and, perhaps, network / Internet audio sources which you just connect to a set of speakers of your choice.

I have covered on this site some of the “network CD players” that Yamaha, Marantz and Technics have launched over the years. These combine a CD player and a network-audio streamer in one box, only requiring you to use one input on your amplifier or receiver to play CDs or content held on online sources or your home network.

Marantz have solidified  their position in the network-CD-player space in two ways. Firstly they have released a network SACD player in the form of the SACD-30n with similar features but omitting the HDMI ARC connection. But this time they have released the CD-50n network CD player which follows on from the ND-8006 network CD player that I covered previously.

The Marantz  CD-50n is a CD player with the expectations of a current premium full-width component-type CD player. This includes a mechanism and signal path that is engineered for high-quality CD reproduction and the same kind of advanced CD play functions associated with that format for a long time.

This unit even underscores the “single input on the amplifier” advantage associated with network CD players further by being equipped with an HDMI-ARC connection for TV audio. Here, you would connect the Marantz CD-50n to your TV’s HDMI-ARC connection so you can have the TV’s sound play through your hi-fi system.

Of course, there are the coaxial and optical SP/DIF inputs and outputs that make this unit work as a digital-analogue converter for TVs, MiniDisc decks or other digital-audio equipment; or pass the sound in a digital-audio manner to a digital amplifier or DAC. You can use this network CD player to stream audio content from smartphones and similar Bluetooth-capable devices through it to the connected sound system.

The Marantz CD-50n works as a sound card for computers that are connected to it via USB but some Windows computers will need to run a Marantz-supplied driver to work properly with it. As well, there is a USB Type-A connection for a Mass-Storage device that is full of music held in the common audio file formats.

As mentioned previously, this Marantz network CD player can connect to a digital amplifier or DAC via an SP/DIF optical or coaxial connection. There are two line-level outputs, represented as two sets of RCA sockets on the back. One of these is a fixed-level output typically used with most stereo systems where you have an amplifier that you regulate the sound level with while the other is a variable-level output that can he used with a power amplifier or active speakers. This also comes in to its own in other use cases where you expect the Marantz unit and its remote to be the point of control for the sound level.

There is a built-in headphone amplifier so you can connect a pair of wired headphones to the Marantz CD-50n. But it can serve as a Bluetooth source device where you use a pair of Bluetooth headphones or a Bluetooth speaker as the audio output device. In this case, you have to use the Bluetooth device’s volume control to adjust the sound volume to your tastes. The Bluetooth functionality for both source and target device roles works according to the Bluetooth Classic specification.

As far as your home network is concerned, you can connected to it via Ethernet or Wi-Fi. This leads you to it being part of the DLNA Home Media Network where you can play content held on a media server or NAS. Or through the Denon/Marantz HEOS platform, you can stream a variety of online services like Spotify, Deezer or Tidal, managing them from your smartphone with the HEOS app. For Internet radio, the HEOS platform has support for the TuneIn Internet radio platform so you can listen to a wide range of radio stations including from overseas through the Marantz CD-50n.

Being part of the Denon/Marantz HEOS ecosystem also means that the Marantz CD-50n can work as part of a network multiroom system using other HEOS-capable wireless speakers or hi-fi / AV components made by brands in the Denon-Marantz group. As well, it can be part of the Apple AirPlay 2 or Roon network-audio ecosystems, especially the latter which is seen as the “audiophile network multiroom audio” standard.

If you have a recent Marantz amplifier with the appropriate connections, the CD-50n can be connected using Marantz’s proprietary inter-component control arrangement. This will open up the possibility of single-remote-control operation, one-touch start-up and one-touch shut-down operation.

This player costs AUD$3200 in Australia, but you have a highly-strung CD player and network-audio streamer in one box which may seem to justify the price when you are in to premium hi-fi. Personally, I would like to see more hi-fi companies keep at least one of these network CD players in their product range for those of us who want that single-box solution to a digital audio source in our audio systems.

Should established free-to-air TV have a strong role in the connected TV experience

Apple TV tvOS Home Screen

Will free-to-air TV apps be required to have pride of place on your connected TV device’s home screen?

There is a fight brewing between the established free-to-air TV lobby and the pay-TV / subscription video-on-demand lobby about what should take the primary position on connected-TV devices.  It is part of a continual debate regarding the continued existence of the free-to-air TV services with other issues surfacing like anti-siphoning protection so that the sports that matter don’t end up exclusively on pay-TV or online subscription services.

This is more intense in countries like the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia whose governments and society place strong importance on the established public-service, commercial and community free-to-air TV services and their continual role in informing and entertaining us.

It is although younger generations are drifting away from these services towards the likes of Netflix or YouTube for their entertainment. This has been driven by the “cord-cutting” movement in the USA where younger people are ditching their cable or satellite pay-TV subscriptions in favour of online video services.

Why protect established free-to-air TV?

There is a strong societal defence for traditional established free-to-air TV in the UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia and similar countries. This is because the national free-to-air TV platform is based around at least one popularly-accepted and well-respected public-service broadcaster and a handful of commercial free-to-air broadcasters. In a lot of cases, most of the TV services existed since TV was commercialised in the Western world with some services, especially the public-service broadcasters, existing at the dawn of regular radio broadcasting in that area.

As well, due to the fact that the free-to-air TV broadcasters have to have a government-issued license or public-service-broadcasting charter to operate on the VHF and/or UHF wavebands, there has been strong human oversight over the content they publish and that it matches current social standards. This has led to it being considered a socially respectable platform and broadcasters who run advertising know that they are operating a brand-safe platform for their advertisers.

People who live in nations that value free-to-air TV see the free-to-air broadcasters as offering more locally-produced content due to various local-content mandates associated with their licences or charters. They notice that the free-to-air broadcasters play a significant part in boosting their nation’s cultural “soft power” and identity on the world stage. For example, there are shows like ABC Australia’s “Bluey” or Network 10’s “Neighbours” or “MasterChef Australia” that have acquired significant international viewership because they represent that Australian camaraderie.

Free-to-air TV broadcasters, especially the public service broadcasters like the BBC or Australia’s ABC are being valued as reliable sources of news and information. This is more so in the era of “post-truth” where fake news and disinformation delivered by social media is muddying the waters about what is accurate information or not and established media is seen as the preferred go-to if you are after accuracy in your news.

The debate is also about an existential threat to established media including free-to-air TV from Silicon Valley. This is because the online services offered by Silicon Valley, including social media, are being seen as offering newer fresher content than what established media can offer, something valued by younger people.

The current situation with connected TV devices

Connected TV platforms, whether represented by a Smart TV, a set-top box or a streaming stick, place importance on the home screen that these devices show up when you turn them on initially or press a “home” button on their remote control. These platforms are driven by client apps for various video-on-demand or streaming-TV services with users having to use the platform’s app store to install these client apps for the services they use.

Such services are represented by the likes of Netflix, YouTube or Vimeo; but also include local subscription-funded or advertising-funded video-on-demand services. This  may include the classic local pay-TV platforms that have set themselves up to deliver via Internet in addition to or in lieu of their legacy satellite or cable means, using an app rather than a set-top box for access to their content. Then most of the connected TV platforms have links to their own transactional or advertising-driven video-on-demand facility, FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) service, video game store or other services.

In addition, some connected TV devices have dedicated buttons on their remote controls to facilitate one-touch access to video services like Netflix or YouTube. This is part of a partnership between the connected TV platform and the video service provider to maintain that kind of access.

To preserve their relevance in the connected-TV era, established free-to-air TV broadcasters are offering Broadcaster Video-On-Demand apps which make their content available on-demand This is based on previous “catch-up TV” services where you can catch up on prior episodes of a TV series, but now offer extras like binge-view opportunities or supplementary content.

Some broadcasters even offer free streaming TV channels through these apps that they wouldn’t be able to offer via RF means. This would include access to versions of their channels that are editorially different in other parts of the nation, such as to allow travellers and the like to follow content in their home area.  Or they would include special-event channels like showing each sport in the Olympic Games as separate channels. They may even stream channels from other content providers they have a strong business relationship with like what the Paramount-owned free-to-air channels are doing by hosting at least some of the Pluto TV FAST channels on the 10Play and My5 BVOD apps.

Even some of the advertising on content viewed through these apps has interactive TV elements such as “shoppable” advertising or access to long-form video content. This is in addition to experiencing a reduced ad load during the commercial breaks with the ads being more relevant to you, when you watch a show on demand through these services. But the important fact with the advertising is that the broadcasters control and benefit from the commercials that appear.

But there are a significant number of connected TV platforms that require the user to download the BVOD apps from the platform’s app store before you can use them. Then these apps typically end up at the bottom of the home screen and you would have to move them around to be visible when you turn the TV device on.

This may be an exception with some Smart TVs and RF-tuner-equipped set-top devices sold in the UK, Australia and New Zealand that implement the HBBTV-enhanced Freeview electronic programme guide that supports the ability to see prior shows. These have free-to-air BVOD apps pre-installed so as to facilitate this kind of viewing from the EPG.

Apple TV tvOS content recommendation screen

Will connected TV platforms be required to recommend content from established free-to-air channels here?

An increasing number of connected TV platforms are integrating “one-stop” content search, “next-episode” and content recommendation functions that tie in with their various video-on-demand apps and platforms. This allows a viewer to search for a particular show or identify shows worth watching at one point rather than diving in to and out of the various apps to find a desired programme. This is facilitated through the use of application-programming interfaces that provide a link to the content services via their apps.

Other upcoming trends to impact connected TV

The UK and Australia at least see the distribution via RF means using the outdoor aerial as the universal standard for access to free-to-air TV. This is although Continental Europe and, to some extent, Canada place acceptance on other RF-delivery means like cable or satellite delivery as part of universal access to free-to-air TV.

Free-to-air TV via the Internet or your home network

But the DVB Forum have established standards for delivery of TV service including free-to-air TV via local-area-network and Internet setups. One of these is DVB-I which is about streaming from Internet servers hosted by the broadcasters themselves while the other, known as DVB-HB, is about streaming from a broadcast-LAN tuner device connected to an aerial, cable-TV setup or satellite dish via a local area network. Both these systems provide the same user experience as traditional RF-based TV setups such as the ability to “channel surf” with the remote control.

This is in addition to the broadcast video-on-demand apps offering access to the broadcaster’s own free-to-air offerings and extra free streaming TV offerings through the Internet. In many cases, this also includes an electronic programme guide for these online channels, You may even find that you have access to area-specific content like news bulletins from other locations. But these apps don’t necessarily offer the classic user experience associated with watching TV.

Internet-first TV devices and setups

Your laptop, tablet or smartphone are replacing the traditional small portable TV as the way to watch TV in areas like the kitchen or garage. This is thanks to the broadcast video-on-demand platforms being available as an app or Website for regular or mobile computing platforms.

Add to this the smart display platforms like Amazon Echo Show or Google Nest Hub where you can summon particular channels using your voice. LG and Samsung haven’t forgotten the dot-com-era idea of Internet fridges with their products that could have support for video apps including free-to-air BVOD apps.

Subsequently LG and Samsung have been offering Internet-first TV devices, also known as smart monitors. LG has been offering the StanByMe range of monitor-sized battery-operated lifestyle TVs with one that folds up in to a suitcase. Samsung has also offered their Smart Monitors which combine the smart-TV functionality in to a computer monitor but don’t provide the RF tuner. It also includes people using connected-TV devices without RF connection to an aerial to watch their TV content, thanks to BVOD or TV-over-IP apps.

Here, these are devices that implement computing, smart-display or Smart TV platforms including access to video-on-demand platforms but omit RF tuners. With them, you could pull in video content via apps whether it be streaming in real time or playing from a video-on-demand server. In the case of the Internet-first TV devices, they would have a remote control so you can select what you want to view or regulate the sound from afar.

Delivery to airliners and ships

In some countries like India, it has been proven that they could use higher-bandwidth satellite Internet to deliver live free-to-air TV from the local TV channels to airliners flying domestic flights and offer this as a form of live inflight entertainment. Such setups would come in to their own with the sports that matter where people want to follow those matches during their flight.

This is facilitated with current-generation high-bandwidth satellite broadband Internet that is being delivered to commercial jets equipped with the necessary technology. More of these jets are being equipped for Wi-Fi Internet from the satellite broadband typically to provide as a passenger amenity whether bundled as part of a premium airfare or purchased at an extra-cost option. In a similar context, this could appeal to the maritime cohort where the passengers onboard ferries, cruise ships, yachts and the like, or the crew within navy or merchant-navy ships could gain access to free-to-air TV via Internet-based delivery thanks to satellite or other means.

Here, the combination of Internet-based TV service delivery and these satellite Internet services could make it feasible to have live free-to-air TV from local TV stations delivered as an entertainment option for air or maritime travel. Add to this the ability to use BVOD apps to allow air or ship passengers to watch shows from these stations on demand.

The issues here

The free-to-air TV lobby had noticed that connected TV platforms are engaging in some form of “pay to play” when it comes to what appears on the home screen by default. Here, it was perceived as being financially and ethically difficult for local free-to-air broadcasters to get their BVOD apps on the home screen within their country of operation.

Here. the local free-to-air TV establishment want the national governments to use legislation or regulation to make sure that their BVOD apps are installed by default and easily discoverable. This includes a similar want for content offered by free-to-air broadcasters, preferably locally-produced content, to be brought forward in any platform-wide content-search or content-recommendation engine.

On the other hand, the pay-TV lobby who are also representing subscription video-on-demand or even Big Tech want to maintain the status quo “in the name of the consumer”. This is due to a perceived fear that the customer who currently subscribes to an online video service not offered by free-to-air TV broadcasters won’t be able to install or satisfactorily use any client-side apps for these services. This includes not being able to see the online video service’s content in search results or content recommendations.

I see this argument of relevance when it comes to content search and recommendation engines that are being built in to the connected TV platforms. As well, this may impact one-touch access buttons on remote controls where it wouldn’t be economically feasible to provide this kind of access to any online video service, whether free-to-air or paid.

Which kind of devices will this affect?

Primarily I see this requirement affect TVs and set-top devices including streaming sticks pitched for household use. This is because these devices are primarily marketed for watching video entertainment in the home.

But there will be a call for Internet-first TV devices like the LG StanByMe family or the Samsung Smart Monitor family to face this requirement because of them being marketed for video entertainment consumption as a key use case.

Computers, mobile platform devices and games consoles may not face this requirement due to their core use case not being video entertainment. This is although you can use them to enjoy video entertainment using Websites or apps. But you may find that companies selling tablets or 2-in-1 laptops will want to court the countries that value free-to-air TV as an entertainment source by packaging the likes of BBC iPlayer, ITVX, ABC iView and 10Play alongside Netflix or YouTube when users register these devices in those countries. Or the app stores simplify the process of installing these BVOD aps.

A question that can come up is whether this requirement will only be for TVs and set-top devices sold primarily for household use. This is because TV manufacturers also sell a separate range of “commercial use” TVs that are pitched for installation in hotels, bars, common rooms, hospitals and the like. Here, we are likely to use these sets to watch TV content away from home such as in our hotel rooms and we would like the same user experience that we have at home.

These sets and devices are likely to have extra programmability in order to satisfy particular use cases like hotels. The software may be updated at a later time or manually compared to what is installed on equipment for the home and there may be a “business use” app store for apps used in a business sense. But there is a risk of manufacturers offering a Smart TV or set-top device as “commercial use” but sell them to householders to evade the various mandates associated with equipment sold to the residential market.

Small lodging places like bed-and-breakfasts / guest-houses, motels and inns are likely to prefer to purchase and install residential-use TVs. Similarly, houses or apartments available for short-term rental will prefer residential sets. This is due to the sets being cost-effective and offering a familiar user experience; and the businesses not wanting or needing superfluous levels of sophistication for their technology.

But could they be required to adhere to the same rules as residential-use equipment such as prominence for free-to-air apps on the home screen?

How does this impact connected TV device design and user experience

The impact of these mandates will affect the connected TV experience in a few ways,

When you set up a new device

Firstly, when you set up a new Smart TV or other connected TV device, you will find that the mandated apps are downloaded and installed by your device when it is connected to your home network. These will then appear on the home screen as part of the default setup, This is because of the fact that you have to select the country you’re in at or close to the setup / install routine and this determines what apps are downloaded and installed in your connected TV device.

This situation will also occur if you have to subject your connected TV device to a factory-reset due to it being balky or something you should do when you take possession of a second-hand device. Some devices may rearrange the screen for the mandatory apps and download or update them during a major software upgrade.

The home screen

Under these mandates, the home screen on a connected TV device will be required to have the free-to-air BVOD apps in the home screen and accessible with a minimum of scrolling.

Some home screens may create a “local TV” strip with the free-to-air BVOD apps inhabiting that strip on the home screen towards the middle. It most likely would exist alongside an icon that allows you to view an electronic programme guide and change channels if it has RF-based or IP-based tuning means.This will most likely be above a larger strip with Netflix, YouTube and other popular subscription services inhabiting that strip.

This is whereas others like Apple TV will simply sequence the free-to-air BVOD apps ahead of Netflix, YouTube and co.  These may even have to group them on the same row and have each icon highlighted in a distinct manner.

You will still be able to use the “screen edit” function that your connected TV platform offers to rearrange the app icons on the home screen. This may be to bring all the services you use frequently and regularly closer to each other on the home screen. This kind of option may be either invoked through selecting a “screen edit” function on the setup menu or holding down on one of the icons to invoke “screen edit”.

Content search and recommendation behaviour

A mandate for free-to-air-TV prominence that impacts content search and recommendation would require a content search engine that works across a connected TV platform to place free-to-air TV content at the top of the “found content” list.

The content recommendation or “up next” (list episodes in a series that aren’t viewed)engine in the connected TV platform would also be required to place content from free-to-air broadcasters at the head of the recommended-content list. There may even be a requirement to place locally-produced content first, to encourage us to prefer this content for our evening’s viewing.

This would put the pay TV lobby’s nose out of joint because it would be hard to discover the content that a pay-TV or other online service has to offer. That is even though you have the likes of Netflix who are having their local offices commission original local work around the world and satisfy local content requirements for their social licence to operate in other countries.

One-touch access to services on the remote control

Another issue is how the remote control is designed if the manufacturer is to have one-touch buttons for access to particular online video services. If local free-to-air apps are being mandated as far as the remote control is concerned, it may be about adding five or more extra buttons with logos representing the online platforms offered by local free-to-air channels. This would be in addition to buttons for Netflix and YouTube,

Then the manufacturers forego the economies of scale associated with designing and manufacturing the same remote control with the same functionality and labelling for all world markets. Such an approach would also not survive any rebranding efforts that an online video provider undertakes.

This problem may be solved through implementing touchscreen or e-ink technology in remote controls. It also exploits the trend to use Bluetooth two-way communication in consumer-electronics remote controls so you are not having to have clear line of sight between the handset and the device.

It would come about with an array of six or eight e-ink-labelled buttons or a touchscreen that uses OLED or similar technology. The button array or touchscreen would be populated with the logos of the popular or mandated online video services for the country the device is used in and you use that to select these video services. Such a design may exist as a way to globalise the remote control design and bring back economies of scale by supporting “mass customisation”.

But this approach may require designers to go back to the traditional remote control design associated with TV sets and pay-TV set-top boxes rather than a very small “stick-like” design. This approach would come across as an approach that some consumers may prefer because it is a size that is harder to lose and would be welcome with devices that support traditional TV user interfaces.

What can be done

Customisation options

There is the issue of customising the home screen layout after you have set up your connected TV device. This is something you will have to do in order to make it easy to discover the services that you make use of, no matter what kind they are.

Here, any requirement to place free-to-air BVOD apps at the top of the home screen shouldn’t preclude you from rearranging your service icons around the screen. This may be due to you preferring and regularly visiting a particular mix of services whether free-to-air, classic pay-TV or online-first.

That means a connected-TV platform would have to have the home-screen customisation process assessed as part of its useability testing, with this assessed under “lean-back” operation conditions. That is where you are at a distance from the screen, typically in an armchair or couch, and using the standard remote control associated with the connected TV device.

The process could be simplified by “quick arrange” shortcuts like “Local TV first”, “Popular Online first” or “Frequently Used first” which sorts the icons according to particular orders.

These user customisations would need to be saved, whether on the device or on the user account associated with the connected TV platform.

Device-level / account-level content ranking preferences

There could be support for device-level or account-level learning of regularly used online video services. This would show up search results or recommended content results based on the services you have enrolled with and are frequently using.

Viewers should have the ability to enable ranking various factors such as services, locality of the content, content quality . Again these settings could be saved either on the device or the user account.

This could also be about connected TV platforms supporting the importing of watchlists from other sources. It could then allow film / TV experts and personalities that you follow to hand-curate and publish watchlists of recommended content so you can work through what they have recommended.

Conclusion

This debate over mandating free-to-air TV apps on connected TV devices will affect how they and their operating systems are designed. This will be about what appears on the home screen by default or which providers’ output appear at the top of platform-wide content search or recommendation results.

Is there a necessity to offer English subtitling for foreign-language content hubs?

SBS On Demand Windows 10 platform app

SBS – the first broadcaster to provide English-subtitled foreign-language content on broadcast TV and also providing such content through video-on-demand.

An issue that will crop up with foreign-language video content providers who operate in a particular language is market pressures to offer English-subtitled versions of their content that they offer.

Popularity of English-subtitled foreign language content

There is a significant interest in English-subtitled foreign-language video content especially amongst discerning cinema and TV viewers.

This kind of foreign-language content was initially facilitated in Australia since the 1980s by SBS as part of that broadcaster’s initial multicultural remit. But there has been recent interest in the UK in this content thanks to the arrival of BBC4 who took on a high-brow content approach similar to SBS or HBO. In the USA, a significant number of premium cable-TV channels have been offering this kind of content because such content is similar in calibre to what the likes of HBO and Showtime are offering which appeals to discerning viewers.

Video-on-demand, still seen as a way to deliver premium TV content, is being used to bring more foreign-language TV content to many homes. This is more so with Netflix and similar premium subscription services but could also apply to transactional or advertising-driven services. FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) services are also appearing that bring in this kind of foreign-language TV content.

It isn’t just the multicultural communities who are interested in film and TV content produced by their homelands or in their native tongues. But an increasing number of English-language viewers want to view the cultures that exist beyond their country’s borders or beyond the Anglosphere’s realms. This is more so where these countries exhibit different social norms to what is expected in the Anglo-American culture. Let’s not forget that an array of non-Anglophone countries are seeing their culture as part of their soft power that is to be promoted and exploited such as with the “Cool Japan” effort.

The video-on-demand sphere also exposed a significant number of providers offering this kind of content such as SBS on Demand, Walter Presents, and Netflix. In the case of viewing foreign-language content on Netflix, there is the option to select an English-dubbed soundtrack or an original soundtrack with English or original-language subtitles.

In a significant number of cases, foreign TV producers are aspiring to offer shows in a similar calibre to the English-language fare offered on the BBC, HBO or Netflix and are vying for their position in the “premium TV” landscape. This kind of content is best described as high-quality content that has a strong appeal with discerning audiences. That is while foreign-language cinema is perceived to maintains that independent artsy non-Hollywood vibe.

Add to this an increase in co-production efforts by non-English-speaking foreign TV producers / broadcasters with English-language TV producers / broadcasters who appeal to discerning audiences. An example of this that I saw for myself is the Norwegian crime drama Lilyhammer which was a co-production effort between Netflix and Norway’s public-service broadcaster NRK, but was shown on SBS in Australia before Netflix set up shop there.

Language-specific content hubs

Flag of France

The French language is being represented in some foreign-language-specific content hubs

But an increasing number of language-specific content hubs are setting up shop in their home markets and primarily delivering video-on-demand content produced in the languages supported by that hub.

The first kind of this content-hub class are niche content providers or broadcasters operating in the language’s home country or a country that has a significant diaspora who speak the language. This could include a pay-TV operator in the language’s home country who wants to create their language-specific content hub based on their original content. On the other hand, the second kind of content hub represents an alliance of public-service and/or private commercial free-to-air TV broadcasters in the country or countries that speak the hub’s languages.

Examples of the former type include Univision who offer Latin-American-Spanish content to the US’s Hispanic community, and France Channel who offer French-language content. It can extend to Canal+ setting up international operations in order to offer their original French-language content. Examples of the latter type include LOVETv which is a European-Spanish-speaking alliance comprising of Aresmedia, RTVE and Mediaset Espana; Salto who is a French-speaking alliance of France’s free-to-air TV providers; and Joyn who is a German-speaking alliance of Germany’s free-to-air TV stations and the ViacomCBS platform’s German-language outposts.

More of these content hubs would start to surface and refine their offerings; especially if they or their partner broadcasters are producing a significant amount of original content. These providers could realise that there is an international market for their content especially if there are overseas viewers out there who are interested in their offerings. This can range from expats and migrants who have the language as their native tongue or those of us who have some familiarity with the language and its associated culture.

Localising to the English language

The question for these foreign-language content hubs is whether they need to offer English-language localisations of their content and what method. These services could implement at least subtitling as a way to localise to the English language, although a dubbed English-language soundtrack option can work for children’s content or animated shows.

An English-speaking person who is familiar with the hub’s indigenous language may still need to benefit from having the content localised to English. This is due to different areas of the countries speaking that language using dialects and accents local to particular regions that they aren’t familiar with. Add to this the use of new words, colloquialisms and slang in film and TV that is something you wouldn’t learn from most language courses or textbooks, something that will impact people who have learnt the foreign language but are out of practice.

A lot of these shows that are shown in to English-language countries will already have been localised to that language, typically through the use of subtitles.  This can be shows that SBS, BBC4 or a premium cable-TV channel in the USA had run at some time. Or the foreign-language content producer offers International-English or American-English localisation as part of the package when they offer shows to TV channels or VoD services.

But there is a lot more content that hasn’t been localised to the English language but could appeal to the viewership. There would be the question about whether it is worth localising the rest of this content especially if it does reflect the country and its culture. Here, this may be assessed based on the kind of content that is being viewed on these language-specific content hubs.

Deep localisation

An issue that can crop up as far as localisation is concerned is whether to engage in what I call “deep localisation”. That is to use terminology and slang peculiar to a particular market in the subtitles such as referring to public services using the same names as what would be used there.

An example I had seen for myself was SBS’s effort to localise earlier episodes of Inspector Rex (Kommissar Rex) to the English language. Here, they localised the earlier episodes of the series for the Australian audience by using Australian-English subtitles. For example, an episode that involved a panel beater (car body shop) referred to the passenger-car-based pickup truck used by that workshop as a ute in the subtitles. Some other episodes referred to the Austrian public health insurance as “Medicare” to be equivalent to the same public health insurance operating in Australia.

Most likely this was because there wasn’t much activity going on in the Anglosphere with respect to English-subtitled foreign-language TV content at the time SBS acquired the broadcasting rights to that show. But the Austrian produces of this show ended up taking on the job of localising Inspector Rex to English due to this show gaining popularity in more of the Anglosphere thanks to cable TV and video-on-demand offering this kind of content.

Popular and light entertainment content

There are some content types that are not likely to be of interest to English-native viewers that look for foreign-language content. These are things like soap-operas, reality-TV, romantic-fiction or simple police-procedural dramas which may be frowned upon by viewers who have discerning tastes. It is more so where the content mirrors story-lines used in Anglophone popular content without conveying the colour of the show’s native culture.

But some people may find that viewing popular entertainment content produced in the other country, having the mix of foreign language dialogue and English subtitles may give that series an air of perceived legitimacy. This is similar to the use of an e-reader or tablet to read romance fiction and similar guilty pleasures in order avoid being scoffed at by others.

There are two good examples of this. One is “Gran Hotel”, a Spanish-language TV series ran on Netflix which has the style of a telenovela or soap opera but is set in an early time period. Another is “112 Sie Retten Dein Lieben” which is a simple fire/emergency procedural drama created by RTL and set in Dusseldorf that has some soap-opera-style melodrama in it. Here, SBS localised this German-language show with English subtitles and ran it on their relatively-new SBS 2 digital sub-channel as “112 Emergency” in 2009. Even the aforementioned Kommissar Rex (Inspector Rex) would have fallen in to this class of content due to a simple police-procedural storyline and featuring a hero dog.

It could be found that the foreign language in the dialogue uttered by original speakers with the English-language subtitles on the screen and, perhaps, an unseemly English-localised show title may work as a means to obfuscate the fact that the content has that popular-entertainment feel about it. That means that the show may earn a level of respect in some societal circles.

It is although the show may convey societal attitudes that are very endemic in its home culture and work differently to what is expected in Anglo-American cultures. This can be through interpersonal relationships or workplace dynamics that are woven through the show’s plot thanks to it being written for its home market.

This is more demonstrable with content produced in European countries where social issues are effectively woven in to the show and examined from the European country’s point of view. In this example, this concept is seen as being of value with those Anglosphere societies who align with Continental-European values.

For example, a German TV drama will underscore the strong separation of work and personal life that is part of German culture such as the importance of “Feierabend” when work ceases. Or a significant amount of German and Scandinavian police dramas have been known to give significant space to social issues rather than focusing on the “whodunnit” or “goodies vs baddies” aspect.

Conclusion

If there is a significant and continual interest within the Anglosphere for foreign-language content that has English-language subtitles, there will be an interest in offering to localise such content that way. These foreign-language content hubs that operate on the Internet to offer linear broadcast or video-on-demand could then offer to fill that niche.

Spotify offers a music-pooling service for parties

Article

Spotify Windows 10 Store port

A party mode comes to Spotify so you can pool your music with your friends at that party

Spotify Intros ‘Jam’ for Sharing Music Experiences With Friends (droid-life.com)

From the horse’s mouth

Spotify

Spotify Unveils Jam, a New, Personalized Way to Listen With Your Entire Squad

My Comments

Spotify has introduced a jukebox-style party playlist function for their Premium users. This feature, known as Spotify Jam, allows other people that the user invites to contribute songs to a “master playlist” from the other Spotify users’ own accounts.

The host account has to be a Spotify Premium user but the participants can use any Spotify account class.

The host sets up a Jam playlist by either tapping on the “speaker” icon at the bottom of the screen of the three-dot option menu within their favourite currently-playing playlist or song. They are then given the option to “Start a Jam” and determine which Spotify endpoint they have the music coming through, including audio devices that are Spotify Connect endpoints.

If you are on the same logical small network as a device that is running a Spotify Jam session and you start Spotify, you will be invited to join that Spotify Jam playlist. You can use a Bluetooth link to invite other Spotify users by tapping their devices together with the host device. There is also the ability for the host device’s user to show a QR code that users scan to join the Spotify Jam. There is even the ability to send a link via email, instant messaging, SMS or a social network’s in-platform messaging to invite people to the Spotify Jam.

Everyone connected to the same local logical small network can participate in the Spotify Jam no matter the account class. But Spotify Premium users can join from other networks, which may apply to setups involving mobile broadband networks, public access networks or the like.

The Spotify Jam feature is effectively a party-wide song queue where each participant adds songs to that queue. They can also see who added a song to the queue as well as contribute a song themselves. They are also exposed to a song-recommendation list that is generated by Spotify’s content-recommendation engine based on what is already in the list.

The host can also see the active participant list for the current Jam session queue list. But they can delete tracks or change the track sequence which can be handy for changing the party mood. For example, you may want to run with slower music at the early stages of the party then, perhaps play some upbeat floor-filler dance tracks after dinner when it’s time to dance, then subsequently run with more slower music towards the end of the party as the guests leave.

It may be desirable for Spotify Jam hosts to convert the queue list in to a playlist so as to have something that reminds them of the party. But could I see the Spotify Jam party-music playlist functionality appear on other online music-streaming services like Tidal, Apple Music, Deezer or Qobuz?

UK to launch Internet-based free-to-air TV service

Article

TV aerial and satellite dish on house roof

UK to launch a free-to-air TV service that can be delivered by Internet in addition to terrestrial and satellite RF means

Britain’s Broadcasters Prep New Free Live TV Service via Broadband – ISPreview UK

From the horse’s mouth

Everyone TV (formerly Digital UK)

New service from UK public service broadcasters will deliver live free TV via IP (Press Release)

My Comments

The United Kingdom, a country associated with a long tradition of free-to-air broadcast TV, is now working towards an Internet-based free-to-air TV service.

This service, to be known as Freely, is a follow-on from the Freeview digital terrestrial TV and Freesat digital satellite TV platform and is to extend the traditional free-to-air TV service to IP (Internet Protocol) bearers like your Internet service and home network. It is being facilitated by Everyone TV, formerly known as Digital UK and behind Freeview and Freesat, who represents the established UK free-to-air TV broadcasters i.e. BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

The intention is to have this support both linear and on-demand content services for FTA TV, as well as maintaining the traditional TV viewing experience as we have known it. The articles talked more of Freely being offered via fixed-line broadband Internet but mentioned that they could be offered by mobile broadband.

Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 Intel 8th Generation CPU at QT Melbourne hotel - presentation mode

It could even be about watching BBC1 on a convertible laptop like this Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 convertible laptop without the need of a TV tuner dongle

A question that can easily come up is what will be provided for as the “best case” scenario for picture and sound quality? This could be HD, Full HD, 4K UHD or HDR, but there wasn’t any talk about a “best case” soundmix like stereo, 5.1 surround or object-based Dolby Atmos surround that will be used for TV-content sound.

Another question that will come up is whether the Freely setup will be about an Internet-only setup or to combine the Freeview terrestrial / Freesat satellite RF-delivery platforms. This is even though 15% of UK TV households use Internet-only means for receiving their TV content and, most likely nowadays, the Internet is used as a means to bring TV to secondary locations. But there is a desire in the UK to preserve the terrestrial TV service delivered via the aerial as something accessible for all.

The Freely service is expected to be launched in 2024 and there is a desire to integrate this functionality in to the next generation of smart TVs sold in to the UK market. There will also be the issue of whether apps that work with connected TV, games console, mobile or desktop operating systems will be created for Freely. This is because these platforms like Chromecasts, Apple TVs, iPads or laptops are being used for online TV consumption.

I also see this as something that Australia and New Zealand could be observing due to their free-to-air TV culture, with a brand that could be used for Internet-delivered FTA TV. This could even be used as a brand for a pure Internet-delivered free-to-air TV service by any of these companies.

But I am also pleased about the proposed Freely service being the first effort towards Internet-delivered free-to-air TV in English-speaking countries who have a strong free-to-air TV and public-service broadcasting culture.

A Pro-Ject turntable joins the vinyl revival to the home network

Article

Pro-Ject T2W Wi-Fi turntable with LP record lifestyle image courtesy of Pro-Ject

This is about bringing the vinyl record to the UPnP AV / DLNA Home Media Network

The Pro-Ject T2 W wireless turntable looks to accelerate the vinyl resurgence | T3

From the horse’s mouth

Pro-Ject

Pro-Ject T2W Wi-Fi turntable

Product Page (English, Deutsch)

My Comments

The vinyl revival is upon us whether you are a young person who didn’t grow up with playing records or an older person who habitually played records on that stereogram or hi-fi system and maintained that record collection. But a significant number of turntable manufacturers have moved away from the purely-analogue “back-to-basics” approach to the classic LP record by bridging digital technologies with that classic music medium.

In a lot of cases, turntable manufacturers have issued at least one turntable model in their range that uses Bluetooth to stream audio from that record to Bluetooth speakers or headphones. Yamaha recently issued the MusicCast VinylPlay 500 turntable that streams the record you are playing through your home network to their MusicCast speakers and amplifiers or plays online sources using a MusicCast app.

But Pro-Ject have come forward with a network turntable that uses UPnP / DLNA to stream the music off that record you have put on to a wide range of network audio equipment using your home network.

Pro-Ject have had a significant hand with the vinyl revival. This is with designing and releasing a value-for-money manual turntable that answers the expectations of “born-again” vinyl enthusiasts and participating in the Australian edition of Record Store Day which celebrates independent “bricks-and-mortar” record stores.

The Pro-Ject T2W Wi-Fi turntable is a belt-drive manual-operation turntable that works with 33rpm and 45rpm records. Records are placed on a glass platter rather than a plastic or lightweight-metal platter, which does a better job of absorbing unwanted vibrations. The tonearm is equipped with a Sumiko Rainier moving-magnet cartridge most likely

Pro-Ject T2W Wi-Fi Turntable press image courtesy of Pro-JectBut this turntable streams the music content over your Ethernet or Wi-Fi home network to any UPnP / DLNA network audio endpoints with it supporting a best-case FLAC lossless audio stream. The Wi-Fi wireless network connection works best case to Wi-Fi 6.

You have to use the Pro- Ject Control App on your smartphone or tablet to set the T2W up for your home network. But this also works as a UPnP / DLNA Media Controller, allowing you to “push” the music stream from your currently-playing LP to a DLNA audio endpoint. The turntable also has a button to “push” the music stream to the last-connected DLNA endpoint so you don’t have to get out your smartphone to do this before you lift the arm on to that album. The Pro-Ject Control App also can allow you to use Sonos or Apple AirPlay 2 compatible equipment to hear that album.

Between the moving-magnet phono cartridge and the Wi-Fi streaming subsystem exists a high-quality analogue split-passive phono preamp which also yields the sound from that album to a line-level input on an amplifier. This would come in handy with music systems that don’t have a phono input that you would typically connect a turntable to. I have done further research and there doesn’t seem to be the ability to run the audio signal to an external phono preamp such as the one built in to that 70s-era hi-fi receiver.

Pro-Ject recommends that you use the control app associated with a UPnP / DLNA capable network multiroom setup to discover the turntable and push its output across the speakers in that setup. This is to assure proper synchronous sound output because one device would be used to “collect” the signal and synchronise it across the different member endpoints in that setup. Pro-Ject doesn’t assure that the T2W’s UPnP setup will lead to proper sync across different devices due to differing buffering capabilities.

This may appeal to people who have an Internet-capable audio system that uses UPnP / DLNA and want to play records through that system via the home network without it being necessarily close to the turntable. But I would like to see Pro-Ject or another company offer similar functionality in a standalone box that can be connected to existing hi-fi equipment.

But I see Pro-Ject’s effort with the T2W as linking the vinyl revival with the home network using standards-based technologies like DLNA. Time to put that record on through the home network!

FAST streaming TV becoming more common

TenPlay Website screenshot with some FAST channels offered by the Ten Network.

The Ten Network offers some FAST-TV channels through its TenPlay platform

FAST streaming TV is a new way of offering TV services via the Internet. FAST stands for Free Ad-supported Streaming TV; implying that the service is dependent on advertising for its income like a commercial free-to-air TV station. Personally, I would prefer to refer to these services as FST services to encompass public-service broadcasters or community broadcasters who run a business model that eschews advertising or subscriptions, such as the BBC in the UK or ABC in Australia.

But this is about offering a linear TV service via the Internet without having it appear on an RF-based carrier like terrestrial (aerial), cable or satellite. This is in contrast to free-to-air and subscription TV operators who run their linear TV services using Internet means in addition to RF (terrestrial, cable or satellite) means. There is also the ability to offer interactive and personalised advertising which may appeal to advertisers and viewers.

The two main approaches

FAST services are being offered under two different approaches. One is via a broadcaster or other content provider who already has significant presence within its market including offering their own content on their own service. This approach is being taken by most of the commercial free-to-air TV stations in Australia and could work for established broadcasters or the “basic cable” content providers moving themselves off cable to over-the-top Internet delivery. This is in addition to offering the channels distributed normally through RF means being offered using Internet means and, in some cases, providing editorial content for areas different to what is received locally via terrestrial or cable using an Internet stream.

Some TV providers like Australia’s public-service and commercial free-to-air TV networks use FAST-equivalent Internet-delivered TV streams as a way to allow viewers to “jump” editorial borders and, perhaps, watch an interstate news bulletin. We experienced this by accident once when we couldn’t find the TV’s remote control and used our Apple TV and its remote control to control our TV via HDMI-CEC.

Here, we used the ABC iView app to watch the ABC TV stream but accepted the default setup which provided us with the Sydney feed rather than the Melbourne feed which was relevant to us. The news bulletin was full of Sydney-based news including NRL rugby-league and the NSW weather report rather than the Melbourne-based news with AFL Australian-rules football and Victorian weather report. This kind of viewing could be seen as of relevance to, for example, people travelling to another district and wanting to know what the weather will be like at their destination.

The other approach is a company that hasn’t created its own content but simply redistributes channels, runs the user experience and sells advertising time. Such a company can be a TV or set-top device manufacturer like Samsung, a connected-TV platform developer like Roku or someone who just offers an app to many connected TV platforms. Here, content producers would offer TV channels via Internet or satellite means to one or more of these FAST TV services.

What is this leading to

Supplementary, niche and heritage content

Some of the traditional free-to-air broadcasters are using the FAST (FST) approach to offer extra content in an Internet-first means. This is seen as a low-risk means to offer supplementary content rather than having to engage in a high-risk approach of obtaining extra RF capacity or licences for a new service.

For example, TenPlay in Australia has been exploring this approach to offer supplementary content for sports events they have rights to and even brought the Pluto TV PAST service in to Australia. Or the Seven Network used 7Plus were providing “direct-to-sport” access for the Olympic Games where you could see the fixtures relating to a particular Olympics sport of your choice.

At the moment, traditional free-to-air TV broadcasters and channels who appeared in basic cable-TV tiers are showing interest in FAST services. For basic-cable-TV services like news services, it is seen as a way to become less dependent on cable and satellite TV networks leading to a way to reduce costs and assure some editorial independence. The traditional free-to-air broadcasters see this as a way to take their content further including to “take advantage of the moment”.

Here, a key advantage is to provide niche content whee it is not justifiable enough to acquire RF space like a satellite transponder or DVB-T multiplex bandwidth to serve that niche. It can also be seen as a way to try out particular geographic or, more so, demographic markets with content that appeals to them, also courting advertisers who offer products and services appealing to that demographic.

For example, the Seven Network have set up a FAST Bollywood channel through 7Plus to offer content that appeals to the Indian-subcontinent diaspora in Australia. Or the Ten Network have annexed the Pluto TV FAST service to Australia and offered it vla TenPlay with ad space for local businesses.

In addition, a broadcaster who has a lot of heritage built up in their intellectual property could run FAST channels based around that content. This is an approach that a lot of the free-to-air broadcasters and film studios are taking with FAST TV by offering channels celebrating this heritage.

FAST as another form of “cable TV”

In some countries like North America where the classic cable-TV business model has been valued, third-party companies like TV manufacturers or connected-TV-platform developers have simply ended up being FAST service providers. They simply ended up managing the end-user experience, partnering with channels and selling advertising time.

Here, this leads to the many-channels cable-TV experience in a new over-the-top Internet-driven package. It could especially allow the channels that were typically offered in a basic cable package to continue to exist as well as providing a platform for niche channels to exist.

There will be the “Netflix/YouTube” type of TV viewers who will have done away with linear TV in all its forms. This cohort would place emphasis on carefully choosing which shows to watch so as to avoid being seen as the couch-potatoes of yesteryear. This also includes binge-viewing of TV series that they show interest in by seeing a run of episodes in a single session.

Complementing video-on-demand and broadcast TV

FST TV complements AVOD (Advertising-supported Video On Demand) or BVOD (Broadcaster-provided Video On Demand) by allowing the same provider to offer streamed linear and on-demand content. That means that viewers who prefer the traditional discoverability of content offered by a linear service and those who prefer to view what they are interested in using an on-demand service.

A service provider can easily consider offering shows on FST and VOD under the same user interface. This could work in a similar way to the BVOD services offered by traditional broadcasters, where a viewer can see earlier episodes of a show they watched on a linear service. For example, it could be about catching up on a season of a show or watching a few prior episodes to justify whether to continue watching it.

Both these services will have various attributes in common such as to support interactive TV for editorial or advertising material from the get-go. This can appeal to both editorial content such as alternative angles or commentaries for sporting events; or advertising where you can follow through on advertised products or services that interest you.

Once DVB-I and similar integration technologies come in to play, it could be about the ability to channel-surf between FST channels and traditional TV channels. This could make FST platforms more appealing to those of us who like to continue watching TV on the big screen.

Key questions

Brand safety and social licence to operate

Most FST channels would implement production values similar to established public-service and private TV networks. As well, there would be an expectation by the FAST TV services to place ads beside appropriate content to assure brand safety and suitability.

But the Free Streaming TV ecosystem could become a breeding ground for services and channels that don’t have social licences to operate. This could be about news channels that engage in fake news and disinformation or channels running content that is socially questionable. Or there can be issues like when certain editorial and advertising content should be on air so as to make sure children aren’t seeing inappropriate material.

This could be facilitated by a FAST service that is laissez-faire about whom they partner with or what they offer. Or, like I have seen with various “free speech” social networks, it could be easy to set up a FAST service that offers controversial content because there isn’t the need to acquire a broadcast licence or agree to use cable or satellite capacity.

But this issue could be answered with FAST services or trade association who resolve to vet channels that they want to partner with. Similarly app-driven platforms could exert a “gateway role” regarding apps for connected TV services. This is something that Apple, Google, Samsung, and the video-game console platforms have done successfully.

Or countries could apply the “rules of broadcast” to the FST TV ecosystem and have it subject to scrutiny by their broadcast and communications authority like Ofcom or ACMA. It is something that may be easier if the content services or distributors are founded in or have an office in their jurisdiction.

Simplifying the user experience

TV remote control

FST TV will need to permit simplified lean-back operation with the TV remote control if it is to be successful

FST TV will also need to permit a user experience similar to what has become customary for traditional RF-based broadcast TV. This is to provide for the ability to:

  • channel-surf suing the typical up-down button on the remote control,
  • view an electronic programme guide that shows what’s on across all channels and services;
  • enter a channel number to gain direct access to a particular channel and
  • use a “previous channel” button to switch between two different channels.

Here, this avoids a long-winded channel selection process where the viewer would be expected to go up to the FST service’s menu to select another channel or to the main “connected-TV” menu to switch between FST services.

This could be facilitated via DVB-I or similar technologies associated with TV content distribution. The TV sets and set-top boxes would then be required to create amalgamated channel lists and EPGs that are, perhaps, sorted by “channel numbers”, priority lists or service providers.

Conclusion

FAST TV / FST TV could act as an over-the-top Internet-delivered equivalent to terrestrial, cable or satellite TV in providing that linear discoverable viewing experience that we have loved for a long time.

Chromecast or Apple TV within a public-access Wi-Fi network

Chromecast and similar devices are being used as an alternative to smart TVs

How you can use a Chromecast or Apple TV in that hotel room

There are situations where you may want to use a device like a Chromecast, Apple TV box or a network printer in a place like a hotel that has that headline public-access Wi-Fi network facility. Or you may want to make use of a portable Internet radio to listen to that Internet-hosted radio station at the worksite you are working at which has a public-access Wi-Fi network.

But you will find it difficult to use these kinds of devices on these networks for many reasons.

One of these is that if a public-access Wi-Fi network is properly setup, each device that is on the network is to be logically isolated so that other devices on that network can’t discover your devices. This is more to assure user privacy and data security for all network users.

But this will interfere with arrangements where you need to discover another device that you own that is on the network in order to use it, such as to “cast” media to a Chromecast or Apple TV. It can also interfere with file sharing between two computers or the use of portable NAS devices.

Sony CMT-MX750Ni Internet-enabled micro music system

Sony CMT-MX750Ni 3-piece music system – this has been used to try Internet-radio functionality via a public-access Wi-Fi network

As well, some of these networks are set up with a Web-based captive portal or implement Wi-Fi PassPoint / Hotspot 2.0 or other authentication approaches. This is even if it is about assenting to the terms and conditions of service for use of the public-access Wi-Fi network. Here, these kinds of login experiences don’t work at all with devices that have a limited user interface like a small display or a user interface based around a D-pad. In a lot of cases, you will deal with devices that don’t even have a Web browser at all to work with these captive portals.

I previously covered Wi-Fi mobile networks and how they work. This included the use of travel routers or Mi-Fi devices, or NAS and similar devices that support “Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi routing”.

Travel Routers and portable NAS devices

Mobile NAS as bridge setup

Wireless NAS as a bridge between mobile client devices and another Internet-providing network. This is a similar setup for travel routers that support “Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi” operation.

One approach is to use a travel router or Wi-Fi-capable portable NAS that supports “Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi routing”. This means that the device connects to the public access network while creating its own Wi-Fi network, acting as a router. With Wi-Fi-capable portable NAS devices, you have to enable this function through something like enabling “Share Wi-Fi Connection”. You have to set the NAS so that the data that it has is not shared to the Wi-Fi network it is connected to, something you do when you set up “secure” or “private” operation.

Newer multimedia-ready hotel-room networks

Be also aware that there is an increasing number of network solutions being pitched to hotels and similar lodging establishments that create small home-network-grade Wi-Fi networks unique to each room or apartment. Some companies are even pitching this as part of their public-access Wi-Fi solution or building-wide network / Internet solution for residential or accommodation places like hotels or build-to-rent apartment buildings.

This is achieved through a distinct room-specific network served by a router installed in the room or a VLAN specific to a room or account and operates for the user’s tenure that works like a small home network.

These setups may also be to support a TV or audio setup enabled for Google Chromecast, Apple AirPlay, DLNA, Spotify Connect or other common home-network media protocols. The TV or audio setup is something that a hotelier would like to provide as an amenity to their “switched-on” guests who make use of online services and smartphones for their multimedia consumption. Such networks will typically have a “small-network-standard” Wi-Fi network covering your room or suite and will have an SSID network name and password peculiar to that network.

Most likely, if you do bring along your equipment and have it work with the room-specific multimedia network, you will be able to discover it as long as your computer or mobile devices are linked to that particular network. This could mean that your Spotify-Connect-capable wireless speaker could work with Spotify on your smartphone like it does at home if all these devices are connected to the room-specific network.

You may find that the hotel you are staying in may be set up this way and there could be printed material in your room about this kind of network existing and how to “get on board”. Typically this requires you to connect your smartphone and your devices to the room-specific network once you have activated that network connection.

Your regular laptop computer as a travel router

Logitech MX Anywhere 3 mouse on glass table near laptop

Your laptop that runs Windows 10 or MacOS 13 Ventura or newer operating systems also offers this same functionality

Laptops that run Windows 10 or MacOS 13 Ventura onwards can offer this same functionality natively. This is infact an approach that I used to run my Chromecast with Google Play as an audio-video output device for my Samsung Galaxy A52s smartphone at the Elsinor Motor Lodge in order to play my music through the motel room’s TV speakers.

Windows 10 onwards

Windows 11 Settings - Network And Internet - Mobile Hotspot option highlighted

Enable the Mobile Hotspot option in Windows 10 or 11 so your laptop becomes a travel router or mobile hotspot

  1. Select “Settings” which is the gear-shaped icon to open the Settings menu
  2. Select “Network and Internet” on the left of the Settings screen to open the Network and Internet window.
  3. Enable Mobile Hotspot whereupon you will see the setup for sharing your computer’s Wi-Fi connection.
  4. To see your hotspot properties, click the “ > “ next to the “Enable Mobile Hotspot” toggle. Note down the Network Properties on this screen which correspond to the SSID (Network Name) and Password for the Wi-Fi hotspot created by your Windows computer.

    Windows 11 - Network And Internet - Mobile Hotspot Settings

    These are the settings you need to go over to make sure your mobile hotspot works. The network details refer to what your devices need to be connected to.

MacOS 13 Ventura onwards

  1. Click the Apple icon at the top left of the screen and select “System Settings
  2. Select “General” then select “Sharing
  3. Look for “Internet Sharing” and click the i nearby that option
  4. Select the network connection that has the Internet service – this could be Wi-Fi or Thunderbolt Bridge.
  5. Select the network connection the other devices will connect to using the “To Computers Using”, which will be Wi-Fi
  6. You then have the option to create a Network Name (SSID) and Password for the hotspot network. Note down the SSID and Password you created for the hotspot,
  7. Once everything looks OK, click Done and toggle Internet Sharing on.
  8. Click Start in the pop-up message to confirm Internet Sharing.

Setting up your devices

Then, set up your devices like your network media player or network printer to link to the hotspot network you created in the above steps. Most network media devices will require you to go through the “manual Wi-Fi setup” process with some devices, especially speakers, requiring you to link to a “setup” Wi-Fi access point integrated in the device and running a setup Website hosted by that device.

That also means that your smartphone or tablet has to connect to the hotspot network if it is to benefit from the devices that you connected to that network. This would be important for media-sharing protocols like Chromecast or DLNA, or network-printing protocols like AirPrint or Mopria.

When you are finished

If you are using Windows or MacOS as a travel router, turn off the “Mobile Hotspot” or “Internet Sharing” functionality before you pack up your equipment. This is to assure secure operation and also saves on battery power for your laptop computer. With a travel router or portable NAS, you just simply disable the network-sharing functionality when you pack the equipment up.

Remember that the settings will stay the same for your Mobile Hotspot or Internet Sharing functionality so you don’t need to connect to a new Wi-Fi network if you use the same method again. This also holds true for travel routers or portable NAS units that implement network sharing.

In the case of that multimedia-ready hotel room network, you will still have to connect your equipment including your computer or mobile devices to these networks when you set yourself up in your room. This is because the guest credentials are likely to change as a means of protecting guests’ own equipment and experience.

Apple TV to become a group videophone with your iPhone

Article

Apple TV FaceTime conversation image courtesy of Apple

Facetime and other videoconferencing apps now feasible for Apple TV with your iPhone as a camera and microphone

You can now FaceTime from your Apple TV | ZDNET

Apple’s TVOS 17 Brings FaceTime to Apple TV, Find My Remote Functionality to Siri Remote – CNET

FaceTime is coming to Apple TV | Engadget

From the horse’s mouth

Apple

tvOS 17 brings FaceTime and video conferencing to Apple TV 4K (Press Release)

My Comments

A device class I always have wanted to see when it comes to videocalling and videoconferencing is a group videophone that connects to an ordinary large-screen TV set or monitor for its display and audio output. The idea behind this display concept for this use case is so that a group of people at one location can participate in a videocall. Example situations include a group of family members at the “family house” making a videocall to distant relatives during Christmas Day; or someone intent on buying a business, meeting with their lawyer at the lawyer’s office and talking with the vendor who is at another location.

A few companies are working on having their platform-based set-top boxes or streaming sticks serve this function by adding group videocall functionality to their set-top platform and it is something I was wanting to see Apple do with their Apple TV set-top box. This function works on Apple TV devices that run the next major version of tvOS i.e. tvOS 17.

As well, an iPhone or iPad running iOS/iPadOS 16 works as the camera and microphone for the Apple TV, thanks to Apple’s “Continuity Camera” functionality that was introduced to MacOS and now being “haked in” to tvOS. This is to be facilitated with a stand that Apple will supply as a first-party accessory so you can have the rear cameras facing you during the video call. The iOS device will link to the Apple TV via a Bluetooth link or the fact it is on the same logical small network thanks to Wi-Fi.

This functionality is to support Apple’s native FaceTime videoconferencing platform but Apple is to provide developer support for software developers who want to build or port desktop videoconferencing software to tvOS. Zoom and Webex will be the first two third-party videoconferencing platforms to have this tvOS support.

There is the ability to use the Apple TV’s Siri Remote to initiate a FaceTime call or you can transfer a FaceTime call you are engaging in to the Apple TV so that the other parties appear on the TV screen and you can hear them on your TV’s sound setup. Most likely third party applications will support a similar process.

In this setup, you will have to use the Apple TV’s Siri Remote to control the videocall such as to mute the iPhone’s camera or microphone, hand the call back to the iPhone to continue it privately or to end the call. If messages come in to the iPhone during the call, a simple notification not attributed to the message’s source will pop up so as to keep the message effectively private.

The SharePlay functionality, which allows you to share what you are currently watching from a video source hosted on your Apple TV will still operate so you can use Apple FaceTime to tantalise another person about that show.

There are still questions to answer regarding how the FaceTime facility will authenticate users who set it up to make or take calls using only the Apple TV Siri Remote, rather than using an iPhone and transferring where necessary. As well, would the ability to transfer a FaceTime call from your iPhone to the Apple TV be only limited to the Apple ID accounts that the Apple TV device is associated with? This can be an issue where the Apple TV device is bound to one Apple ID account to represent the whole household rather than each adult individual registering their Apple ID with the same Apple TV device.

At the moment, this functionality is part of a developer-only beta software package but is expected to be fully established as part of tvOS between September to November 2023.

IKEA adds floor-lamp speakers to its Symfonisk speaker range

Articles

IKEA SYMFONISK floor lamp speakers lifestyle image courtesy of IKEA

IKEA SYMFONISK Sonos-compatible floor lamp speakers that fit in well in a lounge area

Sonos and Ikea made a floor lamp speaker that could be perfect for surround sound – The Verge

From the horse’s mouth

IKEA

IKEA and Sonos launch the new SYMFONISK floor lamp speaker (Press Release)

My Comments

IKEA have, for a few years, established a partnership with SONOS in order to create speakers that they can sell through their furniture stores. As I have mentioned before on this Website, I value IKEA’s approach as an affordable path to “cotton on” to the SONOS network-based multiroom audio ecosystem or build out a multiroom audio setup based on this platform.

Here, the speakers come as a traditional bookshelf speaker, table lamp or wall-art panel. but work like other SONOS speakers as far as reproducing audio content is concerned. You won’t be able to use these speakers as smart speakers for voice-activated home assistants.

Sonos Beam soundbar (black finish) press picture courtesy of Sonos

.. can work well with Sonos Beam soundbar or similar Sonos soundbars for full-on surround sound

You could even team a pair of these IKEA speakers up with a Sonos soundbar like the relatively-affordable SONOS Ray unit in order to create an elementary surround-sound home-theatre setup without spending too much. This capitalises on SONOS implementing network-based multichannel audio for stereo setups with like speakers or surround setups where the surround speakers are a pair of like speakers. Even households who invest in a full-bore home-theatre setup may find these setups attractive for having surround sound in other lounge areas of their home like the family room.

But IKEA have premiered the SYMFONISK floor-lamp speakers that are like the table-lamp equivalents but are on a wire-frame stand so they can be free-standing. These would be equivalent to the traditional floor lamp a.k.a “standard lamp” that is used as a free-standing light in a lounge area.

Again these are a pair of speakers that increasingly earn their keep in a lot of situations. With an open-plan living area where the lounge furniture acts as a room divider in its own right, they would come in handy as surround speakers for a SONOS soundbar without standing out like a sore thumb. Oh yeah, a pair of these can make a pair of unobtrusive speakers for most rooms.

SONOS could take this further for IKEA by allowing a pair of speakers normally deployed as surrounds for a SONOS sundbar to work as a pair of stereo speakers that are their own zone. Here, it could come in to its own with the SYMFONISK table lamp or floor lamp speakers acting as part of a room divider between a lounge area and a dining area, where you may want to use them for music during dinner for example.

I would also see this come along with DTS Play-Fi, the HEOS ecosystem promoted by Denon and Marantz or the MusiCast ecosystem promoted by Yamaha or even the WISA wireless speaker platform where a pair of aesthetically-pleasing speaker/lamp combos are sold for one or more of these systems by the homewares fraternity. This is more to court those of us who have a soundbar or AV receiver capable of network or open-standard wireless surround setups could expand to full surround in an innocuous manner especially with an open-plan lounge area.