That last one is definitely sneak prevue on laserdiscs.
AriX wrote:
After reviewing the MPEG stuff, I'm really confused. I'm not at all sure whether or not Sneak Prevue itself actually had an MPEG version. From a UVSG promotional release:
"Sneak Prevue and The Barker take pay-per-view promotion to a new level and dimension. The biggest news for Sneak Prevue in 1996 was our joint venture with Starnet’s The Barker. The Barker’s MPEG I digital format allows us to enter the digital age of television with established technology in approximately 8 million homes. This joint venture brought our combined total number of basic subscribers to over 34 million, up from 26 million, or 30%, in 1996."
I'm thinking that "The Barker" may in fact be this pay-per-view previews channel that we've been discussing. So what is this "joint venture"? What is it branded? Maybe the "Sneak Prevue" video that I said was mislabeled was in fact related to Sneak Prevue? But if they had this vastly superior technology in 1996, why were they still using LaserDiscs in 2002?
Interesting. This "MPEG" channel we've seen so far is probably the barker as far as I can see. That release you posted has a picture on page 5, and has the blue dot and the red NOW! text that we've seen on the "MPEG" videos. I do wonder why they carried on using Sneak Prevue/Amiga/Laserdiscs until 2002, but maybe the barker just had more problems? or wasn't customisable enough? dunno...
AriX wrote:
Also, I just re-read part of the Sneak Prevue-related patent, which provides an even more interesting tidbits:
"One commercially available promotion service, known as Sneak Prevue is a promotion distribution and broadcast system. The Sneak Prevue based on tapes has its video promotion transmitted over the satellite in the wee hours in the morning from the uplink to the downlink. A system called a character generator located at the downlink screens such transmitted video promotions and records only pertinent portions. The Sneak Prevue based on laser discs uses laser discs to deliver video information and, thus, has random ability to interrupt the normal play, for example, with the promotions for upcoming events. In either of the Sneak Prevue systems, the cable headend connected to the satellite downlink broadcasts to cable subscribers promotional videos overlaid with local information."
This suggests (1) there was a VHS or otherwise tape-based version of Sneak Prevue that somehow downloaded video over satellite (maybe this is the MPEG-based version that we've been discussing, but the videos are not stored in MPEG format? or maybe completely analog?) and (2) there was some facility for promotional videos to be sent over satellite and overlaid in real-time.
I read that patent, I must say I assumed the tape version did not work out so well. But maybe we just haven't seen any output from it yet
AriX wrote:
I think what I need to do at this point is call up my friend and ask him some of these questions, and see if I can finally get that source code from him.
Of course, that might be the most straightforward method. Right now we need to go and find a barker machine as well just for completeness
tin wrote:Interesting. This "MPEG" channel we've seen so far is probably the barker as far as I can see. That release you posted has a picture on page 5, and has the blue dot and the red NOW! text that we've seen on the "MPEG" videos. I do wonder why they carried on using Sneak Prevue/Amiga/Laserdiscs until 2002, but maybe the barker just had more problems? or wasn't customisable enough? dunno...
Yeah, that image is part of what lead me to that conclusion. Maybe StarNet, Inc. went out of business and/or was bought by a competitor, or something else happened on the corporate level preventing the product from being used? It seems that the two companies actually joined their efforts at some level though:
"The increase in Sneak subscribers resulted primarily from the formation of Sneak Prevue LLC in September 1996, a new consolidated subsidiary of the Company into which were combined Sneak Prevue and The Barker, a similar product to Sneak Prevue which was previously offered by StarNet."
And yet, both products were operating at least as of 1998 and probably as of 2002.
tin wrote:Of course, that might be the most straightforward method. Right now we need to go and find a barker machine as well just for completeness
Regarding the tape-based version, it was likely something that was merely fed on a specific satellite transponder at a specific time and recorded to a worktape (that was guaranteed to be recorded over at least every other feed at least). This tape could be used with a machine that could be triggered remotely. All professional formats provide for timecode, so the tape could even be cued up to certain points automatically as well. It would require at least one other video source to let the tape seek around off-air.
I figured that the Pay-Per-View Previews and Information Channel was called "The Barker", so generally it was part of Prevue and Starnet. In fact, I did remember this channel did played Prevue's ReelTalk between previews and some "Sneak Prevue" Promos, which simply had the "Pay-Per-View" logo like this.
So, basically some Cable Companies such as Marcus Cable, Century Communications, Cablevision did carried "The Barker" while others like MediaOne, Comcast, and many others carried "Sneak Prevue".
joseph_sobora wrote:I figured that the Pay-Per-View Previews and Information Channel was called "The Barker", so generally it was part of Prevue and Starnet. In fact, I did remember this channel did played Prevue's ReelTalk between previews and some "Sneak Prevue" Promos, which simply had the "Pay-Per-View" logo like this.
So, basically some Cable Companies such as Marcus Cable, Century Communications, Cablevision did carried "The Barker" while others like MediaOne, Comcast, and many others carried "Sneak Prevue".
Huh. So maybe they teamed up because Prevue wanted to use Starnet's technology and Starnet wanted to use Prevue's content. I wonder how/why this dissolved and/or why they didn't fully combine their products.
AriX wrote:Huh. So maybe they teamed up because Prevue wanted to use Starnet's technology and Starnet wanted to use Prevue's content. I wonder how/why this dissolved and/or why they didn't fully combine their products.
I guess they wanted to do it separately, I didn't understand the idea either. But I think it was very interesting to see two separated Pay-Per-View Previews from different Cable Companies. "The Barker" actually had more information from their Cable Companies themselves prior to their Pay-Per-View Previews and Events. Compare to the still backgrounds from "Sneak Prevue", their backgrounds such as "Movies" and "Events" are done in CGI graphics. Also, it carries some of the music from the "Killer Tracks" library, I'm still searching for that. In my opinion, "Sneak Prevue" and "The Barker" were way better than the ones "InDemand" was using for their own as well as other cable companies and satellite as of today.
AriX wrote:Two new Sneak Prevue LaserDiscs recently showed up on eBay. One was from early 1996, and one was from early 1997.
I nabbed the one from 1996 today, but it looks like someone else already got to the 1997 version. Was it any of you guys here? I sure hope so!
By the way, I plan to get the rest of my two LaserDiscs up pretty soon - I'm in California right now, but I'll be flying home tomorrow.
Cool! I saw both of them on ebay as well! It had the same case as the photo I found back in 2005. They are both from March, 1996 and February, 1997. Sadly, I didn't purchased the 1997 version, I wish I did! Anyway, whoever bought it, I'm hoping someone will posted it too. I can't wait to see the backgrounds, the audio feed with music and different announcers in high quality, previews and lots more. I feel very excited just thinking about it!
sure.