FCC says 700 Mhz now OFF limits.

Under a new FCC rule, anyone who uses a wireless microphone (or similar device) that operates in the 700 MHz Band will have to stop operating their wireless microphone (or similar device) no later than June 12, 2010.

To see if this law affects your wireless microphone, check their Manufacturers Equipment list.

Why did the FCC make this rule?

Some Olympic stats.

The Olympics are in many cases, multiple Superbowls or World Cup events being staged at the same time. What does it take to produce all this?

Well, some stats being passed around on the production reveal it’s a huge undertaking, and I’m sure these stats don’t account for everything because those crews that come in always have to retrofit the stuff built out to “make it work right.”

TV from the Moon

While NASA is recreating the entire Apollo 11 mission to the moon via a web portal, there is other information surfacing that, not only has NASA recovered the original downlink videotapes from the mission (instead of the blurry kinescopes of the actual first step on the moon) there’s also information on the web that describes, in laborious and scientific minutiae the details that enabled the live television broadcast from the moon itself.

What format did the camera use, how was it converted for broadcast, what antennas were used and a whole lot more. Great reading for those gearheads out there. 

SmartSound for FCP

SmartSound has released their plug-in for Final Cut Pro that allows Smartsound to see open FCP projects, including all the different sequences, and import markers from that timeline into SmartSound to make the process of adding music to your project a breeze.

The demo from Larry Jordan is up on the SmartSound web site and we’ve got it for you here as well.

Handy tool- Replug.

If you need to use headphones into an 1/8″ jack (like on a camcorder- even professional, mixer, or laptop) then you’ve probably experienced a situation where your head went too far from the gear and the headphones either got yanked off your head or the gear got yanked around, or broken. I found this cool little add-on called Replug that looks to save your head, save your gear, or both. 

DTV deadline? The end is not so near, maybe.

I previously noted that the end of analogue broadcast TV is fast approaching.

Apparently the FCC has changed its rules. Cnet is relating a Reuters article that:

The Federal Communications Commission has approved new rules giving broadcasters more flexibility in making the switch to digital television from traditional analog signals.

The rules would, among other things, allow some broadcast stations to make a “phased transition” to digital broadcasting.

After moving the deadline back several years from it’s original deadline, now the deadline isn’t so much of a deadline at all…

NAB hates production crews! Kill all non TV wireless!

I don’t know what the National Association of Broadcasters is thinking with its latest campaign- urging anyone who visits its web site to contact the FCC and urge it to “tell them not to allow unlicensed personal and portable devices to operate in the television spectrum.” You know, wireless microphones, wireless video feeds, wireless intercoms, wireless IFB, wireless of all sorts! This is because “American consumers deserve and expect to have interference free digital television.”

Uh… how do we create television and films without wireless video and audio?
Does the NAB want to render every wireless mic from 54 – 800 Mhz illegal?

Apparently so!

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TechThoughts could win. We need your help.

As the Bloggies itself says:

Honor. Prestige. Wealth. These are some of the things that a Bloggie won’t bring you. But that won’t stop the Web from voting…

So vote for TechThoughts.org, maybe as “Best-Kept Secret” or “Best New Weblog” or “Best Computer & Technology” or wherever you see fit.

There’s no physical award or big prize, but if advice or information here has helped you, then it costs you nothing to nominate TechThoughts.org for a Bloggie. Thanks for your support.

Thanks!

Drobo. Worth the hype?

The Drobo made Macworld’s “Year’s Best” hardware list, and was also mentioned on ProLost:

You can cram any configuration of drives into it and it will keep your data redundantly safe. Don’t worry about mixing and matching drives, just throw in what’s cheap and plentiful. As drives get cheaper, toss bigger ones in there.

So what makes this so amazing?