Comments on: Hot Donkey! Introducing Flickr Plug in for Media Center http://thomashawk.com/2006/03/hot-donkey-introducing-flickr-plug-in-for-media-center.html Sat, 26 May 2012 02:31:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Steve http://thomashawk.com/2006/03/hot-donkey-introducing-flickr-plug-in-for-media-center.html/comment-page-1#comment-15574 Steve Tue, 21 Mar 2006 08:28:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/thomashawk/?p=2223#comment-15574 Coincidentally, I was going to let you know about the Flickr viewer I just found on the Avel LinkPlayer I purchased recently. Although the UI is rudimentary, some of the images fail to display, and you can only do a slideshow of all images from a username, it's a start. And, the simple UI (for entering in a username or selecting one of their suggested keywords) is in HD, so it at least looks good. Apparently, it's being put together by IO Data to enhance the connected DVD players they and others sell, so it my be updated at some point. <br /><br />But, it did give me a couple ideas:<br /><br />1) Should Flickr allow users to define a 16:9 crop area to optimize images for display on an HDTV, and maybe a 4:3 crop for SDTV? So, you upload an image, and if you want, you select "suggested cropping", and then resize a 16:9 box on the image; then when a program is pulling images for a slideshow, the program includes an API parameter for HDTV, and Flickr sends down the cropped/resized images (anything without a suggested 16:9 crop is sent as normal). Wouldn't this be a crucial part of a great HDTV flick slideshow?<br /><br />And, 2) So, now with a HDTV DirecTiVo and a network-connected HD-capable DVD player, I've got everything pretty much covered. But, is there really that much more functionality in the DVD player than a TiVo could provide? If TiVo comes out with a Series 3 player with a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD drive, and the ability to stream HD content (via Divx, WMV, etc.), along with the existing HMO and Flickr plugin; is that the ultimate device? Other than gaming, would that be the only thing most people need next to their HDTV? What if they made one in a wall-mounted form factor, to put up next to a flat panel? What else would anyone need? Maybe they could add an amp and speaker connections, but that may take the integration a little too far. But, an HD TiVo + HD disc drive + HD streaming, who wouldn't want one? Coincidentally, I was going to let you know about the Flickr viewer I just found on the Avel LinkPlayer I purchased recently. Although the UI is rudimentary, some of the images fail to display, and you can only do a slideshow of all images from a username, it’s a start. And, the simple UI (for entering in a username or selecting one of their suggested keywords) is in HD, so it at least looks good. Apparently, it’s being put together by IO Data to enhance the connected DVD players they and others sell, so it my be updated at some point.

But, it did give me a couple ideas:

1) Should Flickr allow users to define a 16:9 crop area to optimize images for display on an HDTV, and maybe a 4:3 crop for SDTV? So, you upload an image, and if you want, you select “suggested cropping”, and then resize a 16:9 box on the image; then when a program is pulling images for a slideshow, the program includes an API parameter for HDTV, and Flickr sends down the cropped/resized images (anything without a suggested 16:9 crop is sent as normal). Wouldn’t this be a crucial part of a great HDTV flick slideshow?

And, 2) So, now with a HDTV DirecTiVo and a network-connected HD-capable DVD player, I’ve got everything pretty much covered. But, is there really that much more functionality in the DVD player than a TiVo could provide? If TiVo comes out with a Series 3 player with a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD drive, and the ability to stream HD content (via Divx, WMV, etc.), along with the existing HMO and Flickr plugin; is that the ultimate device? Other than gaming, would that be the only thing most people need next to their HDTV? What if they made one in a wall-mounted form factor, to put up next to a flat panel? What else would anyone need? Maybe they could add an amp and speaker connections, but that may take the integration a little too far. But, an HD TiVo + HD disc drive + HD streaming, who wouldn’t want one?

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