TAPPTOONS SOFTWARE FOR TRADITIONAL DRAWN CARTOON & STOP MOTION MODEL ANIMATION

TAPPTOONS NEWSPAGE

 13th January 2013

UHDTV - the Next Generation of Telly

It seems like no time at all since the introduction of High Definition tv in the UK. For Freeview viewers a meagre 4 channels of HDTV will be available for the foreseeable future (no one has, as yet, applied for the fifth HD channel which is still vacant on Freeview). Now all the techie world is buzzing about the introduction of UHDTV, 4K or 8K. The top resolution being 16 times the pixel count of the current 1080 line HDTV. So how will the new services be transmitted to the eager, waiting public? Certainly not on Freeview. Even with a vacant HD channel going begging, there won`t be enough space in the spectrum for UHDTV. Improved compression codecs can`t squeeze the proposed broadcasts into what`s left after the UK government sold off a chunk of the frequencies for mobile use (3G, 4G whatever). A typical lack of foresight and perhaps the result of leaving such decisions to politicians whose advisors tell them what they wish to hear. ("You can get lots of revenue by selling off these unused tv frequencies, minister") So you may be stuck with Virgin cable or Satellite as your options. I can`t see broadband telephone line based delivery systems being able to squeeze UHDTV down copper wires to your house and direct to home optical fibre is a long way off for most of us. Japan and China are expected to roll out services in 2013. I wonder if anybody is making programmes yet in UHDTV? No doubt the manufacturers will try to kid us that "upscaling" for lower definition formats will improve our viewing pleasure. Will people really fall for that one again? If the detail isn`t there to begin with, you can`t re-instate it. More info HERE

 12th September 2012

PINKY AND THE BRAIN ON KIX

One of the best and, certainly, the funniest animated series to emerge from American TV is Warners` Pinky and the Brain. Originally an occasional segment of the Animaniacs series, they got their own series which ran for 4 tv seasons in the USA. You can get the series on DVD from the USA via Amazon but only as Region 1 discs and somewhat expensive. Alternatively, watch for next to nothing on satellite tv in Europe, on the Kix! channel. Not being shown at present (12th september) but will return, I hope, in the near future. Freesat and Sky (Sky Guide 627 and Freesat 606) listed under Childrens` tv. Plenty of humour in there for adults which is no doubt why it has been transmitted at 10.30pm. So far they haven`t shown episode 51 "Inherit the Wheeze" which won a PRISM award for its anti-smoking message. I don`t think they`ve shown episode 39 "Pinky Suavo" and "T.H.E.Y" so far, either. Don`t know why..More info HERE Series episode list HEREand Kix tv webpage HERE

 25th March 2012

ONLY A FEW DECADES TOO LATE

It may be somewhat late in coming but the proposed tax breaks or subsidies for the animation industry in the UK must be good news. I don`t know what the details are yet but it may help bring back some animation work to Britain after years of decline. I must admit to feeling astonished that it may happen at all under a predominantly Conservative regime. We`ve had to watch our own industry decline whilst some other European countries, notably France, carried on supporting their studios and as a result still have a vibrant, prosperous animation scene. As for the rest of the 2012 budget, well, a lot of pensioners will lose out regarding tax allowances. Smokers pay more, as usual, and a boost for tobacco smugglers. Vehicle Excise Duty up again, in the war against motorists. No increase in fuel duty but the fuel price went up this week anyway. (Perhaps the fuel companies think we`ll just automatically blame the budget? Sneaky.) In a seperate but related area, there are plans to impose a minimum price per unit for alcohol bought in off licences and supermarkets. Another measure that only hits the poorer section of society and not the rich. They also get a reduction in income tax in the 2012 budget. Many don`t pay anywhere near as much tax as they should anyway due to exploiting "loopholes" which are probably not there by accident. A baby born in 2012 can look forward to retiring at age 80 according to the latest projections by HM Government. I wonder what working tasks they`ll still be expected to perform at an age when many need help to wash or just to eat something? Of course, the wealthy won`t be in that position themselves. How many millionaires in the cabinet of the current government? Was it 20? 22?

 10th October 2009

MAKING THE POOR SQUEAL

Last June Lord Carter of Barnes, the UK communications Minister (and no doubt yet another wealthy individual who won`t bat an eyelid at extra costs for his telephone service) proposed a new £6 a year tax on users of fixed telephone lines in order to pay for the provision of fast broadband internet access to those parts of the country who don`t yet have it, particularly rural areas.

The main purpose of this expansion seems to be to enable people to watch high definition tv, download movies and play videogames with someone else half way round the world all via the internet. So you and I are going to fork out extra money so some spotty youth in the countryside can indulge his or her no doubt violent fantasies with online gaming whilst others can clog up the internet with enormous hi-def tv data files, watching something they could no doubt view on satellite or terrestrial digital tv instead. It`s bad enough with all the spam emails clogging up the net.

Let`s not forget also that satellites can deliver internet access as well (albeit at a premium, but then, if you will live in remote areas.....)

Admittedly, 50p a month is not a huge amount of money, but you need to look at it in context. The UK government has already gotten rid of the 10p lower tax band. Fuel and beer taxes continually go up. The public house trade has been virtually ruined by government taxes and the smoking ban.

Some local councils are considering a Workplace Parking Levy (a tax by any other name) where employees in companies with more than ten parking spaces will have to pay to park. All imposed by yet more wealthy local politicians who can easily pay more charges (but probably won`t need to). This is to deter "unnecessary" car journeys. Is going to work an "unnecessary" use of a car? The money collected would go towards better public transport.

No doubt using flying pigs.

Another proposal is to tax car parking at supermarkets and other retail outlets. Totally unavoidable charges for businesses if it`s an out-of-town location. Those costs will end up on our shopping bills.

It makes you wonder how much more of this crap the British public are going to put up with.

TECHNICAL MATTERS IGNORED

A recent edition of the Gadget Show on the Five tv channel here in the UK featured a review of inexpensive High Definition video camcorders. The three little devices were put through there paces in the usual irritatingly flashy presentation style by one of the presenters creating a set of clips of the type that get onto those tedious home video clip shows.

The Sanyo Xacti model was eventually deemed the best buy for its picture quality and ease of use. Mention was made at some point about the ability of the cameras to shoot at 60 frames per second. Very impressive, you might think, but if you go to the manufacturers` websites and look into the specifications of these gadgets what you find is that a lot of them will only work at 30 or 60 frames per second. Fine for the USA or Japan (where a lot of these designs come from) but useless for Europe and many other parts of the world where 25 or 50 frames per second is the tv standard. Even more puzzling is that they do offer a PAL tv output to your tv set, presumably converting the tv signal to PAL from its NTSC origins within the camcorder.

These camcorders may be okay for uploading your efforts onto YouTube but if you wanted to edit your video for use on a PAL standard DVD you`ll be looking at an unsatisfactory conversion job in the editing process.

This type of technical ignorance, or indifference, on the part of tv shows and computer magazines in the UK is unfortunately par for the course.

Best Buy? Of an ill-informed choice.

VINTAGE POPEYE ON DVD

The second and third volumes of digitally restored Fleischer Popeye films from the 1930s and 1940s has now been released for Region 1 DVD collectors. This second volume includes the classic short GOONLAND and some interesting documentaries. The old cartoons look superb in their restored form if all you`ve ever seen were battered old prints from the AAP distributors and public domain copies. So far only available for Region 1 NTSC viewers but you can buy it from Caiman of the USA through Amazon (uk site) for about £15 and it will only take a week or so to arrive. Why bother with the old public domain copies when you can see these beautifully restored versions?

To read an article about volume one of the Popeye collection from the DVD Times website CLICK HERE

Here`s a handy page for hacks to convert DVD players/recorders to multi-region CLICK HERE

8th January 2008

WINDOWS XP DRIVERS FOR A MUSTEK A3 EP PARALLEL PORT SCANNER

Quite some time ago, in fact August 2000, I bought a Mustek A3 parallel port flatbed scanner the A3 EP model, thinking I would need to able to scan A3 size drawings for the animation work I was hoping to get. In the event the big scanner has seen very little use and when I upgraded from Windows ME to Windows XP I found, of course, that there were no XP drivers for parallel port scanners. My old Epson A4 scanner was redundant as well (although it must be said that it was making squeaking noises and the lid hinges had fractured, so it wasn`t going to last anyway)

So, for a long time, the Mustek has been languishing unused in a cupboard. However! I recently found that Mustek have posted on their downloads section a "fix" that enables you to install Windows 2000 drivers for the A3 EP on an XP system. They even have a registry workround if you have any difficulties with the installation.

So now I can use my old A3 scanner again.

To go to the Mustek download page CLICK HERE

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