TechTV: Rebuilt by Community?

This story has been Dugg. It’ll be interesting to see what your readers and the Digg community can come up with. 

Chris:

Demand it! Use Eventful Demand to start a grass-roots campaign to get Tech TV to reunite! 26 people are already signed up!

http://eventful.com/demand/D0-001-000005561-0

- Brian

maybe a google video genre called techtv?

TechTV was useless. It was taken off the air because everyone on it was annoying and ugly, and no one wants to see that. Except for Morgan, she was pretty hot in a towering sort of way. But that’s the only reason I could see someone watching that God awful network.

I am very happy to see that I am not the only one that thinks that we have lost a big tool in tech TV. I still try to keep up with each of the pinoffs like Leo’s spin of Call for help in Canada, Patrick Norton on Digital life and Kevin’s efforts with Digg. To bring a centralized effort would be great for serious computer enthousiasts. Let it be Windows, Mac, Linux, … users, a real look at technologies is needed and right now, G4Tech does not fulfill this need. They have unfortunetly sold out to gaming companies and their kids. If I could help in any way, I would but I am just a high school teacher with limited resources. Please, someone do something!

It would be nice if someone was willing to (and had enough money to) get the cable back on the airwaves, and not just online. The majority of the visitors would watch it online, but having it on cable would allow for new people to join in. However, I realize the under taking that would involve and I’ll take whatever I can get. :)

Why would you want flash? Regular html+css works far better.

It wouldn’t be too hard to whip up a simple php script to do that, the only issues would be with handling the videos, unless they are put into the correct format manually. You could also look into using bittorrent to distribute the videos once the traffic is too much for a direct download.

I’d be intersested in helping the programming aspect.

cracked.anarchist@st0rage.org

Use drupal to do the site!

What about TiVo? There is some current content available through downloads to Tivo, but none of it is any good. I’d definitely like to see ZDTV / TechTV in that format.

Dylan ru freakin serious
Tech Tv is not soley for hot women and i understand Im a guy too and i love hot women but tech tv cures another hunger that burns deep inside guys TECHNOLOGY when tech tv switched to G4 it all went downhill. I bet Kevin Rose would love to have his favorite chanel back.

Also send emails to revision3 which is the company that runs podcasts like diggnation. Maybe they will join the cause

btw a TechTv reunion happened not to long ago in Canada maybe about 16 months ago I realize that u mean for a new network but just to let u know it has happened b4 ( as just a reunion )

Bring it on. I haven’t had anything to watch on a daily basis since TechTV was destroyed. Great idea.

Dylan, saying that TechTV is useless could only come from the mouth of an obliterating idiot. Speak no more. Now, regarding the whole reuniting of the deal, are they planning to make this an online TV network or are they trying to get it to go on TV again?

Why would you need a ‘reunion’ wouldn’t that be called twit.tv and dl.tv?

Hell it would be nice to See Diggnation episodes on TV!

[...] Help Bring Back TechTV [...]

G4 has better looking chicks, but the content definately sucks compared to TechTV.

Hey Chris,

Go for it. Take a look at this link, http://blog.go4teams.com/?p=56 . It looks like this guy has put together exactly what you want. It also seems fairly easy to get this up and running. I would aid in the effort in any means possible, let me know.

Thank

I know how you could post the videos!
It’s called You Tube you should check it out.

Chris, just sent you an IM. I’m in; let me know if there is anything I can do.

And Dylan, TechTV was cool, it was just run very, very poorly. There were several good shows, and if you want good looking people, why are you watching a channel called “TechTV” anyway?

And I’ve seen Chris in person. He is a macho god. So back off, man.

I would love to see this happen. Podcasting and all is great but to see video is so much better would drive so much more intrest and possible funding. I love what the Revision3 team, with Kevin Rose, is doing. Leo Laporte and friends is really cool as well but they really lack on the videos. I love to see them combine they’re intrests and really create something special. We really could bring back TechTV, as a different name of course, if we just all work together.

I think TWiT ( http://twit.tv/ ), which was started by Leo and driven by a lot of familiar TechTV faces is a step in the right direction for bringing TechTV back to its former glory. Also, Kevin has put some good stuff together with Revision 3 ( http://revision3.com/ ). I think the key to bringing TechTV back together, if the web is the first platform for it, would be to bring all of their web-based projects back under one roof. They all have their own corners of the internet, but uniting them would basically complete the TechTV cast and lineup.

Chris,
I would be happy to set you up yor own video sharing site on our server. This is what my company does. Our hosted software allows you to “create your own YouTube” of sorts under your domain and your site’s look and feel. You can either set uploads to be anyone, or just a named group of individuals. You can either upload videos to our servers, or, if you find videos you want on your site from another service, you can add them to the site as well (works with YouTube, Google video, Vidilife, Veoh, etc). Our service powers over 1,000 sites now and we are streaming millions of videos daily to 5 million monthly visitors. We have a server farm that handles streaming, encoding into Windows Media and Flash-8, community mangement and video moderation. Also note our video quality is the best in the business as our bit rates are twice that of YouTube and using both WM9 and Flash-8 On2 our quality is much higher.

Please contact me via my email address in this post or the contact form on our site.
Adam Bruce
Vidiac.com

Rofl looks like Dylan Rush is a g4 executive…

I totally support a techtv reunion. G4 blows. Attack of the show is the worst (besides maybe that car soap opera Fastlane).

Chris,

We will help anywhere possible. Just keep us informed about what needs to be done!!

im not sure if anyone suggested this, but i think that a lot of people have servers out there and a lot of space on them that they are not using. It would be great if you guys have your techtv episodes stored away in other people’s servers so that and that they can unite under one website so other people can get the episodes from those severs. Just an idea. If not direct, than torrents would be awsome.

Chris - have sent you a mail with a domain/site I have that I would more than be happy to donate.

“TechTV was useless. It was taken off the air because everyone on it was annoying and ugly, and no one wants to see that. Except for Morgan, she was pretty hot in a towering sort of way. But that’s the only reason I could see someone watching that God awful network.”

Sir, you are an idiot.

I like hwo its all online now, But i centralized location would be great for getting all their content. Sort of one big super feed.

Chris, you are the man. TechTV rebuilt would be amazing.

It’s not worth it anymore to start a traditional TV station. TechTV was great, but now it’s easier to do vodcasts. You reach a wider audience. The trick is, you need to find your balance between advertisers and free content or paid content.

@ Dylan Rush..
Hey jackass, have you seen G4TV now? Its a pathetic excuse for a channel that does nothing unique.

TechTV was there for people who cared and were intested in technology, and TechTV’s fans were loyal. Just because everything they talked about on there was too advanced for you, doesnt mean you have to diss it. Adam Sessler will destroy you.

I really want to see TechTV come back! Good luck getting it together.

Some of what your looking for already exists.

Site that tracks former TechTV hosts current projects (though yours are noticably absent from the list)

http://www.techtvforever.net/

The LongLiveTechTV.com video vault

http://www.mrwebauthor.com/techtv/vault1.html

TechTV was AWESOME!!!, I think Dylan is useless though except for his observation of Morgan. I love watching the Digg and DL podcasts and would welcome a site the consolidated everyone’s talents. I thought everyone involved with TechTV really had something to add. Though I still keep tabs on what’s happening with G4, it’s lots it’s tech edge that I loved about TechTV. So Chris, bring it on back.

Ignore Dylan Rush, he’s obviously an avid G4/KPer masturbator. TechTV was the best network before G4 crapped all over it and kept 2 shows, then fired everyone but Morgan and Adam then renamed and remodeled the best show (TSS) to Attack Of Teh Suck.

[...] I was reading what Chris had to say about wanting TechTV to make a comeback and be rebuilt by the community. I don’t think there is a problem with content creation. Lots of ex-TechTV talents have gone off to do wonderful things Online. The problem comes in when you try to aggregate all this data in together. We need a place (official or unofficial) that would dump all this content into one place for folks to check out. TWIT.tv does a good job at this, but it isn’t everything. [...]

Have you considered trying archive.org? When video game speed runs started coming out, they stepped up to the plate and offered free hosting, and that eventually turned into its own category.

Sounds like a good idea. Matter of fact, I’d like to E-Mail you and Leo about an idea that just hit me.

bring it back!
i miss zdtv and techtv
and everyone on the network was great!
they all had a great chemistry together
when you watched this network you didnt get the same vibe that you get from watching other networks.. when watching it you get the idea that its more laid back and loose. a fun environment - people joking and kidding around on air - having fun, and thats what made it fun to watch. it pulled in all age groups and all levels of the tech savy
screensavers
techlive
call for help
fresh gear
the tech of

have you tried the democracy video player? it uses vlc and bittorrent to allow you to create your own tv channel easily.

“They have unfortunately sold out to gaming companies and their kids.”

No, they’ve designed their programming with what they THINK gaming companies and kids would like to see them broadcasting. They’re a complete joke to everyone in the industry, and I have yet to meet a single person (adult or otherwise) who feels the drivel they’re showing is worth watching. There’s a reason they’re one of the least watched networks on television.

It truly is a pity what they did to TechTV, and I sincerely hope Chris and all the guys can pull this off. A technology network not unlike what Leo is doing with TWiT, aimed at reproducing great programming like TechTV once covered, would be a dream for me, and I think many others.

Unfortunately G4 is probably the best solution for this get together. Id love nothing more than to see TSS back on G4 cause all of the rest of the shows on that network blow.

You have my support; I would love to see it come back. May I suggest that you give users a place to post their own content. When TechTV died it inspired a lot of amateur filmmakers to start their own shows, including http://www.hak5.org/ http://www.techcentric.org/ and http://openalpha.tv/ . I am not affiliated with any of the shows, but I am sure they would like to participate.

BH

Also, if you need any PHP/MySQL developers for this project please let me know. I’m a web application developer by trade and would love to offer my services (free of charge) to see this thing happen.

TechTV was fabulous! Forget NaySayers, the G4 buyout was the worst idea ever and it killed all meaningful programming that came over from TechTV quickly.

I am hopeful and energized for a TechTV reunion and am excited to hear the group continues to work well together and are also hopeful for such a reunion.

I will support all of you in any way I can.

Great Idea! I WANT MY TECHTV back!!!

What about distributing via “The Venice Project”? The Skype/Kazaa founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis have a new plan and it may be a monster? Why not start it up with TechTV in there? Hopefully the biz model is compatible with your aims.

Ready to help if required!!??

ACM

A web based distribution would be sweet.
But why not not restrategize to the point where we can have a split system between web, download to personal, and network released content.
I’ve been working on such a project, the OCEAN Project, that is designed to release media that can be found on sites like YouTube, C-Net, Ziff Davis Media, and other tech content, to the general public. It would allow users to view aggregated web content, proccessed by an editorial group, from many sources, and to be able to reach the direct content providers. The content would be released and then aggregated again through a Digg like system, possibly even the actual Digg system. It would be a media network directly from web. The biggest rule would be that the content has to be tech related.

I’ve been hoping to find a larger group to give this idea too, including the concepts I’ve developed. I would be happy to hand this idea to people who have the experienced required to get this to the web public.

Long Live Tech Media

Hmm… here’s an idea.

Mix Diggnation up with TwIT and you’ll get true perfection :P

Maybe you guys could pitch it to Sci-Fi, they seem to like this sort of thing. To be completely honest I don’t think there was enough content to fill up 24 hours for Tech Tv, and SciFi seems to have the same problem. Perhaps?

I missed the old tech tv with the screen savers and all. I sent a complaint email andf they haven’t responded i lost interest with tech tv a litle after they changed to G4. God i miss the good days.

Long Live TechTV

Not only was it helpful and wildly entertaining for nerds, geeks, and the like, but it helped so many of the non-tech people. I remember going to visit my grandmother after a year or so hiatis, and she had discovered TechTV, and was no longer afraid of the computer. In fact, she knew how to do things i never imagined that she could do.

It would almost be cool to have a digg/Google Video hybrid. Use something similar to digg’s engine for community control of the videos, and use google video to insert the video into the pages.

Or if we got really creative, something along the lines of a small, stripped down version of MythTV?
Anyways, whatever happens, I want TechTV back!

G4 i think destroy the idea of tech. The subculture of the computer world was never about flashy graphics, and empty head content. What G4 basicaly did was try to mix tech tv with mtv. I never though of mtv about music, only about celebrities, whats hot now in styles. But not music. I Think tech tv is going and already went down the same path.

I don’t mean to inslute MTv’s lovers just using MTV as a business modle

Anyways, i would like to see a show out there that actually represents us,( the people who love computers) and at the same time be much more content focused like the screen savers or call for help

Well, I would have to agree that G4 just isn’t that good and I used to watch TechTV alot when it was on, and when I used to watch TV all the time.

Personally I would like to see an online version of what TechTV was. I would love to be able to to bookmark, tag, or keep track or certain video’s that I may want to come back to at a later date. It’s nice to have the streaming features of YouTube (or Google Video if you prefer), but it would also be nice to have a link to be able to download (using BitTorrent) any of the videos you would like to archive on your own computer. That way for anyone that has a Media Center PC can view those videos locally, instead of having to watch them on the computer.

Heck, it would be really cool if someone was to create a plug-in for Windows MediaCenter Edition that connected up to the “TechTV Online” website and allowed you to streaming the latest episodes from the various categories of shows. Of course it would be even better to have this same plug-in ported to the other MediaCenter devices/software, such as Xbox MediaCenter, MythTV, Meedio (or Yahoo Digital Home), etc…

But that’s just what I think/want.

I miss tss and techlive, and I miss jessica and morgan, haha.

Great Idea! I would love to have a site I could go to and set for hours watching classis TechTV moments. I, myself, see that there is little for me to do. All I can bring is my passion and support of TechTV. Do what you must, and I’ll be right behind you the whole way!

BTW - I HATE G4; it completely destroyed and diminished the mainstream growth of technology via satellite/cable TV. I started watching TechTV with shows like The Screen Savers, and Call for Help…This is what the technophile community needs!

BRING BACK TECHTV
GEEK-4-LIFE

I would love to see the whole TechTV thing come back to life. BUT…what about ownership and rights to the name TechTV? I would imagine with all of they hype and the strong following for TechTV that someone out there owns all rights to TechTV and everything about TechTV. I don’t want to be a the one to shoot this down. I just want to get feedback and see what others have to say. I do want to see this happen but in this day and age of lawsuits and people claiming to own this or that I would imagine someone would bring this to a halt before it would happen.

Long live TechTV!!

G4 Sucks, Tech TV was great.

I’m thrilled that much of the old TechTV regulars have expressed interest in bringing back TechTV, even if only in a web reincarnation. I was extremely upset when we I lost TechTV back in 2002, when my local Comcast outlet decided not to carry it anymore and switch over to Yankees Entertainment Network (I’m not a big sports fan). And once I heard it would be merged with G4 (which I do receive), I was happy, albeit only a little bit, since I knew something bad was going to happen. Like some others here have expressed, I’d definitely be willing to volunteer my time to help with the programming of this community. Server side scripts, databases, Flash, etc., you name it, I’d love to help you guys out with it. Drop me a line at logankriete@gmail.com with whoever’s going to provide hosting.

I loved TechTV, and ever since G4 came along hardly any of it has to do with technology. If I want to watch Star Trek or whatever it is, I’ll watch it somewhere else. G4 stinks badly, its a shame that they had to destroy TTV! Anyway, now that I’m done ranting, I think a Reuinion would be awesome! I can’t even remember what the shows were - lets see screensavers with Leo and the other dude (cant think of his name), Chris’s show (can’t remember name, Call for Help? with Help-a-thons? lol awesome). But anyway, sounds cool.

[...] Chris Pirillo wants to bring back TechTV and he needs your help! Go here if you have any ideas, or software that would make it easy for them to get started online, he invisions somewhere everyone could upload their videos, so they could all stay where they are and get the band back together. For starters, I’m looking for a centralized site where TechTV Alumni could log in, post a video via Flash controls, then have their recordings indexed (tagged? syndicated?) and streamed on-demand. There’s probably an open source app I’m not seeing at the moment, but if any of the TechTV faithful can help… we’re all ears. It could be a TechTV Variety video site - but can the community build it for us to use? We could likely do this through a video portal, but… I think a TechTV community-controlled (or directed) solution is the big win. Blogging Technology Video Blogging Tags [...]

I like most of the TechTV staff but always found that nerdy one to be annoying, unlike the cool dark tipper

Make it so.

[...] In other video news? Chris Pirillo and Leo Laporte wants to rebuild TechTV. Um, Chris and Leo, the community is already doing that — albeit better. (And, Michael says in the comments below, Leo Laporte has already done an awesome job of replicating the best content in the This Week in Tech podcast). [...]

I personally would love to see one place for all the TechTV-type shows, but it’d need to be more then just the nostalgia of watching the ex-TechTV cast. Many folks say “Bring back Leo and crew”, and though I love watching those guys, I loved the tech aspect they brought to my life. I’d enjoy seeing them form some sort of non-profit organization geared around bringing tech news and information to folks, and I surely bet with the power of TWiT, Revision3, Chris Pirillo, and others, it could happen — but I see politics being the major problem as I think everyone has their own views of how it should be ran… If it were that easy I think it would’ve happened by now.

For the most part the elements of TechTV are still going… Leo still does CFH on Canada G4, TWiT is kindof the new TSS, Pat has Digital Life which again is similar to TSS, and the other tech podcasts out there more then make-up for the other shows. So short of all these entities coming together under one umbrella, we still do have our TechTV type stuff going on — just more spread out.

Anyway, i’m happy either way –

Sam

I would definitely enjoy having TechTV back. I watched it basically non-stop until G4 killed it. I wish I could help more with bringing it back, but all I can offer is my support.

Hi Chris,

Oh wow - a TechTV reunion would be super! I bought a TiVo solely based on my love for TechTV (and Leo Laporte’s raves about TiVo). But when G4 came along, it got sad, VERY quickly. Call For Help lost you, Chris, but it felt good to have Leo on board, and then…. *sob* I can hardly bring myself to relive those days! :)

In all seriousness, I would pay a small fee for some sort of TechTV video-based show online, if possible. I’m not much for audio podcasts, alas…I get bored too quickly, but as a visual medium, I am SO there…

good luck!

David Roche
Athens, Ohio

ya Kevin Rose was awesome, i would like to see him in the new show

Best news I’ve heard all day! Good luck!

I don’t know if it has been mentioned. But the video program Democracy, which can be found at getdemocracy.com might be what you are looking for. I know it streams several other shows…though I don’t know how tagging works with it, but it would be worth looking into and providing one centralized location for all the shows in a distributed format that won’t kill someones servers.

I would absolutely love to see TechTV come back…but in a way I feel that it has in podcast form. I mean, Revision 3’s programs, TWIT, Cranky Geeks, DL.TV, etc… These were all built by ex TechTV people.

Why not just centralize those popular shows in one place? Maybe even housed under Revision 3–since it seems to be more of a network as it is… Then add some new shows.

dude, there’s no point bringing back techtv without that hot chick kate

[...] Kind of related to the whole issue. http://chris.pirillo.com/2006/07/24/…-by-community/ I say bring back TechTV. __________________ http://www.trapar.net/ Anime Boston Ouendan Ring Leader and Video Gaming Manager [...]

I agree with Andy. I think to a certain extent, we already have the beginnings of this reunion in DLTV and Rev3 and TWiT.tv. Especially since the podcasting and video podcasting phenomena is still pretty new, I expect that in the future, we will see some sort of consolidation. Besides, it’s pretty apparent that the front-runners in this field are mostly TechTV veterans and most are good friends with each other.

If you’re looking for something community built, that was video uploads, conversions, syndication, tagging, sharing, etc. have a solution built on free and open source software at Lulu TV. Multiple levels of viewer/contributor/editor can be mapped to whatever content workflow you wanted, including folding in user created stuff easily.

Our stuff is formatted for web, iPod/PSP, and cell phone viewing, and is fed to various aggregators, and even download/torrent based stuff like Democracy TV and FireANT.

A bonus is that we pay video creators based on traffic, so this could have an ad free business model attached if you wanted. We’re founded/funded by Bob Young of Red Hat infamy, so we’re not going anywhere.

We’d be happy to help in any way we can getting a TechTV themed instantiation up and running.

–jeremy

I think that most of the Tech TV people are doing podcasts, like someone said previously. What should be done is that people from different Tech TV/g4 shows come on these podcasts as guests for a Tech TV day. I know that Weezy and the Swish (Louise Palanker and Laura Swisher, from the old Unscrewed TechTV show) has had X-play personalities on, and Twit has had Digg’s Kevin on.

H264 Streaming techtv would be nice and probably cheaper than broadcasting over television network. With streaming tv, everyone can watch it. With h264 we can get it in high def

Maybe starting your own open-source project to get the app built. I would donate some of my time to the project. Just my $.02

If you have a Windows Media Center Edition machine:
1. Join http://www.streamalicious.com
2. Add dl.tv, diggnation, TWIT, Cranky Geeks, etc (one click links on the site)
3. Watch them on the TV.

It’s super easy, free and effectively gives you TechTV 2 on your TV.
(Yes I’m bias cause I wrote it!)

It’s a great idea if you can find someone with the funds to back it… I would deniately watch…

I love the idea! TechTV was my first tech addiction and turned me onto all sorts of wonders I wouldn’t have otherwise experienced… Perhaps pushing an RSS feed through DemocracyTV (www.getdemocracy.com) - that way the host would really only need to host the torrents. Kevin already does it for his DiggNation shows, etc….

I know that every guy that watches and listens to the shows created by these people from the old TechTV would love to see this happen. Not just because we like these different characters, but because we love seeing them together again. Like when Martin went over to DL.TV for the CES special, when Kevin visited DL.TV, when Patrick hosted an episode of Systm, when Leo was on Systm, when Kevin was on Cranky Geeks, and when they all come together for TWiT.

Just watch the numbers of listeners and viewers, and you’ll see the widely distributed audience that enjoy this content and here’s the kicker: when TechTV aired in the US, us people outside the US hadn’t even heard about it! Think of all the viewers this show could get if they went international with internet? The numbers would grow at an insane rate!

This would be great, I didn’t have cable for very long while TechTV was on the air, but for the short time I had access to viewing it I was hooked. I was very disappointed when G4 took over and killed all the good programming. I’ve tried to keep tabs on what’s going on with everyone from the various shows, but it’s been tough with the things going on in my own life. I hope this gets off the floor and gets moving along; I’ll hop on for the ride!

TechTV Reunion…

Just read over on Digg.com that Chris Pirillo mentioned a comment that Leo Laporte made about organizing a reunion of the gang from TechTV before it was demolished by the evil that is G4. I can remember watching some of……

Sounds like a very simple web app if there is not an existing system that would work. Would take what.. a week for a single programmer to pump out using LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL & PHP) & Ajax

I stopped watching TechTV when it turned into that lame G4 channel that always seemed to just play reruns of boring gaming shows. (since when is gaming concidered ‘tech’ just because it’s played on a computer? Is monopoly concidered a simulation of the modern economy just because it has paper money?)

I would rather watch reruns of newbies calling Tech 911 asking stupid questions then watch a single G4 gaming show.

This is something that needs to exist online. The guys from techtv that went out and started the podcasts and online video shows don’t have much interest in dealing with the television networks anymore. It’s something that needs to be built on the internet. We’ve hit a point where it would be very smart to set this up as an IPTV channel.

TechTv is already back–it’s called CNET TV