Mr. Market switched on his TV the other day and checked out the news from video-on-demand expert SeaChange International (NASDAQ:SEAC). He didn't like the show one bit, hit the big "thumbs down" button on his TiVo remote, and changed the channel, sending the stock price down over 18% that day.

That put a recently high-flying stock back to where it was about six months ago. Investors who bought their shares in the interim can't be happy, but this could simply be a return to rational expectations for SeaChange.

The share price rose doggedly over the fall and winter months on very little substantial news, and came crashing back down when the company reported just about the results it had been expecting all along. Sure, earnings came in a bit bleaker than usual -- this isn't a cash machine by any means -- but on entirely acceptable grounds.

It's the usual story about a small company with large customers, that's reinvesting most of the incoming cash into upgrading its staff and infrastructure; the revenues come in fits and spurts. Looking at a single quarter's results for upstart entertainment technology specialists like SeaChange, Access Integrated Technologies (NASDAQ:AIXD), or Concurrent Computer (NASDAQ:CCUR) is like listening to just one song from R.E.M.'s New Adventures in Hi-Fi and then saying that R.E.M. is a glam-rock band. Or that it's all about surf-guitar instrumentals. Or atonal piano solos. Looking at just one piece, you never know what you're gonna get.

In the bigger picture, SeaChange is doing just fine, but not awesomely great. Maybe this disappointing report was just what the company and its investors needed. Video on demand will be huge, but it isn't there yet. Mr. Market can tune back in to the SeaChange show in a couple of years, not a few quarters, and maybe then he'll like what he sees on a quarterly basis. In the meantime, we're presented with a much more appetizing buy-in price than what we saw last week.

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Fool contributor Anders Bylund holds no position in any of the companies discussed here. You can check out Anders' holdings if you like, and Foolish disclosure is a long-haul juggernaut.