While
broadband subscriptions have recently overtaken dial-up connections recently in
the UK, BT has found one way to make use of this bandwidth. They are now
trialling Video-on-demand over broadband along with offering the UK's digital
service through a hybrid digital TV/Internet box.
Like the UK's Digital Freeview Digital TV, this box
will tune Freeview in for viewing on a standard TV set. However, there is
also a broadband connection where consumers can purchase video-on-demand, but
unlike Satellite or Cable TV, the pay-per-view content is streamed over the
customer's broadband connection.
BT is not the only one trying out this idea as
Wanadoo unveiled a digital entertainment hub known as Wanadoo's Livebox.
This aims to offer Video-on-demand as well as Voice over IP (Internet telephony)
as well as online gaming. BT's hybrid box is expected to retail around
UK£50. GristyMcFisty submitted
the following news via our news submit:
The telco has already won the backing of a BT exec Andrew Burke told The Sunday BT is not alone in thinking that enhanced In May, Video Networks Ltd (VNL) switched Read more on this at ISP Review here. |
While Satellite and Cable TV both offer pay-per-view content as well as often
hundreds of channels, the main advantage with broadband TV is that the number of
channels a provider can offer is not limited to the customer's bandwidth,
assuming the customer only watches one channel at a given time and has
sufficient bandwidth for any single channel. While Satellite and cable
bandwidth is not much of an issue with general fixed schedule programming,
pay-per-view content hogs quite a lot of bandwidth since each movie is played
over and over again across several channels in order to offer the customer the
ability to start watching a movie within a 30 minute or hourly starting
interval.
With Broadband TV or video-on-demand, the only bandwidth that gets used is
what ever bandwidth is required for the video stream of the channel the customer
is currently watching, much like Internet radio. Another advantage is that
the customer can start watching their pay-per-view movie straight-away as well
as pause it without relying on a PVR. If this service becomes successful,
it may even threaten DVD rentals.
However, as most the most common Internet subscription is 512kbps, it will be
interesting to see what bandwidth BT uses for its video-on-demand service since
even with MPEG4 video, at least a 1Mbps stream is required for high quality
video. It is also not clear if BT is just offering this to its customers
or if UK broadband user can take part. Contention may also be an issue if
some priority system is not in place, such as if a customer accidentally leaves
a P2P or download manager tool downloading content of if the customer is on a
congested broadband connection.
Feel free to discuss about home entertainment systems and set top boxes on
our Stand Alone Devices & Home Entertainment
Forum.
Source: The Register
