Startup company FilmOn hopes it has the right technology that will allow users in the United Kingdom to stream and download high-definition content over the Internet. British viewers can watch content on ABC, CBS and others, while American Internet users are able to watch BBC and MTV Europe for the first time.
FilmOn.com founder Aiki David, alongside Rich Crosby, a TV engineer, worked together to create HDi, a new streaming technology aimed at delivering "HD-quality" content over regular broadband connections.
According to Gartner, there will be 20 million people who have subscribes to ITV services before the end of 2008 -- a massive 64 percent increase over the same period just one year ago. Indeed, it seems services such as Hulu.com, YouTube, and similar other services have helped transition viewers away from the TV and more towards the Internet.
A problem plaguing many Internet users, especially in rural areas, is the lack of highspeed Internet, which makes watching streaming content -- especially HD content -- a tiresome process.
Normal Internet connections of two megabits per second take around eight hours to download an HD-quality film, where as the hnew HDi technology created by David and Crosby allows users to watch live TV content and video-on-demand without Internet lag, accoridng the duo. FilmOn does not go into details about how its video compression technology, except to say that now any broadband users can watch HD-quality movies in real time.
The new FilmOn service is expected to be introduced to British users by British Telecom starting next month, with future international rollout plans to take place throughout 2009.
