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By Alfred Poor HDTV Professor Posted on July 23, 2009 Category: General Interest |
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Register Now to receive notification of new HDTV Magazine Columns via email as soon as they are published. A report from The Diffusion Group (TDG) summarizes the results the company got from a survey that asked 2,000 broadband users about whether they are interested in getting video content over the Internet. If you’re a frequent reader of the HDTV Almanac, you know that I’m bullish on the subject, and believe in the appeal of watching what you want, when you want, where you want. This will lead to major changes in how video entertainment content — including the traditional “television” programming and movies — is produced, funded, and distributed.
I was surprised by the results from TDG. 17% of those surveyed said that they were interested in adding Internet video content to their existing subscription-based TV service (presumably cable or satellite). Another 21% said that they were interested in replacing subscription TV services completely with some broadband video service. And another 29% were interested in either supplementing or replacing their pay TV with Web-based video services. Add those together and you get a combined two-thirds of all those surveyed who would be interested in watching at least some of their video entertainment content over the Web.
That’s a big share of the market, and I expect that these people will start to drive some major changes in the near term. If you have broadband Internet service in your home, and you have not yet tried watching services like Hulu on your main television set, I encourage you to start experimenting with it. It’s not perfect yet, and there’s a lot of details to be settled such as whether the services should be pay-per-view, subscription, or supported by advertising. There are some good options already, including plenty of HD content, and it may be worth your while to start exploring what’s out there.
Sphere: Related ContentPosted by Alfred Poor, July 23, 2009 6:00 AM
Reader Commentary Jul 28, 12:44pm I have a 10-16 Mbs and I see it exceed these speeds at times, but I find all too often that the streaming video will halt, some times long enough to lose sync and I have to start over. These vary widely, but for an example, I'll get 10 seconds of program Jul 28, 1:15pm With DVRs I see no need for streaming. Downloading is much more appropriate and can operate at any bandwidth. Jul 28, 1:22pm You make a good point, Roger, but this is one area where I have faith in the ability of technology to save us. I remember clearly in the early days of the Internet thinking, this thing is great for email, but it's lousy for music because it keeps stutteri Jul 28, 1:26pm I don't see a functional difference between downloading and streaming for the most part; it's just a difference in bit rate. Note that historically, before the Internet had the capacity for today's broadband applications, we had downloaded data services. Jul 28, 5:06pm To me the difference between downloading something and then watching it, compared to streaming has a number of major differences. In the first, speed is not paramount, but it's nice to download and then watch uninterrupted compared to stop and start. A Jul 28, 5:23pm Computers are my field, I've had my own since 79 or 80 and worked with them longer than that, I see a lot of hurtles to be overcome if the Net is going to be able to keep up with the increasing bandwidth needs brought on by widespread streaming video. It More on General Interest
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About Alfred PoorAlfred Poor is a well-known display industry expert, who writes the daily HDTV Almanac. He wrote for PC Magazine for more than 20 years, and now is focusing on the home entertainment and home networking markets. |
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