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Boeing Eyes In-Flight Live TV on Your Laptop
cobravenum2 writes "Boeing is planning to add live television to its Connexion by Boeing service during 2005, The television programs will be delivered across the Connexion network, which uses satellites to provide high-speed data connections between aircraft in-flight and ground stations linked to the Internet. The service entered commercial use earlier this year and provides a 5 megabits per second shared downstream and 1 mbps shared upstream connection to suitably equipped aircraft. You'll be able to view up to four channels of live TV over your laptop."
Now I won't miss Adult Swim while I'm taking my flights to Europe and back.
Now I can have some loudmouth on one side talking on his cell phone and some woman watching oprah on the other. Life can't get much better.
Not sure if I want to mod this +1 funny or +1 (eww-hate to be sitting next to THAT guy on the plane)
I patented screwing your mom. But it got revoked for "prior art."
The television programs will be delivered across the Connexion network, which uses satellites to provide high-speed data connections between aircraft in-flight and ground stations linked to the Internet.
So those long TransPacific flights will only have sporadic TV coverage? Those are the ones that could use it the most. Or will 747 aircraft start following the equivalent of ETOPS routes to ensure internet coverage?
* ETOPS Routes - Routes flown by twin engine aircraft on extended overwater flights to ensure that they can reach land within a certain amount of time in the event of an engine failure.
Man, this is going to be real headache for MPAA, having to refer 5 different country copyright laws, if the plane flies over different countries(Look at the Singapore Airline Routes) during the entire unauthorized recording process.
On the other hand anything that creates havoc for MPAA... this cannot be a bad thing, right ?
Streaming a channel using high compression video and audio codec at CIF resolution will get the data rate down to about 500 Kb/s. Assuming that every bit is used for streaming, that will be 10 channels maximum to be shared between those among the 300 passengers who has the laptop/PDA/phone.
:-)
I can see it now, air rage over bandwidth hogs.
1) Does Boeing Run Linux?
2) Ummm... don't we already have those nice LCD screens on the back of seats (or folded to the side) on most 747s already? How is this an innovation in anyway? Wouldn't u rather just use the already supplied screen, as opposed to bring out your laptop and stuff? -1 Redundant, n/t
My Favourite Meme
Sounds like the de facto HDTV standard that allows for either one HD signal or four SD signals through multicasting.
5 megabits downstream and 1mbps upstream, and we get.... TV?
Great.
--Bruce Fields
"Boeing hasn't announced the names of the channels that will be available but they'll be international news and financial news channels, he says."
Booooooring. If you have a laptop, why the hell would you watch StockMarketTV? Watch a DVD or hell... play some scorched earth. I love my PDA when I take flights cause I just load a few DVD rips on my SD card and have enough juice and content to watch for about 8 hours.
Can airlines ever think of anything other than cheesy novelty features. Does anyone actually use the phones built into the seat? No. Use that high speed connection to give us internet!
I dont think this is very practical. Planes are limited in the power supplied to the seats. Many modern and future laptops draw more power than the plane supplies (or at least the airline allows). Most planes restrict you to 75 watts. So unless you want to use your battery (which has its own limits) you are restricted to how long you can view this. Many airlines also make you remove your battery before you can use power from the plane.
Secondly, does anyone really need live TV via their laptop - it would seem using installed lcd displays is a whole lot easier.
Inverters can be had for about $30 (after MIR) although, for today's power-hungry laptops, my $30 inverter is strong enough to charge the battery while the laptop is shut off, but overdraws when the thing is actually turned on.
Inverter will either plug direct into the plane's +12vDC socket, or use an adapter (about $10) to get a standard +12vDC car-style socket from the plane's socket.
This sounds like a good idea, until passengers end up watching live TV coverage of the next 9/11 and then start hunting in the plane they are riding in for assumed "terrorists" causing a riot in-flight.
t ermsofuse&l=en.US&ec=
Of course this is violation of the Terms of Service so you are protected:
# # Interference with Flight Crew: Do not Disclose any Content that would intimidate a flight crew member or flight attendant aboard an aircraft, interfere with the performance of the duties of the flight crew member or flight attendant or lessen the ability of the flight crew member or flight attendant to perform those duties. #
Interference with Airplane Operations: Do not Disclose any Content, knowing the information to be false, about an alleged attempt being made or to be made to hijack, bomb or interfere with the operations of an aircraft.
http://www.connexionbyboeing.com/index.cfm?p=cbb.
Song has a partnership with Dish Network, and provides 24 channels of TV to the screen in the headrest in front of you. They also provide trivia, music (broadcast and create your own playlist (for a fee)), as well as movies (for a fee), and games (for a fee). The fees for the pay-per stuff are reasonable, but there's enough free (trivia and 24 channels) stuff to keep you busy the entire flight.
Find out about the Lexus Rx400h Hybrid!
I assume they'll pipe one stream of each of the 4 channels into a router on the plane and then multicast it to everyone, so the bandwidth won't depend on how many people are watching. If they want to offer more channels at a relatively high quality then they will need more bandwidth.
Everyone is born right-handed; only the greatest overcome it
The passengers on the flight are subject to the laws of the territory it departed from until the flight lands... Meaning though the flight needs permission to overfly a country, that country doesn't get a say about the things the passengers are doing until the flight lands...
Gravity Sucks
JetBlue advertises that they offer 36 channels of DirecTV. Screen at every seat. For free. Right now. No need to bring your own equipment.
This sounds like a good idea, until passengers end up watching live TV coverage of the next 9/11 and then start hunting in the plane they are riding in for assumed "terrorists" causing a riot in-flight.
Oh, we won't need something as serious as all that to get passengers seeking frantic in-flight vengeance. A simple screening of Kangaroo Jack ought to do the trick.
I'd much rather have internet access on my laptop while I fly instead of 4 crappy tv channels.
Most of the large airlines in the USA have a really difficult time dealing with onboard services and prices. Several of the biggies started charging for their poor quality meals. Pretty much every USA airline has a very poor excuse for first class (especially when compared to foreign airlines). Customer service is more than just a few listed items on some cutesy poster by the ticket counter.
So I'm wondering how these same airlines are going to implement and charge for this new service. Just because Boeing is offering it, doesn't mean that every airline is going to automatically buy and install these systems and not charge the passengers!
If American Airlines can't figure out how to serve a *large* dish of ice cream in first class, then I don't see how they're going to find the value in onboard streaming data and video.
Oh great, now everyone's going to pull out their laptops while en route!
When I fly in economy/coach class, I invariably spend at least one leg of my flight sitting beside somone who insists on using his 15+ inch notebook computer! Now, even if the seat in front of him is in it's fully upright position, there still isn't quite enough room to open the lid to a comfortable 110-degree angle. And because of the compact nature of coach class, the front (trackpad) edge of the notebook is only a few inches away from his chest... so there's not enough room for his arms, forcing him to jut out his elbows a good 8 inches in each direction so he can comfortably use the keyboard and trackpad.
PLEASE PEOPLE! Use your PDA in economy class. If you must use a notebook, get a 12" or smaller model. It's not just uncomfortable for you, it's uncomfortable for anyone sitting beside you.
I just happen to be in an ANA flight and they happen to have the Connexion service, and it rocks! Getting 28kb/sec on my torrent now. Perhaps the RIAA will sue Boeing?
**ANYTHING** has to be more interesting than the CNN Airport Network station you see in airport terminals.
What is the current rate for headphone rental on airlines?
American sells you a headset for $5, and encourages you to reuse it on your next flight. It was $2 last month, and $1 in March. Their seats have the same adapter as most personal stereos, and they allow you to bring your own.
are now free to claim that the "free" Wi-fi
service that the airline provides is already
included in the airplane ticket.
I don't have a problem for the airline being
greedy or for the passanger being greedy: it
is market forces at work, where everyone tries
to get the most out of the deal. "Greedy" and
"profitable" is one and the same, there is little
or no distinction between them.
Why would I need to watch TV on my laptop when it's 80 gig drive holds hours of porn?
WTF? You can drastically cut the bandwidth needed by storing the station logos and advertising locally on the aircraft. Even better, since most TV is repetitive, you could generate it 'on the fly' (ha ha).
...etc for fricken hours at $20 an hour to the captive audience.
"Buy our product! Oooh yeah! It's really great! Woo!"
"You're watching Boeing-o-vision! Parp parp parp Boeing telly BOEING TELLY Boeing Telly parpity parp"
"And now, the news"
"News Time! News Time! Squeak! Parp! Toot! News Time!"
"Britney has/hasn't had plastic surgery. The war against terror continues. More news later."
"News Time! News Time! Squeak! Parp! Toot! News Time!"
"You're watching Boeing-o-vision! Parp parp parp Boeing telly BOEING TELLY Boeing Telly parpity parp"
"Buy our product! Oooh yeah! It's really great! Woo!"
"No, buy our product instead! Oooh yeah! It's really great and better than the other stuff! Woo!"
"You stink, buy our deoderent!"
"you suck as a parent unless you buy your kid our plastic crap!"
"You're watching Boeing-o-vision! Parp parp parp Boeing telly BOEING TELLY Boeing Telly parpity parp"
"And now, I Love Lucy, followed by the news"
They whose government reduces their essential liberties for temporary security, receive neither liberty nor security.
actually it's 5 mbps upstream and 1 mbps downstream, since we are referring a connection of an airplane and the ground.
I've done a lot of flying this year, and some people not only don't care about their neighbors, they actively try to push you out of your damned seat. I finally got agressive myself, shoving back twice as hard, and not giving an inch. While I hate pressing the flesh (literally), there is sometimes simply no other alternative. So when some obnoxious thug tries to steal my seat, I just say HELL NO.
Americans are Fat Alberts. Airline seats are for armless anorexics. But for these scumbags, I don't think it would matter if they were in first class, they would still be hogs.
If the big airlines keep up their "the only people who hate the customer more than we do is the TSA" approach to customer service, the little guys who don't actually suck might just end up taking over.
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
If I decide to sleep and with my laptop record the stream, be it live tv or movies, are they mine, will I be arrested for 'Stealing' copyrighted materials?
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. Emo Philips
Back around 1998 or so, when I was still at Boeing, the Commercial Avionics department had built, and was experimenting with, a prototype system that would provide Dish Network service to every seat.
It was pretty amazing stuff. For the antenna, they had a rectangular slab about five feet by three that contained the electronic equivalent of hundreds of individual "dish" antennas in a phased array. The idea was to give each seat the equivalent of its own dish so that each passenger could be watching a different channel.
This monstrosity was designed to be mounted on the top of the fuselage, about mid-body. It was aimed electronically, based on latitude/longitude info gathered from the ADIRU (Air Data Inertial Reference Unit), a 'black box' that contained (among other things) an inertial navigation computer.
The idea was to have a six-inch LCD active-matrix panel in each seat back, with the audio piped over one of the existing channels in the aircraft's audio entertainment system.
The entire system was a marvel of engineering, and I consider myself fortunate enough to have watched the prototype undergoing testing. Unfortunately, I don't think it ever made it into production -- the costs were just too high.
Now, though, perhaps the idea will be revived...?
Keep the peace(es).
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies