A Look at IPTV

Q-Tip writes "Ars Technica has posted an introduction to IPTV, which is the TV programming technology AT&T (and formerly BellSouth) will be using to provide TV service over its next-gen optical network. The article covers how IPTV works and how AT&T and other providers will be able to provide more interactive services once their networks are up and running."

Comments

Yes, but when?

[matr0x_x]

Saying it will work on the "next-gen optical network" doesn't provide a time line for someone as uneducated as myself. Could someone please put a rough time line on this?

Re:Yes, but when?

[CaymanIslandCarpedie]

The timeline would be roughtly never. You need to understand the history of the US telcos corruption. The most glaring example of this in relation to broadband was they 1996 Telecommunications Reform Act where the telecos lobbied for and recieved more than $200 Billion (yes billion) in tax breaks and other benefits in exchange for thier promise to build out "next gen" internet access with at least 45 Mbps.

Or course once they got the money they decided DSL would be much cheaper to build out and they could still charge customers a lot for it (even though its only a fraction of the speed promised). So this little "bait and switch" is why the US is still sitting at our measily DSL speeds while Japan, Korea, and much of Europe are now in the 45-100 Mbps ranges.

My guess is all this talk is because its been a decade and they see a president who LOVES giving away hundreds of billions of dollars away to huge corporations via tax cuts so it might be a good time to hit up the tax payers for another few hundred billion on more empty promises.

I find it just amazing the congress never even tried to hold the telecos to thier promises. I guess they had some pretty good lobbiests or congress just really is that inept (or both).

Re:Yes, but when?

[Anonymous Coward]

actually, I work for an underground construction company in the midwest, and our business is booming due to "fiber to the home". lots of the small telcos are being funded by R. U. S.(the feds man). Those funds must be used to place new high speed systems or they are lost. last year alone my crew(not company)was responsible for placing complete systems in 3 different small towns(roughly 1000-3000 population).

my point....it takes time to place all that cable. It's not that the telcos aren't trying. Until you do the work, you will never appreciate the headaches that go with it.There is already so much crap in the ground in most areas, that most of the time is spent in just avoiding cuts. My job specifically is to expose and measure depth of existing cables, for avoidance reasons. I have exposed over 1000 spots a day for 6 months out of the year for 8 years now. Theres a TON of stuff out there. Stuff that can't be cut because god forbid that someone misses an episode of Days. Or worse yet that they can't make or recieve a call for 1/2 an hour. Then theres gas lines, power cables...the list goes on. Everyone wants High speed NOW, but won't sacrifice Low speed for a short while to get it.

Don't blame the telcos for the speed they are going. Blame yourselves.

Television is changing

[Anonymous Coward]

No, Television is dying on its ass. Its got nothing to do with technology and everything to do with content.
Not wanting to throw the usual Slashdot cynicism about here, but 'TV is DEAD!!'
Even the dullest couch potatoes I know are turning off their TVs and finding more interesting things to do with life.
I must have heard it 20 times a week, "Wow there's nothing but shite on TV isn't there?". Maybe its the war and the depressing Orwellian propaganda? Maybe its the new depths advertising has sunk to blatently insulting the viewers self esteem? Maybe its that cheap reality TV has exhausted everyones patience?

What do kids talk about? Funny video clips they got off Flickr or YouTube, and more and more I hear adults talk about what they heard on the radio. Maybe radio is going to have a revival?

Personally I havent watched TV in over 4 months, not even casually, by accident. I haven't owned a TV in more than 6 years.

I've had this for a few years

[Colin-W-Holywell]

This is old news to Canadians. I have had IPTV for a few years now and I like it. It is more than just TV it's got video on demand, internet, email and games. Other nice thing are interactive weather forecasts and local news. And there is no "buffering". The only thing that is annoying is that the menus load kind of like a website. All the text appears and the graphics follow a few seconds later. My provider Sasktel came and installed a free wireless router and wired every room with CAT5 jacks for free. What more could you ask for?

Coming at ya like a (slow) freight train ...

[notpaul]

Without taking the time to elaborate on all of the parameters (this is a complex situation and it's too early in the AM here ...) all folks really need to know is that "broadband TV" is coming, and it is a *VERY* good thing.

The confluence of technology development, trends in the entertainment industry (all kinds of trends: economic, demographic, etc.), government & regulatory evolution, and other forces are (admittedly) slowly but surely creating a vacuum that can only be filled by a "fourth provider" of television service. (In addition to OTA (over-the-air), DBS (direct-broadcast satellite), and cable.)

The cable television industry shares a good portion of the blame (or credit) for this situation, which will ultimately dig the grave for much of their own profits. Their stranglehold on most "in-home" entertainment - including the WWW - coupled with their buccaneer behavior trying to eat the telco's lunch (with IP phone service) have brought competitors out of the woodwork. And some of these competitors (like SBC/AT&T) come to play. Add to the mix the upward-spiraling cost of cable TV, and you have what business-people like to call "low-hanging fruit."

Before y'all get started ... OF COURSE there are bugs in the current crop of offerings ... none of it is going to seriously damage the cablecos bottom-line ... YET. But you don't have to be Warren Buffett to see indicators are appearing like the hand writing on the wall. The stage of the game where small innovators test the market (Akimbo, etc.) has already past. The big boys with lots of cash are now wading into the pool. The train has left the station. Need a few more metaphors?

And of course, this is all "A Good Thing" (TM) because it will mean a good ol' fashioned PRICE WAR. How long since we've seen *that* happen in TV? Ever? When AT&T (or some other player with deep pockets) steps up to offer a viable TV service for $19.95 a month (a permanent, not a "promotional" price) ... or bundled services (voice/data/TV) for $49.95 a month ... you will hear the cableco executives screaming halfway around the globe. Yippee!

One more prediction: Watch for a la carte TV to become a reality in the next 2-3 years. The reason being that as all of this competition heats up, networks (think Turner or Discovery) will start to wake-up to the fact that there is a niche of viewers out there who would like to pay them directly for delivery of a reasonable-quality stream over the broadband connection they already have ... and that they can deliver that product without giving the cable company (or the telco) a sniff of the fee. The status quo of the recent (and distant) past created a detente where no one was willing to cross this line. We are about to enter a "wild and wooly" phase wherein all bets are off.

Okay ... enough rambling ... I'm off to refill my coffee cup.

Re:Coming at ya like a (slow) freight train ...

[Whiteox]

"Watch for a la carte TV to become a reality in the next 2-3 years. The reason being that as all of this competition heats up, networks (think Turner or Discovery) will start to wake-up to the fact that there is a niche of viewers out there who would like to pay them directly for delivery of a reasonable-quality stream over the broadband connection they already have .."

I most certainly hope so. Currently, sat and cable packages are a waste of money and channel space.
Many of us would like to customise content which is not possible to do now. I don't want to pay for channel content I don't watch. But why do providers sell packages rather than individual channels? I too would like al la carte to happen soon.
But will IPTV or other provide that?

What about DRM? If I pay for content, then I want to back it up and watch it wherever and on whatever I want to watch it on.
In fact, the whole media development is regressing to the early 60's when there was no consumer recording available. DRM will do that in the sense that it is pay-per-view and then view again (if your lucky and if it is not streamed) using DRM licences. If your HD crashes then you've lost it all. The technology to provide a backup of content and licences is expensive to buy and maintain. Not a very clear and easy future by any means.
Methinks that the golden age is passing before our eyes.

Re:Coming at ya like a (slow) freight train ...

[KiroDude]

Sorry if I sound a little be too "piratious", but "A LA CARTE TV" is already present on the internet, some call it emule, others BitTorrent. Quite honestly, as long as I do not have an acceptable service with really reasonable prices I'll continue to use any of those "oh, because of you the industry is dead" services. I have no conscience problem at all in doing what I do, or at least I have as much as TV producers have when they treat viewrs like dumb fat ass couch potates that need to be told what to watch.

Re:Hmm HDTV Still Cripled...

[Xserv]

I see what you're saying here but look at it from a central office perspective. They have bottleneck issues now, what's adding a few TB of video from 500 customers per region going to do to the CO? I have a pretty solid feeling it's going to stifle the abilities of all services. You only have as much bandwidth as the central office's pipe to the rest of the network.

FTFA:

". . .MPEG-2 streams will require almost twice the space (3.5 Mbps for SDTV, 18-20 Mbps for HDTV). . ."

That leaves you 0-2MB for anything else per subscriber based on the 20MB next gen ADSL estimates. So an HD customer is going to get degraded quality which defeats the purpose of HD signals or you'll get only one stream which eliminates the ability to use PVR. Am I wrong here and just not seeing something?

Xserv

Re:Interactive services?

[tapo]

What about the examples provided, such as a notification when you get a new email, or caller ID information shown on your TV?

While I may not be one to care for interactive TV, I must say that event notification is a pretty nifty feature. When I'm watching a DVD on my Xbox 360, and a friend comes online, a small bubble appears to notify me of the fact. It's unobtrusive and useful, though it isn't the best idea when I'm in the middle of a movie.

However, if this was television, and I was channel surfing, the idea suddenly becomes brilliant. Caller ID info, or the subject line of a new email while I'm watching the news or commercials come on? Brilliantly cool.

Re:Interactive services?

[BecomingLumberg]

There is only one arena where quasi-interactive items are good: sports.

As an example I offer up the multi-screen view that many satellite providers are offering- a screen for 3 games, with live scores/tickers for the other games around the league in an easy to read format. This made for an incredible Sunday experience at my buddy Chris' this past football season. We used the big screen to watch the best game at the time (last 10 minutes of a close game, etc.) and pulled the 32" screen out of the bedroom to keep an eye on the rest.

Oddly, this made keeping up with the various games more of a social event, as one person couldn't watch all at once. Ultimately, this became a much more social event, to the point where the wives and girlfriends would attend. Oops, I digress.

Ultimately, this was a neat combination of traditional live feed and internet feeds that made for a really pleasant experience. Most implementations are not so great. The 'learn more' bubbles that pop up in tv/movies should be only allowed on Discovery type channels, where the viewer obviously wants to learn about a subject and isnt trying to gain an 'experience'. Just MHO.