Future of home video distribution: where we are, and where are going

[amirm]

I wrote an article for Widescreen Review magazine on future of home video distribution which just got printed (have my copy at CEDIA). It takes about both the business and technical drivers for where the technology going, or rather, where it should go if you are a video enthusiast.

Alas, I don't think WSR puts their articles online. So for now, you need to buy the magazine . To give you more enticement, there is a great article on Joe Kane on how 3-D video is on a decline from technical point of view and the issues involved.

My article is is on page 52 titled: "Digital Revolution: Did We Miss a Step? The transformation of home video distribution." It is in the September issue (#159).

Let me know if you read it and what you think of it.

 

[Nyal Mellor]

I did read it and it was cool to see a name I recognized! It appears to me as if we are going to follow the same path as music. Reduced quality via streaming...

 

[amirm]

Thanks Nyal. And yes, that is my main worry. We are now proving HD content at a quarter of the bandwidth of DVD! Yes, new compression engines help us here but still, that is a tough situation to be in relative to quality we want to achieve on our ever enlarging televisions.

 

[Nyal Mellor]

Thanks Nyal. And yes, that is my main worry. We are now proving HD content at a quarter of the bandwidth of DVD! Yes, new compression engines help us here but still, that is a tough situation to be in relative to quality we want to achieve on our ever enlarging televisions.

Yeah it's kind of funny that the TVs get larger and the signal rate gets lower! Shouldn't it be the other way around?

It's funny (in a sad kind of way) when your customer complains about picture quality on his brand new Runco DLP and then you find out that actually he is talking about Netflix streaming!

 

[fas42]

But all video at the moment, I understood, is compressed to some level or other. In Australia they play with the bandwidth for an individual channel on broadcast digital TV all the time, and I presume that's the same for everywhere. So are they just reducing the bandwidth to squeeze more semi useless info and boring "entertainment" into the available space? Never mind the quality, just feel the multi-channeling ...

Frank

 

[amirm]

Yes, but the degree of compression is important. Here are some stats:

Blu-ray: 48 mbit/sec
US Digital HDTV standard: 19 mbit/sec (although broadcasters routinely drop down to 12 mbit/sec or so)
HD Internet streaming: 3-6 mbit/sec!

For everyday use the above actually works for but if we are going to pay $20 for a movie, I like it a bit better than that .

 

[Nyal Mellor]

Yes, but the degree of compression is important. Here are some stats:

Blu-ray: 48 mbit/sec
US Digital HDTV standard: 19 mbit/sec (although broadcasters routinely drop down to 12 mbit/sec or so)
HD Internet streaming: 3-6 mbit/sec!

For everyday use the above actually works for but if we are going to pay $20 for a movie, I like it a bit better than that .

And now that Netflix is separating out its physical disc business as 'Quickster' it looks like the writing is on the wall. Not too long now before we are in exactly the same position as the music industry.

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

Netflix has made it clear that they want out of the high operating-cost/low margin business of shipping and handling discs, and the vast majority of customers have made it pretty clear that the convenience of streaming what they want when they want it is much more important to them than resolution. You really can't blame them. With HD TVs and surround sound, their TVs look and sound so much better than they did a few years ago, even when streaming Netflix, that the little bit of extra resolution they get from a disc and a good player is incremental at best. Yes, it will go the way of audio, which is to say it will go the way of convenience for the mass market while the audiophile/videophile market remains a very small niche. Sad? Same as it ever was. Had it ever been any different, we all would have grown up listening to 15 ips open reel tapes instead of records.

Tim

 

[stargate]

Is there a way to stream line the signal through a blue ray to get more resolution and a better MBIT/sec-- if not, can somone work on it...

 

[amirm]

There is no barrier to downloading files that are equal or even higher resolution than blu-ray. Streaming the same requires that you have a 50 mbit/sec link to to the home which almost no one has.

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

And I think as the bandwidth comes, the resolution will come, but most people will take convenience and access first, resolution when it's easy, no hassle, not much expense.

Tim

 

[amirm]

Well, the point of the article was that if we can live with download and play instead of just streaming, we can up the quality substantially. Read the article .

 

[c1ferrari]

Had it ever been any different, we all would have grown up listening to 15 ips open reel tapes instead of records.
Tim

 

[Orb]

Well, the point of the article was that if we can live with download and play instead of just streaming, we can up the quality substantially. Read the article .

Yeah,
and the benefit is that this will suffer much less from QoS that service providors will have to use, if more and more use streaming services and downloading in the near future the burden on the carriers/ISP will be too much.
They have reasonable capacity but it will not sustain larger population using such services.
On the plus side, at least it would mean money for manufactures selling the very latest core-hub routers and video/audio components
Still doubt the service providors have the cash at moment to pay for such an upgrade.

Cheers
Orb

 

[Gregadd]

Netflix has made it clear that they want out of the high operating-cost/low margin business of shipping and handling discs, and the vast majority of customers have made it pretty clear that the convenience of streaming what they want when they want it is much more important to them than resolution. You really can't blame them. With HD TVs and surround sound, their TVs look and sound so much better than they did a few years ago, even when streaming Netflix, that the little bit of extra resolution they get from a disc and a good player is incremental at best. Yes, it will go the way of audio, which is to say it will go the way of convenience for the mass market while the audiophile/videophile market remains a very small niche. Sad? Same as it ever was. Had it ever been any different, we all would have grown up listening to 15 ips open reel tapes instead of records.

Tim

Dominos Pizza Proves that people will accept a substandard product if you bring it to their house. Fortunately not all companies see quality and convenience as mutually exclusive.