[mythtv-users] Is skipping ads really a good idea?

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Tue Jun 19 20:26:12 UTC 2007


On 06/19/2007 01:32 PM, David Brodbeck wrote:
> You have to figure that, as the Internet becomes faster and more  
> ubiquitous, programming being on-demand and streamed over the network  
> will be more and more common.  You won't tune in to a channel; you'll  
> go to the network's website and watch whatever you want there, or do  
> something similar through a set-top box.  Some of these will be on a  
> subscription model, some will be ad-supported, and some will have a  
> tiered system where you can pay to avoid the ads.  When you're doing  
> streaming video you have a lot more control over whether the user  
> skips ads or not.
>   

We're going to need some significant upgrade of infrastructure to
support that.  I saw an article a couple of years ago saying that
NetFlix shipped in one day more than twice the data that could be
carried by the internet (and that was with SDTV DVD's).

Short of using some "almost" on-demand technology (i.e. multicast to
everyone and let some IPTV DVR record it for later playback), we're
probably going to have a long wait for 'net-based on-demand TV.

> The cost in infrastructure and resource consumption to constantly  
> blast out a 960 kilowatt signal just in case someone wants to watch  
> something contained on it at that exact moment is eventually going to  
> start to look pretty silly.

However, that 960kW signal is multicast to a large population.  IMHO,
sending up to 9.8Mb/sec (SDTV) or up to 38.8Mb/sec (HDTV) per person
watching a show seems silly.

Mike


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