[mythtv-users] Network terminals, regulation, and regulation avoidance

[Eric Sharkey]

On Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 2:34 PM, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
> We'll get there, eventually. Can you imagine if every subscriber with a cable
> modem started streaming video during prime time? I suspect the cable
> companies's infrastructure would cave in fast.

We have the technology to do this now.  It's called multicast routing.
 When I was in school I had access to MBONE and it worked.  People
were streaming video on internet tv channels 15 years ago.

More and more people will start using Hulu/You Tube and other
services.  The cable companies' infrastructure will creak and groan
and start to cave.  Before the collapse, the providers will finally
get off their butts and start rolling out real IPv6 and multicast
support.  With enough users available to finally get access to
multicast content, Hulu/You Tube/Whatever will finally start to use
these types of connections to efficiently broadcast HD streams to the
DVRs of the world.  There is no "prime time" any more.  Just scheduled
broadcasts.

At least, that's my prediction.

Eric