VUDU vs Satellite

[RonV]

Re: VUDU vs Satellite

Comcast has now intoduced Docsis 3.0 which will provide 160 mbps down and 120 mbps up. It does this though channel bonding. The into package is said to start with 50 mbps down and cost about $150 a month. FIOS goes for about $90 a month for the same bandwidth.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/0...ref=technology

This is truely the start of IPTV for Comcast. I am suprised they didin't use their bigger markets to start the rollout. But some folks may be unhappy because to provide this bandwidth they had to increase compression on some of their channels:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/0...ition-picture/

[aaronwt]

Re: VUDU vs Satellite

Aren't they offering 20/20 or 50/50 speeds in some areas? ....
I can imagine FiOS taking 15 Mb/sec to stream HD in MPEG-2. Why they chose that inefficient file format is beyond me!

They do offer faster speeds in the New York area. The fastest speed in my area is now 30/15 for $90 a month.

FIOS is using MPEG 2 beacause that is what the Motorola boxes they have can handle. They are supposed to replace them at some point in the future with MPEG4 capable boxes, but it's anyones guess when that will happen.

[aaronwt]

Re: VUDU vs Satellite

FIOS is just another physical carrier, although it has a lot more potential than copper. My FIOS connection is 5/2, and I don't want to upgrade because the next tier I can get is 15/2, then 15/15, and I'd actually prefer 5/5 or 10/10, and I'm not willing to pay for the 15/15.

My 30/5 tier is only $55 right now. At least through the end of August. After that I don't know what my options will be. I really can't downgrade since I'm so used to the fast speeds. I'm hoping by then Comcast will be pushing faster speeds and force FIOS to offer some more deals. Which is why I got my current deal since FIOS was matching the 30mbs Powerboost that Comcast has in my area.

[NA9D]

Re: VUDU vs Satellite

FIOS is just another physical carrier, although it has a lot more potential than copper. My FIOS connection is 5/2, and I don't want to upgrade because the next tier I can get is 15/2, then 15/15, and I'd actually prefer 5/5 or 10/10, and I'm not willing to pay for the 15/15.

*sigh* If only you'd upgrade, you could raise your Poopli points/status...

[MaxH]

Re: VUDU vs Satellite

FIOS is just another physical carrier, although it has a lot more potential than copper. My FIOS connection is 5/2, and I don't want to upgrade because the next tier I can get is 15/2, then 15/15, and I'd actually prefer 5/5 or 10/10, and I'm not willing to pay for the 15/15.

[NA9D]

Re: VUDU vs Satellite

A 10 hour HD recording?? Are you recording streaming video from the Mustang Ranch in NV??

Let's see...Redwein is in Vegas and Aaronwt is streaming 10 hours of HD video.

As I said before, "Dude!"

[NA9D]

Re: VUDU vs Satellite

And hopefully also offer higher speeds around here so I can get a 50mbs down and 20mbs up connection. My 30/5 connection doesn't cut it any more.

Aren't they offering 20/20 or 50/50 speeds in some areas? Now that would be nice.

I'm sadly not looking at any speeds near that now. Would be nice. Heck, I'd just like better upload speeds. Right now I have 1 Mb/sec and I hope at some point Commiecast is going to upgrade that speed but who knows. The way DOCSIS is set up, the uplink from the user has a much narrower RF bandwidth. Maybe they'll offer fiber to the home some day. Heck, the node is out in my neighbor's front yard and they have fiber running up and down the street. I'm roped into them for the next 2.5 years though since I'm on contract...

I can imagine FiOS taking 15 Mb/sec to stream HD in MPEG-2. Why they chose that inefficient file format is beyond me!

[HeadHodge]

Re: VUDU vs Satellite

But this is just from a 10 hour HD recording averaging 8GB an hour.

A 10 hour HD recording?? Are you recording streaming video from the Mustang Ranch in NV??

[aaronwt]

Re: VUDU vs Satellite

I have a 30mbs connection with FIOS. In some areas they offer a 50mbs connection. It would be no problem for them to stream a 25mbs connection. A 25GB file size doesn't mean anything without the length of the movie. I've streamed 85GB files over my home network for years. But this is just from a 10 hour HD recording averaging 8GB an hour.
Current FIOS VOD(at leat the free stuff) is streamed at 15mbs at least by looking at how much speed I lose on my internet connection while viewing HD VOD. But that is also because the ONT is still capped at 30mbs whic is also my INternet speed. People with a 5mbs or 15mbs FIOS connection won't take any hit. And Ideally they will double the ONT bandwidth cap when they upgrade the system later this year. And hopefully also offer higher speeds around here so I can get a 50mbs down and 20mbs up connection. My 30/5 connection doesn't cut it any more.

[HeadHodge]

Re: VUDU vs Satellite

I'm on vacation in Las Vegas. That's why I only posted that "useful" comment earlier.

Just trying to have some fun, so please don't get your knickers in a bunch on my account!!

If you want to make some money, do a four spot at Keno for me with 35,45,55,65.

Oh... I almost forgot you can do ways in Las Vegas. So also do 4 three ways with those same numbers too.

If you want some good entertainment, go to the House of Blues at Mandolin Bay. There's lot's of other fun there too!

Have a good time!

Regards

[NA9D]

Re: VUDU vs Satellite

I'm on vacation in Las Vegas.

Dude!

[redwein]

Re: VUDU vs Satellite

(p.s. I'm currently cringing in a corner waiting for redwein to tell me that Vudu is the same as Black Magic)

I'm on vacation in Las Vegas. That's why I only posted that "useful" comment earlier.

[HeadHodge]

Re: VUDU vs Satellite

Oh Video encoding is not at all black magic if you know what you are doing. It's not all that well kept of a secret.

Well I must say I think you've really out done yourself. That was an excellent explanation, very enlightening for this refrigerator bulb!

But I think that's only half the story. The story still needs to be told how the movie gets from 24fps film to the encoder in order to complete the big picture.

Best Regards

(p.s. I'm currently cringing in a corner waiting for redwein to tell me that Vudu is the same as Black Magic)

[NA9D]

Re: VUDU vs Satellite

I think the whole topic is not only fascinating but intriguing as well. It seems like it's either a well kept secret that is done with part Vudu and part Black Magic, or it's simply such new technology that hardly anyone really knows how it's done.

Oh Video encoding is not at all black magic if you know what you are doing. It's not all that well kept of a secret. Vudu probably has some proprietary encoding schemes which might help with compression efficiency or bit rates but if they claim that it ends up as an H.264 file then it pretty much can be played back on any authorized H.264 player. Of course, since Vudu is a closed system at this point, they wouldn't have to be truly H.264 compliant but could do a modified version of H.264. I have no idea what they do. I'm simply a beta tester and I get thrown a new software build and am told, "Here test this and see if it works."

If you want to play with video encoding and so forth there's lots of software that you can download that can change formats, etc. On the Mac side, the bigger players are items like MPEG Streamclip (this might be available for Windoze too) and Visual Hub. I like Visual Hub because it seems the fastest and most reliable. And you can convert any video format to just about anything else and adjust bit rate, frame rate, etc. Just be aware that video encoding via software takes a LONG time - typically an hour of video takes 45 to 50 minutes to re-encode. There are hardware decoders available that do it in DSP much faster. These have become popular with people that have iPods or iPhones as for some reason Apple has seen fit to only support MPEG-4 or H.264 on those devices...I find few portable devices can actually support MPEG-2 anyhow. I can't even find an MPEG-2 player for my Windows Mobile 5 HP iPAQ! CorePlayer supports just about every other player but MPEG-2. Wish I knew why...

As for FiOS and supporting a 25 Gigabit file, let's think about this. Right now, it takes 4 Mb/sec on the Vudu to stream a file that's about 3 to 4 Gigs in size. That would then require a 6 to 8 fold increase in bandwidth. So you need something on the order of 24 to 30 Mb/sec. Certainly fiber can do this. As Ron pointed out you can get hundreds of Megabytes of bandwidth. in fact, the most reliable form factor for gigabit ethernet is fiber. And companies are looking at 10 GigE or 100 GigE now days. That's still very expensive. One of the companies I sell for produces driver amplifiers for high speed fiber optic application. These driver amplifiers are nice small components but cost hundreds of dollars! Basically with fiber you have virtually unlimited bandwidth. The difficulty then becomes the cost of delivering that bandwidth over distance...

[RonV]

Re: VUDU vs Satellite

I think I read is that BluRay is also MPEG4 encoded. Do you if this is correct?

The BlueRay standards require VC-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 decoders in the box. What the disc uses is up to the content provider....