Voice narration isn’t necessary to make the point of this two minute video as it notes the progression of IP in telecom and the progression of Video and TV over the Net. IP displaced ATM in an industry that would have said "no way" ten years ago. And now, Video and Television over the Net have progressed to a point where few are questioning or doubting, but many are jumping on the band wagon to provide products and service.
IPTV took a bit of a hit in December 2008 when SES announced it was backing out. Yet, at that same time, Vudu announced the addition of Web to TV episodes to it’s service. LG announced a box for Netflix movies delivered over the Net to the television, and then announced a TV that didn’t need a box. Roku and VuNow also have a box for video to the TV while XBox, Playstation, and Wi already do Internet video on the TV, and then Ninetendo announced an Internet channel that struck fear in the Japanese TV industry.
Even before these Internet to TV boxes came along, there was writing on the wall with the aggregation of network, studio, and film content. ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Comedy Central, Disney, and many others have been streaming programs over the net for quite some time. It was a logical progression for companies like Hulu, Boxee, and even TV Guide to aggregate.
The missing link for television video on the net, and the aggregation of that content, for watching on the TV, was a box. Today there are many with many more likely to show up in 2009. My conclusion in the video above is that operators need to learn more about these activities by watching, uploading video content and experimenting, learning to create video playlists, and embedding customized players on a website. The tools for learning are free – YouTube, BlipTV, Revver, Metacafe, Facebook, and the many others – so it seems very logical that using these, and observing will help realize how to partner in these ventures.
ViodiTV has been posting video’s for the past 6 years and learned many things by expermenting. We’ve learned what’s good and bad about various services, about generating ad revenue through new avenues, about creating playlists for linear on demand viewing, and customizing players to embed on a website. We’ve learned why CDN’s are important for video, and about many start-ups and stealths at various conference that focus on video over the net.
To use an abstract analogy I’d conclude with the phrase… In 2008 "Wii" got "Fit" on TV; In 2009 TV is getting Fit for Us. I also want to point out that the music in this video is Creative Commons License 
downloaded from ccMixter.org. "Pulsing Piano Bit for Goodby December" by Kaer Trouz.
With 140+ million units in the field, the Sony PS2 has been a workhorse in the gaming world. Could a sub-$50 piece of software turn this consumer-owned device into a mechanism for pulling content off the Internet, as well as USB-enabled storage devices?
The above video, filmed at Digital Hollywood in August ’08, demonstrates an offering from Austin TX-based BroadQ which turns the ordinary PS2 into a fully-featured set-top capable of decoding various video formats.
Updated on 9/10/2008
[Subsequent to the above post, I was able to exchange emails with Stacy Cook, President & CEO of BroadQ, and he provided more detail as to BroadQ’s latest offering.]
Cook reports that they currently support most video formats: MPEG2, MPEG4, DivX (720P HD), WMV, XVid, MJPEG, MOV, H.264 and FLV. He also suggested that they will support Digital Rights Management and are determining whether or not they can use software decryption on the PS2. The other option they are looking at is a USB smart card that would perform a hardware decode, decryption and content caching. He suggests the trick is for the DRM is to be transparent so that it does not impact the user’s experience.
He says they are targeting the 25 million US households with a PS2 and broadband.* They intend on using channel partners and likened BroadQ’s distribution approach to what Netflix is doing with Microsoft’s X-Box 360. He says that they have, “had a great response from content providers,” and that they will be announcing their content partners in the near-future.
They will be rolling out the product in the next couple of months. BroadQ is accepting pre-orders for a 30 day free trial of the service and the pre-order price is $29.95.
* One report suggests there were 41 million PS2 households at the end of 2007, so it is not a stretch that some 60% of these would also be broadband capable
I had the chance to catch up with Norman Gillaspie, founder of Transparent Video Systems (TVS). TVS has a digital cable solution for the small operator. In this brief video, Norman talks about TVS and how its product and company philosophy aligns with the smaller operator. To see the other 39 video segments we produced for TVS, please click go to http://www.transparentvideo.net/videos-1.htm. TVS’ sponsorship allowed us to provide ViodiTV coverage at CableNEXT.
This is a brief video interview recorded at NAB2007 with Jeff Vinson of NXP, the semiconductor company that was spun off from Philips. They makes the guts of televisions and IP Set-tops. In this video, they show a set-top that is being used in Germany for streaming video over the Internet, as well as a prototype of another set-top that is a hybrid ATSC/IP set-top. They believe this hybrid set-top could have applicability in the U.S. They also see alternative players, like Flash, being a viable choice for a set-top solution. To see an earlier post about this type of approach, please see this link.
