Video On Demand Almost Here For San Franciscans

BeatlesForum.com writes: "Looks like San Francisco-area folks could be in for a taste of video when you want it, according to this article from Reuters. The article mentions that we will be able to start and stop the on-demand stream whenever we want. Kinda sounds like TiVo now, except you still have to fit around the broadcast schedule. Interesting statistic quoted from the article, though: it is expected that 5.5 million homes will have VOD by the end of the year. Imagine being able to pull up 2001: A Space Odyssey at 2:38 a.m.."

Selection of programming

[GeorgieBoy]

This is good and bad. I'd say that many of the things I would want to watch might not be available. This is a glorified pay-per-view, it would seem, with some added convienience.

Even if (as suggested by the article) it is based on a subscription model/flat rate model, what kind of money is worth paying for this? $20/mo? $50/mo? Anything more than that will put it out of reach. It must be cost effective enough to make use of a movie-rental and/or DVR uninteresting. I think part of the question is basically how much I'm willing to pay given the amount of TV I watch.

3 Mb/s required

[Animats]

For this to work, the network must deliver a unique Mb/s data stream from the headend to each consumer. How many cable plants can do that today?

Clearly this is possible, but what are the costs like?

Let me get this straight...

[TheAJofOZ]

Okay, so without meaning to sound like a troll, let me get this straight....
The Slashdot "generalised mentality of contributers" wants to see:

1. Software be sold outright.
2. Music listening rights sold outright - buy the CD, listen to any of the tracks on it in any form, anywhere, anytime and without extra fees.
3. Pay per view for television and movies.

I think I missed something here. Yes being able to call up your favorite movie at any time is a good thing, but why is it that this doesn't scream out as moving to a suscription based service instead of an ownership based service?

Two possibilities are that 1) in America most people pay a subscription to television anyway (in Australia free to air TV has the stronghold atm) and 2) we already pay each time we go to the movies. The second reason is not entirely valid as when you go to the movies you go for the whole experience (wide screen, surround sound, comfy seats and a dark place to take your significant other).

What I would think would be more exciting is seeing the cost of DVDs drop to a price which makes it feasible to have a massive collection of DVDs which you can then play on demand.

Are movies and television that different to music?

More lame California-centric crap.

[Bowie J. Poag]

"Imagine being able to pull up 2001: A Space Odyssey at 2:38 a.m.."



Wow, you Californians are high-tech!!!

Ever heard of Kazaa, Lopster, or freakin' BLOCKBUSTER?

What about HDTV?

[Animats]

This is a whole new infrastructure to support sub-NTSC quality video. Will this slow the transition to HDTV? Or will you be able to order movies as a 1080p 24fps 16:9 stream? If you could do that, getting a HDTV monitor would be worth it.