djcl@contact.uucp (woody) (01/23/91)
A recent article from the Reuters news service mentioned a company called Explore Technology Inc. which apparently is about to deliver the first video-on-demand service, Instant Video. This product was demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Reportedly, the technology can transmit a two hour movie over phone lines in fifteen seconds to thousands of destinations. That must be something like 20-40 gigabits/s transmission (and to think people get excited over such primitive toys as ISDN or mere 56 kb/s stuff :->). Or perhaps they mean that the movie itself is transmitted real-time, but the ordering of the movie only takes 15 seconds. A receiver would store the movie for playback when the customer wishes. The system could be on the market as early as 1995.
esupg@cu.warwick.ac.uk (barj) (01/25/91)
In article <16348@accuvax.nwu.edu> djcl@contact.uucp (woody) writes: > Reportedly, the technology can transmit a two hour movie over phone > lines in fifteen seconds to thousands of destinations. That must be > something like 20-40 gigabits/s transmission (and to think people get > excited over such primitive toys as ISDN or mere 56 kb/s stuff :->). If this is the case, you're going to need well over 300,000 telephones. And a mailman who will be prepared to deliver the 3500+ bills a day. :-) The Sonet/SDH intercontinental level is only going to use a bit-rate of 2.4Gbps and I doubt that _that_ will be anywhere near the market place by 1995. >Or perhaps they mean that the movie itself is transmitted real-time, Well I recently saw a audio/video link of an ISDN 64kbps link. Using some neat compression techniques, the quality was good - but not good enough to watch a movie. Anyway, if it takes two hours, isn't your phone bill going to be huge? You may as well rent the video ... All I can think is that it is some sort of order-by-phone cable service. Although I would be interested to be proven wrong. esupg@uk.ac.warwick.cu Andrew University of Warwick, Coventry, UK. Bargery 154 Brunswick St, Leamington, CV31 2ER, UK. vox : +44 926 881264 DISCLAIMER: I am doubting Reuters, not the poster...
rv01@gte.com (Robert Virzi) (01/25/91)
In article <16348@accuvax.nwu.edu> djcl@contact.uucp (woody) writes: > Reportedly, the technology can transmit a two hour movie over phone > lines in fifteen seconds to thousands of destinations. That must be > something like 20-40 gigabits/s transmission (and to think people get > excited over such primitive toys as ISDN or mere 56 kb/s stuff :->). I called Explore Technology and they sent me out a fairly uniformative fax. They *do* claim to be able to send a two hour movie in fifteen seconds, but they are unclear as to the technology involved. They seem to be claiming this rate is possible over fiber, coax, and satellite links, not twisted pair. The technology does not use "cassette catridges", so some other form of local storage is required. They mention something called an "Instant Video Reciever", so the download is not to tape format. Some speculations. They are using compression technology and possibly (as some folks around here believe) a board set that allows storage and decompression. They are not very willing to give information without a non-disclosure agreement. Apparently they have legal staff. If anyone else wants to try, the phone number and address of the company is: Explore Technology Inc 7950 E. Acoma Dr. Suite 211 Scottsdale, AZ 85260 (602) 991-3224 Apparently the techies there are Richard Lang and Peter Spiess, among others. If anyone else finds out more about what it is they do, please keep me posted eitehr through the net or email. Bob Virzi rv01@gte.com
dgp0@bunny.gte.com (Dennis Pratt) (01/26/91)
In article <16348@accuvax.nwu.edu> djcl@contact.uucp (woody) writes: > Explore Technology Inc. which apparently is about to deliver > the first video-on-demand service, Instant Video. This product was > demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas ... > technology can transmit a two hour movie over phone > lines in fifteen seconds to thousands of destinations I went to the Consumer Electronics Show. I passed by the Explore booth, but did not notice their system. The Winter CES Official Directory does not list their "Instant Video Receiver" or their "Instant Video Transceiver" products as part of their product line. A review of all the seven daily trade magazines that wrote about many of the highlights of the show and that were distributed free at the show does not mention Explore or its outstanding achievements at all. Explore's press release has relatively little information. Instead it is filled with adjectives such as "unprecendented", "revolutionary", "graduated from science fiction to world of today", "like something born of the 25th-century technology protrayed by the television series 'Star Trek'", "significant benefits", blah, blah, blah. They contend their 'technology' will enable video on demand. They also talk about their "*patented* Instant Video system" yet will not talk without non-disclosure. Their speed contention is that "an IVR connected to a *high-capacity* transmission line using Instant Video technology would receive a two-hour motion picture in approximately 15 seconds." My guess is that all we have here is a typical video compression algorithm hidden by a bunch of sales hype and exaggerated by fiber. Their number, if you want to confirm this, is 602-991-3224. Richard Lang is "CEO". If they aren't just hyping, I'll buy their stock for sure. Dennis Pratt Disclaimer: My company doesn't know about any of this ever.
barefoot@hobbes.ncsu.edu (Heath Roberts) (01/26/91)
In article <16392@accuvax.nwu.edu> esupg@cu.warwick.ac.uk (barj) writes: >> Reportedly, the technology can transmit a two hour movie over phone >> lines in fifteen seconds to thousands of destinations. >If this is the case, you're going to need well over 300,000 telephones. >And a mailman who will be prepared to deliver the 3500+ bills a day. :-) >The Sonet/SDH intercontinental level is only going to use a bit-rate >of 2.4Gbps and I doubt that _that_ will be anywhere near the market >place by 1995. Full motion video takes about ten to fifteen megabits per second of bandwidth. Northern Telecom has 2.4Gb and 4.8Gb units on the market, and higher-rate units working that have to be field-packaged (I can't say any more specifics). This kind of system (selectable video program) has been demonstrated by Northern Telecom at a retirement community in Florida, and is part of Fiberworld. It does require fiber optic cable to the customer premises, and right now such service probably wouldn't be allowed by regulatory agencies, but it is coming. At least technically. The service the writer above mentioned is probably a movie-ordering system. You call a number to see a given movie, the cable TV company gets your number, maps it to the appropriate video box number, and tells your decoder to let you watch the movie. The difference is that your LEC is NOT providing the video, only subscriber information to the cable franchise. This has been tariffed in a few states already. Heath Roberts NCSU Computer and Technologies Theme Program barefoot@catt.ncsu.edu
peter@taronga.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) (01/28/91)
> Reportedly, the technology can transmit a two hour movie over phone > lines in fifteen seconds to thousands of destinations. That must be > something like 20-40 gigabits/s transmission (and to think people get > excited over such primitive toys as ISDN or mere 56 kb/s stuff :->). Begin back-of-the-envelope mode... Let's see, assuming they're using something like JPEG and a moderate resolution video signal (640x400x12 bits). That's 380K per frame, 30 frames per second, and the high side of 20:1 compression ratio. Give them 30:1 to make the calculations easy. About 2.5 gigabytes in 15 seconds, or a little over 1 gigabit/second. You couldn't do it over ethernet. You'd have to run fiber into each house... Hey, if they pay for the fiber it sounds like a good deal. :-> (peter@taronga.uucp.ferranti.com)