[opendtv] Re: Highfield unveils vision for Freeview's future

  • From: "John Willkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 16:38:00 -0700

Somehow, you don't think it's absurd to pay $900 to record much content that
you will never watch.  Every week.

I don't think the problem is me.  That's an investment greater than what the
average person pays for cable TV in a year.  And, cable would be on top of
the $900.  Per week.

Are you sure that you're not a full time 'devil's advocate', Tom?

John Willkie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Barry" <trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 3:03 PM
Subject: [opendtv] Re: Highfield unveils vision for Freeview's future


> Makes no sense?  I've also proposed just recording everything of  some
> selected set of channels.  And Bob's proposal was only for 2 full
> streams.  At 8.6 GB / hour you could record about 29 hours of 2 full
> streams on a 500GB drive.  And I ordered one of those myself yesterday
> for $140.93, including shipping.
>
> If you wanted only what Bob proposed you could get your whole week 24/7
> for less than $900.  Though since 99% of TV is useless to me I prefer to
> use the online guides and program my computers to only get the things of
> interest to me, just like I would not try to download the entire
> Internet.  But storage cost is indeed trending towards free.  It's just
> our usage and expectations trend upwards along with that.
>
> - Tom
>
>
>
> John Willkie wrote:
> > Record everthing?  Next to nothing?
> >
> > Let me see, an ATSC transport stream is 8.7 gb per hout.  So, if you
have 10
> > transport streams, recording everything uses up 87 gb of disk space in
an
> > hour.
> >
> > Why, that's only 2 terabytes a day for the ota DTV channels I can
receive
> > over the air.  Then, add in a few hundred cable and satellite channels,
and
> > I'm sure it won't be any more than 30 terabytes a day.  And, if you are
away
> > from home for a day and couldn't watch all that content, you'd only need
to
> > double your storage.  When one thinks of such large data bases, one
> > generally tends to think of redundancy and RAID arrays.
> >
> > I just shopped for a new 400 gb hard drive, bob.  It only costs $139.
So,
> > to record a whole week OF EVERTHING would only cost me $24,325.  I just
> > can't wait until hard drives are 1/10th current price, and that will
only
> > cost $2,432.
> >
> > In other words, your concept MAKES NO SENSE, bob.
> >
> > Of course, if you were to remove duplicated programming, eliminate
> > commercials, and prioritize based on what you've watched before and your
> > expressed interests, that might fit into a Tivo-like box.  But, that
> > wouldn't be recording everything.
> >
> > Here's also something to keep in mind: the target.  People only live
8,760
> > or so hours per year, and about 1/3 of that is taken up by sleeping, and
> > perhaps 1/4 by working.  That means 7/12th of the time, people can't
watch
> > TV.
> >
> > I suspect that people can't watch 'much more' than 2 tv programs
> > simultaneously.  That means there is about 5,110 hours per year that the
> > average person COULD watch TV, without counting driving time, family
time,
> > etc.  So, your system would store in a day about the number of hours of
> > television programming that a person could watch in a year.
> >
> > This is absurd, Bob.  But, the economics will only improve, as disk
drives
> > get cheaper.  That said, ti will be absurd for many, many years.  Might
work
> > in an area where there is only one channel.
> >
> > John Willkie
> >
> > P.S.  That's the trick!  Store everything to HD-DVR or Blue-Ray!  It
would
> > only take about a dozen or more drives continually recording, and those
> > disks are so cheap!
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Bob Miller" <robmxa@xxxxxxxxx>
> > To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 8:47 AM
> > Subject: [opendtv] Re: Highfield unveils vision for Freeview's future
> >
> >
> >
> >>We were promoting this idea in 2000. Record everything in fact. The
> >>premise was that storage devices would cost close to zero by now. The
> >>viewer would chose what they did not want to see recorded. Our "Hockey
> >>Puck" receiver was designed to record all new content being broadcast
> >>from 12 virtual channels delivered over two 6 MHz channels.
> >>
> >>Bob Miller
> >>
> >>On 4/19/07, Manfredi, Albert E <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >>
> >>>This vision of Freeview future includes a PVR/Internet TV hybrid STB,
> >>>for catch-up video on demand. Should be readily doable.
> >>>
> >>>Bert
> >>>
> >>>-----------------------------------------------------------
> >>>http://www.dtg.org.uk/news/news.php?class=countries&subclass=0&id=2376
> >>>
> >>>Highfield unveils vision for Freeview's future
> >>>
> >>>BBC future media and technology director Ashley Highfield says it is
> >>>"critical that Freeview evolves as a compelling and competitive
> >>>alternative to cable and satellite". That means free-to-air channels in
> >>>high definition-now the subject of a heated debate between public
> >>>services broadcasters and regulator Ofcom over future use of liberated
> >>>spectrum. But Highfield told a conference in Cannes that Freeview also
> >>>needed to offer on-demand content, "both a catch-up service, and access
> >>>to back-catalogue and archive programming".
> >>>
> >>>In a wide-ranging speech Highfield also disclosed that the BBC was
> >>>working on an Apple Mac-compatible version of its web-based iPlayer
> >>>seven-day catch-up TV service, as well as launching a pilot opening up
> >>>the BBC's vast archive to web users.
> >>>
> >>>"Getting our BBC iPlayer seven-day catch-up TV service and our archive
> >>>pilot out on to the web is one thing, but clearly the biggest available
> >>>audience is sat in front of the television. Like many others, we've
been
> >>>busy building a bridge between our on-demand content aspirations and
our
> >>>audiences' lounge-bound televisions," said Highfield.
> >>>
> >>>"As Britain enters the endgame of analogue switchover, we have a
> >>>four-year-long opportunity to achieve a step-change in the services
> >>>which we deliver on Freeview, and to evolve and future-proof Freeview
> >>>with additional advanced interactive and digital functionality.
> >>>
> >>>"We've just completed a technical trial to test some of the
technologies
> >>>around, pushing 50 hours of BBC programming per week automatically to
> >>>digital video recorders on Freeview.
> >>>
> >>>"It's a simple catch-up service that could become the entry-point for
> >>>audiences to on-demand for the first time. Its advantage over a PVR is
> >>>that you don't have to remember to record your favourite BBC
programmes,
> >>>and that at any one moment, in addition to all the linear channels,
> >>>there is always a freshly-prepared up-to-date carousel of 50 hours of
> >>>on-demand programmes."
> >>>
> >>>Highfield said while 'push-VOD' had its attractions it would not allow
> >>>"any viewer to access any BBC programme ever broadcast via their
> >>>television". That required an internet connection and new hybrid
set-top
> >>>box, combining broadcast TV with the internet. "Hybrid boxes are a part
> >>>of the future, as important-if not more so-than standard PVRs," said
> >>>Highfield.
> >>>
> >>>"In a hybrid environment you can really start to mix and match, using
> >>>the best of both worlds linear scheduled TV via digital broadcast for
> >>>new programming on the one hand, and deep archive via IP on the other.
> >>>Their worlds may be converging, but they're not in competition. The BBC
> >>>will deliver content and applications via broadcast and IP, merging
them
> >>>into a seamless audience experience."
> >>>
> >>>Lovelace Consulting 19.04.2007
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>----------------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
> -- 
> Tom Barry                  trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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