[opendtv] Re: Internet TV distribution architecture

  • From: Kon Wilms <konfoo@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2014 08:07:34 -0800

On Fri, Jan 10, 2014 at 7:30 AM, Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> > On Jan 9, 2014, at 7:52 PM, "Manfredi, Albert E" <
> albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>


> Why would they need any servers. To replicate their existing business
> model, all they need is one IP Multicast stream per market (or several if
> they are multicasting today). Why would the networks let the local
> broadcasters stream the network feeds AND Offer this content as VOD streams?
>

Given the fact that every group of subs may have a unique routing path, you
still have to troubleshoot issues with latency. Bandwidth is no longer the
issue, but good luck troubleshooting all those hops and fixing latency
issues out of your control. The only option would be to put edge servers in
local pops with guaranteed bandwidth, push streams to them possibly over
some sort of fixed path/tunnel, and make that available via IP multicast.

Current CDNs aren't built for this model. They are most if not all based on
TCP/HTTP pull.

Plus there is the problem that CDNs share traffic and use infrastructure
you don't control. The only way to be profitable is to over-provision the
network. You have no guarantee that a edge node will be able to fulfill
your content delivery requirements (bandwidth/cpu/storage) if some other
customers have a huge traffic spike. The larger CDNs just have more boxes
in the field. But hardware ages quickly these days, so even that becomes an
issue with failure rates and cost of maintenance. And last if you use a CDN
you don't get to determine the path traffic flows through it, so you have
to design and tweak your system around this black box router that may have
dozens of exceptions to every rule that are out of your control.

For the type of delivery we are talking about, only way to do it is to
build the CDN yourself.

Cheers
Kon

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