It seems to be the popular opinion that the Blu-ray disc format was a complete failure, and we’re on the verge of completely going digital for everything that we consume: music, movies, and video games often the primary candidates being associated with this philosophy. Of course, it is very hard to argue against that. The past decade we have seen digital distribution systems which deliver video games directly to your personal computer. Your game library is now completely “in the cloud” and immune from hard disk failure. We saw iTunes rise to the top of ladder when it comes to purchasing music digitally, and whole host of others for streaming live music to your devices over the Internet. How can anyone forget the gorilla in the room: Netflix video streaming services make up for approximately thirty-two percent of all U.S. Internet traffic during peak hours.
Given everything above it is very hard to argue against physical mediums going the way of Betamax. Lately the talk has mostly been about the Blu-ray disc format, mainly due to the competition when it was first introduced with HD-DVD, but now because the pressure has been turned on with streaming services like Hulu and Netflix. But if you look at the trends in consumer devices, especially television purchasing, you can see that many people that did not buy high definition sets last decade are going out to purchase them now, and they’re looking specifically at 3D high definition set ups. Right now the only consumer disc format to support 3D is Blu-ray, which requires the use of high resolution (bitrate) audio.
If consumers want that crisp, clear, high definition video with surround sound, they’re not going to be able to get it over your standard Internet connection in the United States. In order to stream Netflix at 720p with high definition audio you’ll need at least a 5 megabit/second Internet connection. My Comcast Internet connection is the lowest tier available, as far as I know, which I measured at roughly 25 megabit/second to east coast data centers. The average speed for broadband in the United States is well under that threshold, pegged at 4 megabit/second, which would allow you to stream the “medium quality” from Netflix. Remember we’re only talking about 720p here, delivering content at 1080p would require much more bandwidth than that, but the average speed here is already struggling to deliver what consumers expect.
If that wasn’t enough the cable broadband providers across the United States are beginning to look towards changing their pricing models to reflect how Internet video distribution is cutting into their cable television subscriptions. That means you’ll be paying more money for your pipe, and have a cap on it before you’ll end up being charged more (usually by the 10GB increment) to fully utilize Internet streaming.
This summer Netflix announced the plan to split their DVD video service into a separate entity, and due to rising costs of the content they are now providing Netflix was also forced to increase the subscription service rates by 60%. These changes resulted in a consumer backlash and Wall Street punished the stock with a drop of more than 70% since July. Reed Hastings, Netflix CEO, tried to provide an explanation and give a half-hearted apology, but ultimately it turned out to be more of an excuse.
Ideally it would be amazing to stream high definition audio and video over the Internet with full clarity. This obviously is the future, but we’re only at the beginning of exploring this technology. In the coming years we’re going to realize higher bandwidth through the local Internet providers which will give services such as Hulu and Netflix the capability of delivering video streams surpassing even the highest quality that televisions support now. But don’t get it in your head that you’ll be throwing away your video discs anytime in the near future, at least if you care anything about surround sound, high definition video, and finally being able to own Star Wars in a quality format.
After years of waiting for Hulu.com to smarten up, it finally looks like we will be getting an embedded Xbox application capable of streaming Hulu to our televisions. With the success of the Netflix streaming applications on the Xbox, Playstation 3, Wii and now the iPad, it was only a matter of time before the big networks caved and allowed their content to be available through on demand. For a little over a year now I have completely dropped my cable television subscription and have barely batted an eye – the only television that I miss includes late night comedy and live sports.
Earlier this year Hulu has been rumored to be moving towards a paid subscription model where the cost would be $9.95 per month for access to more content. Of course, there was no direct word on if this content would be advertisement free, but you can bet your bottom dollar that you will most likely be hearing those thirty second advertisements on your paid account. Personally, I would absolutely pay $9.95 a month for Hulu if it included a streaming disc for my Playstation 3, and the development this week has brought that one step closer to reality.
For those of you that do not remember a couple of months after Netflix announced support for the Xbox 360, last November they went and sent out Playstation 3 Blu-ray streaming discs out to participating instant view subscribers. Just a couple of months ago they begun sending out Wii streaming discs as well. I believe the last piece to an amazing media center experience is Hulu streaming on the Playstation 3, which is capable of DLNA streaming from your Mac, PC or Linux machine. That, included with a hopeful Google TV integration, will make a truly cheap alternative to big cable.
I can be somewhat of am impulse buyer. This afternoon, after I was reading more and more into how AT&T is pulling a bait and switch, I placed a few phone calls to the Apple retail stores in and around New York City. I have been interested in purchasing a device ever since I got a few minutes to play with the SDK, but what nearly set me over the edge was the fact that AT&T has decided to discontinue the unlimited 3G plan that Apple was still (up until this afternoon) toting as one of the major selling points of the device. What I found interesting is that all of the stores made a point to tell me that all models of the 3G iPad were currently unavailable, but all except the lauded Fifth Avenue store had WiFi models for sale.
What I find the most interesting is how AT&T are parading this change as being beneficial to their customers without providing any statistics on data usage for the iPad. In the press release they specifically stated that most users consume less than 2GB of bandwidth, which so happens to be the ceiling of their data plans, but the will offer more bandwidth at a $10 per gigabyte rate after that. I will agree with the AT&T findings – my bandwidth usage ever since I have owned an iPhone (since the original) has never gone above 2GB – but I have a had time believing that a streaming Netflix program won’t regularly break that 2GB ceiling.
But a part of my questions if AT&T’s motives, which absolutely are not int the best interest of the consumer, are being put in place to potentially curb a growing VOIP market with the release of Skype for 3G on the iPhone. If AT&T are able to make it more expensive to place VOIP phone calls then people are not going to do it, right? In fact, what I find completely insane is that these devices that have been heralded as the most connected, interactive and innovative consumer electronics, ever, are being hogtied by the only capable wireless 3G provider. We do not have a choice even if we wanted to. These devices, even unlocked, will not work with a similar 3G card inside due to the frequencies being different between T-Mobile and AT&T.
So this unlimited data plan that was absolutely sold as being the primary reason to purchase the 3G model of the iPad has, less than a month after release, completely evaporated. Should those of us that have purchased an iPad be up in arms? What about when AT&T decides to change your contract when you use that neat little clause that lets you turn off your wireless 3G service when you aren’t using it – the next time that you sign up are they going to let you pay $30 for unlimited coverage? Boy, am I glad that Apple has decided to make the iPad unavailable until June 7th, or else I may be asking those questions myself right about now.
Oh, and by the way, if you want to tether your laptop to your iPhone to use some of that 2GB of bandwidth that you have purchased from AT&T you are going to have to pay an additional fee that will not give you a higher cap. Anyone that is interested in voicing their opinion directly to the man himself the Consumerist blog has posted the contact details of AT&T CEO, Randall Stephenson, so have at it boys.