September 24th Addendum to the Viodi View

HDTV – Not an Easy Option.

Acceptance and roll-out of HDTV in the cable and satellite delivery environments is well under way, even in Europe. We are not at the tipping point yet in the USA, where it is a ‘must have’ tick box. We can debate when that might be upon us; I would give my view but we are out of my Nostradamus paragraph! In this case, Europe is riding on the coattails of the work being done for US consumers.

However, the subject of HDTV delivery in the xDSL world was a difficult one to get companies to talk about. It is seen as a problem to be worked on ‘soon’ as they have other major problems/opportunities to address. Companies such as Harmonic, Concurrent, Kreatel, PACE, SA, Seachange, clearly must have programs underway, many based on MPEG2 (or MPEG4, or…?), but my guess is that some time will pass before we see the next generation of deliverable products in this area. The most pessimistic guesstimate I ran across was ‘never’; two years seemed to be a favorite when I could get valid input.

In Conclusion – at least for now

I can recommend IBC as a very good way of seeing our video world from a different viewpoint. I do hope someone pays for my ticket next year!

I trust this review stirs some passion! Please feel free to email me, or put questions on the Viodi Bulletin Board [http://www.viodi.com/forum], if you have thoughts, ideas and opinions on this review. I look forward to seeing many of you in Las Vegas in October!

Peter C. Lowten
Pixel Consulting & Liaison
http://www.pixelconsult.com

[Editor's note: You can always reach Peter via email at [email protected] when he is not traveling the world on a junket. Seriously, thanks Peter for the enlightening report.- KP]

???Questions/Suggestions!!!