| The TelcoTV experience was summed it up
best by a person from a telco who suggested that in earlier shows Telcos
were trying to figure out how to deliver video, but now they were seeking
out advanced applications to add to their multi-service networks. This
particular person used his company as an example describing how they
launched a year ago, have added 1,800 video subscribers and have a two
week waiting period for installs. He was searching for new applications
to make their service even more compelling. TelcoTV was the place to
go for new applications, as well as to understand the nuances of content,
regulation and technology.
One really needs to spend the full three days at TelcoTV. Unfortunately,
I only had about six hours, so my observations are limited to the following:
- There was an excellent session regarding NECA and
its impact on independent telcos efforts to offer video services.
NECA essentially sets the tariffs that telcos can charge for their
DSL lines and backbone transport. This can become a significant cost
for a telco and can make or break a business case for video. Mike
Foster, President of Twin Valley Telephone,
suggested that some telcos might be under reporting DSL lines, effectively
reducing their payments into the NECA pool. Foster also suggested
that a bundled package that includes a video component
is not only a must for telcos, but will be necessary in order to maintain
and grow the NECA pool.
- Greg Haledjian of Irwin, Campbell &
Tannewald, P.C. gave a good tutorial on the regulatory aspects
associated with video. His was a good reminder of all of the regulatory
considerations for a telco deploying video.
- I was told that the HD sessions went very well,
as speakers from ESPN and Discovery Networks
discussed this hot topic. One telco I talked suggested that
he is not expecting a high definition solution for their DSL network
until Q4 of next year. This telco is also pretty realistic about their
design criteria as they are deploying 16 Mb/s to 7 kilofeet
and 8 Mb/s to 12 kilofeet. He suggests that
more aggressive data rates can cause the performance to be unreliable.
- Tut Systems was showing some interesting things
like some MPEG-2 HDTV over twisted pair and a MPEG-4
AVC encode/decode using a set-top box from a company called Sentivision.
The demonstration that Chuck Van Dusen, Tut’s
Chief Technical Officer, showed me looked pretty good. Van Dusen suggested
that MPEG-4 AVC demonstrations and trials will begin in earnest for
MPEG-4 in Q1 of 2005.
- One of the things I found of interest that points to some of the
“new” applications that may finally take-off was Motorola’s
Ojo phone. This sleek, 21st century looking phone
is a Video over IP phone that has been designed to
take advantage of broadband connections. Motorola had a live
demonstration set-up, so it was possible to make video phone
calls from the tradeshow floor to Motorola people in various parts
of the country. I tried it on the lowest bit rate and the video was
synchronized to the audio. I did notice a bit of delay that caused
us to talk over each other. One of the cool features of this phone
is that the handset is wireless, so it is possible to use as a regular
wireless phone. It is based on a MPEG-4 codec, so it has the potential
to talk to non-Ojo clients, such as what might be found on a PC. With
a reported list price of $799, the big challenge will be to make this
affordable enough to make it mass market appeal.
- More evidence that telco’s television efforts
are being taken seriously is the number of “suppliers
to suppliers” that were exhibitors at TelcoTV. For instance,
Media Excel, which makes software for set-tops and portable media
players had a booth.
- Another interesting trend was the number of first time suppliers,
such as Latens, Matrixstream and
Tatung. My apologies to the exhibitors
to whom I said I would visit. Next time, I need to budget more than
six hours for TelcoTV.
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