Making Cable More IPTV-Like > So, am I getting it?

So, am I getting it?

if that's the case this may not be that beneficial to the customer in some aspects. while it does free up bandwidth it doesn't allow the viewer to surf channels. i can't speak for everyone here but i would say many people turn the tv on often without any specific channel in mind to watch. they simply flip the channels until they find something they want. would we not be able to do this anymore? i certainly don't want to just look at a tv guide and wonder whether the movie is good or not.

now the other thing that troubles me here is that we would have to call the company to tell them what we want to watch. what happens when there are too many callers and we have to be on hold? why not just make it like pay-per-view. if you want to watch it just have buttons that would allow you to order it through the remote control. in this case you wouldn't neccesarily have to order the channell assuming it's already apart of your package. so say I have a family package and I want to watch Fox Family with this technology we should simply be able to click SELECT and ENTER on our remote and bam the channel shows up instead of having to pick up the phone which is more time consuming. And as far as time is concerned, what happens when you find out about a show that you want to record on the vcr but you have to wait until you get home and you get home right when the show starts but then you have to wait to have the channel streamed to your home that just creates a bigger inconvience to the customer in my mind.

it's a great idea but i think this should be implemented in a way where it's fast and easy to do while still allowing channel surfing. and if i'm misunderstanding something someone clear it up please. thanks. it's interesting to say the least.

You'd be surprised today. Channel surfing isn't necessarily done by flippin' the channels any more. Many boxes are slow and it frustrates people. What people ARE doing is guide surfing then selecting their channel.

I've been in enough homes with customers to pick up the remote to show me "how they watch tv" so see this in action. And to cliarify this for the people out there that still do channel surf, please pay attention to the word above "necessarily" before posting your "No, I still channel surf" message.

Ultimately, in the long run, TV will all be OnDemand anyway. Additionally, I can see MSOs moving towards a complete pay per use system anyway. It's been discussed in the past and given the way that networks and the MPAA are going, and how they are fighting ala cart programming, I tend to beleive the corporate big-wigs when they talked about pay for what you watch being the future.

You'd be surprised how utterly crappy "guide surfing" is in other parts of the world (read: just about everywhere). The STB interface is clunky, has too much remote control lag and is generally annoying. There is no comparison to the "channel surfing" experience on an analog TV.

But keep on lying to yourself if it makes you feel more secure. Instead of only listening to people you agree with, take notes from those you don't. They are the ones who are going to drive your industry to its knees.
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Toolmaster of La Grange.

reply to mike31mets
You kind of have it...

You would not have to call the cable company to request a specific channel every time you wanted to channel surf, that would all be done via cable box.

The problem is, if the stream is not in your branch, the box needs the request up the chain and then get the data, which could result in a delay of a few seconds.
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