GHz
join:2002-01-02
Needham, MA | reply to Kfedka
Re: Not enough bandwidth? I'm no cable expert, but it doesn't matter how many TVs are watching, it's a media transport limitation. A cable system works like a giant hub, and all cable channels are broadcast to all end-users, regardless of whether they are watching them or not. So you're already at-capacity, the only way to add more channels is to free up bandwidth by dropping unused channels. What they are proposing here is a switched media system, where not all channels are broadcast at the same time... channels are essentially on-demand, which means you can add as many channels as you like.
Someone correct me if I'm way off-base :P |
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 AlpinePremium
join:2000-01-11
Atlanta, GA | I think you hit it on the head...
Adam |
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 cdruGo ColtsPremium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:5
 ·Frontier FiOS
| reply to GHz
Essentially it's VoD at the node level. If anyone on a particular node wants say ESPN, then it gets broadcasted. If no one wants to watch QVC, then that bandwidth is not allocated for that channel.
Say you have 100 different channels and a node has 100 different receivers. At worst, you really are no worse off (network overhead aside) as all 100 stations would still be broadcasted. But if 1 or more of those receivers watched the same channel as another, you'd start saving bandwidth for other uses.
To make full use of this though nodes need be smaller. The larger the node you are on, the more likely the number of distinct channels increase. It's more likely a node of 500 customers would be watching more channels then a node of 100 customers.
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Go Colts |
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