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Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI

Nightfall

MVM

Broadband video will become popular when...

Here is my list.

1. It becomes easy to hook up and use.
2. You can stream 720p up to 1080p over the wire without any delays or buffering. Even on some broadband content, streaming 1080i is a challenge.
3. You can get access to all content (such as sports) legally and easily.

Only when these things happen will you see more "cord cutters" when it comes to cable TV. I hold onto my cable TV because of sports programming alone. I can get other content off torrent sites, but still, thats neither easy nor legal for a bulk majority of the users out there.

In time, this will happen. Just like VOIP is eating away at customers now on regular telephone lines, its going to happen on the TV side of things. Just will take a while.

Until then, the majority of the cord cutters will be technical people such as the people here on BBR.
geeyore
join:2007-05-27
Falls Church, VA

geeyore

Member

I haven't had cable/sat/broadcast for almost 2 years. We're 100 percent streaming Netflix/Roku and I just got the ATI Radeon HDMI working with 5.1 audio direct to the HDTV, which works great with YouTube vids, etc.

>>>> 1. It becomes easy to hook up and use.

It took 10 minutes to connect the Roku box to my network and HDTV, and another 5 minutes to get streaming Netflix working on it. It's been working flawlessly for more than 1.5 years. And I almost cannot stand handling DVD disks anymore, they seem archaic. HBO, Showtime, and CNN ... yuck, who cares.

>>>>>2. You can stream 720p up to 1080p over the wire without any delays or buffering. Even on some broadband content, streaming 1080i is a challenge.

Roku selects the stream rate automatically from Netflix, and it's usually 720p and sometimes HD 1080p, but that can get a bit tedious over a 2.4Mb DSL.

>>>>>3. You can get access to all content (such as sports) legally and easily.

All? Even cable doesn't give you "all content."

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI

Nightfall

MVM

said by geeyore:

I haven't had cable/sat/broadcast for almost 2 years. We're 100 percent streaming Netflix/Roku and I just got the ATI Radeon HDMI working with 5.1 audio direct to the HDTV, which works great with YouTube vids, etc.

>>>> 1. It becomes easy to hook up and use.

It took 10 minutes to connect the Roku box to my network and HDTV, and another 5 minutes to get streaming Netflix working on it. It's been working flawlessly for more than 1.5 years. And I almost cannot stand handling DVD disks anymore, they seem archaic. HBO, Showtime, and CNN ... yuck, who cares.

>>>>>2. You can stream 720p up to 1080p over the wire without any delays or buffering. Even on some broadband content, streaming 1080i is a challenge.

Roku selects the stream rate automatically from Netflix, and it's usually 720p and sometimes HD 1080p, but that can get a bit tedious over a 2.4Mb DSL.

>>>>>3. You can get access to all content (such as sports) legally and easily.

All? Even cable doesn't give you "all content."
Cable gives me all local content. I can watch every Red Wings and Tigers game. I can also watch NFL and college games from my area and nationally as well. You are right, I can't get access to everything, but I can get access to everything I want to watch and live and in high def quality without stressing my internet line.

The ease of use is there now for Roku, but until that comes with content you will find on network television, you won't get many cord cutters. It certainly would be nice to watch the last couple episodes of Lost that came on last season without waiting for the DVDs and using netflix. What about content on Discovery channel? What if I want to watch Life After People on the History channel? The whole idea behind Roku is that you are using Netflix, and while that is all good, it doesn't solve the content issue for everyone.

As for the streaming, they need to have faster internet service in order to make it worthwhile. No caps either.

fifty nine
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ

1 recommendation

fifty nine to Nightfall

Member

to Nightfall
said by Nightfall:

Here is my list.

1. It becomes easy to hook up and use.
2. You can stream 720p up to 1080p over the wire without any delays or buffering. Even on some broadband content, streaming 1080i is a challenge.
3. You can get access to all content (such as sports) legally and easily.

Only when these things happen will you see more "cord cutters" when it comes to cable TV. I hold onto my cable TV because of sports programming alone. I can get other content off torrent sites, but still, thats neither easy nor legal for a bulk majority of the users out there.

In time, this will happen. Just like VOIP is eating away at customers now on regular telephone lines, its going to happen on the TV side of things. Just will take a while.

Until then, the majority of the cord cutters will be technical people such as the people here on BBR.
Broadband video delivery is not going to replace cable TV because:

Consumers are unwilling to pay a lot of money for content. Remember, these are for the most part for profit corporations that have shareholders.

The cable companies control the pipes.

Broadcast is so much more efficient since there does not need to be 1:1 relationship between stream and end user.

Internet access is still a "best effort" service which means that streaming is not as reliable as cable, satellite or broadcast.

VOIP is a different animal, since for the most part telephone service is already 1:1. What you find though is that the cable companies are the biggest VOIP providers out there which essentially just makes them phone companies that use coax instead of twisted pair.

NOCTech75
Premium Member
join:2009-06-29
Marietta, GA

NOCTech75 to Nightfall

Premium Member

to Nightfall
said by Nightfall:

Here is my list.

1. It becomes easy to hook up and use.
2. You can stream 720p up to 1080p over the wire without any delays or buffering. Even on some broadband content, streaming 1080i is a challenge.
3. You can get access to all content (such as sports) legally and easily.

Only when these things happen will you see more "cord cutters" when it comes to cable TV. I hold onto my cable TV because of sports programming alone. I can get other content off torrent sites, but still, thats neither easy nor legal for a bulk majority of the users out there.

In time, this will happen. Just like VOIP is eating away at customers now on regular telephone lines, its going to happen on the TV side of things. Just will take a while.

Until then, the majority of the cord cutters will be technical people such as the people here on BBR.
For me I watch Formula 1 and ALMS religiously. I am not in the mood to go hunting for their feeds, especially considering I Tivo the races and watch them later (especially in F1's case). When I goto Petit I want to know I'll be able to record whatever the entire broadcast is going to be, I won't be there to hunt and peck for the feed... or have it not work and miss parts of the race, etc. Same goes for F1 fly-aways and Euro races, too much of a time difference to feel like playing hunt and peck for half-ass feeds.