dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
238

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

They will need to rebuild cable systems

They will probably need to rebuild cable systems to handle that high of resolution and we are talking about having to build dual cable systems to handle that much bandwidth. We used to have a dual cable system in Springfield (MA) and they rebuilt it back in 2002 with a single cable system. I moved here in August of 2002 and the new system went online in our neighborhood in December of 2002 (our neighborhood was one of the first to go online). The A/B cable system was a pain in the butt as you either had to rent an analog converter (despite having a cable ready TV) with automatic A/B switching or you had to fumble with an A/B switch to take advantage of a cable ready TV.

They could have used an A/B system with digital as they could put the standard definition programming (both analog and digital), high speed Internet and VoIP on the A side cable and put the high definition programming and VOD streams on the B side cable. I think there is an attachment that goes on the back of set-top boxes that is used to accommodate an A/B cable system (at least on older set-tops). I know the Motorola DCT 2000 boxes have an attachment that allows analog pass-thru as the Mediacom boxes in Cedar Rapids (IA) had them. They could test a high bandwidth dual cable system in Springfield (MA) as most of the housing is wired for dual cable from the A/B cable system (although the plant has been rebuilt and only one cable line is in use but most of the customer premises wiring is still dual cable).

DocDrew
How can I help?
Premium Member
join:2009-01-28
SoCal

DocDrew

Premium Member

Why spend all the money building a dual cable system again? Spend it building out fiber from the node to the home instead.

quetwo
That VoIP Guy
Premium Member
join:2004-09-04
East Lansing, MI

quetwo to IowaCowboy

Premium Member

to IowaCowboy
With modern cable systems, this is no longer the case. This is all just a matter of bandwidth. 4k signal takes 1 QAM with minimal compression running at MPEG-4. 8k signal will take 2-3 QAM channels each @ 6Mhz. (You can get about 3 - 5 720p channels into a single QAM, and about 2 1080p in a single QAM with minimal compression).

Modern 1Ghz systems (which, not all systems are at -- many are currently at 800Mhz or 550Mhz) can have ~ 157 QAM channels, although you wouldn't usually wouldn't have that many.

When you account for technologies like SDV (which is already out), you gain even more bandwidth in the final mile. There will be even newer technologies that come out soon that will allow even more bandwidth in the final mile by the time this hits the main-stream.

DocDrew
How can I help?
Premium Member
join:2009-01-28
SoCal
Ubee E31U2V1
Technicolor TC4400
Linksys EA6900

DocDrew

Premium Member

said by quetwo:

With modern cable systems, this is no longer the case. This is all just a matter of bandwidth. 4k signal takes 1 QAM with minimal compression running at MPEG-4. 8k signal will take 2-3 QAM channels each @ 6Mhz. (You can get about 3 - 5 720p channels into a single QAM, and about 2 1080p in a single QAM with minimal compression).

Modern 1Ghz systems (which, not all systems are at -- many are currently at 800Mhz or 550Mhz) can have ~ 157 QAM channels, although you wouldn't usually wouldn't have that many.

When you account for technologies like SDV (which is already out), you gain even more bandwidth in the final mile. There will be even newer technologies that come out soon that will allow even more bandwidth in the final mile by the time this hits the main-stream.

I know all of that...

It just gets to a point where fiber is cheaper. Especially when you can mux 20 or more wavelengths on a fiber and each wavelength has as much bandwidth as a 1Ghz or more cable system.

Everything is going to IP anyway... cable is pushing IP all the way to the hub at the edge of their network, then converting to RF just to get over the last mile.