Making the Impossible (Box)

By Sagee Ben-Zedeff

Categories: Innovation, Video Applications

September 4th, 2008

Tsahi continues with his disruptive posts, and his latest addresses IPTV. Tsahi argues that IPTV is no revolution at this point in time. It is much of the same. Mainly because there are no new features, and VOD and PVR functionality are quite limited. “These features are simply not enough for consumers to take the leap to IPTV”, he writes, and claims that “as we stream an all-IP network to our homes, and use it not only for the internet but also for our phone systems and television, there’s a lot more we can do”.

Take the leap. (CC)

It’s true that people are watching video content online. It’s one of the main things that drive the increased demand for network capacity. But with all due respect the explosive growth predicted for Online Video – meaning, users who are watching streamed video content, in real-time or not, using their PC or mobile devices – TV (and by “TV” I mean “traditional” television, where you sit in front of a TV set in the comfort of your living room) isn’t going to disappear anytime soon.

Overall TV viewing time continues to grow in the USA, according to research firm eMarketer. The Nielsen data shows that the average American TV viewer watched 127 hours of TV in May, and spent “just” 26 hours online. Just for comparison – online video users watched an average of almost 2.5 hours, while mobile video users spent more than 3 hours watching video content on their mobile device.

Given that, Carlo Longino asked recently, in the Hyperconnectivity blog, could video become the first true hyperconnected service, offering users a multiple network experience. After all, the reason people are watching video content on various platforms is that they are looking for more – more content, more shows, more diversity, more convenience, more personalization. The experience, however, is currently non-integrated – people watch “American Idol” on their TV, watch the latest episodes of “Lost” on their PC, and watch clips of the latest hit singles on their mobile handset.

TRUE mobile TV (CC)

The TV set is still the best platform for watching TV content. New services and products, such as AppleTV, the Slingbox, Netflix’s streaming set-top box, and streaming websites from the TV networks, are trying to bring down the walls, connecting the TV set with other networks. The Slingbox, for instance, which really amazed me when I saw it debut in TIDC North America in 2005, lets users watch their “home” video content (which they traditionally viewed on their TV sets), either live or recorded via DVR, remotely. Users can watch the content anywhere using the Slingbox, including on their mobile handsets.

This means that the same content is now available on all “platforms” and users can choose which platform to watch it on, according to their likings and current status (physical location, connectivity to a network, etc.). This is truly hyperconnectivity. And it seems that TV viewing is a service that can help hyperconnectivity prove itself, while hyperconnectivity can help TV viewing grow even further than the “explosive” forecasts.

Slingbox Pro hyperconnectivity demo

But what about the content itself?  The services above cover live (real-time) content, which – at any given time – is limited, and pre-recorded content, which strongly depends on the user itself. If you are not busy programming your DVR and keeping it up-to-date with your latest preferences and cravings and the latest and greatest from the programming guide, you may find yourself out of content. And without content, all the connectivity in the world means practically nothing.

I should admit that I am currently hardly watching TV. And the reason is exactly that – every time I open the TV I find nothing to watch, and I don’t have the time or energy to pre-record worth-watching content. For a long time I have toyed with the idea of having SOMEONE ELSE record the content for me, giving me access to the content at any time. I guess most of us have, because the popular habit of downloading video content via peer-to-peer file sharing is motivated by that exact idea – someone else recorded the content I want to see, they are sharing that content with me, I am downloading or streaming that content to my device of choice, and I am seeing what I want when I want to see it.

I was quite amazed to hear that a guy called Tom Loosemore just recently gave a presentation at OpenTech 2008 on that exact idea, but took it quite a long way forward. Introducing the Impossibox – a large storage system which records TV and is able to stream it to other boxes. Loosemore is describing “a network of PVRs acting as a giant, ever-growing Storage Area Network with enough capacity to store – and then seed via BitTorrent to each and every PVR-cum-node – all the decent TV programs broadcasted…”.

A year of BBC TV (CC)

Loosemore’s presentation, titled “No Programme Left Behind“, is truly mind blowing. The idea of making “all TV ever available, findable and addressable” is exactly what many, including myself, are dreaming of. This will definitely change the viewing habits, and pretty much the lives, of TV consumers, and for the best.

One would argue that there are a few BIG technical barriers before we can enjoy the impossible Impossibox. Loosemore himself warns that he “may give the impression of vague technical plausibility”. There’s a storage issue (3 Tera Bytes of storage for “nearly all good UK TV for 7 days”), an issue with the too-big-to-handle EPG, a bandwidth issue (the “box” would have to be connected to one FAT pipe), legal issues (rights protection), an issue with syncing this vast array of boxes to prevent duplicates yet assure that everything is recorded, etc. etc.

But it is a nice dream, a noble target, a thing to strive for – as TV watchers. And it’s a great technical challenge, a true complicated hurdle, a mighty giant to overcome – as researchers, developers and entrepreneurs. Make the impossible (box) possible, and Tsahi will no longer spread his disruptive views on IPTV in his blog. Make the impossible (box) available to anyone, once that IP networks are connected to everyone’s homes, and Philo Fransworth’s invention  will at last progress from an “Idiot Box” to the “Ultimate Box”. Stay tuned!!!