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Sign up with GoogleSA is still on the sidelines of triple play
- Thread starter AdLo
- Start date
Yawn - so they can shunt yet more sub-standard shows to the goggle-box and yet more advertising for the "couch potato generation"
Yet more "programmed content" as opposed to real choice.
I'd be excited by something like this if they tied in a vast archive of movies that could be accessed on demand, until then, I view it like I view the rest of TV - being dictated to.
The internet has changed my mindset completely about Television and I'm not alone.
I no longer watch TV, except for a bit of news when I wake up. I no longer rush home to catch my favourite show, or setup the VCR to record something when I'm not around.
My dream of video on demand hasn't materialised yet, but it will one day.
The internet is the closest I can get to it.
In countries where broadband is abundant, it's killing off TV - when you can get any movie you want online at high speed by downloading it, what's the point of having TV ?
These countries are on the verge of video on demand - being able to choose from a massive selection of content when they want to. Right now, however, most of it is pirated - but as internet technology has proven numerous times, the pirates lead the way by giving people what they want, the businesses eventually follow (unless they are stupid, like RIAA and MPAA)
The technology behind Triple Play is interesting and will most likely form the basis of a future archive of material on demand, but right now, I see it as little more than standard TV with a few benefits - being able to pause it for instance.
Yet more "programmed content" as opposed to real choice.
I'd be excited by something like this if they tied in a vast archive of movies that could be accessed on demand, until then, I view it like I view the rest of TV - being dictated to.
The internet has changed my mindset completely about Television and I'm not alone.
I no longer watch TV, except for a bit of news when I wake up. I no longer rush home to catch my favourite show, or setup the VCR to record something when I'm not around.
My dream of video on demand hasn't materialised yet, but it will one day.
The internet is the closest I can get to it.
In countries where broadband is abundant, it's killing off TV - when you can get any movie you want online at high speed by downloading it, what's the point of having TV ?
These countries are on the verge of video on demand - being able to choose from a massive selection of content when they want to. Right now, however, most of it is pirated - but as internet technology has proven numerous times, the pirates lead the way by giving people what they want, the businesses eventually follow (unless they are stupid, like RIAA and MPAA)
The technology behind Triple Play is interesting and will most likely form the basis of a future archive of material on demand, but right now, I see it as little more than standard TV with a few benefits - being able to pause it for instance.
w1z4rd
Karmic Sangoma
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2005
- Messages
- 49,747
SA is still on the sidelines of triple play
Lesley Stones
TELEVISION addicts in SA could enjoy services similar to those enjoyed by couch potatoes around the world if telecommunications company Alcatel wins the support of Telkom in testing triple-play technologies.
Triple play is the name given to the mixture of voice calls, high-speed internet access and digital television coupled with video on demand, all delivered over a single telephone line.
It has had little relevance in SA so far as the combination of technologies needed have been off the radar screen. But Alcatel believes it is becoming feasible.
So far the internet has reached only about 7% of the population, while broadband internet access is even scarcer.
That does not stop Alcatel’s vice-president of sales and marketing, Frederic Papeians, from being optimistic. “The world is going broadband. Even outside the major mature markets the wave is happening,” he says.
About 2,5-million consumers enjoy triple play around the world. Alcatel believes that could reach 70-million within five years.
The barrier in SA is that the services work only over networks able to transmit data at speeds of at least 10Mb per second (Mbps), and preferably at 20Mbps.
That is not an insurmountable obstacle, as a piece of equipment called a multiplexor can adapt the normal copper telephone cable to carry far more traffic at far higher speeds. To unscramble the signals, a communications gateway must also be installed on the customer’s premises.
“We have sent some equipment to Telkom for trials,” Papeians says.
“That lets you run a normal phone, a games console connected to the internet, and two high-definition TV sets, which require a lot of bandwidth.”
Negotiations with Telkom to test the technology are still under way, says Linda Khumalo, the GM of fixed accounts at Alcatel SA.
“There is a lot of bandwidth on the copper wire which has never been used before, and this technology lets you take advantage of that by getting speeds of up to 20Mbps.”
SA has an additional problem of distance, however, as the telephone lines generally run over far longer distances than a multiplexor can adapt. So far Alcatel’s equipment can create higher bandwidth only on wires shorter than 4km, says Khumalo.
How quickly local companies begin to offer triple play and how many consumers will actually be interested is harder to predict than estimating how soon the distance problem will be solved.
“It’s a question of content,” says Khumalo. “Its adoption will be driven by how much content we have to put on the network, but you can’t predict that.”
At Alcatel’s headquarters in Paris, the triple-play showroom does not look much unlike any home theatre demonstration. But the digital television makes switching channels a little faster, and lets you open a new window to see if a programme on another channel has begun yet.
Although this is live television rather than a prerecorded show, but you can break off and stop the broadcast, then carry on where you left off without missing a thing. In your absence, the live transmission is stored to a hard drive, and resumes when you press continue.
The controls also let you set parameters to prevent children viewing anything naughty, and let you preset the system to record an entire weekly series.
The video on demand service lets you select a programme, have it streamed instantly to the television and receive the bill on your monthly phone bill.
And it’s all been designed to be far easier to operate than the average video recorder.
Other attractions are accessing the internet and e-mail via the television instead of a PC, and using it for internet gaming or viewing photos from a digital camera.
Alcatel marketing manager Steve Hope admits he will have a hard time selling this to anyone ambivalent about television, but there are enough addicts with a passion for the latest technologies to persuade phone companies, television stations and technology players that triple play can make them all money.
Alcatel’s Olivier Gordien says co-operation will be essential. “With triple play, operators are stepping into new markets they don’t know. First they have to deploy broadband connectivity then think about fancy services.”
By 2010, about 25% of high-speed internet users will watch television via that phone cable rather than through a separate television cable, Gordien says.
That will help telephone operators win customer loyalty and prevent users from defecting to a cheaper rival.
Emerging countries are investigating triple play as a way of giving more people access to services now confined to a computer, he says. Most people in countries such as SA have a television set but not a PC, so e-government services, distance learning or e-health care must be made available over the television.
Telkom is working with M-Net to test television broadcasting over its high-speed ADSL internet lines, but Alcatel hopes Telkom will end up using its technology to deliver those services.
Late last year, US operator SBC Communications, a former Telkom shareholder, chose Alcatel as its main supplier in a $1,7bn triple-play deal to offer television, high-speed internet access and voice services to 18-million households by the end of 2007.
Lesley Stones
TELEVISION addicts in SA could enjoy services similar to those enjoyed by couch potatoes around the world if telecommunications company Alcatel wins the support of Telkom in testing triple-play technologies.
Triple play is the name given to the mixture of voice calls, high-speed internet access and digital television coupled with video on demand, all delivered over a single telephone line.
It has had little relevance in SA so far as the combination of technologies needed have been off the radar screen. But Alcatel believes it is becoming feasible.
So far the internet has reached only about 7% of the population, while broadband internet access is even scarcer.
That does not stop Alcatel’s vice-president of sales and marketing, Frederic Papeians, from being optimistic. “The world is going broadband. Even outside the major mature markets the wave is happening,” he says.
About 2,5-million consumers enjoy triple play around the world. Alcatel believes that could reach 70-million within five years.
The barrier in SA is that the services work only over networks able to transmit data at speeds of at least 10Mb per second (Mbps), and preferably at 20Mbps.
That is not an insurmountable obstacle, as a piece of equipment called a multiplexor can adapt the normal copper telephone cable to carry far more traffic at far higher speeds. To unscramble the signals, a communications gateway must also be installed on the customer’s premises.
“We have sent some equipment to Telkom for trials,” Papeians says.
“That lets you run a normal phone, a games console connected to the internet, and two high-definition TV sets, which require a lot of bandwidth.”
Negotiations with Telkom to test the technology are still under way, says Linda Khumalo, the GM of fixed accounts at Alcatel SA.
“There is a lot of bandwidth on the copper wire which has never been used before, and this technology lets you take advantage of that by getting speeds of up to 20Mbps.”
SA has an additional problem of distance, however, as the telephone lines generally run over far longer distances than a multiplexor can adapt. So far Alcatel’s equipment can create higher bandwidth only on wires shorter than 4km, says Khumalo.
How quickly local companies begin to offer triple play and how many consumers will actually be interested is harder to predict than estimating how soon the distance problem will be solved.
“It’s a question of content,” says Khumalo. “Its adoption will be driven by how much content we have to put on the network, but you can’t predict that.”
At Alcatel’s headquarters in Paris, the triple-play showroom does not look much unlike any home theatre demonstration. But the digital television makes switching channels a little faster, and lets you open a new window to see if a programme on another channel has begun yet.
Although this is live television rather than a prerecorded show, but you can break off and stop the broadcast, then carry on where you left off without missing a thing. In your absence, the live transmission is stored to a hard drive, and resumes when you press continue.
The controls also let you set parameters to prevent children viewing anything naughty, and let you preset the system to record an entire weekly series.
The video on demand service lets you select a programme, have it streamed instantly to the television and receive the bill on your monthly phone bill.
And it’s all been designed to be far easier to operate than the average video recorder.
Other attractions are accessing the internet and e-mail via the television instead of a PC, and using it for internet gaming or viewing photos from a digital camera.
Alcatel marketing manager Steve Hope admits he will have a hard time selling this to anyone ambivalent about television, but there are enough addicts with a passion for the latest technologies to persuade phone companies, television stations and technology players that triple play can make them all money.
Alcatel’s Olivier Gordien says co-operation will be essential. “With triple play, operators are stepping into new markets they don’t know. First they have to deploy broadband connectivity then think about fancy services.”
By 2010, about 25% of high-speed internet users will watch television via that phone cable rather than through a separate television cable, Gordien says.
That will help telephone operators win customer loyalty and prevent users from defecting to a cheaper rival.
Emerging countries are investigating triple play as a way of giving more people access to services now confined to a computer, he says. Most people in countries such as SA have a television set but not a PC, so e-government services, distance learning or e-health care must be made available over the television.
Telkom is working with M-Net to test television broadcasting over its high-speed ADSL internet lines, but Alcatel hopes Telkom will end up using its technology to deliver those services.
Late last year, US operator SBC Communications, a former Telkom shareholder, chose Alcatel as its main supplier in a $1,7bn triple-play deal to offer television, high-speed internet access and voice services to 18-million households by the end of 2007.
guest2013-1
guest
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2003
- Messages
- 19,800
slimothy, voice and music is definately not the same thing. One carries a tune, the other does not. One conveys (more than often) a poem, where the other one (when calling into helpless support centres) b1tches and moans 
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2004
- Messages
- 14,805
LOL, I hardly think the brainnumbing & brainwashing noise one is subjected to whilst on hold could be classified as music...IMO it should be analyzed for subliminal messages, like "Telkom is the network that network people use"...slimothy said: