Microsoft, their IPTV middleware provider, suggests modifying the UDP protocol that includes a resend mechanism if the set-top box detects a missing packet. Won't that make UDP like TCP? It seems that this non-standard workaround will not solve the problem unless signals are delayed even more than the quarter second that they are today. If multiple requests for a resend are sent back to the headend at the same time, then this flood of traffic may create even more congestion problems.
The solution that AT&T engineers are pursuing seems a bit more pragmatic. They are adding forward error correction (FEC) near the encoders to repair the damaged packets. Whatever solution is chosen, the question remains as to the scalability of IPTV in large deployments. End-to-end error free transmission through many network elements must be ensured for a high-quality picture to come through.
There is no doubt that the industry will figure out a solution, but implementing a solution in this multi-vendor environment will take some time. Scaling IPTV nationwide is a very challenging engineering feat similar to the roll-out of nationwide long distance phone service.
we just got u-verse in our house, near keller tx, and the first day we had the "jitters", but it ended up being that the guy who installed it did something wrong with the wiring. another guy came the next day and fixed everything. so far u-verse has been great and full of customer service. the day we had it installed, not even ten minutes after it had been installed, another at&t employee came by and spent nearly an hour showing us every feature on the settop box. the picture is great, even people with EDTV (non-hdtv) will notice a difference in the quality of the picture. Its so much better than satelite. so much. and the on demand thing is sweet. and one of the three set top boxes came with a 250gig hard drive that can record 3 shows at the same time. how cool is that?
ReplyDeleteand the movies are 2 bucks cheaper than dish. and i can schedule the DVR to record a show using my laptop on the internet from my yahoo homepage. i NEVER thought i'd say this, but i actually like at&t's service now. totally worth the $94 a month. we get the tv thing, 1.5mbps broadband, and the even supplied the wireless router and all three set top boxes, no installation costs or contracts.
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