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From: esupg@cu.warwick.ac.uk (barj)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Videos by Phone
Message-ID: <16392@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 24 Jan 91 17:50:05 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 65, Message 7 of 11


In article <16348@accuvax.nwu.edu> djcl@contact.uucp (woody) writes:

> Reportedly, the technology can transmit a two hour movie over phone
> lines in fifteen seconds to thousands of destinations. That must be
> something like 20-40 gigabits/s transmission (and to think people get
> excited over such primitive toys as ISDN or mere 56 kb/s stuff :->).

If this is the case, you're going to need well over 300,000 telephones.
And a mailman who will be prepared to deliver the 3500+ bills a day. :-)

The Sonet/SDH intercontinental level is only going to use a bit-rate
of 2.4Gbps and I doubt that _that_ will be anywhere near the market
place by 1995.

>Or perhaps they mean that the movie itself is transmitted real-time,

Well I recently saw a audio/video link of an ISDN 64kbps link. Using
some neat compression techniques, the quality was good - but not good
enough to watch a movie. Anyway, if it takes two hours, isn't your phone
bill going to be huge?  You may as well rent the video ...

All I can think is that it is some sort of order-by-phone cable
service.  Although I would be interested to be proven wrong.


esupg@uk.ac.warwick.cu
Andrew     University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
Bargery    154 Brunswick St, Leamington, CV31 2ER, UK.
           vox : +44 926 881264

DISCLAIMER: I am doubting Reuters, not the poster...