Processing Power (Still) Matters

posted by bill c_1 on July 9, 2008

I was struck by NBC’s announcement this week that the network plans on making over 2,200 hours of video available for streaming on NBCOlympics.com and offer online viewers reams of data and real-time blogging from events. While online data isnt unusual for an Olympics, 2,200 hours of streaming video has to be a record and speaks volumes to the explosion of digital video online.

A recent report from the Neilsen Company confirmed this — online video viewing is no longer a novelty. Two-thirds of Internet users in the United States, some 119 million people, watched a video in May. Mobile Internet and mobile phone video is also growing.

So what does all this mean other than there is more content available when you want it, where you want it? It means processing power–and super fast video encoding—-matters more than ever. Will there be more online video from London at the next summer Olympics in 2012? Absolutely. Will it be in high-definition? Its likely. Who says processing power doesnt matter?

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3 Responses to Processing Power (Still) Matters

  1. Joseph says:
    July 9, 2008 at 6:48 pm

    “So what does all this mean other than there is more content available when you want it, where you want it?”
    The main problem with video right now is that it’s not when I want it, where I want it. It’s when the video producers want me to be allowed to view it, where the video producers want me to be allowed to view it. In this particular case, the “2,200 hours of streaming video” are completely unavailable to me, because it requires Microsoft software, and I’m a linux user (it also requires Microsoft’s Digital Restrictions Management, which isn’t available on Linux at all, even with Microsoft’s codecs for Moonlight (a clone of Microsoft’s software)).
    In short, it’s great that there’s video out there, but between DRM and proprietary, patented technology, the control isn’t anywhere near the customer. When *they* want me to view it, where *they* want me to view it.
    That sucks.

  2. Bill says:
    July 10, 2008 at 10:43 am

    valid point Joseph, I wonder too if Linux variations take hold in say, this emerging new class of affordable netbooks and nettops which are designed mostly just for viewing content and email and browsing, whether the tide starts to change.

  3. Reid Carter says:
    July 24, 2008 at 6:13 pm

    I should have such problems! I’ve arrived here in pursuit of my next PC. It’s taken me over 8 years. I’m running a Pentium II (333 MHz). So, now I’m sneakers among Corvettes. But then with all you high rollers drinking 2,200 hours of non-stop video+, what happens to the throughput on the Internet? Won’t the bottleneck bring back the Nikes?
    Thanks.