On Thu, 12 May 2005 13:40:45 -0500 eric-list-nanog@catastrophe.net wrote:
On Thu, 2005-05-12 at 14:32:45 -0400, Joe Loiacono proclaimed...
So imagine a residential area all pulling digital video over wireless. Sound familiar? Ironically close to TV! (yet so different)
What I can't understand is why multicast hasn't just gone gangbusters into use yet. I see it as a really pent-up capability that, in light of broadband video, etc., is just going to have to break wide open soon.
Do any of the cable companies actually use multicast? A while back, I saw some programming information being broadcast out to my cable modem (I don't remember if it was multicast at this point), but with the DVR's out there now, my TV is just a glorified computer display anyway :)
- Eric
A number of video providers abroad use multicast video services - some over DSL ("cable" is getting to be anachronistic) - I can send you some PR if you are interested. I have heard that some US providers are / will be doing the same but I know no details. All that I know of are using it interally, for video distribution, and have no plans to allow arbitrary outside multicasts inside. One reason is that they have existing expensive stuff to get the video to the head end (i.e., satellite systems). The other is that they view their primary business model as a gatekeeper (i.e., they don't want to open it up to any video stream - they want content providers to pay for the privilege). Regards Marshall Eubanks P.S. If you google on this, be aware that multicast also means sending two or more digital video channels over the air in 1 FCC channel allocation. When news reports say that "station XYZ announces multicast of local high school football games," that's what they are talking about.