By the end of 2009, MPEG-4 will take over cable too
DirecTV and DISH have already figured out that the best way to make the most out of bandwidth is to make the switch to MPEG-4 and have even convinced some providers to supply them content in the soon-to-be standard in video compression. Now, as expected, cable is looking to make the switch to help solve their bandwidth woes and one of Moto's VPs Geoff Roman predicts that MPEG-4 will see widespread deployment in 2009 and "By the latter part of 2009, MPEG-2 stand-alone devices will have completely disappeared." We assume that by stand-alone, he means MPEG-2 only, and not hybrids that are sure to fill the gap for years to come -- till everything is all switched over. This is great news, cause it means they'll have more room for all that new HD content that we all want, now for now, there's just the long wait.
Filed under: Industry, Set-top boxes
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Logan @ Dec 20th 2007 1:15PM
Give me 1080p TV please!
Prey521 @ Dec 20th 2007 2:38PM
Will never happen.
bigglare @ Dec 20th 2007 5:56PM
1080p broadcasting, according to studies contributes 75% of of the remaining 10% of greenhouses gases not produced by Al Gore crying about my lightbulbs. Hee hee.
Seriously, 1080p broadcasts are not likely to happen. Networks can't even get it right with 720p and and 1080i without problems. Most don't even use their full bandwidth now. My concern with this notion of going all mpeg4 will kill the QAM support for local channels which are protected by FCC rules. But then that won't stop Comcast from ignoring more FCC regulations.
TrentD @ Dec 20th 2007 3:33PM
Even if MPEG 4 cut bandwidth requirements in half, going from 1080i to 1080p would double the required bandwidth, putting them right back where they started - out of bandwidth.
Jody @ Dec 20th 2007 1:23PM
1080P don't hold your breath, not enough bandwidth for that even with MPEG-4 comp. I don't believe the 1080p hype anyway. Planet earth in 1080P off my HD-A30 or 1080i off Discovery HDT, I can't tell a lick of difference on my 50" 1080p plasma and I have perfect vison thanks to LASIK
Eddie @ Dec 20th 2007 1:45PM
Your comment is like a Michael Bay film - chock full of product placement!
Eddie @ Dec 20th 2007 1:45PM
MPEG 4 sucks. It ruined my DirecTiVo, and now it's set its sights on you already embattled cable suscribers.
There's always Xbox. It's what I keep telling myself.
SimbaDogg @ Dec 20th 2007 2:55PM
Umm...not quite
MPEG4 didn't ruin your directv tivo...directv dvr ruined it. There's absolutely nothing wrong w/ MP4, more compression, but it looks great and saves space. u should be thankful for it. You should just be bummed that direct got greedy and chose not to renew their contract w/ tivo.
Jim Mallory @ Dec 20th 2007 2:09PM
Maybe Cable will be using MPEG4 to receive programming from providers but I don't understand how they will be sending MPEG4 to consumers when.
All those old Motorola DCT series STBs do have MPEG4 decoders in hardware and the CPUs aren't powerful enough to do it in software. I am not sure on the DCH and SA/Cisco stuff...but are cable companies really ready to mass upgrade even just the HD subscribers?
All Digital Cable Ready TVs sold both currently and in the past don't have MPEG4 decoders either.
Maybe for Pay Per View and things that require a two-way STB anyway...but I can't see mainstream linear HD channels going to MPEG4 anytime soon.
TrentD @ Dec 20th 2007 2:29PM
They'll have to replace the boxes. This happens every few years anyway.
Jim Mallory @ Dec 20th 2007 2:54PM
Yeah, but replace them with what? Motorola doesn't have an officially announced product that supports MPEG4 at the subscriber's home. Even data sheets on the new DCH units only say MPEG2. It's possible that the DCH units MPEG2 decoder happens to be a MPEG2/MPEG4 decoder and it just takes firmware to enable them. But cable will also have to deal with all those QAM equipped TVs that don't have MPEG4 decoders, Tivo Series 3 that don't have MPEG4 decoders, and Vista Media Center PCs that don't have MPEG4 decoders. Vista may not be that big of a problem (just have to get an MPEG4 Codec and hope that your CPU and graphics card can handle the load), Tivo might be able to adapt, but TVs use hardware MPEG2 encoders and there is no way of updating those. I don't think the FCC would take a favorable view of just getting Cablecard implemented and then have the industry render them obsolete by using a non-standard (at least in the ATSC world) codec.
MegaZone @ Dec 20th 2007 5:41PM
The TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD have MPEG-4 decoders - they're just not active in the current software. Right now MPEG-2 decoding is enabled. But the hardware is in there for MPEG-4 and VC-1/WMV too.
Mr Bobby @ Dec 20th 2007 4:06PM
Ok, am I just not getting that picture? Both sides read "MPEG 2 @ 18mbps." I know the one on the right also reads "Transcoded." So, does that mean that the signal is broadcast in "MPEG 4" but transcoded into "MPEG 2" when it hits the home boxes?
Ben @ Dec 20th 2007 4:06PM
That example is when MPEG-4 is sent from the provider and then trancoded before the signal is sent to the customer.
paul @ Dec 21st 2007 9:04AM
What does this mean for my HDTivo
paul @ Dec 21st 2007 9:16AM
Sorry, my post was delayed
Galley @ Dec 21st 2007 9:43AM
Good old cable companies; always 3-5 years behind satellite in technology.