HDi Technology Fast Downloads

New HDi technology could bring high-speed movie downloads to everyone. A new type of internet technology could allow people across Britain to stream and download high-definition videos over the web, even if they have a slow broadband connection.

Analysts at Gartner predicting that around 20 million people worldwide will be subscribing to internet-based TV services by the end of the year, up 64 per cent in 12 months. Broadcasters are keen to find ways to deliver their content more broadly via the web, especially to those who either cannot afford the highest speed broadband services, or those unable to subscribe to super-fast internet access because of the location of their home and their distance from a telephone exchange.


But the new technology, known as HDi, is set to revolutionise the broadcasting industry, said Alki David, founder of video-streaming website FilmOn.com, and one of the men who helped develop the software.

?The way we watch film is changing,? Mr David told The Times. ?People used to dress up to go out to the cinema. Then it was a trip to the video store. Now you?re at home with your plasma TV and an internet connection.?

The major selling point of HDi technology is its ability to stream high-definition video to computers and televisions without any of the judder or lag commonly experienced when watching video online over a slow internet connection. This ?buffering? can render even standard-definition or low-resolution videos unwatchable online. But Mr David said HDi eliminates lag in high-definition videos, web content and live programming delivered over slow broadband connections, thanks to a compression technology he created that ?squeezes? the signal so it can be transmitted more quickly.

?We?re trained to watch what?s on the box, but audiences are not fools and it doesn?t take long at all to change,? said Mr David. ?The YouTube generation is a good example. You can seek what you want to watch when you want. We?re the next step. It?s a natural evolution to qualitative distribution.?

At present, the HDi technology is only used to deliver FilmOn?s own products and services, but Mr David and Rich Crosby, a television engineer from Miami, are due to demonstrate the technology to BT in early 2009. Mr David and Mr Crosby are also exploring the possibility of building the technology into set-top boxes that could enable viewers to watch internet-delivered content on their televisions rather than their computers.

Mr David said that HDi was a ?virtual cable television service?, and could be watched on computers, TVs and even mobile phones. It could run over existing copper or wireless networks, claims Mr David, unlike conventional fibre-optic television services, which require ?last mile? roll-out to be ?plumbed? directly into people?s homes.

FilmOn, which launched today, offers more than 7,000 films and documentaries for streaming, more than half of which are free. New releases and popular titles will cost �3.99 to stream and ?rent? for 24 hours, or �5 to download. There is also a YouTube-like area, where users can upload their own video clips and content.

Filmon Movie Downloads

The trouble with HD movie downloads is that the sequel could well come out before you've had the time to download the original. But a new technology could make it possible to download high definition films, even over slow broadband connections, in seconds instead of hours.

The new video-on-demand service will be available from movie download website FilmOn. The technology gets around the problems of very large file sizes by compressing them and sending them via a cloud computing network.

The technology is known as HDi and the service is dubbed "Virtual Cable Television" by Alki David, the man who created the compression software powering the service.

"The way we watch film is changing," Mr David told The Times. "People used to dress up to go out to the cinema. Then it was a trip to the video store. Now you're at home with your plasma TV and an internet connection."

The company is to show the technology to BT in 2009 with the hope that the telco will use it in its own television service BT Vision. David said that unlike conventional high-definition programming, this technology does not require fibre optic cabling to be installed to the customer's doorstep. Instead it can be used over traditional copper cabling.

The FilmOn service, launches today and will be offering more than 7,000 films and documentaries for streaming. New films and popular titles will be able to be rented for �3.99 for 24 hours or �5 to download and keep. Users of the service can also upload their own clips as well.

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Vizumi Movie Downloads Close Down

Arts Alliance Media (AAM) has closed its Vizumi movie download network. AAM cited the slow growth of the UK's transactional online movie sector as one of the reasons behind its decision to discontinue its download services. AAM's resources will now be focused on the digital cinema business.

AAM's withdrawal from the online movie distribution sector comes at a time when many companies, such as Tesco, are only beginning to roll out video download services in the UK.

The 2005 launch of the Lovefilm digital store marked the first significant attempt to distribute legal movie downloads in the UK. While it is often the case that being an early entrant into a new market conveys some competitive advantage over slower rivals AAM's move into online movie distribution was perhaps too early.

Consumers have been slow to embrace legal digital downloads, deterred by a host of obstacles including long download times, prohibitively high pricing (particularly for digital retail) and the limited choice of titles. These issues are gradually being resolved; broadband speeds are increasing, pricing is coming down and Studios are becoming more willing to license their content. The transactional online movie market is beginning to pick up ? Screen Digest forecasts 1.3m digital movies will have been rented or bought in 2008.

However this market growth does not mean that AAM's decision to exit the market is unwise. The market has grown primarily as a result of the introduction of movies to Apple's iTunes store (iTS) in June 2008 and the iTS now dominates the UK online movie market. Outlets which are not closely bound to a device, including those run by AAM, struggle to generate significant sales volumes as consumers are reluctant to buy content which cannot easily be moved off the PC.

The launch of movies through the iTS has also compelled other stores to lower their prices in order to compete with those set by Apple - �10.99 for digital retail new releases and �6.99 for library titles. While this is good news for consumers, this price drop reduces the already low retailer margins still further.

From an economics perspective, the transactional online video market is shaping up to be a 'value-add' business, with successful service providers investing heavily and paying over the odds for content for digital distribution in order to drive a separate, higher-margin profit centre ? devices sales in the case of Apple or increasing supermarket footfall (through cross-promotion) in the case of Tesco. AAM does not have another business centre for which its online distribution network could play this supporting role. As such concentrating on digital cinema, in which AAM is one of the leading players in Europe, is likely to prove a far more profitable use of AAM's resources than maintaining its online distribution network.

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Virgin broadband super fast downloads

Broadband users have been offered Britain's fastest-ever connection by Virgin Media, the cable company ? but the new service could cost you up to �51 a month.

This is the price for the ultra-fast, 50 megabit per second (Mb/s) connection if it is not bundled with other services. It costs �35 a month for customers who also have a Virgin phone line.

Virgin's new service will be nine times the speed of average broadband in Britain, allowing users to download video and online television faster than ever before, the company said. Be Broadband, a rival company owned by O2, currently offers a 24Mb facility, with Virgin's existing top speed being 20Mb/s.

Around 1.3m homes in parts of Scotland, the Midlands and south London will be able to sign up for the 50Mb/s service this month, Virgin said, and it will be available to all 12.6m homes on the company's fibre optic network by next summer.

Users will be able to download an entire music album in as little as 11 seconds, a TV show in a minute and a movie in as little as 3.5 minutes.

The new service may seem dizzyingly fast but in Japan and Korea 50Mb/s is standard and one German provider is testing a 200Mb/s service, said Chris Williams of Simplify Digital, an independent advice service on digital products.

Ceri Stanaway, Which? magazine's broadband expert, said: "What we always say is that if you are emailing or surfing all you really need is 2Mb/s. But speeds might become more important if people start watching more television online. It is as much about what might happen in the future as well as what you need now."

Virgin's upgraded network will mean "significant improvements" to the service received by all its broadband customers, the company said.

Source: Telegraph