高清在线在引爆点

Of all the sessions at last week's 流媒体 East 2009 in New York, the initial keynote generated perhaps the most discussion. While we covered the keynote by Akamai's CEO, Paul Sagan very briefly in a 前一篇文章, the topic deserves a more detailed look.

Sagan started off by referencing the title of his speech, "HD Online @ the Tipping Point" by noting it could have been titled "Internet video at the tipping point".

"What I mean by this title is that, for the first time in more than a decade, we're finally competitive with 'plain old television' for both viewers 和 quality,萨根说。. "The consumer is finally getting what we've talked about for more than a decade: quality content where you want it, 当你想要的时候."

Sagan has a background in broadcast television 和 cable television, having spent more than 15 years producing television content, 包括12年的哥伦比亚广播公司, 和 a stint at Time Warner that included launching cable networks 和 interactive video to TV sets in the daysbefore online video, such as the "Full Service Network" for Time Warner down in Florida, 与走鹃.

萨根的背景, when cable was just starting to blossom, is key to his point of view on the similarities between cable 和 online video. A few 前一篇文章s (including 这一个 have touched on this topic, but Sagan laid out the similarities concisely.

"What brought it to the tipping point in cable television?萨根说。. "Early on, it was a technology solution for those who didn't have good over-the-air reception. 回到那些日子, HBO was a local-only cable access channel in lower Manhattan; they had Isl和ers games, 但不是游骑兵队的比赛."

"The tipping point came when the choice was to follow the lead of Atlanta's WTBS 'Super Station' 和 put HBO on satellite as a pay service,萨根接着说. “随着越来越多的人付费, 内容变好了, which then created a cycle that pushed better subscriptions 和 even better content. In the same way, video is finally ready to take on traditional TV."

"We're on the cusp of many new businesses starting up,萨根说。, "和 what the early days of broadb和 taught us is that, once consumers have access to fast b和width, that level of speed becomes the st和ard by which they judge all future online broadb和 experiences. 给定全动态视频, 游戏, 和 other high-quality online entertainment experiences, consumers will push every previous entertainment tool off the table 和 focus on consuming broadb和-delivered content."

过去的是序幕
萨根花了几分钟, addressing the last decade of streaming 和 online video delivery, 从1999年到2008年, 注意关键的试金石:

换句话说, we've seen a sea change from a decade ago, in terms of quality 和 scalability,萨根说。. "Add to it this year's March Madness NCAA basketball tournament, for which we provide the on-dem和 playback, 和 we're also seeing a sea change in HD delivery."