Microsoft: IPTV Doesn't Need QOS, Works on Xbox

Step_into_Liquid_looked_great_streaming_live"TV/video services powered by Mediaroom 2.0 can be delivered to any broadband consumer, not just to customers on a managed-QoS IPTV network," Microsoft's Scott Rowe writes. The new IIS Smooth Streaming was shown at SUPERCOMM to reporters who liked the HD. It will be a natural tool for British Telecom, Bell Canada, and others who don't offer IPTV but can easily support video-on-demand. Profitabilty of full telco TV packages is rare; I believe both Verizon and AT&T are showing losses on TV after five years.

It shouldn't be news that "Microsoft enables operators to offer a premium, HD-quality video-on-demand service, with minimal buffering and fast startup times, even over IP-based networks of varying bandwidths," but a slew of lawyers, economists and registered lobbyists have been claiming otherwise in D.C. Some people who should know better believe them.

Netflix streaming movies look OK at 720p on our 50" plasma over Verizon 3 megabit DSL andI don't remember a single interruption because of line problems, even if I'm actively using the computer at the same time. When they bring us FiOS I expect streaming to be near perfect at 1080 as well. Bandwidth costs continue to come down rapidly, so streaming at full HD rates (AT&T and many cablecos uses 6.5 megabits or less) will soon be economical. Working with Microsoft and CacheLogic, I did a demo of live 6 megabit HD TV back in 2007. It works fine with a few seconds or less of buffer. Many of today's networks can handle those speeds. Jason Livingood of Comcast has pointed out their network very, very rarely drops below 8.4 megabits for standard service. When it is "traffic-managed" - far less than 1% of customers - the actual results is packets delayed minimally, something the buffer can usually handle invisibly to the consumers. As far as I'm concerned, a network that can live-stream 6 megabit HD video is effectively neutral.

I just tested 720p Desperate Housewives from ABC.com started in 7 seconds with their player from Move Networks. The 1.4 megabit stream was reasonably sharp with some artifacts. 2.5 meg 720p generally looks fine, although you really want more for some action shows. The 6 megabit demo we did was Step Into Liquid (pre-encoded) then streamed on a large screen at Web Video Summit. It was a wow.
Three years ago, Microsoft and AT&T announced you'd be able to use your Xbox instead of a set-top by the end of the year. Finally, at CES 2010, they are showing a product that can be used as a "node" for a second TV but not a full set-top. It uses the U-Verse set-top as DVR to avoid "heat and hardware reliability problems." Despite the many problems, Microsoft IPTV on U-Verse has found two million customers and is doing better than almost anyone in technology expected.


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