I have seen the death of spinning discs: Streaming services - Page 15

Five years?? I wouldn't be using any laptops in five years that I have now. The longest I would use them would be three and that would be extreme length.

Also I wouldn't be using any of my other electronic devices in 5 years. I think I got the longest use from my HDTiVos from DirecTV. I used them from MAy2004 until May2007. And I guess my old 2001 HDTV I used from 2001 to 2005. I doubt I'll use any of my current HD sets for that long.

Really?

As I look around my house, I'm still using a 23-yr-old power amp, a 26-yr-old receiver, a 13-yr-old receiver, (2) 15-yr-old Laserdisc players, speakers ranging from 2 to 26 years old, a 22-yr-old guitar amp, etc. - all items that I bought new and have maintained carefully. Why would you get rid of something that still works properly?

This is part of my real problem with downloads. They tie the ownership and use of the media to technology that has an implied short lifespan. Once I pay for it, I want the ability to use it as long as I live. Given the lifespan of writable media, I don't see downloads as a reasonable way to meet that requirement.

I'm on my fifth 7.1 receiver since 2001. My 5.1 receiers I woned in the 90's are long gone. There is no electronic device I won that is more than a few years old. I always replace them and sell or give away my old device.
Although now that I think about it my oldest components are my speakers from my 7.1 system. I've had them since 2001 and am waiting for my SVS M series speakers to arrive to replace them.
Then my SVS2039PC+ subwoofer is about six years old. I don't plan on replacing that yet until I hear what the M series speakers sound like with it.
My speakers are the one device I have seriously negelected this century. While I've upgrade my HD video components multiple times and receivers multiple times.

I agree with everything you said in the post except the above. I work in the Telecommunications Industry (BT Global Services) & my job is to primarily test trasnport (for MPLS access).

In my opinion the US transport backbone (combination of SONET, Frame Relay, MPLS, & GigE) is enough for all 400 million or so TV's in this country to get 720P at all times (utilizing IPTV/multi cast technology).


Verizon, AT&T et all are practically giving away Oc-12 & Oc-48 rings because of the recent economic climate. The wholesale rate to carries for "just bandwidth" is not that much. There is a lot of dark fiber in this country & DWDM is your friend.

As always, it is the last-mile access that is the problem. AT&T just recently upgraded to Oc-768 for their own CONUS backbone (more or less) so that is not a problem. However, while physically there may not be a problem with the backbone, the way the RBOC's roll out new services, historically, at incremental rates, will assure that to get to that backbone nirvana will cost us end users huge fees which is sort of a defacto limiter.


More to the point of this thread, on the 31st I watched two episodes of American Dad via Hulu on my PS3. It was a very nice experience. I have also been thinking of signing up for Netfilx just to get watch instantly (I subscribe to Blockbuster Online & I know that they are working on such a instance but I do not want to wait).

However wait I will, because AT&T is rumored to start 80G caps any day now on my 6Mbs DSL connection.

I too, believe that download will eventually take over, but today the bandwidth climate is just too uncertain.

And so I wait & I fear a lot of others will too.

8 years ago I worked for a company that developed the 40 Gbps drivers for Lithium Niobate modulators. You should explain that OC-768 is 40 Gbps and DWDM is multiplexing 160 (or more) of these 40 Gbps channels into a single fiber. People just don't understand the incredible bandwidth that can be built with fiber and eventually fiber to the home will be reality. I don't mean 40 Gbps but one should expect 500 Mbps or 1 Gbps within 5 years.

Yes you are correct. The capability for just raw transport is, indeed, astounding.

That's a lot of space in a little card. My "new" 1TB external drive weighs like 3 pounds and is the size of a small novel.

Still, spinning discs are just so damn cheap to manufacture, which is where any technology like SD cards fall down, unfortunately.