[gmwedding]

Ars Technica

By Jacqui Cheng | Published: May 16, 2007 - 10:56PM CT


ABC has announced that it plans to begin streaming TV shows in high definition from its web site, ABC.com, for free. The television network will begin a beta test for the new HD service in July with select shows, such as Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and Ugly Betty. ABC plans to offer even more shows as part of the online HD lineup in September when the new TV season starts.


Although ABC did not specify the bit rate of its HD broadcasts in its announcement, it did mention that the content would be available in "true" high-definition at 1280x720. ABC already offers full, streaming episodes of the above listed shows and more through its web site, but in standard definition and a maximum resolution of 800x600.


See the full story, with more on the affect this will have on current "broadband" ISP's and services like iTunes, here:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...sequences.html

 

[Ted Todorov]

Considering that ABC = Disney, unless Apple has forgotten about anything that isn't an iPhone, that should mean 720P material on iTunes as well.

 

[DaveGee]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Ted Todorov /forum/post/0


Considering that ABC = Disney, unless Apple has forgotten about anything that isn't an iPhone, that should mean 720P material on iTunes as well.

720P material on iTunes? Hell, I'd settle for the content still being be provided in something other than that satin spawn of a DRM ridden video format known affectionately as WMP10! :lol:


D


P.S. I feel somewhat silly since it would seem ABC isn't (at this point) using WMP to stream its shows. (phew - lets hope they keep it that way)

 

[Dbower]

Streaming is all fine and good, but if I can't save it or otherwise get it to my networked wide screen, it's pointless. If I need a show that I forgot to DVR, I'm forced to download an 'illegal' copy to watch it on the big screen.


The copy protection paranoia is putting a lid on true progress.


-Dave

 

[gmwedding]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Dbower /forum/post/0


Streaming is all fine and good, but if I can't save it or otherwise get it to my networked wide screen, it's pointless. If I need a show that I forgot to DVR, I'm forced to download an 'illegal' copy to watch it on the big screen.

Well no, you are "choosing" to download an illegal copy, not being "forced." By your logic, when we forgot to record "Lost" this week, we were "forced" to purchase the legal, $1.99 episode download from iTunes to see it a day late. However, we didn't see this as an opportunity to justify the theft of a program from an unlicensed Web site just to satisfy our need to see it right away. We did however see the experience as a valuable (but fortunately inexpensive) lesson about setting up those series recordings.


That said, If ABC will be streaming 720p HD, won't you be able to just directly connect your computer to the HDTV and watch ABC's IP stream in full screen mode? This capability would have saved us the cost of the $1.99 iTunes download.

 

[redondoman]

This is all fine and dandy for those of you with high speed cable or FIOS networks. For poor souls like myself that can only get 768 Kbps down DSL, I wish it would D/L and then stream.

 

[Ted Todorov]



Quote:
Originally Posted by redondoman /forum/post/0


This is all fine and dandy for those of you with high speed cable or FIOS networks. For poor souls like myself that can only get 768 Kbps down DSL, I wish it would D/L and then stream.

Yup, my 1.5mbps DSL ain't much better -- certainly no match for HD streaming. Unless the stuff is downloadable, or Verizon gets around to FIOSing my part of Manhattan, it might as well not exist. Just as with the recent Amazon music announcement, this one means more to me in terms of what Apple will be pushed to do in response.


End even if our internet speeds catch up, there are all kinds of questions as to whether ISPs will be able to keep up with mass HD streaming in prime time. They may either throttle or their pipes won't be able to handle all the traffic.


Unless something fundamental changes, like ISPs stop blocking multicasting (read Cringey for more on that subject), these experiments (add the other webs plus Netflix, plus to P2P traffic), won't fly.