Video On Demand Technology Becomes More Of A Reality Every Day

By Author: Emily Sanderson
Total Articles: 32
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Video on demand technology is something that we're sure to see more of in
the years and decades to come. After all, what could be better than choosing
what to watch and then being able to watch it on a moments notice no matter
what time it is? Services that feature video on demand are already in
existence and several different forms of the technology already exists.

The most common form of video on demand technology involves having a
number of available videos stored on a server computer in a central location.
When a viewer wants to watch one of these videos, she or he simply requests
it, and the server computer sends that video to the viewer. This is how
streaming Internet video and the video on demand services of cable TV
companies work. They obviously use different technology to transmit the
video, but the concept is generally the same.

Another technique that can be used to deliver video on demand is through
digital video recorder technology. This is the favored technology of satellite TV
companies. Basically, the hard ...
... drive of the DVR takes the place of the server
computer in this scheme. This is a lot better for how satellite TV works in that
because satellite TV doesn't have a distinct connection with every single
household that's receiving its service, its programming has to be sent to all of
its subscribing households all at once. This model of TV transmission doesn't
allow for individual streams of programming that are necessary to deliver
video on demand service from a central location. In order to get around this,
satellite TV providers simply deliver their video on demand content to all of the
digital video recording satellite receivers that are in the homes of their
subscribers all in a single burst. Then the subscribers can access that video
when they're ready to watch it. This is done periodically in order to provide
subscribers with a fresh selection of video on demand options.

The use of digital video recorder technology to provide video on demand
service is limited in a number of obvious ways. First of all, the satellite TV
provider has to dedicate an entire channel- or several channels- to delivering
video on demand content. Second, a household DVR will have a much
smaller capacity to store video on demand offerings than a larger server
computer or bank of servers.

Neither of the above limitations are particularly dire though. For example,
satellite TV providers have enough bandwidth (and are adding more
bandwidth) so that dedicating a few channels to video on demand really isn't
much of a burden. The relatively limited capacity of household DVR receivers
also isn't much of an impediment to video on demand because the licensing
of the movies and TV shows, along with other legal issues, is holding up the
implementation of comprehensive video on demand at least as much as the
limitations of technology like hard drive space. That should give hard drive
capacities plenty of time to catch up. This is especially true when you look at
how rapidly hard drive capacities are growing these days.

In all, video on demand has a lot of promise to keep us entertained with
exactly what we want to watch, and is well on its way to becoming a reality.

E.Sanderson writes articles for consumers who want to find the latest technonoly news about Cable TV Deals. She has written for many major publications about Cable Television Provider and the best deals offered.