Quote:
Originally Posted by GatorB
Well considering that
A) 33% of Americans have no internet
B) 17% only have dial-up
C) The ISPs have shown ZERO interest in bringing broadband to those that don't have it already.
D) The average speed for those with broadband is 2 Mbps. Which is about 1/4 the minimum speed you need for HD downloading or streaming. ISPs do offer higher speeds but they are too expensive for the average user to justify.
E) ISPs like Time Warner are experimenting with caps. In TWs case they range from 5 GB - 40 GB. A HD download from Xbox Live or Itunes is 6 GB.
Phyiscal media is going to be needed and wanted for quite some time.
|
Regular DVD media is adequate for those without internet or broadband. Those who don't care about their internet access availability/speed probably aren't going to care about the insignificant gains in picture and sound quality that blu-ray will bring either. My parents are a prime example. They JUST got a DVD player within the last year. They resented having to get rid of their VHS player and thought the picture quality was "just fine."
Bandwidth speeds don't seem to be a problem. Here in bumblefuck kansas, the basic broadband plan from Cox is 7 Mbps with a 30GB d/l cap. For a little extra you can get 12 Mbps with a 60 GB d/l cap. I'll admit the caps need to be increased a LOT before downloading full-length, HD movies will be viable.
In the last year and a half or so that I have lived here, the speeds have increased from 3 Mbps to 7 Mbps for standard plans. If we keep seeing speed increases like that, in a couple of years streaming HD will be very possible assuming the d/l limits are increased as the bandwidth increases. You're right, we're not ready yet but we will be very soon.