The Evolution of the Connected Home
Many television reception products now not only receive an off-air signal from an antenna but also require an internet connection to enable full operation. The retail stores are awash with Smart Televisions and STBs with "Catch Up" television facilities that require an internet connection and most homes are now "broadband enabled" with the ability for their internet ready equipment to be connected to the household broadband router and received streamed video and audio content from an OTT, IPTV or iPlayer source.
For all those television installers and engineers out there who remember C&G 224, the typical large screen television installation a couple of decades ago usually involved connecting to a VCR and receiving four or five television channels; back then "Catch Up" TV was when you pressed the fast forward button on a recording that you were watching! Now, we have to be smarter, not just the televisions.
But it is not rocket science is it? We still need a conventional RF signal (for now) to be received by an antenna (for now) to receive the bulk of the signal. Whether this will be the case for the next couple of decades is a matter of conjecture with the possibility that more content will be streamed via the internet. It is not inconceivable that at some stage, all content may be received this way.
This means that we are likely to see some further, major changes to how we watch television over the next decade and beyond and that we need to develop our skills and knowledge and to be better aware of what is in store; and let us be clear, where we are at the moment regarding the connected home is likely to be just the beginning! As things develop further, the consumer (and probably ourselves) may require some distinction and definition between products regarding operability, connectability and installation.
With this in mind the RDI have devised and are proposing that we start to adopt and implement a tiered structure regarding advanced CE products to enable them to fall into one of the following three categories: Connected Home Products, Smart Home Products and Ultra Home Products with proposed definitions for each below;
A product that can be part of the Connected Home can be defined as a consumer electronic HD product that has built in internet capability and the ability to digitally communicate with other CE products via a computer network in a hassle free and accessible manner. This would cover all high definition television viewing products that have network capability including; HD televisions, STBs, games consoles, Bluray players, PVRs etc.
A product that can be part of the Smart Home can be thought of as an Innovative, Connected Home product that has advanced capabilities including monitoring, operation and/or control of other networked products, wifi capable and able to seamlessly connect to smart gadgets such as cameras, smartphones, tablets etc. This would cover products such as; Smart Televisions, 8th generation games consoles (PS4, Xbox One etc), basic home automation systems etc.
The final category is only just emerging and really does not need an introduction as the title of Ultra Home Products gives it away! A product that can be part of the Ultra Home is a Smart Home product that is mega screen, Ultra HD capable and encompasses emerging, future ready technologies. Typical products obviously include UHD televisions (4K and 8K mega wide screens) and other UHD devices but could also include THX audio systems, advanced automation systems, Telehealthcare and other high-tech, high-spec equipment.
These categories are formative at the moment but we want to get the ball rolling as, in a few years time when UHD hits us (and probably many other high tech products!), consumers and installers will have even more products to purchase and install and clarity will be required on the functionality of these products and how to install and operate them.
The last 10 years or so of watching television has been described as a revolution, but it is not revolution now; it is evolution!
7:32 PM
Briantist:
Not all the backbone is fibre optic, just the major trunk connections and a growing number of links to sub-exchanges. Openreach are still laying new fibre in our general area to let them replace copper as the link between exchanges - lots still to do yet.
Though our own phone lines are copper, many newer areas had aluminium laid as it was cheaper - but has higher resistance so higher attenuation over longer distances.
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4:12 PM
They are just laying the pipes in our area to take the fibre.
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4:47 PM
If we have fibre optic everywhere why is it one persons best download is 1 mbs and 2 streets away it is 150mbs? Criticising a dead person will not give us a decent network Plus did'nt she stop being PM in about 24 years ago and BT still have'nt got it right? If it is there already how come everyone gets different basic speeds? If it is there surely everyone should have at least 12mbs a second?
But no as long as it is in hands of BT, Virgin etc we will always get different speed levels even though we pay for more. Papers today were complaining about BT getting the majority of contracts over last 5 or 10 years and still not providing a decent service
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5:08 PM
A connected home and TV by broadband etc is great - IF that is what you want and can pay for.
However, I have always maintained that the best use of available resources is to transmit TV over the air as millions can watch at the same time without clogging up the landline network.
Those who don't want or cannot afford a phone/broadband connection into their home will be left out in the cold if broadcast TV is ever scrapped.
Also - is there enough exchange capacity to supply every home with high speed broadband? It's very annoying to see the screen keep buffering even with a 7.5Mbs connection so country dwellers would have to do without TV altogether or spend hours downloading a programme to watch later.
By all means move with the times but keep the Freeview airwaves as they are a valuable strategic resource that should not be sold off for other use. If we are truly to have a choice let us choose how we want to view TV and not close off any options.
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