Comments on: Bram Cohen: My goal is to kill off television

By: Guy Barsheshet

Guy Barsheshet — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:47:21 +0000

I’ts not about live, it’s about STREAMING…
If we can stream live content we can also stream offline content including Movies and TV…
Now that is the real Hollywood killer.

By: ec

ec — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:19:15 +0000

matthewfabb is exactly right. P2P has been available in Flash Player since 10.1. And it has been used to do very large scale live shows. “multicast” that he refers to is not just native IP multicast (which doesn’t really work over the public internet). It is referring to application level multicast, which happens over the p2p mesh. But it is not just that. Where native IP multicast is available, it is a seamless blend of the 2. Where you can get the data over native IP multicast (most efficient), it will. And where it cannot, it will fill it in via p2p (or app level) multicast. To the end user, they just ask to play a stream, and it will magically get delivered by 1 of the 2 methods discussed above, or BOTH at the same time. Similarly, for the publishing client, the complexity to manage the different delivery mechanisms is hidden. It is actually quite powerful, and works very well, and the protocol has many desirable properties that BTL may not.

By: Peter John

Peter John — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:34:45 +0000

Please – hit me up on twitter with info on this. Same handle, no spaces.

By: TechkyDude

TechkyDude — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:34:13 +0000

Excellent question

By: daskdee

daskdee — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:48:37 +0000

Availability of P2P technology in itself is not going to do anything. The fundamental issue is still the “content” itself. You have to own good content and the production or acquisition of good content comes at a cost as Dan Rayburn points out. You cannot create quality programs without some central infrastructure. While this may work for P2P conferencing and video game tournaments, live sports broadcasting is not a joke. You have to be able to provide multiple camera feeds, professional camera operators, with knowledge and ability to follow on field action, and also have technology for A/V post processing, dealing with rights issues (NFL, MLB, ….), Ad-insertions etc., and also have a central infrastructure to be able to provide switching between multiple viewing angles, instant replays, SAP etc etc.

So while bold statements like “Kill of TV” make for nice headlines, it is impractical today to achieve the same level of end user experience with P2P (with no central infrastructure) as it is with existing live broadcasting of events. I can see a day in the future where P2P aided with some sort of cloud based setup for post production, mixing and delivery for a limited set of sporting events (with acceptable latency). But I would argue that mere P2P – with no central infrastructure will not “kill of TV”.

By: Laurent Marie Coq

Laurent Marie Coq — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:13:39 +0000

A true poet!

By: Laurent Marie Coq

Laurent Marie Coq — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:10:10 +0000

It still goes on. The matter fact is that I am having here a tiny LAN box hooked up to my TV offering 1357 pirated HD DvD and 435 LD DvD + Radio + World TV……

By: Laurent Marie Coq

Laurent Marie Coq — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:04:51 +0000

Any folks that have “played” against big fishes are either dead, have disappeared, or are now living in a trailer on a Doritos/beers diet…. Solong Bram, it was nice knowing you!

By: Mike Langford

Mike Langford — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:01:08 +0000

Lmao….what are you talking about?

By: thelonepunman

thelonepunman — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:29:35 +0000

Here’s a thought…have the traditional broadcasters as the PLAN B when the wired/wireless system collapses when Mrs. Murphy’s great-great-great-great-grandcow kicks over the flourescent lamp in the milking parlor and the resultant mercury vapor causes a “HAZMAT CHICKEN-LITTLE DEFCON 9 LEVEL” event that causes every little Tom, Dick and Hillary have to get on their FacePlant, TwitterRista, iPuck, iFone, Crackberry device (ad nauseum) at the same time and bring about the biggest ClusterFlock DNS the world has ever experienced or seen. And while every one who thinks they matter decides that they have to dial 9-1-1 to report the event to their aunt’s mother’s soothsayer and part-time Mayan spiritialist (for you EOTWAWKI-types)…your local broadcaster will still be able to tell you that the offending cow has been PETA-certified as still being healthy, safely out of the milking parlor and pooping on some grassy knoll near a downtown Dallas Parkway. BECAUSE, if you don’t have a PLAN B, you have anarchy. BTW, does anyone remember what happens when all the eggs are in one basket? It appears the FCC still doesn’t have a clue and continues to operate that way. Go figure. Enough soap-boxing…