Video-On-Demand by
Traxvision India:
Almost every home has a television today. It offers programs
from a number of available channels. The Cable TV (CATV)
makes it possible to choose programs from large number of
channels. Then became video rental business in combination
with a video recorder, which provided customers to select
& play movies whenever they wanted. Nowadays Video-on-Demand
(VOD) includes much wider services and opportunities. Today's
technology allows telecommunication network operators to
offer such services as home shopping, games, and movies
on demand.
Interactive services
Based on the level of interactivity, interactive services
can be classified into several categories.
|
»
|
Pay-per-view (PPV) services in which the user
pays for specific program or services.
|
|
»
|
Near
video-on-demand (N-VOD) services in which content
playback is prescheduled and user can pay &
join the interested program.
|
|
»
|
Interactive Video-on-Demand (I-VOD) services,
in which the user has complete control over the
playback of the content. The user has full- VCR
(virtual VCR) function capabilities, including
forward and reverse play, freeze, and random positioning.
Each user can view and control playback irrespective
of his joining time.
|
I-VOD requires a bi-directional signal from the user to
a centralized controller.
Interactive services cover a wide range of services from
movies-on-demand to distance learning. Some of the basic
interactive multimedia services are listed below:
Interactive multimedia services.
|
Application
|
Description
|
|
Movies-on-Demand
®
|
Customers
can select and play movies with full VCR capabilities
|
|
Interactive
video games ®
|
Customer
can play downloadable computer games without having
to buy a physical copy of the game.
|
|
Interactive
news television ®
|
Newscasts
tailored to custom tastes with the ability to
see more detail on selected stories. Interactive
selection and retrieval.
|
|
Catalogue
browsing ®
|
Customer
examines and purchases commercial products.
|
|
Distance
learning ®
|
Customers
subscribe to courses being taught at remote sites.
Students tailor courses to individual preferences
and time constraints.
|
|
Interactive
advertising ®
|
Customers
respond to advertiser surveys and are rewarded
with free services and samples.
|
System
Elements:
A Video-on-Demand system includes Video servers, community
network, switching office, set-top unit, and backbone
network. The data is stored on local distribution sites,
which are connected through high-speed backbone network
to information archives and video server. A provider can
tailor the information delivery to the specific tastes
of a user community in a particular geographic area and
reducing costs.
Set Top Box
The user interacts with the services by the set-top box
unit in the subscriber premises. Along with the television
and the remote control, it gives for the consumer's opportunity
to be connected to a video server and browse through a
selection of movies or contents such as news or games.
The key components of the set-top device are the line
transceiver, demodulator, decompression unit, back-channel
interface, remote control, and display driver
Community Network
The communications infrastructure between the customer
premises and the local switching office is called the
community or subscriber network. It connects the video
server and the set-top device.
Fiber
Currently, fiber is used in trunk lines. Cable and telephone
companies use feeder fibers to deliver information to
the nodes, which are serving customers by coaxial or copper
pair cables. Traffic in networks is expected to grow up
very fast due to new services, and so fiber to the home
(FTTH) and fiber to the curb (FTTC) systems, for example,
are expected to transmit wider bandwidths in the future.
At the same time, fiber has other advantages. It has no
active nodes in network to maintain and has the ability
to be installed in restricted duct space. Furthermore,
it maximizes Just-on-Time provisioning and is a truly
future proof network.
Video Servers
Video server provides the storage for video program material,
which can be requested by the customers. It has to perform
many functions, such as admission control, request handling,
data retrieval, guaranteed stream transmission, stream
encryption, and support of functions found in VCRs including
pause, rewind, and fast forward.
Traxvision VOD solutions
simplify deployment of on-demand television while maintaining
the lowest total cost of operation for cable operators
and telecom service providers.
|
