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Technology Stocks : C-Cube
CUBE 36.91+1.5%12:17 PM EST
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To: John Mireley who wrote (47339)11/3/1999 10:26:00 AM
From: BillyG   of 50808
 
Good questions John. Here's my take on the situation:

If DWDM can put 100's or 1000's of channels
on a single fiber, and that fiber can be
delivered to the set top, what is the need for
mpeg2 compression?

IF those things are true then technically the compression may not be needed. But the optical components cost a lot more than the MPEG2 compnents so it's not economically feasible. Plus, you will need compression for hard disc storage and digital VCR functions.

Wouldn't DV suffice?

DV is also compressed. Why use DV when almost all of the infrastructure (satellite, HDTV, etc.) is MPEG-2?

Doesn't the bandwidth required for video on
demand, internet access etc, require fiber
to the set top box?

The short answer is "no." The primary bottleneck for video on demand is at the server and the switches, not in the connection from the cable system to the settop box. Internet access is blazingly fast on my cable modem. If other people in my neighborhood subscribe to cable modem service and slow down my connection, then I will switch to DSL.

There is a real shortage of quality affordable optical components for fiber communications. That is why Nortel announced yesterday that it is adding 5,000 people and a factory to beef up its optical product line.
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