Fast Net News, DSL Prime, DOCSIS Report

Microsoft, Cachelogic and I demo'ed full 6 megabit HD video over the net at Web Video Summit, and the stars are now aligned for HD to become first practical and then common – unless the carriers succeed in taxing the net outrageously. That's cheap enough that even HD TV over the net can be supported by ads, and it becomes a no-brainer for any movie service that charges to offer true HD.

Dan Rayburn, the guru of the streaming media world, reports “The lowest price I saw in Q1 was two and a half cents per GB delivered for over 500TB of traffic a month. When I questioned many of the major CDNs about this price, nearly all of them told me they don't price delivery that low, but the contracts say otherwise. That price is not the norm as 500TB a month in delivery is a very large customer.” Repeat: This is not a typical price, even at that large volume. Dan reports more normal prices are 2-4 times this level. So U.S. cents 15-25 is more typical for full HD.

A four megabit stream – better than any of the “HD” on the web today, and as good as many channels on cable/satellite, - is 2 GB per hour. 6 gigabits – which we demo'd live over the net at Web Video Summit in 2007 – is 3 GB per hour. Currently, most of the “HD” on the web is 2.0-2.5 gigabits, slightly better than a DVD or typical digital cable. Just like an up-sampled DVD, it looks pretty good unless you compare it side-by-side to a blu-ray or a decent HD network feed.

Paramount/MGM's epixhd.com is in a closed beta soon to go live with top Hollywood movies on demand. Epix was at the Cable Show looking for cablecos and telcos to pick up their new net and their added service online. There's an emerging model of online networks like this staying inside the cablecos walled garden, a worrisome trend that splits the net. Danger here.