Dial-up Vs. Broadband Video

The decision to pay the extra fees and move from dial-up to broadband usually involves meeting three wants: faster downloads, faster uploads and live streaming video.

The transmission of live streaming video is dependent on bandwidth, video codecs and the ability to transmit as many frames per second as possible. Lets review how these variables effect video on dial-up and broadband.

First a little background on bandwidths and speeds. A lot of people use the terms bandwidth and speeds interchangeably, so its important to clarify the difference. Think of a water pipe. You can get more water through the pipe by increasing the pressure to send it through faster. This increases the speed.? You can also get more water out the end by increasing the size of the pipe. This increases the bandwidth?/p>

When you go from a dial-up ISP to a broadband ISP, you increase the size of the pipe by getting more bandwidth. This way you can get more data through the pipe in the same amount of time, thus allowing faster uploads and downloads. Video is data, too, but good video requires enormous amounts of data. Because of this, video is often referred to as a bandwidth hog. When you increase the bandwidth, you allow more video through in the same amount of time.

Programmers can use creative and complicated mathematical formulas called algorithms to put the data into packets that allow more packets to go through the pipe. This is comparable to increasing the speed of the water in the pipeline. In the world of video, the algorithm is called a codec. Well known codecs include MPEG-4, MPEG-2 and JPEG.

In order to evaluate codecs, a definition of quality is necessary. The number of frames per second (fps) is usually the objective measurement of video quality. Broadcast quality video?is an overused term that typically means 25 to 35 fps. Independent of theoretical rates, most live video streamed on the internet through broadband is in the range of 10 to 15 fps. Its not like HDTV or like movies in the theater, but it is sufficient for the purpose.

JPEG transmits video like a movie. Each full picture frame from the film strip?is transmitted and viewed. When the individual pictures, called frames, are accumulated together rapidly, they appear to display motion, just like a film strip.

MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and others dont send a full frame each time. They send whats called an I-Frame, which is a full frame, only once in a while. In between the I-Frames, they only send the video data that change. So, if the image is from a fixed camera in a room where someone is walking, the wall doesnt change, so the image of the wall is not sent with each frame. Only the spots where the person is moving are transmitted between the I-frames. This eliminates a lot of data without changing the quality of the video. So, with the same amount of data, the end result can be more frames per second. This is why MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 are said to offer higher quality video.

What is bandwidth? Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be sent in a second, typically measured in kilobits per second (kbps). Did you ever notice how TV reporters on satellite phones sometimes look weird? They are usually transmitting at very low bandwidths of less than 5 fps. Have you asked yourself why cell phone voice plans typically can only transmit still video images, or video clips that are so slow that motion is not apparent? Thats because their maximum bandwidth is 9.6 kbps, also considered very low.

Cell phone data plans and dial-up telephone service fall in the less than 56 kbps range. Broadband is above 56 kbps. Cable companies typically offer it in 128 kbps or 256 kbps increments. However, these are maximum rates. For example, dial-up telephone usually fluctuates between 30 and 45 kbps in the real world, even though it is theoretically 56 kbps.

MPEG-4 and its many variants are pretty much the standard for sending video over broadband. Many different companies have developed their own unique twist to try to take into account variations in bandwidth that result in interruptions, pixilation and video tears. But, with a 256 kbps bandwidth, video can stream on average at 10 to 15 fps, and may even peak at 20 or 25 fps depending on the fluctuation. Unfortunately, on dial-up, the number of frames per second that these standard codecs can deliver is less than 5 frames per second, and often only 1 frame per second.

Some new video codecs are allowing frame rates of 12 fps over dial-up services, in many ways comparable to the video offered over broadband. This has expanded the ability to transmit quality video through dial-up.

To summarize the water pipe analogy, different video codecs can increase the water flow by increasing the number of frames per second at the end of the pipe without increasing the size of the pipe. Switching from dial-up to broadband is a way to increase the size of the pipe so that more frames per second can come out the end of the pipe.

Cost is always a consideration, with dial-up being less expensive. Also, many people worldwide do not have the availability of broadband, so dial-up is their only option.

Comet Video Technologies develops products and services for the low bandwidth transmission of video through satellites, cell voice plans, cell data plans, telephone dial-up and broadband. http://www.cometvt.com

Readers have permission to duplicate and distribute the above article in its entirety. We request that the final paragraph be included in each reproduction.

Howard Becker is CEO of Comet Video Technologies. For the past 20 years, Becker has been CEO of consumer product and video technology companies as large as $25 million in sales, as well as a consultant for start-up technology companies. He has an MBA is from the University of Chicago and a BS from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and is a former CPA with Big Four Experience. He developed the first published integration of the Fama-Miller efficient market model and the Black-Scholes Option pricing model, thus creating a theoretical justification for the trading of derivitives on index funds. He is author of a number of published papers on semiconductor based heating elements, as well as a paper on the objective measurement of job placement for individuals with disabilities.

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Learning All About Broadband Telephone Services

If you have a lot of relatives and friends out of state, do you often find yourself cringing at the long distance charges on your local telephone bill? To avoid this from happening, you may want to consider getting broadband telephone services. This is a type of cheap Internet phone service, which allows a subscriber to make long distance phone calls using a high speed Internet connection. There are a lot of advantages to using this type of service. The first and foremost consideration of broadband telephone line subscribers is the cheap long distance rates that they have to pay. They do not need to be charged with constantly increasing long distance rates, or be charged with taxes, fees and surcharges or worse - be charged with long distance phone calls that they did not make. These are usual scenarios when dealing with local telephone companies.

Aside from cheap long distance rates, a broadband telephone service will also give you the best that technology has to offer. Here's a quick run through of how broadband telephone services work: When you use an Internet phone to make a long distance call, your voice basically travels over the Internet since it is converted into a digital instead of an analog signal. Naturally, the digital signal is converted back to analog so that you can have a "normal" conversation with the person on the other end of the line.

In order to take advantage of broadband telephone technology, you should have a high-speed connection to the Internet. DSL or Digital Subscriber Line or a cable connection is recommended. Unfortunately, for people who still do not have access to broadband Internet connection, a dial-up connection cannot be used for Internet calling. Broadband telephone service is also not offered to people with satellite or wireless broadband connections, mostly because these types of connections are unstable.

When it comes to the nifty things that you usually enjoy with your landline phone, some broadband telephone services providers offer some of these features as well. These features include Call Waiting, Caller ID, Voice Mail, 3-Way Calling, Call Forwarding and other similar features. On the downside, you cannot place 911 calls using a broadband telephone service. Another setback is that if there is a power failure, if your computer crashes or if there is a problem with your Internet connection, then you will not be able to place calls. However, the advantages still far outweigh the disadvantages when it comes to using a broadband telephone service. All you need to do is understand how the technology works and you can definitely get cheap Internet phone service and make all the long distance calls that you want, at a cheaper rate, using the technology behind broadband telephone services.

Jeff Dodd has long been fascinated by Broadband Telephone Services. Come over to http://www.broadbanderphones.com for more.

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Broadband - Hidden Dangers

Since the advent and wide-spread acceptance of "always on" broadband internet connections, online criminals are finding it easier than ever to gain access to sensitive and personal information.

In 2007, 61% of Britain was connected to the internet, that's around 15m homes. For the majority of those with broadband connections, their computer becomes connected to the internet as soon as it is turned on.

This has essentially made us very vulnerable to online hackers and fraudsters. Such people use a wide range of motives, methods and techniques to obtain our personal information (namely bank details, and other "secure" information)

It's important to note that the purpose of this article is not to make you fearful of the internet, but educate you on the methods that hackers use, so you can be more aware on how to protect your information.

Put simply, there are two ways in which hackers can attack your computer; these are discussed in more detail below.

Externally
This involves the attacker "probing" your computer, in the hopes of exposing any weaknesses in which they can gain access to your information.

Typical methods include; subnet scanning, port scanning, packet sniffing, e-mail eaves dropping, DOS attacks and "Phishing".

Internally
This method often involves users' unknowingly downloading malicious programs, sometimes referred to as "malware" to their computer systems. Malware often appears harmless software, and is usually transferred via email or downloaded from what appear legitimate sites.

Typical methods and malicious applications include; Trojan's, viruses, rouge diallers, key loggers, spyware and "pharming" sites.

The above are just a few examples of how hackers can use your broadband connection to gain access to your personal information; new methods are being created daily. It is for this reason that you must ensure your broadband connection is as secure as it can be. There is a wealth of information, as well as cheap broadband deals available on the web.

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Lets Learn A Little About How ADSL Works

ADSL is a kind of broadband Internet connection that you can get over your existing phone line. When people hear about this, they often wonder how on earth it can be true. Doesnt the phone line need to be upgraded? How can all that extra data fit through an ordinary phone line? Why werent they doing this years ago, when I was still dialling up with my old modem? To understand the answers to these questions, its necessary to learn a little about how ADSL works.

ADSL stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. The asymmetric?part simply means that you can download over the line faster than you can upload ?good for home users, who generally download (get things from the Internet) far more than they upload (send things to it).

Its the digital?part that is important, however. If you think back to old dial-up modems, remember the screeching noises they made when they were connecting? Thats because they were encoding the data they sent over the phone line as sound ?all those ones and zeros were becoming a series of sounds. It was an analogue to digital to analogue conversion at each end, and was wildly inefficient.

What DSL does is use the unused frequencies of the phone line (that is, the parts that arent needed for voice signals) to carry digital signals, in the form of electrical pulses instead of sound ?its a successor to ISDN, the expensive business precursor of the technology. This method is much, much faster than the old analogue way. The unused part of the line isnt that big, but DSL splits it up into many smaller pieces and uses each one separately, allowing multiple channels?of data to be sent and received at once.

Who said you cant teach an old dog new tricks?

John Gibb is the owner of adsl tips and guides

For more information on adsl check out http://www.adsl-guidance1k.info

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