Audio Video News

VHS-quality video streaming at modem data rates may be coming your way shortly after the first of the year, if Campbell, California–based MotionTV can make good on its promise. More than 20 months in development, the technology is the jewel in the crown of the Silicon Valley company, which claims that it will deliver full-screen video at data rates below 200 kilobytes per second (kbps).

"MotionTV has maintained a very low profile because the industry has been plagued by vaporware claims and technical statements with little basis in fact," said CEO Garrett Cecchini. "We will back our story with viewable demonstrations. Our technical staff of scientists and engineers has more than 200 man-years of specific experience in video compression. We are prepared to introduce our initial product shortly after the first of the year."

Cecchini says his company's primary market is "Internet use with VHS-quality video at data rates of less than 200kbps." He promises that research and development will continue until they can drop the rate to below 100kbps—low enough to work with dial-up modems.

Although Internet audio has reached an acceptable level of quality for non-critical listening, its video equivalent lags far behind. Despite the excellent picture quality of most modern computer monitors, full-motion video is plagued by glitches, synchronization problems, and poor image quality—most of it the result of what Cecchini calls the "bottleneck'' of delivering video signals over the Internet at low data rates. Furthermore, DSL lines are distance-sensitive and cable broadband connections suffer bandwidth problems, as a line's capacity is shared by the neighborhood.

MotionTV hopes to tap into the unexplored territory of quality Internet. "MotionTV can make a major contribution to achieving that goal for whoever is pursuing it," said Cecchini. "Literally, we can solve the last-mile-to-the-home problem.''