If needed, I will post this 52 minute video in HD quality later. Though the camera position and sound quality wasn’t optimal so it might not be necessary.
An introduction to the press event at the Dapper Museum in Paris on the 22nd of April 2008, where Archos was showing the new GPS accessory for the 605 WiFi, the flash9 firmware update, TVportation plugin (like Slingbox) and WebTV, WebRadio and Podcast streamer plugin. This video features Thocan from Archoslounge.net, Valentin from archostest.fr, Pince and Bysus from Jbmm.fr and Jaffar from Archos.com.
CNN has an article explaining more on what it is that Echostar Dish Networks bought of spectrum in the US 700Mhz spectrum auction:
Dish Network bought a relatively thin slice of airwaves — a 6 megahertz block within the 700 MHz frequency band. The block covers most of the U.S. except New York, Los Angeles and Boston.
Verizon got 12 megahertz while ATT got 10 megahertz. So Dish Networks spectrum is slightly smaller, but it could still be used for a lot of things.. Verizon has got the only nationwide licence, ATT got coverage for 100% of the 200 largest cities in the USA while Dish Networks coverage is nationwide except New York, Los Angeles and Boston which Qualcomm picked up. Dish’s license holdings cover 76% of the U.S. population.
Dish Networks also invested 150 million dollars in the satellite Internet startup TerreStar, so in combination with that 6 megahertz of 700Mhz spectrum, perhaps the 700Mhz would be used partly for uploading, while the downloading could come directly from some kinds of satellites.
Perhaps the 6megahertz can be used for some kind of video-on-demand service in combination with the proposed white spaces in the unlicensed 700Mhz spectrum that Google wants to develop solutions for.
Or it could also maybe be used for SlingPlayer bandwidth to stream Slingbox content to an Archos wirelessly according to RCRnews.
It could also be used to display targeted Google advertising on regular satellite TV.
I hope that Echostar will be able to deploy their 700Mhz network using net neutrality, thus installing small broadcast boxes in people’s homes, and asking people to hook that box up using Ethernet to their existing broadband Internet connection or enter in a WPA password to their local WiFi access point. And this way re-broadcasting that existing bandwidth on their spectrum and simply providing their services over IP and using other ISPs bandwidth. They can still setup their own broadcast antennas on high masts, perhaps hooking up to Google’s dark fiber bandwidth when it is available. But if they could also use some of their 12.7 million existing Satellite TV customers broadband Internet bandwdith, forward and use that, in cooperation with FON. This could speed deployment up and increase the available coverage and bandwidth.
ArchosFans.com presents this video review of the best Christmas present of Christmas 2007: the Archos 605 WiFi - showing also the iPhone and its competitors, the Amazon Kindle and the OLPC XO in the background. Trashing PDAs.
Archos is now launching the Moovyplay together with CPFK in France. Which is a $100 40GB PMP without the screen and the battery. It also does not include video recording on the TV Dock, nor Internet browsing or playing own media files. This one also seems to have a special ultra fast speed proprietary connector. The way it works is like this:
- All video rental stores participating, for now hundreds in France, soon it will be up to over 2000 video rental stores in France, they each have a movie server with an unlimited amount of movies, currently over a thousand a digitized and made available on the 4 terrabytes of a movie server.
- The customer prepares at home his wish-list of up to 40 films which he would like to be on his Moovyplay. All the requested films are transfered by the clerk in the movie rental store, who can charge up to 5 Moovyplays at the same time per server at full more than 440mbit/s.
- The customer does not need to pay in advance. The payment can be done by a customer account which can be refilled over the Internet and activation of the movies can be done instantly over an SMS code.
- Thus now movie rental stores can have unlimited amount of choice, currently only limited by agreements that CPFK is working on with all the major movie studios. So in principle there could be a choice among more than 10 thousand movies. There is no need to return the movie to the store after it is watched. The system includes a ratings and recommendations system and trailers for hundreds of movies are preloaded. Currently the rent of a movie costs 4€ and the movie can be viewed during 48 hours after the play button has been pressed with the verification code.
- Initial pilots accross France have been quite successful according to initial reports. The initial goal is to ship 20 thousand Moovyplay units within a few weeks in quantities of hundreds per rental store. Initial price is 149€ including 5 movie rentals or for 7€ per month during 24 months.
Here is a video review of the device by GenerationMp3:
This product can probably be available in other countries in Europe and in the USA quite soon, all that is required is that other video rental franchises make an aggrement with Archos and CPFK to launch it worldwide. Hopefully Blockbuster is tempted. This is to be thought of an alternative to Video-On-Demand, it is to be thought as an alternative to online movie piracy. The goal being to provide as many good films as possible to everyone with as little bother as possible. You can’t load 40 films in 5 minutes over BitTorrent. With this, you just need one trip down to your local video-store. And this system will also be available in automated Moovyplay server machines which will be installed in supermarkets, kiosks and even in the streets to be available 24 hours. Currently the Generation5 is not compatible with the Moovyplay system. Perhaps the proprietary new connector is not compatible and perhaps it doesn’t work with USB transfers. This is thought of as the replacement for the DVD player and the DVD as a transitional solution until everyone has networks to support video-on-demand.
