Lots Of Companies Trying To Develop Video On Demand Technology

Video on demand technology is becoming increasingly prominent in a variety of areas.  For example, all of the streaming Internet video services that are all the rage are a form of video on demand.  These include video sharing sites like YouTube as well as the sites of the major TV networks that provide streaming video feeds of some of their most popular TV shows.
Another type of video on demand service is making its way into more and more American homes.  This type of video on demand service is facilitated with set top boxes that download video off of the Internet and display it on the home TV set.  These devices essentially offer much of the same versatility of watching video on a computer, but in the comfort of your living room.
One of the most prominent of these devices is the Apple TV.  In the case of the Apple TV, the set top box relies on the home computer system to download video from iTunes (it's only marginally compatible with other online video stores) and then that video is streamed over a wireless connection directly to the Apple TV.  The Apple TV system is touted as being capable of delivering video over the wireless connection in high definition format, but considering that the 720p is the only HD resolution that the system can handle and that it comes across as blocky or grainy, Apple needs to go back to the drawing board with that feature. The Apple TV does provide a good way of integrating the home entertainment system with the home computer system when it comes to standard definition video, digital photos, and audio- all of which the Apple TV can handle as well.
Another popular device is a TiVo model that can download video from the Internet and play it the home entertainment system.  This device actually works extremely well.  Unlike the Apple TV, it eliminates the home computer from the equation for greater simplicity.  Plus, since it also functions as a DVR, it eliminates the need for separate set top boxes for your DVR and your video on demand device.
The VuDu is another set top box that has the dual benefits of bypassing the home computer and providing HDTV content off of the Internet.  But this device makes a kind of shortcut for providing HDTV content.  Rather than downloading HDTV content and then displaying it on the TV screen, it downloads standard definition television and then upconverts it to HDTV. The result is better than standard definition, but can only loosely be described as high definition.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 video gaming platform can also serve as a platform for downloading HDTV movies and playing them over an HDTV set, but while demand for movies through this system is increasing, the Xbox 360 is plagued by ridiculously long download times- up to ten hours of a normal length movie.  This is a problem that Microsoft has been unable to remedy and is a huge deterrent to actually using this option.
While video on demand technology has a lot of potential, it's probably best just to get it from a TV service provider as it becomes more available that way.

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Lots Of Companies Trying To Develop Video On Demand Technology
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