In-flight on-demand streaming movies
posted Apr 22nd 2005 2:00PM
They won't say who it was, but Microsoft's Engineering Entertainment Center has something on their weblog about how
an unnamed airline contacted them about building WiFi networks inside planes so that passengers could stream video on
demand to their laptops or handhelds. They actually got a prototype system working over 802.11a (which has more
bandwidth than 802.11b and is usually a little less crowded than 802.11g). Not sure when or if this'll ever become a
reality, but regardless of whether they choose to connect that in-flight wireless network to the wider Internet or not
(obviously you know what we'd prefer), something like this actually makes sense for older planes that don't have video
screens at every seat. Put a media server with a few hundred GB of storage on it and you could point passengers to a
web browser where they could pick from hundreds of different movies and TV shows.
[Via CNET]
FOR HOW much? Will we be charge by the Minute?
Can't tell me it would be 1st/Business Class only... at NO charge...
I suppose there's a chance that they used 802.11a because of the higher frequency, but more likely they chose it because people would be forced to rent an adapter to get the streaming video since most folks only have b or g. They wouldn't have to muck around with account activation and all that - just rent them a USB adapter for $10.
uhmmmm how many business travelers dont alredy have a DVD drive n their laptop...? (and by the time this does ever become a reality, it will be hd-dvd or blu ray drives) If this becomes a reality, I see a flop.
nice idea except wont work in practice since there are so many incompatibilies between the various wifi chipsets (especially intel centrino cards and any access points) at 802.11g - it probably would only support max 3 dvd quality xvid streams.
With 802.11a how compressed would the stream have to be? So I'll be paying for the privelage of having a low-res image on my PDA/ notebook which is using up my battery?
The long-haul flight from London to Singapore with Singapore Airlines already offers a video-on-demand service in which you can choose from over 80 films (and hundreds of CDs) and play, pause, rewind and fast-forward to your heart's content, and this is in economy! Sure the image and sound quality aren't great, but I find it hard to imagine that with current technologies a wifi stream to your portable device is going to be any better.
"With 802.11a how compressed would the stream have to be?"
It wouldn't have to be compressed (further) at all, depending on how the server actually was set up. I doubt they'd be using a single access point, though even if they were, you can compress a DVD by huge amounts these days with no great loss in picture quality using common codecs like wmv.
But assuming you'd have a reasonable bandwidth between yourself and the access point, 802.11a is more than capable of serving up five DVD's at once to your PC if you've got five sets of eyes to watch them all. A single DVD it'd do without breaking a sweat.
Now, the airlines might cheap out and really use a single 802.11a access point for an entire 300-pax airplane. Then it's just a question of dividing 54mbps (or whatever) by 300 (or whatever) and figuring out the max bit rate your movies could be. That seems a highly unlikely scenario, though. I mean if they're going to do this, they're going to outfit their airplanes with more than just a PC and a $150 802.11a router like you can buy at Best Buy.
It's an interesting idea, though. It would certainly be better than the little 3.5" screens most airlines have for their entertainment these days, and wi-fi itself has plenty of bandwidth, it's just a question of how they set it up.
not too surprising - The IFEC has been doing demos of this for over two years. When Copernio bought them they added some non-US airlines to their test bed program, as well as some interest by the studios and content creators.
Hmm, I find this pretty trivial. I know somebody who is actually working with Boeing to put DVI to *every seat in the plane* which may very possibly be in their new 787.
Not sure about all this wifi video hub-bub, that's supposed to be for internet and/or cell phones when they make up their minds whether or not people can tolerate cell phones on the planes.
I must be something. Why would you need a wireless network to serve video on demand when everybody is CONFINED TO AN AIRPLANE CABIN?
Why not just run cable to every seat on the plane? It's not like the spatial relationship between the client and the server is going to change. EVER.
wi-fi internet & streaming of movies to my laptop: okay.
having my cell phone on or iPod playing during take-off or landing: not okay.
I think the question on everyone's mind is, "Can you stream porn at 40,000 ft?"
"Not sure when or if this’ll ever become a reality, but regardless of whether they choose to connect that in-flight wireless network to the wider Internet or not (obviously you know what we’d prefer)"
In-flight wireless internet is already available on some Boeings using the Connexion service: http://www.connexionbyboeing.com/
Just thought I'd chime in with some useful info:
802.11a uses the 5.2-5.8GHz spectrum and has more non-interfering channels than 802.11b/g. This means that one AP can be placed near another AP and they won't interfere with eachother as long as they're on different channels.
The reason why 802.11a was selected is probably because the 5.XGHz spectrum bounces right off Aluminum (no penetration). This means that there's less of a chance wireless clients/APs will interfere with the airpane's systems.
on emirates they already have on-demand movies.. and they also have access points where u can access your email and other related stuff.. so i could see this happening..