ADSL South Africa - Broadband TV

In this section of ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa) our focus will be on Broadband TV or Broadband TV broadcasts in South Africa.

Broadband TV will soon become a viable entertainment medium for South Africans. One shall soon be able to watch local and international TV programs over a broadband Internet connection without the current distortions in picture quality.

The current distortions in picture quality is due to slow Internet connection speeds. Broadband connection speeds of 1.5mbps and higher are required for faultless transmission. Not to despair however because it seems that Telkom is doing its part by working hard to improve service delivery and connection speeds while lowering costs.

Matrixstream, a Canadian company, “has developed a new kind of set-top box that can handle the reception, decoding and playback of DVD-quality TV signal through clever and proprietary usage of the new H.264 video compression standard. This has facilitated the delivery of a high quality television signal to people’s homes using their broadband connections, and has taken off quite well in North America, with Matrixstream eyeing other emerging markets as well” (TV via IP, Intelligence Magazine, November 2006).

The above mentioned and similar boxes should become available in South Africa when broadband connection speeds of 1.5mbps or higher becomes the norm in South Africa.