How does h.264 AVC affect Internet movie downloads & HDTV?
Assuming you have something like a fast cable modem, the short answer is that it makes the internet a much more realistic alternative to conventional broadband systems for real-time viewing and delayed downloading (i.e. recording). Say goodbye to the jerky stall-and-go internet video we’ve all been used to. No, it isn’t on a par with standard cable or satellite broadband systems, but it nevertheless provides an interesting option for watching standard TV (non HDTV) that has been encoded and compressed with AVC, because that will work in real-time. Also, if you can be happy with viewing an HD movie some time after it has been downloaded, you’ll be able to buy or rent it directly online. Regular DVD movies should be watchable in real-time, with perhaps a short delay of a few seconds from start time. If you have a reasonably fast cable modem at your house, you should be getting about four megabits per second of downstream bandwidth. With AVC h.264 encoding, that speed would allow you to d
