Online Video: Not There Just Yet

Much debate has been going on about how the growing library of online video will affect traditional means of consuming movies and TV shows. Some say cable and satellite TV will be a thing of the past within a decade; why bother with a set-top box when you can watch HD video streamed from the ‘Net on your big screen TV? Others feel online video will simply complement traditional cable and satellite TV services. To get a feel for online video and how the experience compares, I decided to jump on the bandwagon.

It started with the launch of Rogers On Demand Online. Here's an online service that's free, that's high quality, and that, most important, actually offers quality content. I can catch up on episodes of favourite shows I missed (and somehow forgot to PVR), or introduce myself to new ones. I chose to do a little of both.

Then one weekend, I decided I would run a search to see if I could find streaming copies of an old ‘90s TV show I love. It took only a few minutes to locate a Website that has every episode from every season. Neat! The catch? Either pay $19.99, or you're restricted to watching only 52 minutes worth of content at a time, which strategically ends a quarter-ways through a second episode. After the 52 minutes, you need to wait an hour to resume watching. Fair enough.

In addition to these two sites, I've also caught online video at specific network Websites, and, of course, sites like YouTube. Thus, it's fair to say I've had a pretty hefty sampling.

For the most part, the experience has been favourable. Video quality is acceptable: when it comes to the RODO service, it's fantastic, with crisp, clear quality video. With the ‘90s show, the quality doesn't rival DVD by any means, but it's still watchable. In some cases, however, it's been less than ideal. I have reported here before that certain network Websites have major issues with motion blur; such that episodes become almost unwatchable. My colleague commented the other day that YouTube has taken the place of the popular (but still running) show America's Funniest Home Videos. With user-generated content, though, the quality naturally varies considerably. But the main issue I ran into had more to do with the reliability of Internet connectivity than with the Websites themselves.

A segment on last week's episode of Saturday Night Live summed the experience up perfectly. One character was adamant about showing another a hilarious clip on YouTube. But every time they began watching, the video would start buffering and they'd end up in an endless loop, waiting for the connection to load. Eventually, they gave up, never getting to the highly-anticipated punchline.

While my experiences weren't nearly as frustrating, I did encounter a lot of slow and interrupted connections, despite the fact that I live in downtown Toronto and have a high-speed Internet connection, and high-quality wireless router. For normal Web surfing, the connection is fantastic. But when it comes to video, watching an entire program can sometimes get, quite frankly, annoying.

Of course there are fixes: connect directly via Ethernet, wait for the video to buffer fully, then watch it all the way through, invest in an even faster modem and better router (if one is available), or a computer with a better wireless adapter. And chances are that avid online video viewers will be equipped with the best of the best to ensure as flawless an experience as possible. But the point here is that for the general populace, chances are that they'll experience some form of connectivity issue at least some of the time when catching a TV show or movie online; at least more often than they would via standard cable/satellite TV. The glitches I encountered were enough to convince me to resort to online only when it is, well, the only resort.

This isn't to say that cable or satellite TV is perfect. I can't count how many times HD channels have frozen up, some times consistently enough that I have to resort to the SD channel. Or how many times my on-demand channel has gone on the fritz. And don't even get me started with the Canadian networks hijacking the much better quality U.S. high-def feeds, an issue that really angers me. But in terms of reliability, I'd feel much safer catching the Superbowl or Hockey Play-offs or Season Finale of Lost, via cable/satellite than broadband Internet. It's more likely for an Internet connection to get choppy than it is for a cable TV service to conk out.

Going forward, this will probably change. But for now, I really don't think the TV industry should worry so much about online video taking over. We definitely have a long way to go.