Coming soon to your screens ….

1999-04-26

Surely most exciting developments on the Internet at the moment are those relating to multimedia. Well, let’s face it, these developments would be exciting if we could take advantage of them. The possibility of a full surround sound audiovisual experience, broadcast directly from the Web, is, frankly, non-existent at the moment. Even with a leased line, the closest we can get is a low-quality, stop-start audio stream. Having said that, we all know that the bandwidth will increase and the technology will improve… but even then the chances are that what we want (streamed, high-quality full-screen video) will remain a distant mirage for some time yet. We do, at least, know that it will come. It is a good job that the technology is not yet ready, because if it were possible right now, it is probable that most of us wouldn’t be quick enough to do anything astounding with it. We have 3-5 years of slack before the immersive multimedia wave hits – will we be ready?

(First published 26 April 1999)