Issues in Home Media Networks
Media Center meets
MyLifeBits at home
"The PC is going to be the place where you
store the information … really the center of
control“ - Bill Gates CES 1/2001
UCLA Postel Lecture 16 January 2003
Gordon Bell
Microsoft Research
Gbell@microsoft.com
www.research.microsoft.com/~gbell
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Converging MyLifeBits with Media Center
MyLifeBits is an “on-going” project to “cyberize” and
to now be able to USE all of bits!
►Telephone and other conversations and messages
►Recall all books, CDs, communication, papers,
photos, video, TV,saved TV (unless I’ll be incarcerated)
►Elimination of all stores of physical objects

Photos of physical object collections
►Content
and use: ambiance, entertainment,
communication, interaction using Media Center for
music, photos, TV & saved TV, videos
Goal: To understand and utilize the 1 TByte PC:
need, utility, cost, feasibility, problems & tools.
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Opportunities and Impediments
► Converged
content 1, 2 or 3 networks?
 An all digital cable network
► In
home networking
► The A/V experience with/without computers
► Add the media center Mbox
► DRM
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Cyberspace: A spiraling quest
in 3D real space
Storage & computation
Content
Cyberization
Communication
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Cyberspace:
A Network of ... Networks of ...
Continent
Region/
Intranet
Motes
Body
Car
Home
Campus
World
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Cyberspace: one, two or three
networks?
Data
Telephony
Television
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Television
Games
world
VCR
CDs
Cable
Broadcast
LECs
DBS
TV
Cable
ITV?
I’net
The
Internet
Sat.
RADIO
RADIO
WireCable less
phone
LECs
Telephony
world
Long
Dist.
PBX I’net
Phone
LAN
PBX
Pvt. clients/
WANs servers
Wireless
LANs
Datacom
world
The Colliding?? Worlds of TV, Telephony
©Gordon Bell
& Datacom a.k.a. Computing & Internet
Microsoft
The Home
Digital Multimedia Network
►Vision:
All digital network. IP on everything.
All digital content.
►All listening/viewing stations will be digital.
►5-10+year, short-term, Digital Transformers
convert IP to legacy analog devices
today Digital Transformers = computers!
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Connected home frontier sans garage
Peripherals
Digital photos
SATELLITE
TV
TV
Gaming
TERRESTRIAL
DIGITAL CABLE
DSL-TELCO
Stereo
Screen
devices
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Home Networks: PC-based
service
DSL, etc. input
Servers:
•Hold & deliver audio,
photos, video
•Encode TV content
Home IP network
Computers:
•Control, get content C.srv
from web, servers
Monitors: HDTV
X*
TV-sets: receive
encoded & CATV
content
C* = computer.
X = digital transformer.
X*
Spkr
TVset
CATV
Dist
X*
X*
Monitor
Rec/
AMP
HDTV
broadcast
Tuner
CATV Network
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
A Digital Transformer for Audio:
Gateway’s Connected Home
Audio Player
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Home media network with Digital
Transformers…
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Existing Home Entertainment Centers
...
set top
PVR
HDTV receiver
radio
CD
DVD
cassette
remotes
POWERFAULT DATA ALARM
camera
TV
HEWLETT
PACKARD
amp


DVD
Sniffer Server
monitoring/analysis
surround
speakers
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
The “Black PC” aka DHEC: Digital
Home Entertainment Center
?
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Wires and radio networks for in home
Network
Scheme
Data-rate
Advantage
Disadvantage
CAT5+
4 Twisted pr.
1Gbps
New wiring. Useful for audio
and composite video. Inability
to transmit CATV.
CATV
R6U Co-ax
1 GHz (150
6 MHz
chs.)
Separate wiring; low
cost; easy install. Telco
compatible. “Fungible”
wiring.
Exists for TV sets; could
also serve IP throughout
the home
Teleph.
2-4 Tel.
10 Mbps
Uses existing wiring
Questionable data-rate
Power
AC Power
?
Uses existing wiring
Unproven; safety
1394
Everything
802.11b
Radio LAN
11 Gbps
No wires
Crowded spectrum, speed
802.11a
Radio LAN
50 Gbps
“
“
Bluetooth
1. Mbps
“
“ Short distance, speed
RF
1 Mbps
“
“ Low speed
Speed.
Install. skill; lack of home net
equipment
Fiber
1394, SPDIF
etc
RF analog; no digital
Distance, lack of protocols
gbell small home network hub for wired and
wireless data, security, CATV, and
telephony… no free lunch
•DSL (IP dial tone) and cable data
•Ethernet and 802.11b (2.4 GHz) internal
•Telephony and 2.4 GHz telephony
•Fax switching
•Power and UPS
•Security
•Cable TV
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
stereo
Wfr
L
Spkr
stereo
CD
5 speakers
Legacy
Spkr
IR
LVCR
egacy stereo
Video*
5.1 digital
Redundant
DVD
comp. Receiver
Cassette
egacy
Set top
Cable/
Satellite
Ethernet
Camera
Mic
stereo
Video*
Set top
Media
Center
Computer
Kbd Mse
5.1 digital
SVHS-wide
Cables/links
Speaker 5+1
Plasma 2 or 3
Cable/Enet 2
IR 8
Stereo 4
5.1 digital 2
Comp./S-video 3
Plasma panel 1
Power 10
Kbd/mse 2
Monitor II (opt.) 4
Camera 2
Total 42 – 46
Things 18+remote
Video*
Plasma Panel
*Video = composite or S-video
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Gaming 2-channel intercom network
Den PC
Jake’s Room
PC
Chris’s Room
PC
Bonus Room
PC
Intercom to
next door
Rec Room
Gaming PC
Bonus Room
Gaming PC
Theater Room
Gaming PC
Family Room
Gaming PC
Data Network
Brianv’s
Home
Fiber to next
door house
Den Color
Printer
NT Server
w/BackOffice
Phast
Processor
Fax
AM/F M
Receiver
Smart
Light
Switches
Room
Keypads
200 DVD
Jukebox
To Theater
System
CH 93
600 CD
Jukebox
CD/DVD
Catalog
…
Phast
Controller
Sprinker
Valves
Security
camera
CH 92
CH 90
DSS
Caller ID
Moisture
Sensors
To CATV Outlets
around house
CH 94
Audio
Zones
Intercom
Zones
…
…
Sound
System
Bonus Room
Laser Printer
Den Laser
Printer
Modulaors
Spliters
CATV
TCI Cable
CH 91
VMail
Thermostats
8 analog lines
Radiant
Heat Valves
Garage door
openers
Garage door
sensors
4 VMail lines
Security
System
20 digital lines
Sensors in
House
Phones
PBX
64 pair
phone cable
US West
Phone System
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Provides a wide range of rich entertainments in your living room
PC Entertainment Appliance
►
►
►
►
►
►
►
►
►
alias: Gateway Server
alias: Media Center
alias: Media Server
Attractive, quiet, easy to install
Easy to use, just pick an entertainment task
Single remote control
alias: eHome Appliance
Always on… ready to entertain
PC architecture inside (consumer transparent)
Only does entertainments, not general PC
activities… realistic??
Seamlessly mixes TV and the Web
Incremental purchasing model eg. device bay
Technologies provide enhanced TV

►
Range of 1394/USB receiver modules for premium TV
Gateway server for the video home network
Dave Marsh, Microsoft
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Media Center
One H/W for multiple functions
Reduces the number of devices, remotes and
wires around the TV
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Media center 2
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Content for future home
entertainment center
Content from nets and CyberAll
TV and radio content (ala TiVo and rivo)…
plus aggressive capture
for future viewing (movies) and listening
► WWW (pages, mail, etc.)
►
►
►
►
►
►
Personal Photos
Personal videos
Art (“TV-set” screen savers)
Internet radio and ripped CD audio
Virtual window (train ride, concerts, MTV)
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Table of Interactivity, Media, and Technology
Utility/
Media
Ambiance
(just being there)
Text
Entertainment
& Education
Communicate
at a distance
Books >>
ebooks;
newspapers
Fax >> email;
chat
Telephone >>
IP telephony;
voice chat
Live
performances
^>> Net jam
sessions
Life-size
videophone.
Tele-meetings
& teleconferences
Games>> local
& group
games, Web
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Audio
CDs, radio>>
Ripped CDs, MP3,
Internet Radio
Internet Radio
Visual
Art, photos>> “TV
Screen savers”…
art, photos, posters,
video
Web cams
tele-places
Audio/
Visual
MTV >>MTV
(digital)
“discovery
channel” >>
tele-learning
Interaction
Photos
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Art
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Caneel Bay Vacation Jan. 1998
Gordon, Gwen, Brig, Pam, Fiona,
Bob, Laura and Kolbe
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Talking Head Telepresentation
with slides on 48” TV
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
If, therefore, the happiness
of an individual, like that
of a nation, may be taken
to vary inversely with the
materials afforded by them
to the biographer or the
historian, Adam Smith
may be considered to have
attained no mean degree
of human felicity. From
his ideal of life, political
ambition and greatness
were altogether excluded; it
was his creed that
happiness was equal in
every lot, and that
contentment alone was
necessary to ensure it.
"What," he asks, "can be
added to the happiness of
the man who is in health,
who is out of debt, and has
a clear conscience?" To this
simple standard,
Reading from Plasma Panel
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Train ride…
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
MyLifeBits, a 1 Tbyte, lifetime PC:
Cyberizing everything…
I’ve written, said, presented (incl. video),
photos of physical objects & a few things
I’ve read, heard, seen
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Imagine the “killer app” for:
The One Tbyte, Lifetime, PC
CyberAll convinces me of a lifetime memory!
► Technology to support the vision:
1. Guarantee that data will live forever!
2. Low cost (to user) cyberization
3. A single index that includes mail, conversations,
web accesses, and books!
4. E-book…e-magazines reach critical mass!
5. Telephony and audio capture are needed
6. Photo & video “index serving”
7. More meta-information … Office, photos
8. Lots of GUI to improve ease-of-use
►
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Storing all we’ve read, heard, & seen
Human data-types
read text, few pictures
/hr
200 K
/day (/4yr)
2 -10 M/G
/lifetime
60-300 G
speech text @120wpm
speech @1KBps
43 K
3.6 M
0.5 M/G
40 M/G
15 G
1.2 T
stills w/voice @100KB
200 K
2 M/G
60 G
video-like 50Kb/s POTS
video 200Kb/s VHS-lite
22 M
90 M
.25 G/T
1 G/T
25 T
100 T
video 4.3Mb/s HDTV/DVD 1.8 G
20 G/T
1P
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Character of MyLifeBits…
User
Personal
Context / (including financial)
Timelines
Professional
(work related)
Archival
Working
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Directory Size and Files 11/2002
Size
Files
Music
7.25 GB
2K songs
Books
554 MB
5.5K (5 books)
Video
2.6 GB
26 files
4.5 GB
5K files
433 folders
5.4 GB
18.6K files
439 folders
Working
Archive (papers,
photos…)
Total
20.3 GB
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
File Distribution 11/2002
.PPT
.PDF
.PST
Active
523
272
6 (1 GByte) 200K msg
Archive
379
281
0
.XLS
274
113
.DOC
.GIF
.JPG
791
757
692
6173
534
8216
.TIF
Total
662
3977
897
16593
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Vcr, settop, media and channel
co’s for Television
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Digital Rights Management…
unless MPAA provides a “reasonable” market
for media, the whole world will become thieves.
Cable
etc
Set-top
“O DVI
Monitor
Encoder
1.
2.
3.
Provide a “reasonable” market and industry for renting,
owning, viewing, etc. content
Make it illegal to record video, police every hard drive,
and prosecute users
Eliminate the “open video” interface and replace with DVI
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Restructuring of the Cable Industry:
A proposal
► Move
the set top to the head end
 Provides a secure channel from head end to set
 Eliminates the need for expensive set tops from
Scientific Atlantic/Motorola duopoly
► Cable
suppliers can provide the critical
services that are on an inevitable course to
disappear
 Time shifting aka PVR in homes e.g. Toshiba
 Video-on-demand via the Internet
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
NY TIMES Perishable dvd 0211
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
Put the set top and content at the
head-end or central office
► A 3.5
ft rack that inputs Gigabit Ethernet
containing MPEG-2 (and its successors) digital
video or IP and provides high-ingestion rate
storage for four hours for 150 TV channels plus
another 150 movies and generates up to 128
frequency agile 6-MHz carriers carrying a total
of 1280 separate 3.85 Mbps MPEG-2 digital
streams to individual subscribers.
► The in-house set top (“transformer”) is 1 chip.
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft
End bit
©Gordon Bell
Microsoft