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Comment by kefs | Hacker News Reader

This article is incorrect.

https://twitter.com/#!/ShawInfo/status/91924351456260096

If you watch shows through their set top box it doesn't count towards any limit. So, kind of like standard cable going to a TV, where the TV channels are on a dedicated 'connection' to the provider and watching TV doesn't utilize the broadband connection.

I'd like to know if their set top box utilizes the same pipe and throughput going to your house, and if watching a show through their set top box would diminish throughput speeds for others on the line. If it does, then that's bogus. If their box utilizes a separate dedicated connection to Shaw, then that's fine and I say fair.

However, in practice, it's hard for average folks to understand why Shaw's box doesn't count towards a limit when the Apple TV, Netflix-enabled Blu-ray box or whatever DOES count towards the limit. But I'm not sure Shaw is in the wrong here if their box has a dedicated 'line' to them.

This varies. Virgin TV (UK) has true on-demand, it's streamed over their cable to their box in your living room when you request it, rather than Sky who can do things like show a three hour film at 8/9/10pm.

It utilizes the same pipe insofar as it uses the same cable HFC plant/infrastructure to deliver the signal to your home. On the wire however typically VoD services on set tops do not use the same DOCSIS channels as cable modems delivering IP video via Netflix, Hulu, etc. Cable VoD typically is just a block of regular video channels. Your set top requests a program and one of those video channels is allocated for this program. It's a bit old fashioned but it works. It is however possible to do this over DOCSIS which starts to blur the lines.

No, it isn't. Whether they've modified their announced plans due to backlash remains to be seen, but the information came from Shaw Communications president Peter Bissonnette, who justified it by saying, "There should be some advantage to you being a customer."

as much as i hate defending shaw, my isp, the news here is factually incorrect.

this is direct from their facebook page [1], specifically the last line:

Also, we wanted to clarify a couple of things: Shaw Movie Club is intended to be watched through your set-top box. You can order your movies online through vod.shaw.ca and send it to your set-top box for viewing - watching movies on your set-top box won’t affect your included Internet data. However, you can also stream your Movie Club movies online to your computer – this WILL contribute to your Internet data.

[1]https://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=151441184886657&t...

it appears you were quoting this [2], but that quote seems to be taken out of context, linking it to the incorrect explanation directly above it.

[2]http://www.vancouversun.com/Shaw+challenging+Netflix+with+mo...

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