DIRECTV Moving to IP Delivery for Commercial Businesses

[Scott Greczkowski]

Starting in January DIRECTV will be rolling out a new receiver exclusively for Commercial Establishments. The new boxes will not use Satellite but will instead use IPTV.

I was told that the requirements is an 8 meg internet connection for each receiver, and they will allow up to 20 receivers on one account.

I was told that going forward these will be installed in Commercial businesses instead of Satellite receivers.

In talking to my friend from DIRECTV I was told the biggest issue with these boxes, is lets say you have a sports bar you have one of these receivers connected to each TV and lets say you want to show the same channel (or game) on a few of your TV's... well the channels audio and video will be out of sync between each tv, due to the IPTV technology.

I asked why they didn't make this receiver to go into a headend so the same programming will be in sync on all TV's and was told they are looking to get away from Headend setups.

I should be able to see one of these new units next month.

 

[Tom Speer]

That problem occurs with multiple Genie clients on a Genie server in a home installation. Open floor plans create the problem. The only way I have found to solve it is HDMI splitters.

 

[primestar31]

well the channels audio and video will be out of sync between each tv

Instant replay, just by turning your head and looking at another tv set. Bonus! lol

 

[John2021]

Instant replay, just by turning your head and looking at another tv set. Bonus! lol

won't be half bad when ones drunk off there A$$

 

[Juan]

Why does it seem technology is going backwards instead of advancing?

 

[KyL416]

The Streaming TV Support for Business page says bars that need their TVs to be in sync should still stick to satellite instead of streaming:

If you have TVs in the same vicinity tuned to the same program/game, each TV may stream at a slightly different point in the broadcast. Therefore, DIRECTV Satellite service is recommended for businesses, such as sports bars and restaurants, needing perfectly synchronized broadcasting across all TVs, or that do not have adequate internet bandwidth to support streaming.

 

[PioneerDJ]

It says here, Business TV streaming can include legal access to FAST channels. Also, you still need a satellite service if you want access to NFL Sunday Ticket and other league out-of-market sports packages and PPV fights (MLB, NHL, NBA UFC)


Here are my questions...
Will the dynamic ads on those FAST channels be different (ads cater to bar patrons) from a consumer account?

Can a bar/restaurant have both satellite and a DTV streaming box in one business account to mix in the live sports and FAST channels if the bar has a headend matrix system? Having a matrix distribution system using HDMI over IP or video baluns would be the best way to send one streaming/FAST channel to multiple TVs in sync.

 

[Don in CT]

Why would they not be in sync if it's the same source on each device.

 

[KyL416]

Buffering and network conditions at each location you have a box, along with the time it takes to complete the exchange for the widevine or fairplay license before playback can begin on each streaming device.

Streaming via the app or streaming Gemini also doesn't use live MPEG Transport streams like satellite, it's HLS where the video and audio are sent in about 6 second segments.

 

[Don in CT]

Buffering and network conditions at each location you have a box, along with the time it takes to complete the exchange for the widevine or fairplay license before playback can begin on each streaming device.

Streaming via the app or streaming Gemini also doesn't use live MPEG Transport streams like satellite, it's HLS where the video and audio are sent in about 6 second segments.

So how is YouTube TV instant on each device. If I had a fast enough connection these feeds should hit at the same time.

 

[KyL416]

On DIRECTV each device connects at its own time, and usually starts playback at the start of an available segment, so unless you time it right, every TV will be slightly off. And if there's congestion, some of them will cache additional HLS segments before playback begins, so they might start lagging further behind.

The comparison page also suggests commercial premises stick to satellite if they have 4 or more TVs.

Their DRM solution now requires some extra back and forth communication after the keys were constantly leaked over the past few years, so there's a separate activation call to get an identityCookie tied to your device or browser's decryption module, and higher security Widevine L1 devices also need to make a serviceCertificate request before it can make the DRM handshake to get the keys. They now have separate keys for SD/HD/4K/AAC/Dolby instead of a single key per channel, with lower security Widevine L3 devices limited to SD and AAC, and the keys rotate daily. They also do an intermittent auth check every few minutes to handle sports blackouts and part time channels, and on mobile intermittent location checks to update your locals while you're travelling.

 

[KyL416]

Here are my questions...
Will the dynamic ads on those FAST channels be different (ads cater to bar patrons) from a consumer account?

They did announce an expansion of their targetted out of home ad sales tied to the launch of streaming for businesses.

Can a bar/restaurant have both satellite and a DTV streaming box in one business account to mix in the live sports and FAST channels if the bar has a headend matrix system?

You'd have to call to ask. I'm not sure if satellite business customers can also login to the DTV app like residential customers can, or if business customers are limited to the Gemini for streaming.