On-Demand Video (Homechoice) - How does it work?

[Domo]

Bit of a noob question but I'm a little bit puzzled.
I have a 2MB broadband connection, and streaming (for example) a quicktime trailer is ok at a lower res but at high res will keep pausing.

So my question is how Homechoice can squeeze real time full screen digital content down the same line? Is it streamed or downloaded first?

 

[Topgun]

Homechoice will ensure that the bitrate of their content is less than your line can handle so you will not get any rebuffering. Presently, with quicktime you are at the mercy of your content provider in terms of video bitrate and bandwidth at their end.

When homechoice first launched, i believe all their products used 2mbit MPEG transport streams over ADSL 1. This is quite significantly worse than DVD quality (6-8mbit) but still quite watchable on a regular TV. Now they are migrating all cusomers to adsl2 with new MPEG 4 capable set top boxes. THis should provide sufficient headroom for HDTV services.