Online Media Centres like Boxee are at threat thanks to pedestrian government aspirations

While parts of the world are aiming for super-fast internet connections way beyond most people’s imaginations, our sights are set much lower here in the UK. South Korea is aiming for insanely fast 1 Gigabit connections within the next three years while our government is struggling to get everyone up to a pedestrian 2 Megabits in the same timeframe.

At the same time many tech commentators are arguing that we’re just a few years away from streaming video replacing our physical collections. Why take up valuable shelf space with expensive Blu Ray discs when HD movies can be downloaded from the internet on demand?

When it comes to rentals it’s an especially tempting proposition. Apple have been trialing the idea with rentals over iTunes for a while now. In the USA Netflix has an immensely popular streaming service for its subscribers. We’re yet to see LoveFilm, the UK equivalent of Netflix, offer the same thing but it can only be a matter of time.

Another pointer at the forthcoming ’streaming revolution’ is the increasing popularity of media management software designed for use with TVs. Boxee and XBMC are stunning prototypes of the way we’ll consume our media in years to come. Video, streamed media, your music colection, your Flickr photo collection and all manner of other content can all be browsed at your leisure. Stuck for ideas of what to watch? You friends can recommend content to you as social networking comes to your TV. Some good media management software hooked up to an HDTV completely redefines home entertainment.

It’s all very exciting but is it feasible? While some people can afford super-fast broadband the fact is that many  people in the UK are stuck on connections too slow to stream the BBC iPlayer reliably, let alone download an HD movie. Whether its down to their financial situation or their location, these people are at risk of being left behind in this brave new world of media consumption.

Unless the government raises its aspirations a little it looks like DVD and Blu Ray have a long and happy future ahead of themselves. When it comes to the mainstream, the streaming revolution will have to wait.