nches coupled with new flavors of on-demand, such as SVOD and free-on-demand (FOD), have strained network resources and raised new issues such as how to manage very large video libraries, update com- mercials and advertisement-supported content, and address network scaling and redundancy protection. The eventual cessation of over-the-air and cable-carried analog broadcast tele- vision will greatly relieve the bandwidth crunch, even if some of that bandwidth is reassigned to expanding the upstream spectrum. Current estimates, however, are that this is not likely to happen until 2009 at the earliest. We have limited options for solving the immediate bandwidth problem: increasing the downstream band- width, decreasing the node sizes or subdividing the nodes, using more efficient digital video encoding, more efficiently sharing bandwidth between applications, using more aggressive modulation formats (such as 1024-QAM), or moving to switched real-time broadcasting. Also, advanced codecs such as MPEG-4 and Windows Media 9 (which are discussed in Chapter 10) promise a leaner band- width profile with potentially better picture quality. But introducing them onto MPEG-2-dominated networks isn't going to be easy or quick. The proposed next-generation network architecture calls for a headend with the ability to transcode video, converting content there as opposed to converting it at a video storage hub further out in the network. Fiber Solutions As you've read many times in this book, fiber is an area of rapid evolution. Few other media options promise to offer the capacities of fiber. Where its deployment is possible, fiber is the clear-cut best solution. Fiber can be used on its own or in conjunction with twisted-pair, coax, and wireless to provide broadband access. FTTx (fiber-to-the-x, where X means premises, curb, building, or home) solu- tions are gaining momentum as the best means for offering bundled services. Fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) is a solution in which fiber is run very close to the home-to the curb-and coax run