Theta Network: The team at SDC19 — upcoming platforms, Live network statistics, SLIVER.tv Korea is available now in Google Play
Biweekly update 22nd November — 6th December
Dear Theta community, in e early December we witnessed the continued growth of the network. We love keeping track of it! The numbers are impressive. At the time of writing, there are 769 Pre-Guardian Nodes / Edge Cachers and 8 Enterprise Validators. For more information on Theta Guardian Nodes and how to join, check out the announcement blog below. In Q1 2020 Theta Mainnet 2.0 finally goes live with Multi-BFT consensus mechanism and the growing number of enterprise validator nodes and Guardian Nodes launch on Theta Mainnet 2.0 will happen. Can’t wait! The Mainnet 2.0 plan will take Theta Network from the top blockchain video project to a leading blockchain protocol overall!
As many of you know, the Samsung Developer Conference (SDC) is done. Since July the Theta team has been working with Samsung’s Visual Display division to enable Theta video delivery in Samsung TVs, and at the conference, they finally displayed the progress to the public. Watch a quick new video in which Mitch and Wes talk video platforms integrating Theta Network. In addition to Samsung internal teams, the team started talks with several promising 3rd party platforms attending SDC.
And last but not least, the Korean Theta community, check out CoinNess Korea’s new report about the Theta project and SLIVER.tv Korea app! SLIVER.tv Korea is available now in Google Play (must be on Korean device to download).
Stay tuned for more updates soon and more opportunities to get involved and contribute to the Theta Network!
Development
GitHub metrics:
THETA has 8 public repositories and 15 private repositories. Overall, the Project has frequent commits to the collection of repositories.
Developer activity (from Coinlib.io):
Theta Mainnet 2.0:
Why the team is creating the Theta blockchain?
The team’s long-term vision for the Theta Network is a decentralized end-to-end protocol for processing and delivering data, not just video but all types of data. Decentralized data delivery, at the edge, powered by you. That vision encompasses three main components that are to be powered by Theta edge nodes, run by the community:
Data Delivery — Initially focused on video delivery, and implemented on SLIVER.tv and multiple other video platforms coming soon. But the scope of decentralized data delivery goes beyond video into file updates, game patches, OS and app updates, web content, and any other form of data delivery.
Data Storage — As Theta expands from livestreaming applications to Video-on-Demand (VoD), app updates, and game patches, it becomes necessary to have a decentralized solution to data storage. Theta nodes can cache the most in-demand live and static content and files to ensure they are able to contribute to the network and earn TFUEL.
Data Encoding — By allowing Theta nodes to perform ingest/encoding of raw video and data as close to the source as possible, particularly for live events (professional sports, concerts, conferences, for example), the Theta Network will truly become an end-to-end solution for video and data. Building out this functionality is a natural extension for the Theta team, based on the team’s experience encoding live VR events in 2016 for SamsungVR, Intel IEM, ESL, and others.
For performing each of these three services (or all three at once), users earn TFUEL as a reward, incentivizing them to support and grow the Theta Network. If you are one of the 2,690 users running the PGN / Beta Edge Cacher client now, you are part of the very beginning of this edge network encompassing end-to-end data transfer. Contributing your excess bandwidth to SLIVER.tv is just the beginning!
Social encounters
October 29ht–30th, 2019: Theta Network featured at the Samsung Developer Conference to demo integration in smart TVs
After successfully testing the Theta protocol in smart TVs like the Samsung QLED 4K Q70, Theta Network has been chosen as a featured project at the Samsung Developer Conference (SDC) in San Jose. Since July the team has been working with Samsung’s Visual Display division to enable Theta video delivery in Samsung TVs, and now the team was finally ready to display the progress to the public.
The live demo of Theta in Samsung’s smart TVs was focused on how video streams can be efficiently shared between multiple Samsung devices including TVs and desktop PCs. Samsung and SLIVER.tv content was shared within their peer-to-peer network, demonstrating their vision of an any-device network sharing data using the Theta Network. The demo was also highlighted the flexibility of the Theta protocol, featuring video streams in HLS and DASH formats, in both Full High Definition (1920x1080P) and Ultra High Definition (3840x2160P), and both livestreaming and Video-on-Demand use cases. This flexibility is key to the Theta protocol being compatible with as many devices and content providers as possible.
Because the hardware in these smart TVs is specifically designed for video streaming, integrating Theta to augment some of the applications for operating in a mesh network was a logical step to take. Most TVs these days are basically mini computers and can handle all types of entertainment the average person may use a computer for: browsing the internet, watching movies, or even playing games. It’s now standard for TVs to come with at least 2GB of RAM, 1.5–2GHz of CPU with quadcore or octacore processors, and at least 16GB of local storage disc space. Not to mention, the custom-made processors that are manufactured specifically to support rendering crisp 4K or 8K picture quality. And because the Theta native core is not compute-intensive, running it on TVs with these specs is totally seamless. TVs can become relay nodes that are effectively on the edge of the network, and onboarding hundreds of thousands to millions of these devices could significantly bolster Theta’s network capacity.
December 6th, 2019: Theta Network and Cryptoverse AMA
Upcoming events:
No updates.
Finance
Live Network Statistics:
December 6th, 2019
You can now see the distribution of Pre-Guardian Nodes, Edge Cachers, and Enterprise Validator Nodes in real-time at thetatoken.org ! Scroll down to “Live Network Stats”, which will update each time you refresh the page.
Pre-Guardian Nodes / Edge Cachers: 769
Enterprise Validator Nodes: 8
For information on Theta Guardian Nodes and how to join, see the announcement blog.
Wes Levitt (in official Theta Network Telegram group): “next month with our explorer UI update, there will be a separate page listing all staked token addresses, breakdown and charts, etc.”
Theta markets:
The information is taken from Coinlib.io.
Roadmap
An updated Theta Roadmap:
Q4 2019
- Guardian Node selection and launch on testnet
- Edge Cacher beta client improvements
- Concurrent Video-on-Demand (VoD) support on SLIVER.tv
- Theta Explorer upgrades — analytics, visualizations, staking information
Q1 2020
- Theta Mainnet 2.0 goes live with Multi-BFT consensus mechanism and growing number of enterprise validator nodes
- Guardian Nodes launch on Theta Mainnet 2.0
- Release of specialized smart contract support
- Theta streaming protocol supports full Video-on-Demand (VoD)
Q2 2020
- Beta launch of decentralized data storage
- Beta launch of decentralized file delivery of any content type, such as game patches, applications, OS updates
- Beta launch of Theta protocol adapted to Smart TVs and IoT devices
H2 2020
- Release of generalized Turing-complete smart contract support
- Beta launch of decentralized encoding protocol
- Production release of the end-to-end Universal Edge Cacher
The most significant change from the previous Theta roadmap is extending the launch date of Guardian Nodes, which they know the Theta community is eager to run, but the process for the first users to get onboarded will happen shortly. In Q4, they will release the full Guardian Node software for use on Theta testnet, and a small group of users (likely starting with 100 nodes, with a second batch of 100 to follow a few weeks later) will be able to run these nodes that will fully participate in Theta’s Multi-BFT consensus. These Guardian Nodes on testnet will generate Theta Fuel (TFUEL) at the normal rate they will on mainnet (initially, new TFUEL generation at 5% annual of total supply). For any TFUEL a user earns by running a Guardian Node on the testnet, they will get the same amount of actual TFUEL on the Theta mainnet, even during this testing period before Guardian Nodes move to mainnet. It is extremely valuable to have real users testing the Guardian Nodes, both to test the software and evaluate user behavior. To do that the right way, users need to have real economic incentives!
The final criteria for selection of the first 100 Guardian Nodes to participate on testnet will be released shortly. The most likely process will be to start with all the PGN participants who meet the hardware requirements to run a Guardian Node and have staked the minimum 100K THETA. Then, both the number of THETA staked and uptime history will be weighted to get to a final ranking of the top 100. The team is still fine tuning that formula to ensure it is as fair as possible and will share that soon. Note — since the PGN has only been released for Windows, they will reserve a portion of the spaces for Mac/Linux users out there! Also, remember that just because you are selected in the first 100 doesn’t mean it’s permanent; you do still need to be a responsible and consistent Guardian Node, and if you are included in the first 100 and run the node unreliably or maliciously on the testnet, your node will be removed from the Guardian Node set and another user will get the chance to step up.
Check out the latest updates on TFUEL integration with SLIVER.tv at the TFUEL streaming roadmap — this will continue to be updated as new features are completed and added to roadmap.
SLIVER.tv Roadmap:
Partnerships and team members
No updates.
Rumors
Twitter:
@Theta_Network retweeted:
Other:
Be aware of scammers! Admins of Official Theta Telegram chat will never DM you or ask for private info / keys / seed phrases!
Social media metrics
Social media activity:
Social media dynamics:
Theta community continues to grow. There is a slight increase in the number of subscribers of Theta social media channels these weeks.
Official Telegram group — Discussions on Theta Mainnet 2.0, development, possible partnerships, etc.
Facebook — 15–25 likes per publication, 15 shares.
Twitter — The average number of retweets is 35–40 for one post.
Bitcointalk.org — since November 23rd, 2017. Discussion on mainnet launch, price, roadmap.
There is a slight growth in Theta community over time. The graph above shows the dynamics of changes in the number of Theta Reddit subscribers, Twitter followers and Facebook likes. The information is taken from Coingecko.com.
