The Future of TV

All communication is going the IP way, so why not TV? The latest IPTV technology uses Internet technology to offer video on demand, and gives much more control over what you watch on your TV

IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) is the latest buzzword

in the Internet circles, especially within the expanding broadband community. So

what exactly is it? The traditional TV that we are used to comes to our TV sets

by cable, satellite, or through the air, as analogue or digital signals.

However, in IPTV, video data is sent across the Internet as packets, like in

VoIP. It can then be stored on a server and sent to computers or straight to

special STBs (Set Top Boxes), over ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Lines),

or cable lines.

Video on Demand



IPTV uses a two-way digital broadcast signal that's sent through either a

switched telephone or cable network. It uses a broadband connection that

terminates into an STB at the user's end. All the content is then delivered

upon the viewer (user) requests. This means that although IPTV is another way of

showing live TV, it is more of a stored video-also known as VoD (Video on

Demand). On IPTV, the programs can be paused and re-wound, as they can be with

personal digital video recorders such as TiVo, giving the viewer much more

control. The STB connected to the TV decodes the IP video being transmitted and

converts it into standard television signals. There's an SVS (Switched Video

Service) system, which lets the viewers watch broadcast network channels,

subscription services and movies on demand.

IPTV should not be confused with P2P file-sharing or

watching a downloaded DivX of a TV show on your PC. It does not even include

watching a low-resolution QuickTime or Windows Media clip in a tiny Web window.

It could be considered as similar to some of the TV tuner cards available in the

market today, which also let you pause, rewind and record TV programs with the

difference that you watch them on a bigger screen, and don't need a PC to get

this functionality. The second advantage of using IPTV is that instead of

broadcasting every channel continuously like in a regular TV service, IPTV

providers would transmit only the channel or show that the subscribers request

for. This frees up large amounts of bandwidth for HDTV and high-speed broadband.

At some point in the next five to seven years, there will be a single pipe

coming into your house capable of carrying your voice calls (through VoIP), your

standard broadband data connection, as well as your TV and the Net radio

stations! This is called as 'Triple Play'-an all-in-one service by one

service provider.

The future



As an emerging technology, IPTV promises to evolve into a completely

interactive experience in the future. It is expected to grow at a brisk pace in

the coming years as broadband connection speeds, capacity and the subscriber

numbers rise rapidly. Along with this, better video compression technology

allows standard- and high-definition video to be delivered using broadband

technologies. Worldwide, major telecom companies are looking at IPTV as a new

revenue source and as a way to jump ahead of the conventional cable services

providers who are encroaching upon their telecommunications space. If the IPTV

concept actually works to its maximum in the future, the world's TV watching

habits could drastically change with Internet-style interactivity and

flexibility. It will also mean broadband speeds that are 10, 100, or even 1,000

times faster than today's DSL or cable. They have to be if IPTV is to really

take off.

All this will take a long time, of course. But over the

next decade, the over-hyped idea of Video on Demand could become as commonplace

as using a cellphone to check e-mail nowadays.

Avantika Upadhyaya