Delivery of Video using IP, is new and important technology. The reach of Internet to the masses has increased, the growth of high speed Internet connections to homes and offices has allowed the use of new technologies such as Audio and Video over the Internet.
We have seen the growth of Audio (VoIP) and the increase in using technologies such as chat clients (MSN, AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo messenger, Skype etc). VoIP technology companies such as Vonage, ATT provide regular phone services using the Internet protocol (IP). More and more global organizations are moving towards using VoIP technologies to integrate and promote cheaper communication solutions world wide.
Messenger services allow video and audio communication - this is the first step in Internet television.
IPTV allows users to watch television using the Internet technology. With the growth of DSL services world wide, using a set-top box., connected to a DSL network allows users to watch live and on-demand video. World wide Telcos are investing in this technology. This allows Telcos to provide new services and generate revenue.
How IPTV Works?
The basis remain the same - similar to any technology delivered via IP. Video from satellites and other sources, covert the signals and sent over to set top boxes which send these signals back to the TV.
Video from Satellite and other sources are received by the IPTV headend system, these signals are encoded as MPEG-2 or H.262 or Windows Media. These video signals are broken into IP packets and using multicast it is sent over the network. On the other side at the home network the Set Top box connects to the IP network and plays the video. Each channels or video stream is categorized and sent on a unique multicast stream, when the set top box first starts it registers itself with the headend system and the joins all the multicast streams. Each the time user changes a channel the set top box will join and play the stream from the corresponding multicast stream.
Telcos use QoS (Quality of Service) to differentiate and enable video to get preference to IPTV. Everything else remains the same, the Set Top box is just another element in the network and connects to the TV using regular cable. To enable TV viewing in any location Telcos use wireless and Ethernet over power technology to connect the Set Top boxes. This enables the system to be installed in any room and avoids the hassle of having to lay cables inside the users home.
There are other pieces to this puzzle such as authentication, billing and video on demand billing etc that come into play. The problem that Telcos generally face are quality of the video and how users would react to any delay in the video. This is an important piece that Telcos have to match and compete with head to head with Cable and Satellite TV providers. Cable TV providers in general have an upper hand and have solutions to measure quality of video and audio, while their tools are proprietary Telcos face a technology challenge in measuring the quality of video and system performance.
Most of the providers come up with solutions on Video quality and in most cases the video quality is acceptable however there is no perfect solution. IPTV still does not have a solution for video quality monitoring. Talking about monitoring, there are lots of pieces of the puzzle that needs to be monitored. The satellite feed, the headend units, the network, the DSL network, QoS path and ultimately the home network.
Technology has provided solutions for the bandwidth problem, however implementing all these pieces and ensuring the end user gets a solution that is comparable or better than a cable TV is must. Once this is in place Telco has a clear advantage over cable to add other value added services to their offerings.
Current technology has some limitiations, including the set top box technology- Sigma makes the chips and Set Top box for most vendors. Some of the value added solutions Telco can offer over these solutions include:
- Video on Demand
- Pause, rewind and Tivo like services
- Caller ID with phone network
- Chat and end to end video on demand communication
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