Exterity Expands US Operations to Meet Growing Demand for Building IPTV Solutions

Exterity announces the opening of its new US facility in Atlanta, Georgia. The move highlights Exterity’s commitment to driving growth in the US Building IPTV market and further establishes the company as a global pioneer in developing advanced Building IPTV technologies.

In addition to the new US office, Exterity has also appointed Roxanna Hunter as its Director of US Business Development. In her role, Hunter will be responsible for expanding the company’s footprint in the US market through the development of new partnerships and direct sales. Hunter previously held the role of Marketing Director at Exterity, where she was responsible for overhauling the company's entire marketing strategy, including a rebranding of both the website and key product families, as well as launching Exterity’s new channel partner program, StreamForce.

To support the fast-growing US market, Exterity is also looking to recruit a US channel sales manager, taking responsibility for building out a region-wide network of resellers and technology partners.

Exterity products enable organizations to distribute high definition digital TV and video over their IP network to a virtually unlimited number of users, with centralized management, configuration, and control. Unlike traditional analogue systems, Exterity systems can support an unlimited number of channels, and picture quality is unaffected by the addition of displays or users.

To see market leading Building IPTV in action, visit Exterity at Content & Communications World, the premier conference and exhibition for media, entertainment and communications technology, where it will be showcasing its range of market-leading solutions. The show is taking place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York on October 13th-14th. Check out Exterity’s range of market-leading Building IPTV solutions at booth #1264. You can also follow Exterity’s twitter feed for news and updates throughout the show at twitter.com/exterity.

Source: TVOver

[Read More...]

Mashup TV, Pay TV, Over The Top TV and DLNA - Where is the Future for Multiscreen?

At this mashup* event we'll be discussing, debating and demoing how the arrival of true convergence is driving the need for seamless media access across multiple consumer devices. Now that there is so much video available online, the TV industry is forced to ask if the internet is the TV platform of the future, which will bypass pay-TV providers, or if there is an opportunity for traditional TV service providers to blend the internet with their existing delivery routes. Moreover, would such a hybrid approach be able to deliver a truly converged entertainment offering that quenches the consumer’s thirst for TV anywhere, anytime and on any device?

However, blending broadcast and broadband is not a simple task. There is still a lot of work to do and questions to be answered in identifying the right business models and finding the right ways to engage consumers. There are also technology hurdles to address such as content protection/DRM, content discovery/navigation and bandwidth availability. And those are just challenges for getting content to the TV set or home PC - add to the mix your mobile phone, camera, car, iPad and iPod and you either have a massive disruption or a never ending headache.

For more information, visit http://www.mashupevent.com/event/over-top-tv. 

Source: TVOver

[Read More...]

Verizon Tops 1 Million FiOS TV Customers

In less than 28 months, more than 1 million customers have chosen Verizon FiOS TV, making the company the 10th largest cable provider in the United States. Verizon announced that it surpassed 1 million FiOS TV customers in January after a banner 2007. Verizon delivers FiOS TV, FiOS Internet and voice service on the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network all the way to customers' homes.

Verizon added 226,000 net FiOS TV customers in the fourth quarter and a total of 736,000 during the year to end 2007 with 943,000 FiOS TV customers. Including satellite TV customers served in partnership with DIRECTV, Verizon has more than 1.8 million video customers.

At the end of the year, Verizon was marketing FiOS TV to nearly 5.9 million homes in 13 states, up nearly 1.2 million from the end of the third quarter. That means Verizon's penetration rate for the service at the end of 2007 averaged 16 percent across all markets, particularly impressive since marketing has just begun in many communities. Verizon continues to add new town and city TV franchises every week to continually expand the number of customers who can order FiOS TV.

Verizon announced its 1 millionth customer for FiOS Internet service in June 2007, and at year-end had more than 1.5 million FiOS Internet subscribers, representing 20.6 percent penetration across all markets of the nearly 7.5 million homes open for FiOS Internet sales. Combining FiOS Internet and DSL, Verizon had 8.2 million total broadband connections at year-end, up 17.9 percent from year-end 2006.

For FiOS TV, 2007 was the biggest year yet. Verizon became the 10th largest cable provider in the U.S. by surpassing the total number of customers served by Cable One, which reported just over 699,000 customers at the end of the third quarter. The ninth-largest competitor is Mediacom Communications with more than 1.3 million customers.

Also during 2007, Verizon rolled out its interactive media guide, which gives customers more control of their viewing experience. All Verizon FiOS TV customers now have the new, colorful IMG, and Verizon plans to add more new FiOS TV features, including games and expanded Widgets, during 2008.

Verizon is continuing to add new high-definition channels and programming. The next group of new HD channels will be available to customers in the spring as the company moves toward its announced goal of providing 150 HD channels by the end of 2008.

Verizon FiOS TV delivers hundreds of digital video and music channels, high-definition programming, a library of more than 10,000 video-on-demand titles and other innovative features. The service is available in parts of California, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia. 

Source: TVOver

[Read More...]

IPTV vs. Internet Television: Key Differences

What is the difference between IPTV, the Internet Protocol-based TV paradigm heralded by major telecom providers and large media groups (Microsoft included) and the Internet Television painted by the Long Tail phenomenon, Ourmedia, the Internet Archive, Brightcove, and the availability of amazing new technology opportunities such as faster and faster net connections, free unlimited storage space, BitTorrent, MPEG4 and powerful low-cost hardware and software production tools?

Photo credit: Alessio Vairetti

Are they two opposite and diverging forces or are they the different aspects of the same media phenomenon portrayed in different ways?

If you ask these questions around today, few people will be able to answer in a clear and articulate way. Even those executives working for would-be IPTV ventures would give no credit whatsoever to the idea that an alternative way of leveraging Internet strengths for the commercial delivery of video content exists. Most of the time they see only theirs.

So, what are the key differences between these two radically different approaches to distributing video content via IP and which the related-issues that make them important to me and you?

The choice, for those who can see it, appears to be between a universe of highly diversified and dynamic independent production and one dominated by secure dedicated private delivery networks distributing more traditional types of video-based content largely provided by Hollywood and other established big media conglomerates.

IPTV is represented by a profile of closed, proprietary TV systems such as those present today on cable services but delivered via IP-based secure channels representing a sharp increase in control of content distribution.

Internet Television is instead an open evolving framework in which a very large number of small and medium-sized video producers contribute highly innovative niche content alongside with offerings from more traditional retail and distribution channels.

Nonetheless key differences, being able to appreciate the true nature of these two models remains a challenging task for the uninitiated reader unless she starts to look a little deeper into the differentiating details.

What is IPTV

IPTV is not TV that is broadcast over the Internet.

"IPTV is generally funded and supported by large telecom providers who have undertaken the mission of creating a competitive replacement product for digital cable and satellite services." (Jeremy Allaire)

"While the "IP" in its name stands for Internet Protocol, that doesn't mean people will log onto their favorite Web page to access television programming. The IP refers to a method of sending information over a secure, tightly managed network that results in a superior entertainment experience."
(Source: Businessweeek - "The real meaning of IPTV")

IPTV is particularly good for the established media content production business, including Hollywood and all of the major television distribution networks on satellite and cable. IPTV allows these organizations to have total control of the content distributed and to greatly reduce opportunities for theft and piracy, which last year cost the cable industry $4.76 billion in unrealized revenue.
(Source: Businessweeek - "The real meaning of IPTV").

The way IPTV television is being conceived integrates multiple ways to monitor and record user choices, preferences and selections over time therefore appearing as an ideal platform on which to add personalized e-commerce options and more targeted advertising.

• IP-TV is a carrier-led and controlled platform. There is a physical carrier that has physical pipes and infrastructure that it operates and controls. The consumer interacts directly with that operator/carrier.
• As such this is an end-to-end system or semi-closed network (infrastructure is all within the carrier environment, and cannot be normally accessed to the Internet as a whole. Further to this, the deployment infrastructure and devices to access it are all managed and operated by the IP-TV carrier).
• IPTV is definitely a massive connectivity infrastructure upgrade to be deployed over a number of years, and which underlines major changes and upgrades to connectivity, transport and delivery devices both on the operator environment as well as on the consumer side.
• IPTV approach is a fundamentally geographically-bound approach. This is mainly due to the fact that the deployment infrastructure is based in regions and in neighborhoods connected to consumer premises (users homes). User experience is also bound to their living rooms and set-top boxes. Local regulations and policies further influence and limit IP-TV to be a strongly geographically-bound model.
• IPTV will offer essentially the same product and programming offered by digital cable and satellite providers. Similar on-demand and pay per view products probably with some extra integration with voice, and different pricing.

IPTV Issues

Will it be easy for the telecom companies to acquire, license and distribute existing commercial video content?

Can the telcos with little or no experience with the licensing of video content, hope to become smart players of this emerging industry?

For now this remains an open question:

"It won't be easy. Already, the entertainment industry is entwined in a web of complicated and often exclusive licensing deals, and getting the right content will be a challenge for the telcos."

This is what Bob Greene, senior vice president of advanced services for Starz Entertainment Group LLC told his audience a few days ago, at the 13th annual Symposium, “Next Generation Media Networks".

"Movies are typically licensed on an exclusive basis for about eight or nine years, says, after which licensing is finally opened up to general broadcast rights." Greene also said that breaking into these exclusive relationships is the biggest barrier to those who want to start delivering video content over IP.
(Source: Lightreading IPTV vs. Me Too TV )

Reed Hasting, founder and CEO of Netflix, adds that "the industry had reached a crucial juncture", and where what we are left with it's a choice between an open and highly diversified grassroots Internet-based TV panorama vs. a highly-commercial, secure and controlled multiplicity of private networks modeled after traditional cable and satellite TV operations governed by major world telcos.

Unfortunately what telcos are doing, is dumping large amounts of money into creating IP-based versions of existing cable and satellite offerings, without any understanding of what the new emerging paradigm of Internet of Video, has really to offer.

A great model for marketing video and television-type content through secure and protected IP telecom networks could be modeled after what successfully done by NTT DoCoMo in Japan, where the telecom giant takes a cut of the overall sales and subscriptions revenues in exchange for providing new content providers with tools and services to market their content on their distribution network.

What is Internet Television

So, what is then the alternative open internet of video that Jeremy Allaire of Brightcove evangelizes about?

• Internet Television, is quite different in terms of the model for the consumer, the publisher and for the infrastructure used itself.
• In the Internet of Video, as Jeremy Allaire calls it, or Internet Television approach, the model is open to any rights holder, as it is based on the same publishing model that exists on the Web: anyone can create an endpoint and publish that on a global basis.
• Internet Television is open to any rights holder no matter whether this is an individual creating a video for a very small audience or a traditional publisher that offers linear cable channels.
• The Internet Television approach the publisher has a direct communication channel to the consumer.
The content publisher is able to directly reach the consumers on the multiple devices independent of any specific carrier or operator. Internet Television is in fact an approach that also attempts to be as device independent as possible. Thanks to open standards and formats which have helped create this opportunity, Internet Television wants to be just as the web is today. Accessible from any type of computer and connection around the world..... and not physically tied to the user living room or set-top box.
• Internet Television will be deeply integrated into the existing Internet user experience and into the mechanisms that users use to access services, discover resources and share experiences in the Internet world, in the near future will merge with the world of video and television services seamlessly.
• Internet Television is an outgrowth, not an overhaul. Internet Television is able to ride on existing lowest common denominator infrastructure including broadband, ADSL, wi-fi, cable, satellite doesn't require new infrastructure to work or provide value to users.
• Internet Television uses a global reach business model, where video and television services that are offered in one geography can be accessed from any other global geography (as long as content distribution rights are in place).
• Internet Television promises access to many new products and much broader range of programming that we have been accustomed to retail video world and dramatically more control, as to when and where and how users can access that video/tv programming."

"An open platform gives content providers control over the brand and customer relationship," says Jeremy Allaire of BrightCove.

This, he feels, will create an explosion of niche content that people can access directly over open, IP-based systems. "Nearly every small niche can be economically supportable."

And also:

"Beyond looking at Internet Television as an ideal platform for marketing and distribution, it is interesting to think about how the Internet facilitates a distributed and collaborative environment for media production.
It won't surprise me to see new "media collectives" modeled after open source projects that form together to put forth a particular view point - be it for entertainment or informational programs.
Is this a missing piece to create a platform for citizen's media? "

But the question is: Which one would YOU want, and why?

[Read More...]

High Definition Slowly Coming to IPTV

High Definition Slowly Coming to IPTV

IPTV operators are scrambling to deliver more HD programming, but there are big challenges ahead.

David Cotriss

Faced with ever-growing consumer demand and competitive pressure, cable, satellite and IPTV operators are scrambling to deliver more HD programming. Over the holiday season, strong demand led to a shortage of HD set-top boxes by Motorola Inc., which supplies them to Verizon Wireless and other operators. IPTV providers have been expanding their HD offerings, including AT&T Inc.’s U-Verse, which recently added new HD channels in New Haven and Hartford, Conn., bringing the total number of HD channels to 44. Verizon expects to offer 150 HD channels for its FiOS service by the end of 2008. While promising, these numbers still pale in comparison to the number of standard-definition channels offered by cable and satellite services. This is in part due to the challenges involved in offering HD programming.

---

Richard Broughton, an analyst at Screen Digest, explained that HD gives IPTV providers a major competitive advantage despite having a limited number of channels. “If IPTV had an Achilles' heel, it would be HDTV,” said Broughton. “Satellite and cable TV [services] in Europe typically have larger numbers of HD channels, with premium content in HD. IPTV, by contrast, has very little — perhaps the basic Luxe.TV and National Geographic [Society] or Discovery [Communications LLC] HD channels. In the U.S., numbers are perhaps less polarized as a result of higher IPTV access speeds (compared to Europe). Consequently, the larger core-channel capacity of IPTV could prove to be a winner in [this] country, allowing operators to potentially offer more HD than their rivals; however, as with standard definition, it's the quality of content, not the quantity that matters.”

HD for Free

Broughton added that IPTV providers often use HD as a promotional vehicle rather than to generate revenue. “IPTV services offering HD typically provide it cheaply, [but this is not] without its reasons,” he said. “Satellite TV in Europe typically uses its premium content — sports and movies in particular — to drive uptake of HD packages. IPTV, on the other hand, does not typically have the premium HD content (nor is actually able in many cases to offer it), so it usually offers the HD content it does have on an FTA (free-to-air) basis. IPTV uses the HD as an ad for the platform rather than as a serious revenue generator of its own accord,” he said.
Broughton explained some of the reasons for limited HD offerings, at least in Europe. “Fewer than 20 percent of European IPTV services offer HDTV, and many of those that do, like Orange TV or Freebox, rely on ADSL2+ to deliver the content. For content owners, this is a concern, as the HDTV may not be delivered at the quality they would like. Consequently, HD is on few IPTV services, even those using ADSL2+. For others, like Deutsche Telekom's Entertain service, only certain higher-speed customers — like the VDSL (very high-speed DSL) subscribers — can take HDTV. That said, most of the major IPTV operators (like Imagenio and Orange) offer HD, with others, like FASTWEB, supplying HD on demand. [British Telecommunications PLC] has yet to launch HD, but there is some speculation that it will attempt to push VOD (video on demand) HD service later this year.” Verizon also announced HD on demand in December, expecting to offer 1,000 titles in 2008.

Shortage of Set-Top Boxes

The shortage of HD set-top boxes is another potential setback for HD IPTV, but Broughton said he believes the blame falls on chip manufacturers rather than set-top manufacturers like Motorola. As he explained, “Currently, our money is on chipsets not being supplied to the manufacturers fast enough. It's unlikely to be the operators misforecasting demand or Motorola failing to keep to schedule — both are too experienced to make such a mistake. Instead, it's likely to be down to the chipset manufacturers being unable to keep up with the demand from box suppliers (a consequence of increased HD uptake from TV customers). HD uptake has in general been a little slower than expected, although certain IPTV providers have been pushing HD boxes out free, meaning that a great demand has been placed on suppliers and manufacturers. It isn't necessarily indicative of consumer demand; (it's) more operator optimism.”
Despite continued growth, it may be awhile before HD exceeds standard-definition offerings. “HD is unlikely to become the norm for some time, but Screen Digest forecasts suggest that many households will pick it up quite readily. HD displays will be commonplace by 2012; however, costs and availability of content mean that in the U.S., for instance, roughly 50 percent of households will be enabled (in other words, have an HD set and take HD content) for HDTV,” Broughton said.
Whether IPTV will become a major driver of HD programming remains to be seen, but its high-capacity fiber networks certainly add promise. As prices on HDTV sets come down and consumers demand the content, today’s TV will eventually become a relic of the past.

Source: DailyIPTV

[Read More...]

Panasonic VIERA HDTV's Enable IPTV and YouTube Features

Panasonic introduces its flagship PZ850 series, previewed the industry’s first IP enabled television. Building upon the market and critical success of Panasonic’s previous Plasma models, the 2008 PZ850 series includes a number of step-up features that will further strengthen Panasonic’s leadership position.

Panasonic’s VIERA full HD 1080p PZ850 series features four models - the 46-inch class TH-46PZ850, the 50-inch class TH-50PZ850, the 58-inch class TH-58PZ850 and the 65-inch class TH-65PZ850. The introduction of the IP enabled televisions, a technology that provides access to on-line content directly from the televison with VIERA CAST technology, is one of many advances found in the PZ850 line. In addition, the PZ850 series features a Pro Setting Menu, allowing the consumer to access professional calibration software; an improved native resolution contrast ratio of 30,000:1 and a dynamic ratio of 1,000,000:1; Digital Cinema Color Re-Mastering; 24p native reproduction; Game Mode; an SD memory Card slot; RS-232C connection; four HDMI connections; increased luminous efficiency; lead free panels; 100,000 hours to half brightness and a PC input. The 850 series further expands the capabilities of the SD Card feature by utilizing the H.264 codec to display high definition video recorded on a HD camcorder equipped with the H.264 codec.

Recognizing the growing use of Plasma HD televisions in the gaming world, Panasonic created the Game Mode, which minimizes the time lag when displaying game images on the Plasma screen. The Mode synchronizes the response of the game image to the player’s operation, thereby producing an extremely clear image with no motion artifacts.

Digital Cinema Color Re-Mastering is a value added technology that allows for color reproduction, enabling VIERA displays to reproduce the essential colors for viewing movies. 24p native reproduction, which negates the need for 3:2 pulldown, resulting in a smoother picture, is another feature that provides the best possible viewing experience.

Panasonic brings living rooms to life with Google and YouTube

Panasonic and YouTube announce plans to bring big screen High Definition TV viewers quick and easy access to millions of originally created videos from YouTube directly from Panasonic’s new VIERA PZ850 line of Plasma Internet-connected HDTV’s. The new VIERA HDTV’s, equipped with VIERA CAST, also include easy and seamless access to Picasa Web Albums, a free online photo-sharing service from Google.

Panasonic’s new VIERA PZ850 series Plasma HDTV’s with VIERA CAST will enable consumers, using the new and elegant Panasonic VIERA CAST interface, to easily browse, find and watch free videos from YouTube and view photos from their Picasa Web Albums in the comfort of their living room.

"We are thrilled to introduce Panasonic VIERA PZ850 series Internet-Connected HDTV’s with virtual one-click access to YouTube and Picasa Web Albums from Google,” said Toshihiro Sakamoto, President of Panasonic AVC Networks Company. “This is the first time mainstream consumers will be able to easily enjoy YouTube videos from the living room with the enhanced quality of a fully integrated widescreen TV experience. YouTube is already a huge worldwide sensation, and Panasonic VIERA Internet-connected HDTV’s will greatly expand users’ entertainment options.”

The first generation of Panasonic VIERA PZ850 series Internet-connected HDTV’s will be available to consumers in spring 2008.

Source: TVOver

[Read More...]

Master List of Web Site Video Stations and Channels

AOL Video - Watch music videos, news, movie trailers, and TV shows

Blinkx - Over 7 million hours of video. Search it all

Brightcove - Find and watch the online video

Bebo - Social network with video focus

Babelgum - TV Experience, Internet substance

Blog tv - Broadcast your own TV Show

Break - Free videos.

Clevver - Action & comedy movie trailers and music videos

CNN Video - Watch news and breaking news videos at CNN.com

Chip Blast - Search and navigate video across the web

Crackle- Watch, create, and share video (formerly Grouper)

Channel 101 - Video entertainment

Daily Motion - Share your videos

Dave.tv - Social broadcast network

Dabble - Search, collect, and organize your favorite web videos

Eyespot - Free Video Mixing. Movie making for all of us

Earth Cam - Where the world watches the world

Everyzing - Audio and video search (formerly Podzinger)

eBaum's World - Funny videos.

Friendster - Social network emphasizing genuine friendships

Flurl - Video and media search

Funny or Die -Funny videws featuring comedians, celebrities, and you.

Funny Junk - The name says it all.

Go Fish - Video search

Green.tv - Video channel for environmental films

Heavy - Video community where you are the network

Helpful Video - Share your knowledge and skills

ifilm - Upload and search for videos

Iblocks - Take your photos, videos & music and convert them into 3D videos

Ivnet.tv - Global broadband TV

Interactive Social TV

Jumpcut - Upload, share, and search for video and media. *Beta

Joost - A new way of watching TV

Kewego - Video search

knocka tv -"The People have Taken Over"

Live Video - Watch, upload, and search for videos

Link TV - Television without borders

Live Leak - Refefining the media

Le Gourmet TV - Dedicated to Gourmet Food and the like

MSN Video - Watch and search for videos.

Metacafe - Watch, upload, and search for videos

Meme TV - Major Video Memes

Mania TV - Watch live video. Create your own TV channel

Nowthen - Keeps a diary of your images

Mega Video - I'm watchin' it

Motorsportmad.com - Every category of morotsport. - new

Nasa TV - Watch live from NASA

NY Times Video - Video on demand from the New York Times

Onion News Network - 24-hour television news

Pure Video - Watch and search for videos

Pixsy.com - Search for photos and videos

Peekvid - Watch videos

Public.tv - Watch public sector, professional training, and business videos

Revver - Create and share videos

Sportal - Watch and search for sports audio and video

Sumo.tv - Watch, upload, and search for UK videos

Sharkle - Watch, upload, and share your videos

Searchforvideo.com - Video search

Social TV

Trooker - Find it, watch it, trook it

Trivop - Hotel videoguilde (one of the first)

Travelistic - Online travel videos from around the world

TV Land - Video clips of classic television and original series

TV Life - Watch Shows online free

twango - Video sharing.

Voeh - Search, download and watch videos

Video Jug - Life explained. On Film. Upload/share your videos

Viral Videos - Watch the web's most shared viral videos

Video.ca - Canadian video sharing communit

Vimeo - Watch, upload, and search for videos

Vidilife - Watch, upload, and search for videos

Video Egg - Video sharing

Video Bomb - Social bookmarking for video

Vmix.com - Video sharing and hosting community

You Tube -Watch, upload, broadcast, and search for videos

Yahoo Video - Video search

Youare.tv - Independent films, shows, and videos.

 

5min - Life videopedia

[Read More...]

What is IPTV?

iPTV is Internet Protocol Television which uses  packet based streaming video delivery
iPTV  it is a pro consumer technology, it is truly interactive
iPTV is going to set you free
iPTV will transform your reality

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) has become a common denominator for systems where television and/or video signals are distributed to subscribers or viewers using a broadband connection over Internet Protocol. Often this is in parallel with the subscriber's Internet connection, supplied by a broadband operator using the same infrastructure but over a dedicated bandwidth allocation.

IPTV is not a protocol itself.

IPTV is expected to grow at a brisk pace in the coming few years, as broadband is now available to more than 100 million households worldwide.

Current Status:

iPTV technology is mature, full scale realization is just just beginning. Although not new, it has been a long time coming, pending the establishment of a  large enough population connected with broadband and the hardware to receive it. We have reached the threshold where it has become a viable platform for the delivery of high quality video in ways never possible before.
iPTV political and economic ramifications have yet to be fully comprehended

Why is it revolutionary?

IPTV breaks all the rules, and shatters the finite boundaries of broadcast, satellite,  and cable television as we know it, it decentralizes  power, eliminates corporate, government and political controls and puts the consumer in command of both viewing and creation of content. 

• True interactive television
• See anything you want to see, any time, any where, on any device
• Advertiser, sponsor, and subscriber funded content
• Advanced Targeted Interactive Content Delivery
• Planet wide in scope
• Infinite number of  stations and channels, unlimited content
• Eliminates  middle men and media monopolies
• Reduced infrastructure costs

Architecture

Due to the bandwidth requirements of video, IPTV requires broadband connections to be distributed.IPTV covers both live TV (multicasting) as well as stored video (Video on Demand VOD). The playback of IPTV requires either a personal computer or a "set-top box" connected to a TV. The primary underlying protocols used for IPTV are IGMP version 2 for channel change signalling for live TV and RTSP for Video on Demand.
Protocols using peer-to-peer technology to distribute live TV are just starting to emerge. Their primary advantage over traditional distribution models is that they provide a way of sharing data delivery workloads across connected client systems as well as over the distributor's own server infrastructure, which drastically decreases the operational costs for a stream provider.
Video Compression formats used for IPTV include MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, WMV (Windows Media Video 9 and VC1), XviD, DivX, and Ogg Theora.

Advantages

Advantages of IPTV include two-way capability lacked by traditional TV distribution technologies, as well as point-to-point distribution allowing each viewer to view individual broadcasts. This enables stream control (pause, wind/rewind etc.) and a free selection of programming much like its narrowband cousin, the web.

Tripleplay is an expression used by service operators describing a consumer package including telephony, data and video. Offering tripleplay on a broadband connection requires the use of IPTV and IP Telephony (Voice over IP, VoIP)

Alternatives

Alternatives to IPTV are traditional TV distribution technologies such as terrestrial, satellite and cable TV. However, cable can be upgraded to two-way capability and can thus also carry IPTV. IPTV is far superior to traditional platforms. All which have limitations, whereas IPTV has none.

VOD in the US is usually delivered over cable TV using the DVB protocol and is not labeled IPTV services.

The largest operators in IPTV today are:

• Fastweb in Italy (http://www.fastweb.it/)
• Imagenio, operated by Telefonica in Spain [1] (http://www.telefonicaonline.com/on/es/imagenio/)
• Yahoo BB / Softbank in Japan
• NOW Broadband TV in Hong Kong, launched in Q4 2003 [2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=IPTV&action=edit&section=5)
• SuperSun in Hong Kong, lanched in Q3 2005
• Intelegen Inc. launched a full service operation in 2005 in conjunction with it's Autonomous Wireless Consumer Mesh Network which is set to establish a consumer owned and operated wireless communications infrastructure that will carry data, voice and video.

In 2004, SBC agreed to pay Microsoft $400 million dollars for software to be used to deliver IPTV services to up to 18 million customers. Separately, SBC is investing over $4 billion USD in its network infrastructure to prepare for the rollout, the largest part with Alcatel ($1.7 billion) including access and fiber technologies, IP routing, Ethernet switching solutions, and network systems integration services. Additionally, Alcatel will work with SBC to ensure the video systems integration. Since the SBC deal, Microsoft and Alcatel have subsequently announced a global collaboration agreement to develop an integrated IPTV delivery solution. In January 2005, US based Verizon signed an agreement to use Microsoft IPTV solution, as well.

Previous to this, Swisscom/Bluewin has been running real live trials since November 2004 with over 600 customers. Besides this, Bell Canada, Bell South, Reliance (India) and TelecomItalia are testing this new technology.

Beyond simple press announcements (excepting Fastweb, Yahoo BB and Swisscom/Bluewin), Belgacom will offer a commercial IPTV service for 2005. Details can be found at (Belgacom TV (http://www.belgacom.be/private/en/jsp/dynamic/product.jsp?dcrName=hbs_belgacomtv)) (in English) and a demonstration of the Belgacom TV service (demo (http://selfcare.belgacom.be/static/pc/data/flash/belgacomtv/belgacomtv_en.html)

Vendors

The term "IP/TV" is an active registered United States trademark owned first by Precept Software, Inc. and now by Cisco Systems, Inc. The IP/TV product is an audio/video system, including both servers and viewers, based on the RTP/RTCP and SDP protocols. It often uses IP multicast as well. IP/TV was introduced in 1995.

Digital broadcast equipment manufacturer Tandberg Television, Harmonic Inc (http://www.harmonicinc.com) has a range of headend hardware and software catering to IPTV applications.

IPTV 24/7 Quality monitoring and analysis vendors

• Agama Technologies (official site (http://www.agama.tv/))

IPTV set-top box manufacturers include:

• Advanced Digital Broadcast (official site (http://www.adbglobal.com/))
• Amino Communications, UK (official site (http://www.aminocom.com/))
• i3 micro (official site (http://www.i3micro.com/))
• Kreatel (official site (http://www.kreatel.com/))
• Pace Micro Technology (official site (http://www.pacemicro.com/))
• Samsung (official site (http://www.samsung.com/))
• Telsey Telecommunications, Italy (official site (http://www.telsey.com/))
• VBrick Systems, USA (official site (http://www.vbrick.com/))

IPTV software vendors include:

• Alcatel (official site (http://www.alcatel.com))
• Microsoft (official site (http://www.microsoft.com/))
• Minerva Networks (official site (http://www.minervanetworks.com/))
• Myrio (official site (http://www.myrio.com/))
• Orca Interactive (official site (http://www.orcainteractive.com/))
• Siemens (official site (http://www.siemens.com/))
• VBrick Systems, USA (official site (http://www.vbrick.com/))
• Video Furnace (official site (http://www.videofurnace.com/))

IPTV end-to-end solutions:

• UTStarcom (official site (http://www.utstar.com/Solutions/Broadband/IPTV_mVision/))
• mxWare (official site (http://www.mxware.com/))
• Intelegen Inc. (official site http://intelegen.com)

IPTV News sources

• informitv (official site (http://informitv.com))
• iptv-report (official site (http://ipt-report.com))
• iptv news (official site (http://www.iptv-news.com))
• TVover.net (official site (http://www.tvover.net))

[Read More...]

IPTV Multicasting Explained

 

Internet Protocol (IP) multicast is a bandwidth-conserving mechanism for reducing data network traffic by simultaneously delivering a single stream of information to thousands of recipients. Multicasting is fundamental to the implementation of IPTV. This is how it works.

In diagram 1, none of the network switches have IGMP snooping or querying turned on and so the network is not multicast enabled. The backbone switch has all the streaming traffic coming into it from the MPEG IP Encoders. If we assume each stream is 4 Mbps the backbone switch will carry 4 Mbps x 3 streams = 12 Mbps of streaming traffic.

As the switches don’t have IGMP turned on, the streaming traffic will flood the entire network regardless of whether the user requests a particular stream or not.

In diagram 2, all switches have IGMP snooping turned on and the backbone switch has IGMP query turned on. Again, the backbone switch has a total of 12 Mbps of streaming traffic coming into it from the MPEG IP Encoders.

Switch 1 will only have 8 Mbps of traffic reaching it as a result of the two users who have requested the same red stream (4 Mbps) and a third user who has selected the green stream (4 Mbps). This is the distinct advantage of multicasting - the bandwidth used is per stream and not per user.

Switch 2 will only have 4 Mbps of traffic reaching it since only the blue stream has been requested by a user. There will be no streaming traffic on the port where there is no request for a stream.

Switch 3 will have no streaming traffic since none of the users connected to the switch have requested any streams.

In calculating the bandwidth requirement for IPTV, it should be assumed that all streams will be present on the backbone but, at most, only one stream will be present on a user port.

[Read More...]