The Hindu Business Line : An alternative to being a couch potato

How is IPTV better than the traditional telly? You can see programmes of your choice, at the pace you want to, by controlling the stream through pause, fast and rewind options.

Telephone is old. So are TV, and the Internet. But IPTV is new: It is the coming together of Internet Protocol (IP) and television (TV).

``Goldstone Tech makes IPTV foray,'' announces the day's headline, about the Indian scene. ``Telecom operators set to bring in IPTV,'' reads an April 7 story. New Delhi hosted a conference IPTV India 2006 that day.

``Orca Wins Whale Of A Spanish IPTV Deal,'' reports Telecomweb.

``Google Searches For Software Engineers With IPTV Know-How,'' informs InformationWeek, NY.

``Live IPTV Coming to AT&T Wi-Fi Hotspots,'' says Teleclick.ca, Canada.

IPTV or Internet Protocol Television, as Wikipedia explains, is "a system where a digital television service is delivered to subscribing consumers using the IP over a broadband connection." A `simpler definition' is given thus: "Television content that, instead of being delivered through the traditional format, is received by the viewer through the technologies used for the World Wide Web."

`HIGH-SPEED' TV

For starters, IP is "the standard that controls the routing and structure of data transmitted over the Internet," as Encarta defines. And broadband is "a high-speed, high-capacity data transmission channel," as www.netlingo.com states. ``In the most basic sense,'' therefore, IPTV is "a way of getting television transmitted over high-speed Internet connections."

Why was nobody talking of IPTV till recently? Because "in the past, this technology has been nearly impossible with slow dial-up download speeds inhibiting any form of video content to be received," reasons http://en.wikipedia.org. "Now, however, IPTV is expected to grow at a brisk pace in the coming years as broadband is now available to more than 100 million households worldwide."

Educative is An Introduction to IPTV, dated October 2005, by Donald A. Stuart on www.gartner.com. It has chapters on service offered and planned, issues (or benefits/risks) associated with IPTV, video compression standards, and alternatives to IPTV. Interestingly, the abbreviation also means ``Iowa Public Television'' and ``Incidents Per Thousand Vehicles'', according to www.acronymfinder.com.

Technicals

Netlingo.com explains how in IPTV ``video data is sent across the Net in packets of data'', and ``stored on a server and sent to computers (or to a set-top box)''. Though IPTV can be in the form of live TV, it is more usually stored video, sometimes known as video on demand (VOD), elaborates the site. "To watch IPTV, a person needs a computer, or set-top box, plugged into the TV."

Video content is typically MPEG2 Transport stream, notes Wikipedia. MPEG is short for Motion Picture Experts Group, ``an algorithm for compressing audio and video." This stream gets delivered via IP Multicast, "a method in which information can be sent to multiple computers at the same time."

A page on `products and technologies' on Cisco (www.cisco.com) invites, ``Get a quick overview of IP/TV''. Another option speaks of ``the IP/TV ROI Calculator'' to help calculate ``how quickly IP/TV pays for itself". The company exhorts: "Take advantage of Gigabit Ethernet technology to: Deliver ``triple-play'' voice, video, and data services over broadband networks, while you are evolving to IP Next-Generation Networks (NGNs) architectures."

IPTV vs other TV

How is IPTV better than the traditional telly we are used to, be it terrestrial, satellite or cable? Answer: Two-way capability and point-to-point distribution. As a viewer, therefore, you can see the programmes of your choice, at the pace you want to, by controlling the stream through pause, fast and rewind options. Isn't that a better alternative to being a mere couch potato?

"Typical service enhancements enabled by IPTV will include on-screen programming information, time shifting features, and multiple camera angles," is crystal gazing by Frost & Sullivan (www.frost.com) in a March 21 press release.

Jeremy Allaire discusses the differences between IPTV and Internet TV on www.masternewmedia.org. While IPTV has as its players a closed group, Internet Television is `an open evolving framework' with many small video producers contributing `highly innovative niche content'.

You may wonder if `open source' may well turn out to be a threat for proprietary IPTV after reading about initiatives such as that of Participatory Culture Foundation (PCF). Its ``Open Source Desktop Television Software'' is meant to enable anyone to broadcast full-screen video to thousands or millions of people at virtually no cost!

A look into the future

"IPTV set for £1bn future, but there are buts," writes Tim Richardson on www.theregister.co.uk, on the UK scene. "A survey of 1,600 people found that one in three UK broadband users would be interested in downloading content. However, IPTV providers need to remember that viewers won't be prepared to pay through the nose for such a service, with £25 a month the top price people would be prepared to fork out."

According to Global Forecast 2006-2009 from Multimedia Research Group, Inc, IPTV subscriber rolls are predicted to grow from 4.3 million to 36.8 million in 2005-2009, and system revenue growth from $740 million to $4.3 billion in 2005-2009. Thus reports David Sims on http://news.tmcnet.com.

In a story dated April 11, Tom Sanders writes on www.vnunet.com about the recent report from Gartner — that, in Europe, despite growth, "IPTV providers will be forced to undercut the prices of entrenched operators to give consumers an incentive to switch." One learns that the UK has the smallest number of IPTV subscribers of Western Europe, "with only 75,000 projected for 2006."

IPTV is likely to establish itself as a valid alternative to cable and satellite TV over time, expects Frost & Sullivan optimistically. "Its acceptance is likely to be more pronounced once communication services — be it voice, instant messaging or unified messaging — are fully integrated to the service." Frost anticipates that IPTV can be "the service to push broadband beyond PC penetration and Internet access, thus helping operators nearing saturation levels in broadband penetration reach a wider market."

ZeroBase@TheHindu.co.in

D. Murali

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